Amor for Peacock?????

Since when does a signature on a contract mean anything these days?

Greg Eastwood.

Is funny. People are banging on how its the end of Leeds because a few folk have left. So lets look at it:

Donald - offered a job out of rugby he couldnt refuse, so took it
Diskin - still second fiddle behind Buderus, with two good youngsters snapping at his heals. He has a one year contract and offered a 3 year one by another club, took it. lets be honest, i dont think Leeds considered keeping him on after 2011, would have been time to give McShane a try.
Bluey - Was always leaving at the end of 2011, has decided to go sooner. Watch this space, expect him to pop up in a good job in the NRL.
McDermott - When he left as assistant coach a while back the rest of the team were absolutely gutted. They stated that his pre season training and mid season training was amazing. And think about it, when he was with us I don't recall us having loads of injuries like we have had in 2010.

That's my view on it all. Other club fans would say its a melt down, but I think that's wishful thinking on their behalf. We are a club in transition with a lot of aging players form the golden years. Instead of having to do one big over haul in the space of a few years, we are padding it out over maybe 4 to 5 seasons. I think that's a team that's decided to be logical.

As for McDermott as head coach. Hmm not sure. He didn't exactly set the world alight at the Quins. But he now has the control of a hungry team. A team that love working under him and a team that never wanted to see him leave back in the TS days. Maybe just having him in the hot seat will make the team play out of their skin. if not and we have a poor season, then it sounds cynical but replace him. But lets support him throughout 2011 and make a verdict at the end. You never know, Graham Murray might pop up out of the blue as his assistant coach

Or brain noble????

and daniel Anderson

I'd love Noble as a number two, I think he has a good rugby brain but he'll never coach at Leeds as 1. he hates us and 2. what he allegedly said to Peacock when he left bradford.


However, I do think we need to be wise about what assistant we take on. McDermott has great defence coaching instilled into him but i worry about his attack coaching. Maybe we need to look at someone who has great attacking skills coaching as i think this season we have lacked that in buckets, then again in some cases we were crap in defence too.


I do think having a fresh start will change the team though. We thought it was doom and gloom when Smith left, yet we went on stronger with, lets not forget it a coach who at the time hadn't coached a top flight league team ever in his career

It not a complete Bradford bulls meltdown, we haven't lost any players we particulary needed as yet and they are building gradually,

Franny - ?
Willie - ?
Alex Gross - ?
Eastwood - ?

Whilst I do agree that there seems to be a perfectly reasonable explanation for them all individually, you can't deny with Bluey joining the list it does look increasingly less coincidental.

IF Burrow were to go (and I seriously doubt he will), but IF Burrow were to go you'd be able to rationalise that too, it would look incredibly suspicious though.

What you're also forgetting is that half way through the season we signed everybody that was out of contract. I can't remember which came first between Franny & Willie or Eastwood, but the day before which ever announcement came first we weren't losing a single member of staff for 2011.

And in reality, whether each has it's own perfectly justified explanation or not, we've lost 4 coaches, and 3 players!

Franny - The idea was to use Bluey and McDermott, so it was forward planning that has now backfired, too many cooks and all that
Willie - As above
Alex Gross - As above
Eastwood - Wanted to be back in the NRL. Was a mistake letting him to to the Bulldogs last year. He wanted to come to Leeds when he wasnt a regular at Brisbane. Went to the Dogs and he was a first team player and loved it there. I knew we were to have trouble the moment I read an interview with him while at the Dogs stating that he was going to be gutted when he went on to Leeds

Yes, you do seemed to have missed my point though. I said that they all had explanations and could be justified. I didn't ask you to explain or justify them.

The point I was making is that whilst everybody individually has a perfectly good and justifiable reason for leaving, it doesn't stop the fact that, for whatever reason, we have lost 7 staff members when mid-season we were expecting to lose 0.

Thats why a question marked it

, couldn't really find a replacement so just picked him

.

I would guess that they were always going to leave bar something unusual. The contract extensions on the players and head coach provided a small amount of security for the club in that if we really did need any of the players/coach, then they were under contract. Also if someone else wanted them and they wanted to leave it wouldn't be as simple as signing an out of contract player.

My mate (Ex-groundsman at HQ) seems to reckon that Ickle Rob's off back home to the Bakers.

Why would you have a testimonial year?

cannot see burrow going just yet talking to sinnys grandad this morning and he reckons barry macs trying to slot in as assistant to brian but who knows can,t get hold of sinny cos he,s in tennerife at the mo

Why not, I've had four. Non have gone that well though and I'm seriously considering not having any more.

Donald wasn't 'offered' a job outside of rugby - he applied for it. Unless the NSW police now scan the world looking for ginger chancers to put on the force.

Well they missed out anyway....my understanding was he has joined the Queensland (Townsville) police

When/where has Nobby ever said he 'hates leeds'?

From what I've heard in the past (and just read on George Riley's BBC blog) Noble would be keen to have a crack at the Leeds gig - and why wouldn't he? He's a super ambitious coach

Now - whether he'd be 'wanted' at Leeds is a different matter altogether...only GH knows the answer to that

Take it from me Nobby hates Leeds.
I would doubt for one minute he would state that publicly nor would he turn down a job working at Leeds if an offer came around providing he couldn`t get a better offer elsewhere.

Don't know that he hates us, but I've always got the impression when he's commentating, that it really sticks in his throat when he has to say something favourable about Leeds.

This is what I'm getting at - all this talk that 'Nobby would never take the leeds job' is wide of the mark. He, like players, has a 'professional' take on the game rather than the parochial outlook we fans have.

From what I heard - if Brian Mac hadn't been handed the gig on a plate - Nobby would have put his hat in the ring, in a flash. Whether this is a good thing, is a different story altogether...

Anyway - back on topic:

Burrow to the Bulls? With DM out injured until mid-summer, I can't see it happening. Going into a new season without your starting halves from the past few years (through injury/transfers) would be a risk I'm not sure Leeds would take - especially as seeing as though there can't be many quality replacements available at this stage (unless of course GH is going to splash the Canterbury/Eastwood cash).

Obviously I don't see Leeds as much as you lot, but I honestly think that Leeds would be a frightening prospect with a proper organising 7 alongside Danny McGuire.

Replacing Burrow with such a player could see Leeds step up a level IMO.

Hang the feck on!

McGuire out until mid summer? When did this happen!! I thought he was out until April.