: Wed Apr 22, 2009 4:58 pm
pfft where to begin
He'd have impacted on the stalwarts from the 04 team we were able to re-sign, it was well documented how we lost quite a few players after 04 due to the young guns gaining representative honours etc.
No matter what people would have said at the time, he wouldn't have been left out of the team, bench at the very least. He was big player, a leeds legend and would have been on decent money, so he would have been included in the team one way or another. This would have upset the balance of the team at that time, as we were coming into the run in.
Would tony smith have been happy? afterall it was already planned before smith came in that he was to return, so had he re-signed it's likely smith would have had little say. The coach should always have input into recruitment.
Then theres also the fact that....in fact...he just wasn't very good when he returned. Certainly not as good as the old pre union harris, no where near that. So we'd have been stuck with a below par player, on decent wages.
So we'd have had that disruption to deal with, while the bulls would have strolled merrily along. Their cap wouldn't have been f*cked up, they'd have retained many of their big guns and the team wouldn't have dismantled so rapidly. Raher than suddenly declining into medocirty after 05, they'd have continued to be a serious threat for silverware.
It's not just that. The signing of harris would have gone against the whole thing we were trying to build. Homegrown players in key positions, we already had the positions covered, we had no need for a highly paid stand off.
Had harris signed for leeds you would probably see a bit more bradford and a bit less leeds on recent sl titles.
