I wasn't confident when i saw the team sheet, especially when Holdroyd pulled out.

But its a game we should have won, especially with the bright start. Our backs forgot how to defend and we let in some soft tries out wide.

Fair play to Cas tho, their attack really clicked, there shift plays from left to right were great, loads of lead runners and bodies in motion.

Letting the dust settle after the weekend. Is sacking Smith the right answer? I honestly don't think it is. The club has been rotten for some time behind the scenes. Hetherington needs to go. The fish rots from the head as the saying goes

What are our S&C coaches doing? We always seem to have a higher number of injuries than the other teams in SL. Cas maybe an exception last season. I fear Newman is going to end up like Walker / Ward with injury after injury. Poor Ward was down to his head injuries, but I think at times they've been rushed back. Newman especially. When we signed Lolohea, he looked overweight, Hurrell the same (I know he's a big lad anyway, but lets be honest, he was overweight). So what's going on?

Smith has a squad that is totally lacking in depth and it only takes a few injuries to highlight this. So would getting rid of Smith now change anything? We will still have the same thread bare squad due to lack of quality signings, lack of investment into the academy etc. It's great having a shiny stadium with total dross on the pitch.

Someone on here said Cam Smith should be dropped. He's been our most improved player this season and certainly grafted like chuff and been the difference in some games. There's certainly players well in front of Smith who should be dropped!

Smith has his flaws, no doubt, but I am not sure getting shut is the right choice at the moment.

We've just been unlucky these past few weeks, 3 or 4 week ago we hardly had any injuries, they've all just come at once.

Agree with a lot of this I think some underestimate how bad the squad has been managed over the last few years.

But Hurrell and Lolohea are still over weight, lolohea was just totally the wrong signing for us at that time, both he and hurrell are luxury players who we couldn’t afford to accommodate their flaws.

Anyone calling for C Smith to be dropped needs their head read. He should be permanently Captain if anything.

Whether people like R Smith or not sacking him now would be daft IMO for a start do you think other coaches will look at how we’ve treated coaches in the last few years and think, yeah that’s the place for me. Sacking a coach after just one year when hes taken them to a GF.

We need some consistency right now and unless there is unrest behind the scenes RS should be given another year or so to bring in his own players and see what he can do.

I haven’t agreed with every selection he’s made but then I never have with any coach - part and parcel.

More important than RS is the next 3-5 signings we make. Those players might outlast him and we have tied ourselves up in knots over and over dishing out long term commitments to players past their best.

Wait till the end of session and assess the situation regarding Smith then. He certainly didn’t look happy in his post match interview ,so he might decide at the season’s end enough is enough. Regarding some of his bargain basement signings maybe he was restricted with the amount of money available to him. Looking at most of the games this weekend most teams seem to have have a well structured attacking system. We just seem to throw it about and hope something occurs.

I think he was restricted our cap was and still is in bad shape that should change next year .

On attacking structure all those teams you mention with it have at least one decent controlling halfback we haven’t had that for years, that has got to change next year.

I think he is getting frustrated (as am I) with how the ruck is in SL, it’s absolutely awful, the problem for Rohan is I can’t see it changing any time soon.

Spot on.

So we need to do just what other teams do and flop/lie on longer or hope other teams play like we do.
I know which one I would choose as the sad reality is the ruck as it is now won`t change.

I thought it was disgraceful on Saturday, Cas were just allowed to take as much time as they wanted on every single tackle. Late 3rd or 4th man in? No problem. Do what you want, nobody's policing it. When you let one side entirely determine the speed of the game at the ruck then you're not doing your job as a ref.

It doesn't excuse our edge defence, but it's absolute bull to give one side a material advantage like that.

It was even worse at the Jungle when the worst ref in the comp was in charge

You have to work with the system.
If the ref allows a slow play the ball you can slow their ball rubbish game but makes it even.
Or push the players off the tackle and wave your arms about making a big fuss and make the ref do something about it .

You have to work with the system.
If the ref allows a slow play the ball you can slow their ball rubbish game but makes it even.
Or push the players off the tackle and wave your arms about making a big fuss and make the ref do something about it .

I was under the impression that the laws of the game [iwere[/i the system.

You should be able to rely on the officials to police the ruck and not allow it to happen at glacial pace as happened on Saturday. This is a failing of the RFL, not of Leeds Rhinos.

When we play St. Helens should all our players take three steps forward at the PTB just because theirs do?

If we all degenerate to the lowest common denominator and ignore not just the spirit of the laws, but the actual laws themselves, then the game will move from being on its knees to in a box and six feet under.

I take your point, however I would like the referees to enforce the laws of the game and not leave it up to the players to try and make a situation worse. Along with several other posters on this forum we are concerned and are witnessing week in week out tactics that are spoiling the game. Some situations it’s becoming like a rugby union loose maul. Once a player is tackled and is on the ground the tackle is complete, there is absolutely no reason any tackler should have his hands wrapped around the player attempting to play the ball. This practise originated from Australia via a certain Wigan coach. Ironically it’s seems to have been largely stamped out in Australia, thus making the current games over in Australia a much better spectacle.

Yep agree fully with the last posts. If the ruck doesn't get sorted then the game's heading to a place where no-one wants it to be. I'd rather we stuck with trying to keep it quick. That alone isn't why we're losing games we should be winning.

We're losing games because of basic errors and some poor defensive decisions.

We don't need to be pandering to the lowest common denominator with the ruck mess, like him or not I think RS is right on this one.

When did we last have a top quality coach? Perhaps if the club brought one in then the supporters might be more supportive. The likes of Agar/JJB might be your view of a top coach if they are you are in a minority of one.

The fans will react to the inputs the club give them and at the moment it is had to see offering any positive inputs for the fans to stand behind. Perhaps if the club up its game so would the fans?

In my view Smith stays but isn't involved in recruitment - he coaches what he is given - all he has to do is ensure the team performs to its potential.

I thought Rohan was good appointment when reading his cv and he has done an ok job , but he does seem very stubborn over a few things .
The speed of the of the play ball being his main one .
He should be involved in the recruiting but not the only one.
He needs one more year with his players to see how good or bad he is .

Go look up the 'for the live of god' thread. it lasted from the first few months of McDermott's time at Leeds until he got the sack.

I think Agar did a good job in the circumstances he was brought in at he took us from getting dumped out of the CC by Bradford to winning it, and then from constantly being at the bottom to being in the playoffs, but he was kept on for too long, he should have gone before the 2022 season.

JJB, what are you talking about, he was clearly just a stop gap for a few games.

I think Smith is a good coach and the right man for the job, obviously others are entitled to disagree.

Coaches will always be involved in recruitment at some level, even if it s a minor role.

The knives were out on here for Tony Smith from early in 2006 until he agreed to coach England. Loads on here wanted McClennen gone part way through 2010 as well.
Graham Murray seems to be the only coach that's universally rated on here.

smith in 2006, and early 2007 was a disaster.
lightweight, mobile forwards were what he wanted and we got battered a lot. the players weren't happy either. it clicked again mid 2007 when he went back to basics. something rohan should keep in mind.

Dear me, Tad. I can see a stack of correspondence from you to various coaches over the years. Always putting them right at the crucial moment. #unsunghero

We went for a very inexperienced coach, as a long term plan. We have to accept he’s learning on the job. Hell come good imho, but people need to remember he was in the Ozzie championship equivalent before us….

tried jjb at prop when jp was adjusting , donald was a shadow of 2007 in 06 too