And that is spot on.
I`m not into this well we played really but we keep losing rubbish.
It`s all about winning and sport is a business that needs results.
We can play with flair once we start winning and grinding out results over a sustained period of time.
I really do think Blease will expect Smith to deliver.

Agreed, mainly because the board will be looking at him if the coach isnt delivering.

“You see all these trophies the golden generation won? Well, stick em in the bin because they were all won by bloomin cheating”.

I think Blease looks a good appointment - anyone who takes decision making off GH is a move forward when it comes to the playing side.

It looks to me like RS's days are numbered. GH has form on this, he did it when he brought Agar across to "assist" Furner. Different scenario but similar MO, bringing someone in to apply pressure to the coach. Blease was non-committal about Smith. He talked about identity, I reckon he's read this forum and there are some semis.

The performance side of the club clearly needs a thorough review, and with a fresh pair of eyes. Whether Blease can replicate some "success" at Leeds remains to be seen, I think Salford and Leeds are very different propositions with different pressures and dynamics. I'll reserve ultimate judgment until I see what kind of signings and retention business we do. But cautiously optimisitc.

He's got 10 games. If there's no improvement then "Blease out".

the big difference between salford and leeds is expectation.

Yeah GH was as usual trying to put a positive spin on things but it was nonsense imo. With rubbish excuses like that you can see why we’ve been poor these last few seasons. On the other hand I very much liked what Blease had to say and how he went about it.

Agreed. Lets hope he can make an impact when he starts next Monday.

I very much liked the cut of his jib.

And the fact that they almost constantly exceed expectation and we are way below expectation points to good signs.

Ultimately, this seems a long term appointment, you don't sack a DOR unless they have put years worth of bad coaches in place, not just one or two appointments.

I think it's much healthier that he's no loyalty to Smith. He loosely said he would support the coaching staff in the presser, but from the tone and body language, and the fact RS wasn't there speaks volumes.

Not expecting a change before the end of the season, but I'm almost certain we'll have a new coach next year.

One interesting part that he mentioned was repairing Salford's public image to the overseas market. Wonder if we need a similar thing.

Good post and I agree.

A very good point. We do seem to have a somewhat tarnished reputation down under and don't seem to have the best "inside track" on players / agents etc from the NRL.

Blease is big pals with Jackson Hastings too.

Wouldn't rule out seeing him in blue and amber at some point in the future.

Blease should be given time to carry out a full review of all rugby related matters at the club from coaching at all levels,support staff and playing roster. This will take time as in order to deliver the sustainable change that is required the right appointments need to be made and we don't have too much salary cap space at first team level.
I would hope that the vision should be to create a structure where all levels of the club prepare a pathway to he first team. There should be an identity and a way of playing through the club which makes transition into the first team straightforward for young players. This is a problem for RS as currently his style of playing is not one you would want replicated across the club.
As such the ball in RS count buy into the new reagime or move on. Who know he might step up but I believe there will be a parting of the ways at the end of the year.

I'm not trying to be controversial, but it will take more than using the words "winning" and "identity" for me to buy into Blease. Wanting to win, and being able to win, are entirely different things. It's not like the current staff we have are trying to lose.

Salford have managed to punch well above their weight, IB clearly was a big part of that. We desperately needed a fresh perspective and we have that now. We also needed some effective reach into NRL. What I'm looking for is better judgement on individual players, and getting the overall mix right.

Blease needs to decide on props/back rower combinations that will give us a better platform, on the 7 shirt, and obviously on whether RS is the right man or not. Said it before but although I'm not totally given up on this season (85% given up) - I don't think there are any excuses for Leeds not challening for all trophies in 2025. The thing Blease and others need to get right is: it isn't good enough to catch Wigan or Saints or Warrington, we have to assemble a BETTER team and coaching set up than they have. To do that, we are going to have to sign BETTER overseas players. Look at the impact French has had on Wigan for example - huge. We have Frawley.

Not sure Frawley is the best comparison with French. But even Miller and Croft aren't delivering the same kind of performances as Field and French.

Not too long ago we beat Wigan, and Harry Newman battered Field and French into submission. Harry hasn't come near hitting those heights since, either defensively or with ball in hand. Genuinely not sure who takes responsibility for that - I guess it is in Blease's remit now.

Yup.

I honestly think if we get those two - three big forwards and play to a "normal" game plan then we will do better next year.

I'd prefer it wasn't RS as I think he seems stuck to his way of wanting to do things and last year + this year hasn't sunk in for him.

If continue with it we will start to lose players that want out while they still have a name to attract contracts

French and Field didn’t deliver those performances for Wigan in their first season either to be fair.

French and Field didn’t deliver those performances for Wigan in their first season either to be fair.

Field was injured for most of his first season at Wigan.
Was player of the year in his second.

I have a slightly different take, Jim. Whilst acknowledging the importance of recruitment from the NRL (Blease has an excellent track record) I think the biggest challenge is getting the coach, be it Smith or A.N Other, to get the best out of the home-grown talent. The likes of Smith, Oledzki, Holroyd and Newman have now seen a few coaches come and go. How many of them can look themselves in the mirror and say they have progressed in line with expectations? To be as good (or better) than the big boys, this has to change. We can't expect every overseas signing to miraculously change things. Wigan signed Cade Cust and when he wasn't performing they gave Harry Smith his chance and never looked back. We signed Frawley, who has been poor to average, but the coaching staff and quite a few posters on here don't think young Sinny is up to it yet. We have to change that or be reduced to playing perennial catch-up.

So he didn’t deliver in his first year



French took a couple of years and a position switch to be the ayer he is now.

Agree with Arthur as well on player development. We bemoan poor development of juniors into first team players (and rightly so), but the number who reach the first team and stagnate is also a poor reflection on the club.

Newman is the latest example of a could be great/could be blah player, and based on recent history you wouldn't bet a lot on him being the best he can be at Leeds. There was a bit of an outcry from Leeds fans when Mik wasn't picked for England, but in my opinion he's some way behind the very best, and is one of our pack that regularly get crushed by bigger teams, and just isn't the pack leader we hoped he would be. Cameron Smith looks good every now and then and does a lot of work, but often looks horribly slow and his decision-making as to how and when to put himself into the line as a playmaker is generally terrible.

One thing I don't understand is how we always seem to have so many small forwards coming through, whereas other clubs seem to find good big players. This goes back to Bluey's days as coach, when he spotted this issue straight away with our junior/reserve props. No idea how this keeps happening, but we need to develop far more big forwards ourselves IMO.

Another mistake we seem to keep making is betting everything on one player in a position, and persevering too long when its obvious they're not what we hoped. Liam Sutcliffe failed as a prospective stand off, then a centre etc. He was around for years, and it would probably have been better for both parties if he'd left way earlier.

I don't know where the problem is, but if a club the size of Leeds can't get it right then the game as a whole will suffer.

Liam Sutcliffe is the biggest scape goat on this forum, it's amazing his name is still mentioned. He was a decent SL player. Not amazing, but good value on the cap, and it's not like he's been replaced by world beaters since.

We also have to acknowledge we've had really bad luck over player development. Stevie Ward and Jack Walker should have been our stars of the academy of that generation. Stevie in my opinion wouldn't be far off being England captain by now had his career not been blighted by injuries. Let's hope Gannon (another future star) isn't going in the same direction.

We could have done with Sutcliffe the last few years for our centres rather than Martin or Roberts.

My thoughts as well. Hopefully Blease is a good appointment but the sporting director role is to provide a structure that facilitates success and development at all levels within the club. To take a football analogy if a pep guardiola team plays his style of football at first team level all development teams within the club are coached and play a similar fashion which helps young players move upwards with a greatest opportunity to progress to that next level. Elitë level signings also fit the system and it is clear how they improve the team and compliment the club developed players. Thats my point regarding culture and identity its about a clear vision and framework to operate in at all levels. Penrith and Melbourne are good examples of this in the NRL. To be fair to RS he came in as manager but had no input to all the other coaching appointments below him. Moving forward the sporting director with significant input from the first team coach should be creating a joined up rugby pathway through all levels of the club.