Its jut an easy thing for people to moan about, unable to understand how a salary cap works, as well as understanding how much more money there is in the NRL compared to SL.

Agree - we are still in transition. We were relegation fodder a few years ago (even with Man of Steel and Golden Boot shoe-in Richie Myler…). We have been mid table ish for a couple of season now.

The next step is to consistently challenge; every year. Where we should be. I believe we have the nucleus of a side that can do that but I am concerned about our track record of signing senior players over a very long time. During this season we have a real chance to change things and make a dash for glory. Let’s see what Rohan can do with some budget and more intimate knowledge of the club and the squad.

I certainly don’t want to see Smith fired. As for moaning, I think for the majority of posters it’s sheer frustration at seeing a potentially good side constantly making school boy errors. Not playing the ball properly for one example, we constantly seem to be starting our set of six from deep behind our 25 yard line. Not certain of this passive defence malarkey ,if at all as a theory it exists. Seems obvious if you let a big forward build up some momentum it’s a lot harder to tackle him. Think most people including me thought after the Catalan gane we would win at rovers and get some kind of momentum going. Sadly we were all proved wrong, hence the moaning

I completely understand some of the moaning, the performance wasnt good enough for a winnable game, just like the Hull and Cas games. But some of the moaning and knee jerking on here makes me laugh out loud its so ridiculous.

Get the monkeys in with some type writers.

One day you’ll get Plan B or not to Plan B , that is the question.

Will anyone ever ask Rohan that in a presser?

I think Smith prefers utility value in players so they can cover a number of positions.

Was Olpherts already signed prior to Smith coming in? I don't think he was announced until after Smith came in but there were rumours he had signed for us at a very early stage in the season last year.

I've got a feeling things were well advanced by the time arrived. Would have thought he might still have the opportunity to veto though.

Didn't seem to crop up on here until Smith had been in post a while viewtopic.php?f=17&t=636916&start=600

Didn't seem to crop up on here until Smith had been in post a while viewtopic.php?f=17&t=636916&start=600

I’d say there’s zero probability of that happening unless by some kind of outrageous fortune.
Bit rude though to call the journalists ‘monkeys with typewriters’

Thing is if Handley and Fus are fit; and Newman and MacDonald, Olpherts isn’t in the 17.

They signed him because of his yardage stats because we were really struggling to get forward at times last year.

I don’t know: with Tindall already here surely you would give him the chance to develop rather than replace him with a 31 year old who is 50/50 better. Maybe we wanted some strength too.

Smith is on record as saying Olpherts can cover a number of positions he just didn't say how well

We should have just kept Luke Briscoe if we wanted a strong, yardage making backup winger/centre. Always thought he was seriously underrated and he also made very few errors.
We could make an audacious bid now Leeming has gone or if we’ve still got a ‘special relationship’ with Fev then a swap deal…..

Obviously Olpherts has some mistakes in him, and that's resulting in points against. However, I can see why he was signed. He was one of the top metre makers last week and his carries early in the set are a big part of the game. Whenever I've seen Tindal play he usually goes sideways on early carries making very few metres. He's probably a bigger attacking weapon, but has minimal impact from our own line

On Smith, some frustrating results against 'weaker' teams. Then some good results against better ones. We have a very new and young team. We upgraded over the off-season but it hasn't all stuck yet. With a few juniors in the team there will be mistakes but they're part of the game. It's the more senior players lacking consistency and impact that is the worry. Sezer seems almost invisible most of the time.

The frustration about the signings from the Championship is the deficiency this shows in the academy set up. We spend so much money yet we have to bring in low grade Championship players to augment the squad - surely that is what the academy is there for. Are any of these signings better than Broadbent - really?

imo no. not even close

We haven't signed any centres from the championship have we? Is Broadbent better than Newman, McDonald or Martin as centre. Definitely not. Academy (champions last year) players tend to be 18 or younger. Smith, quite rightly, doesn't think throwing 18 year old lads in with fully grown men is a wise way forward. Better to develop them in the reserves or on loan. Which of our championship signings do you have a problem with? McDonnell came from the Championship and forced his way into the first team in a very short time; McDonald looks our biggest attacking threat; Ruan had a great pre season and is starting for Bradford; Roberts scored a belter away at Leigh and also got one last week; Hooley had a shocker in a gale force wind at the most inhospitable ground in the league, but a bit premature to judge him on that. Which players would you have signed for this year?

Some interesting stats below in particular Cam Smith, James Bentley and Blake Austin.

Tackles
Rhinos loose forward Cameron Smith has now emerged as the competition's overall leaders after producing a whooping 64 tackles against Hull KR for Leeds Rhinos. The fact Jarrod O'Connor is second across the whole round too demonstrates just how many errors with the ball Leeds made last week.

Round leaders: Cameron Smith (64), Jarrod O'Connor (5icon_cool.gif, Matty Lees & Benjamin Garcia (47)
Overall leaders: Cameron Smith (305), Nathan Peats (285), Jai Whitbread (280)

Missed tackles
Oliver Russell and Edwin Ipape once again find themselves among the leading culprits for missed tackles this week. The overall 'crown' remains with Hull KR's Mikey Lewis.

Round leaders: Oliver Russell & Edwin Ipape (icon_cool.gif, Sam Stone & James Bentley (7)
Overall leaders: Mikey Lewis (33), Jacob Miller and Micky McIlorum (29)

Tackle busts
Not only did he score two tries, but Konrad Hurrell also had plenty of fun with his carries, recording a week-high of eight tackle busts. Tim Lafai, despite missing the last two of the last three games, remains the competition's overall leader.

Round leaders: Konrad Hurrell (icon_cool.gif, Tommy Makinson, Jai Field & Sauaso Sue (7)
Overall leaders: Tim Lafai (3icon_cool.gif, Bevan French (37), Jai Field & Arthur Mourgue (34)

Carries
It was a busy night for Rhinos forward smith as he was also the competition's leading ball carrier last week. The loose forward is getting through some work for his side. Jacob Miller and George Williams were typically among the leading carriers too.

Round leaders: Cameron Smith (24), Jacob Miller (23), George Williams (22)
Overall leaders: George Williams (167), John Asiata (154), Jacob Miller (14icon_cool.gif

Metres
Not one, but two new members to the 200+ club, with Wigan's Abbas Miski recording the highest figure of the season with 278 during the Warriors' win over Leigh Leopards. Paul Vaughan is now the outright leader. He posted 191 this week, which amazingly wasn't good enough to be in the top three of the week.

Round leaders: Abbas Miski (27icon_cool.gif, Matt Dufty (227), Bevan French (199)
Overall leaders: Paul Vaughan (1202), Josh Charnley (1041), George Williams (1011)

Errors
It was a tough debut for Luke Hooley. Jordan Abdull's aerial bombardment caused him and Leeds all sorts of issues and he came up with five errors during the match. Jai Field is now the leader overall.

Round leaders : Luke Hooley (5), Matt Dufty & Mahe Fonua (4)
Overall leaders: Jai Field (14), Rhyse Martin (13), Mason Lino (12)

Offloads
For a second week running, Toby King comes out on top with five offloads. It means he's now the joint leader overall, tying with Huddersfield's Esan Marsters.

Round leaders: Toby King (5), Konrad Hurrell, Paul Vaughan & Thomas Mikaele (4)
Overall leaders: Esan Marsters & Toby King (16), Kai O'Donnell & Julian Bousquet (13)

Penalties
Owen Trout may have bagged a double but he was also guilty of making the referee blow his whistle three times during Huddersfield's win over Salford Red Devils, with Mark Sneyd doing the same. He's now the co-leader for penalties conceded alongside Blake Austin.

Round leaders: Owen Trout & Marc Sneyd (3), Four others (2)
Overall leaders: Blake Austin & Marc Sneyd (icon_cool.gif, six others (6)

The mistake when looking at the 'championship' players is looking at them as though they should all be in the first 17, when most were never intended to be playing regularly. Having to sign these guys is an indictment of Leeds' junior development - not from the last year or so, but going back 5 or more years. We've somehow not managed to produce many good players, had a small first team squad that was underperforming and some way off the best on paper, and yet were right at the cap. Smith came in halfway through last season with the remit of sorting this utter mess out. Frankly in terms of squad he's achieved more in less than one year than I thought anyone could, but a lot more needs to be done.

That doesn't change the fact we're now not playing well consistently and he needs to fix it. We've shown we can compete, now we need to play to our potential.

Imagine how we could use Hurrell now if we kept him!

he wasnt worth keeping

7 missed tackles for Bentley, pretty disgraceful for a senior player. Smith really needs to start dropping these high end players who are not doing enough. Take a leaf out off his uncles book, or even go full Graham Murray.

Smith is certainly leading the way with the amount of tackles and carries.
And all this clamouring for Mikey Lewis yet he`s the worse in the league for missed tackles.
Rhyse Martin doesn`t go unnoticed either.

Yeh I'm not sure on Lewis tbh.
Decent prospect, but nothing more yet for me.
Abdul is different league.

Smith and O'Connor will always top our tackle count.
Always the first ones into the tackle down the middle.

An it confirms that Austin is a penalty machine.
Often gives stupid ones in key positions as well.