YEP Jury: Our fans’ panel react to Kallum Watkins’ impending departure and look ahead to Friday’s derby

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KATIE BURROWS

I was shocked to hear the news that Kallum Watkins will be leaving us at the end of the season; not because it came as a huge surprise (there have been various rumours speculating as much over the past few weeks), but because it feels like another strange decision by the club.

I have made comments this season that I don’t think Kallum had fully recovered from his knee reconstruction last year and I’m not sure the responsibility of the captaincy allowed him to fully focus on getting back to his best.

Despite what both the club and Kallum have said about this being a mutual decision, I can’t help but feel he was pushed out and probably deserved more.

Kallum has been a huge part of our accomplishments over the last 10 years and I’m sure he will be just as successful in whatever he does next.

Hopefully now the news has been made public, Kallum can enjoy his last few months at Leeds Rhinos and regain some of his old form – we could certainly do with it at the minute!

LUKE CROSSFIELD

I would first of all like to thank Kallum Watkins for the many years with the club. He has been a fantastic player for us and it is a shame he is leaving the way he is.

However in a salary cap sport some tough decisions need to be made and I feel this is the best for both Kallum and the club.

On to our third league game of the season against Wakefield Trinity on Friday night.

We really need to step up and be counted.

The two occasions we have faced Wakefield this season have been two of the worst performances of the year.

They were no match for St Helens last week in the Challenge Cup, however I don’t think anyone is at the moment.

We are in a relegation battle and a win at Wakefield would be a massive boost to the team.

It would also see us win two league games in a row which we have not done all season.

I would like to see a performance with pride and commitment for the full 80 minutes at Belle Vue.

OLIVER HAWKHEAD

A week off may do the team some good. We have a tough patch coming up so we can use this week off to regroup and prepare for crucial fixtures in our season.

The departure of Kallum Watkins hopefully hasn’t disrupted the team too much and I, for one, will be very sad to see him leave.

I don’t think he got a full chance to prove himself after his knee injury, which wasn’t helped by our results and casualty list so I think he was probably rushed back to the team.

I feel appalled as a supporter when I read some of the comments on social media about this season.

There are many fans who seem to think success is guaranteed at this club and it is clear from our results in the last four seasons that this isn’t the case.

However, this doesn’t mean that we just accept and turn a blind eye to our results, if we did then we probably deserve to go down.

We should confront our problems, but not at the expense of our players’ wellbeing.

ANDREW SUTCLIFFE

After the weekend off for the Cup, we get back to league business and Wakefield Trinity away again.

This season’s fixtures make no sense as it’s the third time we’ve played them already when we’ve only played some teams once!

Has the break helped? Only time will tell, hopefully we may see some players return from injury this week adding much needed experience. It’s the start of a difficult month of fixtures which could seriously make or break the season.

The first half of the season has been a disaster interspersed with the occasional decent half of rugby. Our position of third from bottom is a fair representation of where we are which is not good enough. The squad we have should be competing to a higher standard and in the play-off places.

Monday saw the news that Kallum Watkins will be leaving at the end of the season. He’s definitely struggled coming back from a serious injury but will be missed.

Can we win on Friday? Yes we can, but some serious improvement needs to be seen. Fingers crossed.

TIM NUTTALL

Given we had an enforced break this weekend, and the season is just over halfway through, it gives me an opportunity to reflect on the 2019 season so far. Not an easy task, let’s be honest!

Around halfway through the season we find ourselves in a relegation battle and without a permanent first -team coach. Then there was the very embarrassing display at Odsal.

The latest news is that Kallum Watkins is to leave us at the end of 2019.

It seems widely rumoured that it was a breakdown over new terms the club wanted to offer him. Perhaps the right time for both to move on, but some of the abuse Kallum has got has, in my opinion, been over the top.

Next up is Wakefield, always a tricky game but it will be interesting to see what the win against London has done for confidence in the squad.

We did almost throw the game away but importantly we didn’t.

There is so much room for improvement, but if we can beat Wakey it will set us up nicely for the visit of Wigan.

THOMAS LAWRENCE

Well it feels like a long time since Leeds last lost a game, albeit by the default of a weekend off because of the Cup.

On Friday we head to Wakefield again looking to continue our crusade away from 12th place. Wakefield are a team that are becoming a force not to underestimated in Super League under the solid coaching of Chris Chester, but will be recovering from a tough Challenge Cup outing to St Helens, so hopefully our refreshed side can take advantage of this for a much-needed two points.

There has been a lot of speculation lately around the futures of certain players and potential signings – but first things first: we need a coach, and we need to make 100 per cent sure of Super League survival. At the moment our club is like a television on the blink, in need of an electrician to spark it back into its function. What is going wrong? It bemuses me, and the fact that clubs like this week’s opposition, Wakefield, who have less resources than us currently merit their higher stance than us is the only evidence required to show that our television on the blink can be fixed in a reasonable amount of time.