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

We're always obsessed with signings and transfers. The squad we have should be finishing no lower than 6th (i think we'll finish between 4th and 6th whether Smith stays or not). The tactics leave no margin for error.

I'm sure the togetherness built in the off season was real. But it will dissolve pretty quickly if results don't go the right way. Exactly the same as last season. Ultimately we're a pro sports team. Results are what matters, and if you win, personality issues matter far less and people who might otherwise not get on at all will work together happily.

The writing was on the wall vs Wakey in the boxing day game, granted, we won it (thanks to the only time we've turned up for 40 mins and in a game that was irrelevant) when we persisted with the madness of short kick off after short kick off...and getting done for it. I don't like RS attitude either, he has a rather arrogant, "I know what I'm doing" about him that Tony doesn't have.


When does player power come into it? Or have I been reading too much fiction? Could Cam & Mik not rally the troops anymore? When I do my sports of choice and I practise, I practise what I'm weak at above all else. Surely RS doesn't have this method in place.

I think the culture is what we seem to have got really wrong. The whole premise of what everyone has being saying is how much everyone gets on, and likes being together.

That’s all well and good, but good culture looks much more like mutual accountability and respect than just being a bunch of nice guys. That’s something the golden seemed to manage well.

Apparently Craig Bellamy has told players post game to stand up if they think they’ve played well, and asked the players sat down who of that bunch should be sat down.

Who in the playing group is calling out poor performance? And who of the playing group is telling the coach his tactics aren’t working

Until the tactics change and we get more front foot posession and territory the money we have spent on Croft is wasted. Swap him and Williams on Friday and he would have looked top class and Williams would have been on the periphery.

If Sezer is playing well in the NRL but was poor for us, and Croft was man of steel for Salford and is poor for us, maybe its not the players that are the problem.

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.....

I don’t think pro players for Leeds run around not feeling accountable. Especially with our fan base.

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…..

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?

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 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.

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

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

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!

You are making yourself look daft

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

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.

You obviously don’t watch NRL. Looking one of best halves in the comp!

I don’t agree with constantly calling for new managers and new players BUT i think Mr Smith has been given long enough. Strangely enough his first season with a team that was not his got the best results. Two years of change and we are not progressing so I think the finger has to be pointed at RS.
The squad is not the best but it is far from the worst, what it needs is a Paul Rowley to galvanise get it and get the best out of what we have. He seems to be able to pick up the pieces year after year working with scraps. I am sure he could turn this squad into a top 5 or 6 team and given a close season to pick up at least one big hitter in the pack, bin and replace an injury prone winger and get a half back with the ability to dictate a game. He could turn us into something much better. We can but hope!!

Reading the clubs website match review you would think we only lost by a few points here in lies the problem there's no accountability or honesty and quite frankly disrespectful to the fans who witnessed something completely different.

If it’s stars we are missing, then we will have trouble accommodating them given the wages we are paying to a few key members of the squad. We’re already using the Marquee positions, so unless we can pay these new stars less and therefore not burst the cap, we’re not getting them in any time soon.

His form in England after his first season at the Midgets is way below Croft