Re: Rowley : Sun Apr 07, 2024 10:32 am  

Simmo71 wrote:

We have a major job on to finish 6th.
Wigan, Saints, Cats, Wire and HKR will finish above us.
And we're not playing as well as Hudds and Salford at the moment.

Maybe better if we do finish 7th or 8th and start the next rebuild.....

That’s the spirit mate - we either make the play-offs in which case RS will have another year to fix things at Leeds and we are Making Progress. Or we don’t make the play-offs and I think RS will have to go. Finishing lower than sixth this year I think means voodoo dolls all round.

I don’t know - I know I’m very much against the grain on the sunshine forum here but I think RS has a lot of good qualities. Without speaking to the players themselves I couldn’t judge him as a coach. Clearly all is not as it should be still out on the field though. What does depress me though is a big and proud club like Leeds still a laughing stock in the league; which is what we are.

We can look at Covid, the new stadium, financial pressures perhaps etc but those excuses are running out more and mores. At the end of the day if RS goes what possible credibility does GH have left?

Re: Smith out ASAP : Sun Apr 07, 2024 10:42 am  

Shabino wrote:

You can talk structures, tactics, coach, anything you want.
Elephant in the room is top quality players. Tough Players, players who demand respect and lead by example. I think we’re two short of these type of players in the pack. Don’t think we’ve used our quota spots that well imho. It’s tough though, as we are no longer first choice for the best players….
Just look at Sironen and Matautia at Saints. Our overseas pack players are nowhere near that standard…..

I could coach Penrith to spank most super league clubs.

Equally a great coach gets a team realising its potential.

Leeds need both better players and a first rate coach. Too often we have signed other club’s cast-offs or mid-table players. Most of the players who’ve left Leeds have ended up either in Champ or lower table SL clubs - so many examples of this.

Players who are bench players at other top clubs become starters for us.

Again it’s not rocket science. We need almost first grade NRL quality at prop and second row IMO to continue our progression, and possibly on the wing too. Not sure where we are at with Marquees, assume Newman is one and Croft.

A real good prop will take loads of pressure off Mik and Tom in particular. A marquee second row is good value because they are likely to play 80 mins. We have four/five back rowers who are just too small whereas we need just one big ugly horrible thing.

Re: Smith out ASAP : Sun Apr 07, 2024 10:46 am  

I honestly thought Smith was the real deal when he took us to the grand final in which we put up a decent show. Sadly the following season I came to the conclusion he was out of his depth. I see nothing to change my mind this season, last season along with several others on this site we pointed out his flaws and failures. The smith fans on here claimed that last season was work in progress and he was getting rid of the so called deadwood.
Presumably the deadwood that took us to the grand final. His signings would supposedly take us back in contention for honours. We are now eighth in the table and out of the challenge cup. Looking at the intensity of last night’s Catalan-Saints game and the Saints-Wigan game the other week at the moment the current Leeds squad is nowhere capable of living with that.

Re: Smith out ASAP : Sun Apr 07, 2024 10:54 am  

KaeruJim wrote:

I could coach Penrith to spank most super league clubs.

Equally a great coach gets a team realising its potential.

Leeds need both better players and a first rate coach. Too often we have signed other club’s cast-offs or mid-table players. Most of the players who’ve left Leeds have ended up either in Champ or lower table SL clubs - so many examples of this.

Players who are bench players at other top clubs become starters for us.

Again it’s not rocket science. We need almost first grade NRL quality at prop and second row IMO to continue our progression, and possibly on the wing too. Not sure where we are at with Marquees, assume Newman is one and Croft.

A real good prop will take loads of pressure off Mik and Tom in particular. A marquee second row is good value because they are likely to play 80 mins. We have four/five back rowers who are just too small whereas we need just one big ugly horrible thing.

Completely agree. Has to be players who inspire others….

Re: Smith out ASAP : Sun Apr 07, 2024 11:47 am  

KaeruJim wrote:

I could coach Penrith to spank most super league clubs.

Equally a great coach gets a team realising its potential.

Leeds need both better players and a first rate coach. Too often we have signed other club’s cast-offs or mid-table players. Most of the players who’ve left Leeds have ended up either in Champ or lower table SL clubs - so many examples of this.

Players who are bench players at other top clubs become starters for us.

Again it’s not rocket science. We need almost first grade NRL quality at prop and second row IMO to continue our progression, and possibly on the wing too. Not sure where we are at with Marquees, assume Newman is one and Croft.

A real good prop will take loads of pressure off Mik and Tom in particular. A marquee second row is good value because they are likely to play 80 mins. We have four/five back rowers who are just too small whereas we need just one big ugly horrible thing.

I don't know if its already been mentioned, but as far as i know Wayne Bennett is available next season if Gary wants to open his wallet

Re: Rowley : Sun Apr 07, 2024 12:01 pm  

I still think we'll finish at least 6th, we'll struggle against the likes of Wigan, Saints and Warrington, but outside of them, we can hold our own against the rest.

Re: Rowley : Sun Apr 07, 2024 12:33 pm  

Jack Burton wrote:

I still think we'll finish at least 6th, we'll struggle against the likes of Wigan, Saints and Warrington, but outside of them, we can hold our own against the rest.

That’s not good enough imho…. But appreciate acceptable for the more patient amongst us!

Re: Rowley : Sun Apr 07, 2024 12:45 pm  

Shabino wrote:

Interested to know what you’ve seen from Croft, when we’ve really needed a bit of class?

You are making yourself look daft

Re: Rowley : Sun Apr 07, 2024 12:57 pm  

Shabino wrote:

That’s not good enough imho…. But appreciate acceptable for the more patient amongst us!

Really? We finished 8th last season. Finishing in the playoffs would be a good level of improvement

Re: Rowley : Sun Apr 07, 2024 1:32 pm  

I actually agree sixth ish isn’t god enough, but it might be all we can realistically hope for this year we’ll find out.

Anything below that, as I’ve said if it isn’t down to a biblical injury list, RS should go.

If he can steer is into top half this year; and the club / GH will back another handful of ambitious signings, we might just go into next year with a spring.

In good news, most of the squad is still young enough to improve and benefit from pre-seasons; I feel like we have a natural improvement in us now. We just lack stars frankly.