come on no coach has complete control cart blanche over who they sign and who the don't anymore. Any good couch will be expecting to have input on signings retention but it will be a club decisions, whether thats leeds Cas Wigan etc etc.

Might have to live with Agar being coach but i still do not accept it . On the Sad news about Maurice , he was a great character and did a a bit of a gig for our club once which was hilarious so R.I.P pal .

From what I've seen, Agar has a good handle on why things aren't working on the field - the question remains whether he is able to find solutions though.

In all my time watching Leeds, I can only really point to 2 coaches (Murray and Smith) who have come in and had a real impact with existing players. Those kind of coaches are rare animals, and frankly you just can't generally polish a poo.

We skirt around this sometimes, but the bottom line is that the current Leeds squad just isn't good enough. If we aim to be challenging the top again, we need top players (and a top coach too).

I am of the view that the sooner we make the major surgery, the longer the patient has in recovery. Some tough calls need to be made - we don't have access to players behind the scenes, how they train, what their attitude is, what their metrics are.

We need to find a better balance between looking after our real Rhinos, and carrying dead wood - we've clearly got that wrong. I don't think any other SL club is carrying as many chronic injuries as we are (which we offloaded Garbutt over, who is now of course injured again).

It looks like Sinfield is taking a time out to really work on getting the head coach position right this time, after getting his fingers burned with Furner.

There's a danger we might be expecting too much from any coach with this squad, and with their hands being tied. Worst thing in the world is being held accountable for a situation you don't have real control over.

The illness part is a new rumour. However, many of us are hoping the second part might be true. His HT talks are abysmal. At least 4 games this season we've thrown games that we were clearly winning at HT.

I might be wide of the mark and as KR fan you know more than me but during his stint i wouldn't say he has done anything special. Certainly no more than even a young up and coming British coach couldn't have. No better than Chester anyway from my view point. Sheens was a great coach but he is nearly 70 and should be calling time and enjoying retirement imo.

He's not, he's playing on Sunday and did not suffer from "chronic injury" problems whilst at Leeds.

When you look at the last couple of years we have had McD who took us from the treble to the qualifiers to the GF and back to the qualifiers when he was sacked. Sinny and Lowe's limped us through the qualifiers. Furner had us in the bottom 3 and now Agar has seen us dumped from the cup by lower league opposition.

What is darn clear is that a coach can only do so much with what he has. You can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig.

We need to get the coach appointment right of course but the bigger issue is the playing squad and that is where the continued focus needs to be.

To be fair what's any coach going to achieve in less than a week if you're looking at agar to get a performance at Bradford. I'd say the coach appointment is the priority, sign all the players you like but if the ethos, culture and direction isnt right you'll not get the desired effort which in this game you can't hide from. The right coach also needs to drive recruitment, bringing in the players that fit his vision for the team going forward. That's it, I'm applying!

I would have expected Agar, touted as an experienced SL coach with international experience to have been able to get the players up for a cup game that was very winnable. I think any coach brought in would have expected to win that game and the profuse apologies by the club show what a shambles that game was.

That loss was not down to agar though, it was down to the players. I agree we need to get the right coach in as I said, but the right coach (whatever and whoever that may be) can only get so much from what looks a very average squad. So for me, player recruitment, of which any coach will only have so much of a say in is crucial.

Without rattling on too much, a few points for me that show it's a much bigger issue than just the wrong coaching appointment;
Any team that loses a world class player and leader usually sees a negative impact as usually you cant just replace like for like via recruitment. Any team that lost the equivalent of a Peacock, Sinfield, Burrow or McGuire would struggle - we've lost all 4 in a short space, that leaves a HUGE hole both in terms of playing ability, but also influence on and off the pitch. Most teams don't have 1 player in the same category as those 4, we've been incredibly blessed to have all four at once.
Those players made everyone else around them look much better - this is no disrespect to players like JJB, Ablett, Delaney, Bailey, Kylie (and many more) who are decent/good.players, but had any of those players been at another club without the influence of our big 4, they'd have had nothing like the same careers. Take those 4 out, and replace with players of a lesser standard, without the same leadership and commitment to the club and you're left with a very average squad, with little heart or fighting spirit.
Now the club have royally cocked up replacing those 4, but to be fair, it was an impossible task. The impact those 4 have on standards on the pitch, at training and off the field cannot be understated.
You can potentially replace them individually on a talent front via recruitment, but losing all 4 in a couple of seasons was always going to create a huge leadership/culture vacuum.
We've tried to get through this transition period hoping that their legacy will just continue into the new crop, but that was never going to work. Whoever the new head coach is needs to create their own spirit and legacy within the club.
What I'm about to say somewhat contradicts my points above, but I'd also say that the amount of ex-players being kept in the club is unhealthy. I totally get you want to reward loyalty, and GH obviously thought having the big 4 still involved in the club (there's only McGuire who isn't, and we've been trying to get him back too) would help keep the culture going, but we need to be more ruthless on that front. For all the big 4 have done for the club, ultimately the club is bigger than any player, the players are simply gatekeepers. Look at Man Utd under Fergie, once a player was past their sell by date, they're moved on for a younger, better option, not just moved upstairs - I believe not having the bottle to do this shows a soft underbelly, the sort of soft underbelly that starts to filter down and results in players believing it's acceptable to eat in the kebab shops of Headingley every night.

Very fair comments.

Very fair comments. Although I would not have put Leuluai in the same bracket as he was far better than "decent/good"

Don't get me wrong, Kylie was fantastic for Leeds and I loved him as a player - super consistent, reliable and exactly the type of prop we needed alongside JP, and rightly goes down as one or our greatest ever imports.
However, he was a fringe player in the NRL, and I'd suggest if he'd landed at a lesser club in the UK, he'd have been nowhere near as good as he turned out for us. He'd have been a good 'up n down' prop elsewhere, but with the structure and players around him at Leeds, he became a star. I think he's a perfect example of someone profiting from the golden generation.

With no new coach in its not looking good to shake up this team. It's the same old players week after week. We surely have other options

Watson anyone?

I’d be happy with Ian Watson and Richard Marshall. Both have done wonders with a limited budget.

Having listened to his post match comments at Anfield maybe Hanley would be interested in the job.
He'd ruffle a few feathers but maybe that is what's needed

I think Ian Watson is a great choice.

as an outsider, i said after furner went, watson would be a good call for you guys, the new daryl powell in many ways.

The Marshall ones a funny one isn't it. Here he was meeting with Sinfield at a game before Furner sacked. The rumour came out all over he was to be appointed assistant. Furner gets sacked, and nothing further, other than the news that Furner will persue an unfair dissmissal case.

Perhaps Furner is using the Marshall rumour has part of his evidence. And perhaps this is why not only as an assistant coach not been announced, but the head coach role they are left in limbo waiting on to appoint. They must know they are possibly on dodgy ground here.

Said that a team the time, sounded like an out n out invertation to throw his hat in the ring.

Furner did that and look what happened.

Agree though, asses need kicking.

Head a strong rumour from somebody connected at Cas that Powell will be coming our way before the season is out, and Daily Star running with the story as well. So there might be the something in it. Although it is the Star https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/rugby ... therington

Head a strong rumour from somebody connected at Cas that Powell will be coming our way before the season is out, and Daily Star running with the story as well. So there might be the something in it. Although it is the Star https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/rugby ... therington

“We are in a good place...” you must be fecking joking...

Quote ="rollin thunder"Head a strong rumour from somebody connected at Cas that Powell will be coming our way before the season is out, and Daily Star running with the story as well. So there might be the something in it. Although it is the Star https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/rugby ... therington'" I’ve never given much weight to this rumour and still don’t but, it might not be a bad move for Powell, Cas seem to be on a bit of a downward trend and he may have taken them as far as he can? Were at the bottom of a downward trend and need someone to take us back on an upward trend, the Leeds job will be a very attractive position for a lot of coaches. He comes across as a bit of a misery guts sometimes and I don’t like how he deals with the press but I couldn’t give a monkeys if he can get us olaying like cas were a few seasons ago, I’m not fussed about winning anything in the near future either.

Quote ="rollin thunder"Head a strong rumour from somebody connected at Cas that Powell will be coming our way before the season is out, and Daily Star running with the story as well. So there might be the something in it. Although it is the Star https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/rugby ... therington'" I’ve never given much weight to this rumour and still don’t but, it might not be a bad move for Powell, Cas seem to be on a bit of a downward trend and he may have taken them as far as he can? Were at the bottom of a downward trend and need someone to take us back on an upward trend, the Leeds job will be a very attractive position for a lot of coaches. He comes across as a bit of a misery guts sometimes and I don’t like how he deals with the press but I couldn’t give a monkeys if he can get us olaying like cas were a few seasons ago, I’m not fussed about winning anything in the near future either.