I've been saying all Preseason our backline is one of the poorest in the league. Bar Walker offer next to nothing creative. We need two new centres and wingers in my opinion. Appreciate will take at least 2 years now.
Pack will hold its own if we can keep Ava and Prior fit.
I tend to listen to Leeds on radio these days and don't invest too much time, as for a club of our stature and resources I can accept a poor year here, and there. But this situation is very hard to accept....

Exactly this, as soon as it was known Ava was out Holroyd should have been named in the 17. I know he is still young but at least he has some size about him which is what we were always going to miss against a huge Hull pack. We probably still wouldn't have won but it couldn't have been any worse.

They have employed a second tier coach and surrounded him with second tier support, JJB - no coaching experience, James Webster - a failure everywhere he has been. Nothing he did last season would suggest he will drive the squad to better performances. The squad is poor - it may well be in transition but Wigan and Saints have both gone through transition and they have never been anywhere near the bottom in on season let alone 3 of the last 4. The 3/4 line is terrible - where is the threat - Hurrell couldn't get a game in the NRL and is a defensive liability as well as offering little in attack? The halves are slow and old, the hooker position - key in the modern game has been criminally under-invested. It could be that they are expecting Johnson to be the next big thing and we have to wait but Dwyer simply cannot read a game. It is a squad that lacks pace and skill.

Either they are in a holding pattern and they have the next generation of youngsters who will transform things and we all have to wait but if Newman playing on the wing to accommodate Sutcliffe is anything to go by they don't have a lot of trust in these youngsters. There are quite a number out of contract at the end of the year but you will more difficult to attract quality players if you have a poor/cheap coach and a poor under invested team. Things only go one way and that shouldn't be the case with a club as good/famous as Leeds

I would be getting rid of Hurrell as soon as possible. Replacement for Hurrell, two wingers and a further addition in the middle required to improve us.

Agreed

It's a bit harsh to single Hurrell out considering he failed a head-test at half time from an injury sustained early in the first half.

If his defence continues to be an issue I'd consider playing him on the right side, where he plays for Tonga and seems to cope better.

We still seem to struggle to use him the right way. He needs to run on to quality ball in space, not to be used as a 'make or break' battering ram coming out of our 20 on the back of slow play the balls.

He needs to be one of many attacking options - not the only one, as too often he's been last season and in the first half of Sunday's game.

Considering the backs more generally, I thought Walker was pretty pedestrian and bullied by Hull. He still looks like a kid when he should have started to mature a bit more physically. Sutcliffe at centre is too 'safety first', and doesn't have enough skill or presence to offer enough threat out wide. With a few more bodies back he should not be in the team at all IMO, and needs to produce something special in the coming games if he is to deserve a new contract. Handley didn't have the best game but he still looks like the most likely player out of the team to score. Newman needs to get more involved.

For the rest of the spine, I'd make Myler #1 hooker until Leeming is fit. Only one game in, but I don't think Dwyer is going to be of the right standard to keep. Seeing Gale for the first time, I thought was a massive improvement on what we had last year. Thought Lui went okay.

Forwards. Agree with the majority that Prior seems to be a good buy. We'll be stronger with Ava back, and the much vaunted extra forward signing alluded to by Sky and the interviews with Agar. Didn't see enough of Mellor but concerned by his indiscipline (AND Prior's). Ward and Martin didn't really stand out as much as we need them to. Cameron Smith didn't look out of place in the first team. Donaldson unlucky to be penalised after taking a heavy knock at the PTB that led directly to one of their second half tries.

Overall assessment: a worrying start, with echoes of last season. The new signings look decent but there's still plenty of deadwood (Sutcliffe, Dwyer - potentially many more). Despite holding Hull for large spells of the game we never looked like having the strike weapons to mount a decent sustained fight back. At the same time four disallowed tries from the VR, and arguably three of their tries coming from mistakes from players who had taken head-knocks show that we could have got a lot closer on the scoreboard. It's not panic time, but we can't just sit back and rest on our laurels. The performance should have been MUCH better and it highlights exactly why most people think Leeds won't make the top 4 this year.

Hurrell at right centre for Tonga shut out Mitchell arguably the best centre in the NRL ?

Late on last season we did see a slight improvement, so whilst we are not in a good place now ,we can have aspirations of just above midtable. Right now I will settle for not dreading the next game like last two years

Are you copying what I said mate?
The only thing we differ is you rate Walker higher than Golding

I don’t get it ?? Why would anyone ever think Rich Agar could get get an Average squad to play ? Even when he’s had decent squads to work with he consistently produces bang average performance levels.
That’s what Agar does brilliantly....AVERAGE.
Just look at his record, everywhere he’s been it’s been the same. He doesn’t do success, winning, exciting. He brings predictable, safe, boring, frustrating, under achievement. An Agar team won’t go down but it’ll will strangle the life out of any hope of anything more.

And can someone please tell me why a legend player should be placed in a key managerial role without cutting his teeth and learning the trade ?
Why is this role even needed, he’s failing. And making poor decisions that are having a negative affect on performances.

Similarly, what did Peacock do at at HKR ....? Nothing. So why would he like Agar suddenly he able to do ....something ???
Until there is an acceptance that the golden generation we’re really good rugby players and thats all they were, nothing will change. Hanging onto the past by reinventing players as something else will not change anything.
A proven winning coach is needed. A Sinfield type role is not needed.

Good post sums up my feelings on the current situation.

Going cheap on the head coach and giving key coaching roles to unproven ex players is the wrong way to go imo and will likely keep us bogged down for a few more seasons yet.

Sorry, I didn't just mean he was crap from yesterday's performance. I meant he is just proper crap always.

I see no reason why Agar should be cut any more slack than Furner was, especially as he now has an allegedly better squad to work with.

I actually don't think Agar is too much to blame here. Our squad is not even average in the outside backs. No pace, and very poor defensive shapes. I doubt think Holbrook would get much more out of us.
Fwiw, think we should have brought Wane in last season, as we'd have a pack to fear now at least....

Even if we cut Sinfield and Agar some slack in the argument the squad they inherited was pish poor something Furner was trying to resolve I may add.
But clearly it might have meant some of Sinfields cronies getting the bullet hence why Furner had to go.
Agar/Sinfield are making basic mistakes by first of all not playing Holroyd against Hull and putting Newman on the wing to accommodate another Sinfield pal in Sutcliffe.
The other mistake is giving JJB a coaching role.
Cut the old boys act and bring in someone to shake this squad up or move Sinfield out.

It shocked me when JJB got his coaching gig he comes across as a media presenter, Leeds Rhinos Head of front of House etc ,but a top coaching position? Cant see it myself

I didn't attend yesterdays game unfortunately. However, I have read everything on all sites about the game and am surprised how so many have reacted. Regarding the forwards,. We know we are two big boys light. We all knew that. The back three forwards seem okay, albeit they had a bad day at the office yesterday. It happens! Everyone appears to be praising Cameron Smith which is good. I just question whether he fully understands his role at 13 and he needs more 1 on 1 coaching. Sometimes he appears to be a tackling machine like Donaldson but to be really successful we need so much more from him. In the halves we have options and it may take time to gell. Patience is the key. As for the backs, my biggest concern is the real lack of pace. We only have one player who has the potential to go the length of the field and none who have any real turn of pace over 25 yards. Yes we have wingers who are injured but is there any real quality? I sense it will be a difficult year but calling for resignations already seems short sighted. JJB on the coaching team I can understand especially regarding defensive duties and patterns. But who is leading the attacking duties from a coaching perspective. I honestly have no idea. As for Walker at fullback - this youngster had so much promise when he broke into the first team. He needs more support especially regarding attacking plays / patterns! He has still so much potential but does appear to have stagnated. Is he any better now than he was at Old Trafford 2017??? In summary there is potential for improvement but we may need to be patient.

I'm baffled at some of the overreaction there has been on here but it has made me laugh.
We were beaten by a better team, they weren't fantastic and we were poor but that's enough to run up a largish score especialy in round 1
For me it was quite competitive for the first 20 mins until Ward went off who i thought was outstanding in thaty period. Thats when the wheels fell off and Hurrell went to Disney land. Those 2 forced interchanges ruined all the shape and the heads did go down for a bit. What is good is that they did come back a bit. FFS it's round 1, try to keep a level head and let's see where we really are in another 3-4 games

better still make each game 20 minutes so we are competitive

I had a long chat with a key player earlier. And I certainly won’t be making his comments public

.

Are you reassured that all will be ok?

The thing is, it's not an over-reaction based on yesterday's game. It's a reaction based on the past two years of utter tripe that we've paid to watch. Yesterday's game was no different. It warns of another season languishing near the foot of the table.

I had a long chat with a key player earlier today too - coincidentally!

It’s not all bad mate, but he had some very scathing things to say about some team mates, hence not public with it.

I will say one thing though. He was clear that Hurrell wasn’t well before the game and had problems, and asked to be pulled out. This was refused, and Hurrell wasn’t happy after the game with what ended up.

Wane should have been our coach last year. No doubt about it. Sinfield totally to blame for Agar appointment. I love Kev to bits for what hes done for us as a player but hes got it wrong on this one