It'd be weird if the players weren't questioning the tactics and we have been here before under McDermott. The previous time(s) we had leaders who he felt able to trust to try things their way. This time, I'm not sure we have that leadership, nor am I sure that McDermott will trust it even if we have. I'm not of the opinion that he's lost the dressing room yet but unless things change - and soon - it's almost inevitable that he will. That said, whether by good luck, judgement or both he's always managed to steer away from the rocks, often at the very last minute.

Sorry Garrett was one of the few positives on Friday. At least he took the ball forward!

JJB has been running his blood to water since he's come back - a team full of JJB's work ethic and we wouldn't be in this mess.

Seems some of our "in the loop" pundits are floating the idea that the players are not happy with the tactics employed by the coach.

Would these be the tactics of dropping the ball over the line, or missing tackles, or leaving big gaps in defense, or not passing when you should, or passing when you shouldn't, or dying with the ball on the last tackle? If so then indeed this a not a very good game plan.

However as the coach has proven over many years he does have good game plans and does have good defensive structures then surely it is much more likely to be due to the players that are not following the game plan because of a lack of timing and form (which will return) or in certain cases a lack of skill which has been highlighted when they have had to play without JP & Sinny.(which is much harder to sort in the short term) and of course not having a settled side due to an ongoing injury list.

It has also been hinted that there may also have been some off the field behavioral problems of which I know nothing. If so then when the squad returns to full fitness I would hope that appropriate action is then taken.

Without a Sinfield replacement with proven class our attack is going to struggle but IMO we still have enough experience and quality in the side to still mount a winning run. But if there are players whose abilities were made to look better than they really are due to the quality of Sinny and JP then we need make some changes in the playing staff. Warrington had a bad season after they lost Briers etc and then made wholesale changes to the squad with very positive results. Key recruitment was at half back where experience and quality has paid off so far. They chose to change the players and not the coach.

I would say you only had to be present at the least two games to see they are not happy with the tactics. That is very clear from the body language shown by the players. You don't need to be in any loop for that, you just have to open your eyes.




Well considering in the build up to the Cas game McDermott said that Cas just seem to have worked out a way of beating us and causing problems. Those problems very clear, as they have been in each game since then, and the preceeding games to then, our right hand edge of defence is picked off with ease, and nearly all the try's conceeded are coming through that same area. It doesn't matter who defends there, Ablett or someone else, or Watkins moved to wing, the same keeps happening every game. That is a defensive structure problem, not a player problem.

I also know for a fact, so maybe you can class this as "in the loop" if that is what it is, that Sutcliffe has been told to run the ball. This despite all the times he has overlaps outside him, maybe he is taking his coach too literally? But then again you would think the coach would then say something to change this, considering the amount of games it has happened.

Another instruction from our coach, which started last year towards the tend of the year, and to be fair we still won with this tactic, but where kicks are put in to us, that the wingers pass back inside to run to the middle. This despite sometimes having acres of space in front of them to run to.

How do players go from been good defensively to e? is there another reason? especially considering they are not replaced because of it, and it doesn't improve the next week.




This has been repeated many times, including the coach, that Sinfield and JP did a lot of the training and the tactics in games. So maybe, just maybe your first line there is not the case. If he has proven before he has it right, then he is most definitely proving now he has it wrong. If players were not following a game plan, then why are they still playing each week? this is not week one of the season, as then your point would have some merit, we are a long way in.






And for the first part of this you have a point which is totally correct, with the last part you don't. Smith is far more proven in transition of players than McDermott and exactly why Warrington backed what he wanted. He knew last season what he was doing and that was before these new players. He introduced youngsters, had them ready, and they are playing a part in Wire right now. We have a coach who doesn't even have faith in seasoned internationals, nether mind youngsters, and can't decide what his best line up is.

My bad, forgot about JJB since he's only just got back, he has been excellent.

He's worked hard (as always) and put in 100% effort (as always), but excellent?

Not really.

Not unless racing out of the defensive line to leave a huge gap where the opposition may stroll through for a try without a hand being laid on them is regarded as excellent these days.

Perhaps it is? Sinfield mastered it too.

I know many will disagree but I think Garbutt is very average. Having said that I don't have to tackle him, the size of him could mean he is quite tiring to play against.
Out of the 6 Australian forwards we have I would only keep Cuthbo, who is excellent. Can't argue with the huge contribution Delaney has made over the last few years, but his body is done. Being totally ruthless he would have to go.

Made big metres, loads of tackles and played loads of minutes despite the long injury lay-off. Sure he races out of the line, but I can only think of one instance he's really got it wrong this year.

If he's not been excellent then he has at least been the pick of our forwards (Ferres aside) when fit this year.

I think that is fair, Cuthbo and Moon are the pick of our Aussie crop.

I'd keep Garbutt and Delaney depending what was available, but as you say I'm starting to question how much Frog has to give when he gives everything when he's out there, only to be rewarded with further flogging.

Nobody can be in any doubts about the way the likes of Delaney and JJB have performed season after season,but think Leeds squad needs a serious shake up a bit like what Warrington have done this season.possibly even more drastic,just can't see McDermott pushing through the next crop of young talent through youth system to replace the likes of JJB,Delaney,burrow.if falloons or galloways performances don't improve over the season then cut our losses and get rid,Anthony mullally needs to improve fitness and be coached more in the Leeds way,way things are going cuthbertson and Garbutt are going to be goosed by mid season,singleton needs to push on now from last season and establish himself as first choice and hopefully get stevie ward back and fit in near future.after watching the way we were brushed aside by hull Kr,it needs everyone in the squad who's available to man up and be counted.if they not capable of it then get some who are next season.cant see anything changing either personnel wise or coaching wise this season no matter how bad it gets.

How do you know body language from the players equates to not being happy with the tactics? Did being present enable you to lip read the players as one by one they turned to the North Stand and shouted " tactics again Mac"

The body language is much more likely to indicate that they are not happy with their own performances and those of their teammates but then I am not a psychologist like you.




Well I think it is a player problem. I have seen that we have regularly got our numbers wrong resulting in too many gaps which the opposition has exploited..



Well if it is a fact perhaps you could provide the evidence to back this instruction up. Sutcliffe is essentially a runner so I can understand if has been encouraged to play on his strong suit, however I do not believe that the coach would instruct him to only ever run and ignore overlaps. That he does this highlights his shortcomings not only as a 6 but also as a rugby player too.



Again some proof of this instruction would be helpful. This could be a good tactic against certain sides and at certain times in a game eg when forwards in mid field are tired. It also could be good advice to Hardaker who seems determined to set off and run away from any support!



Yes. Simple they are badly out of form and have lost confidence. It happens in sport and it happened for the games just after last years Cup Final if you recall. The injury situation all season has precluded the coach's options on selection as you well know.




It is quite usual that senior players are often involved and sometimes run training sessions as it allows them to practice their on field decision making. This does not mean they replace the coach and to suggest Mac has not proven his coaching abilities is just mischief making.

I repeat the coaches selection options have been very limited so far this season because of injuries and suspensions. I understand that for many games even those selected have been carrying niggles. However there was a big uproar from certain quarters when Garbutt and Singleton were not selected yet they had been the least effective props against Wigan and perhaps the coach he did drop them for not keeping to the game plan. When he did select them they hardly covered themselves in glory.




Well we shall have to agree to differ regarding Smith and Warrington. Warrington lost key personnel, had injuries and lost form the same as we have this year. After a poor season they jumped into the transfer market with a target of two quality halfbacks.

Mac has given the opportunity to all the youngsters that looked the part some of whom have not disappointed while others have. Last season the coach was criticised by some for sticking to his senior players and has proven he is loyal and does have faith in those with the right attitude and consistency of performance. Who are the seasoned internationals that he doesn't have faith in? he has never been able to field his best line up so far this season due to injuries as I keep pointing out.

Where I am critical of the management is in failing to see that Sutcliffe was not up to running a game if McGuire were injured. Not recuiting like Warrington did is a major error in my book. I do not know if the blame for this lays with Mac or GH or both but without a good controlling decision maker we were bound to struggle. What we don't know is if there is some major recruitment next year in the pipeline which encouraged them to take the risk.

I have been disappointed with Falloon so far but hope he will improve as the team regains some form. Young Golding's return could just provide the spark we need.

Let it go Billy - it was once, granted the most costly defensive error in England's history but talk about holding grudges!

Garbutt is a ten a penny player in Oz. I think they are given out to tourists at the opera house. He is a player who does a job, a warm body, on the front foot he gobbles up metres, he is fairly solid in defence. Id keep him but im not heartbroken if he goes.

Delany is no longer even that. Im sure he tries his hardest, and yes he runs his heart out, and no doubt he would run through a brick wall for Leeds, but he spends more time on his haunches than on his feet, can barely finish a game, and is far too often (through injury) having to be carried by the rest of the team. Even at his best Delany is a limited player. He isnt that big, isnt that fans and has no passing skills to speak of.

Galloway is looking like an expensive Luke Burgess right now, concrete feet, but he has shown glimpses.

Falloon hasnt had enough time and has come in to a struggling first team.

Achurch is surely gone.

Personally im not as doom and gloom as some. I dont think we are that far away. Its clear we arent as fit as we should be, arent as sharp. Its clear we are low on confidence and that where there were strengths, there are now weaknesses. But we arent Wigan in 06, we arent Bradford. We have far too many good players, coming in to their prime for us to need years of a building job, and we make money, not lose it.

It took Smith longer than one season. It was obvious the likes of Morley, Hodgson, Carvell were going halfway through 2013 and whilst Briers retired earlier than they'll have planned for it must've been obvious mid-2013 how serious his neck issues were.....so that was mid-2013 when they knew what personnel they were losing and only now at the start of 2016 have they got things looking right again (in comparison we're talking a third of a season so far at Leeds). In 2014 and 2015 it honestly didn't look like Smith had a clue what his favourite 1-7 was and players like Ratchford, Russell, Bridge would swap positions often and he tried Gareth O'Brien at HB but never really seemed to trust him. I recall them starting the 2014 CC Semi against us with Ratchford at 6 and Bridge at centre and then swapping them around at HT in a perfect illustration of how unsure he was of his best lineup. As usual with Smith it was dependent on the generosity of the owners chequebook.

I'm not sure tactics have anything to do with dreadful one-on-one tackle attempts and downright lazy defensive efforts. Especially when things aren't clicking on attack, the defence is the one thing that can be made strong through hard work (the constant mantra from BM and players in the media).

I have to agree that we have too many ordinary Aussies in the pack. They have all come through a clearly superior system, and even if individually not the best going round as a unit they ought to be able to more than hold their own in SL.

Fair comments which underline my point that after losing their key personnel and dropping down the table Warrington did not blame the coach but resolved the problem by recruiting quality half backs and rebalancing their squad.

When hardwork is repeatedly thrown away because of poor options taken on the 5th tackle you don’t apply any pressure to the opposition. That means you get nothing for all that effort and they get off scot free. If they then manage to apply pressure to you on the 5th you’re having to work much harder than they are.

That leads to fatigue and more poor decision making in attack and defence. Players stop operating as a unit and try to do things individually they wouldn’t normally do. The team loses any shape in attack and defensive cohesion goes out of the window.

In the end it affects player confidence and performances can really nosedive.

It’s happening at the Bulls at the moment – the main driver has been a lack of a playmaker for us and a lack of any ideas from the coach. It sounds like the same situation at Leeds.

Aside from clear lack of leadership and direction on the field, 80% of what goes on in a game is mental. BM talked recently in an interview how training wasnt an enjoyable environment to be in at the moment as 'they have to always address the things that are going wrong' this is clearly an approach that isn't working at the moment. I have always believed that the more you enjoy your work the better you perform, sometimes the harder you strive for something the further it gets away and more demoralising it becomes. It's OK talking about technical issues but this game isn't the most complicated, morale is the first thing to address in my view.

If you have seen the PA suite at Leeds the players are analysed right down to the infinite detail and when players are low this is not always helpful, employees are not robots and don't function as such.

How do you address that when you’re in the cycle of matches? You can’t take much time out to do something different can you? I can see how things can get really negative if the team’s doing a lot of things wrong. Before long every training session is about how things went wrong.

As much as fans think they should want to see the players flogged in order to improve its not always the answer. Players don't forget structures, defensively or offensively, taking the pressure off and doing something that brings the team together in other ways, it would not be detrimental to lose a structured session or 2 to develop the morale. What is for sure is that repeating drills ad nauseum is not working.

I appreciate it's a different level of the game but I coached Liam Sutcliffe, Jordan baldwinson et al when they were u14 for Leeds, in our first three games they went in nervous and started poorly and it was 100% down to their mind set, so in the week leading up to St Helens away we mixed some game prep with a lot of more 'fun' core skill games and activities, you could see the weight lifted and we went and beat Sts 0-40. Now I appreciate the difference in context but it's not a million miles apart.

...its not just the activities that are done but the manner in which sessions are held, who's going to thrive in an environment that's all about the negative and fear of getting it right next time out. Look at Paul Anderson at the moment, looks like someone's walked into his house on Christmas day and pi s sed on his kids, whod be motivated to work for that?!

Who's there to tell guys like McDermott, Anderson and Lowes to lighten up? When they're the blokes in charge and have faces like thunder/wet weekend they need strong trustworthy assistants to tell them I suppose.

Think part of the head coaches role to reflect inwardly and recognise this for themselves.

It's human nature, things aren't going right so we try harder and harder to rectify it, becoming more frustrated and at a loss to the situation. negative messages are recycled until they're so deeply ingrained it's hard to get out of. I reflect on it all the time with the players and if we're not in good form I assess how that's affected my 'man management', attitude towards training and relationship with the players.