Re: Round 15 | vs Leigh Leopards (H) : Tue Jun 25, 2024 9:56 am  

I've given up predicting too much around academy lads but with McCormack, Lumb, Edgell, Smith, Simpson coming through in the backs, and Littlewood, TNW, Oladipupo, Cassell, Lloyd and some others in the pack, we really do have some good prospects.

You watch Leeds in this game and my overriding feeling was that we look like a side which needs evolution rather than revolution again... but let's be honest, Leigh did roll us through a fair bit of the game, and we only won through some superhuman goal line D and individual brilliance from Croft. I reckon we lose that game in a normal league fixture, and that's just where our squad is currently.

Re: Round 15 | vs Leigh Leopards (H) : Tue Jun 25, 2024 10:33 am  

I agree. but it was the manner they played. no passive stuff, no miracle plays.
they gave it to the leigh forwards, albeit they ran out of steam, understandably.

[Ex-Swarcliffe Rhino]

Re: Round 15 | vs Leigh Leopards (H) : Tue Jun 25, 2024 11:36 am  

They did revert to type at points during that game by letting Leigh run riot and backing off / being too passive but I would hope that was due to fatigue rather than tactics.

Im looking forward to whoever comes in to consign that tactic to the bin first up.

Re: Round 15 | vs Leigh Leopards (H) : Tue Jun 25, 2024 11:38 am  

tad rhino wrote:

I agree. but it was the manner they played. no passive stuff, no miracle plays.
they gave it to the leigh forwards, albeit they ran out of steam, understandably.

RS was only out the door 48 hours before this performance, and Chev said in the presser they didn't have chance to change much.

They cut out most of the errors which really helped, and they were more direct - one thing I did notice was using the bigger men out of yardage, which has been annoying me for months. Having said that, look at the carries Edgell made.

Our line speed got poor in the second half again I thought and Leigh were rolling us.

I don't think we can use the Leigh game as much evidence of transformation without RS, although I get the agenda on here. We won the game well but we were still far from perfect. I thought the selection was really brave putting McCormack and Edgell together outside Frawley, that could have gone either way but credit to Chev.

I think where I'm at is that Leeds should be a top-6 side this season with the team we have, but we have been misfiring. Changing the coach, if we bring the right one in, could improve our performances but we'll need better luck with injuries too. I don't think this squad is good enough to take the title no matter who coaches us.

We need both a better coach AND a few top quality new signings to bridge that gap between us and the top of the table. Hopefully we will do both.

[Ex-Swarcliffe Rhino]

Re: Round 15 | vs Leigh Leopards (H) : Tue Jun 25, 2024 11:40 am  

A fair summing up there.

A game to truly build upon.

Re: Round 15 | vs Leigh Leopards (H) : Tue Jun 25, 2024 12:11 pm  

Where I'm also at is that although I am Mr Ultimate Patience, I'm running out of it with Leeds' decisions which have been so hit and miss for nearly a decade now. We won the 2017 title in a miracle year really as so many Goldens signed off, and we rode our luck with Hardaker screwing up at Cas too. We were bad in 2016 though. We jagged a CC win against.. Salford in a weird year.

Other than that it has been a very long time between drinks, some daft decisions on coaches and even dafter decisions on some players. We've either signed crap project players who just haven't worked out, or we've spaffed it on big name players bang out of form and not the right fit for what we needed in the team. For ten years nearly. Meanwhile we've failed to develop enough good young players.

I don't want to be Captain Hindsight but to me the appointment of a Blease is well overdue at Leeds.

Re: Round 15 | vs Leigh Leopards (H) : Tue Jun 25, 2024 12:16 pm  

KaeruJim wrote:

.

I don't want to be Captain Hindsight but to me the appointment of a Blease is well overdue at Leeds.

As like the project signings and coaching staff, only time will tell really whether his appointment was a good one or not.

Re: Round 15 | vs Leigh Leopards (H) : Tue Jun 25, 2024 2:17 pm  

I do love GH for all he's done at Leeds, and nights like the Rob Burrow tribute remind us all what a wonderful club he has had a huge part in building.

We used to sign players like Senior, Ellis, Peacock, Harris, Briscoe, McDermott etc. and every one of them you knew was a real player. Somewhere along the line we've lost the judgement and/or the ambition, and I just think it was high time for someone else to take over the direction of the rugby side.

Re: Round 15 | vs Leigh Leopards (H) : Tue Jun 25, 2024 2:37 pm  

KaeruJim wrote:

I do love GH for all he's done at Leeds, and nights like the Rob Burrow tribute remind us all what a wonderful club he has had a huge part in building.

We used to sign players like Senior, Ellis, Peacock, Harris, Briscoe, McDermott etc. and every one of them you knew was a real player. Somewhere along the line we've lost the judgement and/or the ambition, and I just think it was high time for someone else to take over the direction of the rugby side.

Agree with all that, unfortunately several clubs will be also embarking on a major recruitment campaign. So finding decent players will be difficult. Unfortunately our recruitment needs to be on a major scale. As I have stated many times Smiths recruitment and management has set us back months.

Re: Round 15 | vs Leigh Leopards (H) : Tue Jun 25, 2024 4:02 pm  

Backwoodsman wrote:

Agree with all that, unfortunately several clubs will be also embarking on a major recruitment campaign. So finding decent players will be difficult. Unfortunately our recruitment needs to be on a major scale. As I have stated many times Smiths recruitment and management has set us back months.

Who would you replace / which positions?