Season loans might make sense for Warren and Ruan of our recent signings. They are unlikely to get much gametime and Smith was critical of the standards in the reserves. It makes sense for players to be at one club if possible, as the coaching staff can keep an eye on them in one place rather than across multiple teams.

It looks like Sam Stone will be the overseas player leaving Leigh (signing for Salford), so it looks like McDonald won't be leaving.

Edit: Stone wasn't named in their initial squad, so they still need to release another player

Seems like Leigh have fiddles their way around having so many overseas players without needing to release any!!

No hard feelings toward Hardaker. Much more money + your own private chauffeur in TB is clearly a better option for him.
Think we need to develop a batter passing game in the backs to further improve. Zak doesn’t fit that bill, but did a sterling job for us in different circumstances this year….

Is the plan that Prior/Donaldson go to Bradford permanently if we can, with some salary being covered by us and then some young players go on a season long loan as well?

I reckon Prior is the key one and it will be worth paying some of his salary to open up space both on the cap and Quota

Yep, agree. Ball's in prior's court though - running out at odsal would be a big step down. Not sure it'll be one that appeals to him.

Elijah Taylor is without a club for next year, worth a punt?

We (Hull FC) are rumored to be looking to offload Josh Griffin and Jamie Shaul as we need to strengthen the second row. Shaul was set to sign for Wakefield until the deal fell through.

Yep. It's a difficult conversation for Smith to have with him, but ultimately if he understands he is seventh choice prop and doesn't feature in the Rhinos plans for 2023 my guess is he'd rather play (for somebody else) than not. Especially if his earnings will not be impacted.