GH is aware of the mood at the club, surely, and if the 'unrest' was causing problems I'm pretty sure he would want it sorting. If he is not sacking people he obviously feels the situation is rectifiable and can recognise that there has been enormous pressure due to recent successes. The squad wasn't used to losing and this will cause problems with relationships.

I was never a great fan of Bluey, but with the two GF wins he has eased my original concerns. I agree with a number of posters on here that the team seems to have a lack of structure in attack and this has been highlighted by the recent injury to Danny. I hope that the double act of Bluey and Brian Mac can provide a team that is highly motivated AND well drilled. This working relationship will also lead to a smoother transition leading up to 2012, if Brian Mac is taking over as expected. The players will have an immeadiate grasp of what he is expecting and how he wants them to play.

If we can use next year to blood some youngsters as well as settling in a few new faces the future could be very rosy.

I very much doubt you'll see that much difference in the style of play for 2011, it will still be McLennan's team to run and he'll want to live or die by his own methods rather than some compromised hybrid between him and McDermott's theories.

If the rumours are correct and he has lost the dressing room then I would agree and let him go now.

Sometime coaches don't get enough credit but I think many posters are giving Bluey too much credit for our recent silverrware. Firstly he inherited a champion team that were settled over several years with a winning formula. Therefore I would argue that it was this same team that deserve most of the credit for continuing to win rather than something new that this coach brought in.

In fact IMO he underprepared the team at the start of the last 2 seasons including 2 WCC defeats. Under McClennan the standard of rugby has declined, the entertainment value has declined, the discipline has declined, the support has declined. But my main concern has been that the game plan he persists with does not best use the talents in the squad.

If indeed the players are unhappy we the coach this is serious and may not go away, so the management has to listen and make a judgement.

The teams performances in 2005, 2006 and most of 2007 do not support that argument. Furthermore, having a side that is talented and settled is a world away from winning enough games to take the hub cap. It simply could not have happended without some input from the coach.

Did you actually read his post? I only ask because your first sentence would suggest you didn't. He actually clearly said last 2 seasons, which is 2009, and 2010.

I was only commenting on the last 2 seasons. But I agree there must have been some positive input by the coach(es). But he only had to keep oiling the wheels, so to speak, as we had a very talented group of players at the top of their game. If he is so good why are the players unhappy with him?

But I am more concerned about the decline in the quality and style of rugby which was evident in the 2009 season and was very noticable this season. IMO had it not been for the individual brilliance of McGuire we would have finished 6th or 7th and would have been a truer reflection of the overall team performance, tactics and technical skills shown this year. Are you happy with that poistion?

.

I read the post, there were two points contained within it. The first being that McLennan under prepared the team at the start of two seasons and the second being that his success is devalued by the work done before him by others, along with the quality of the team.

I happen to agree with the first point but, the second I cannot agree with at all. If this team was capable of winning a league title without the input of the coach then, they should have done in 2005 and could have repeated the feet in 2006. However, in the latter year, they were not even close.

Each to their own as they say but, in my experience, no team can achieve what Leeds have done over the last three seasons by reliance on the dedication, skill and application of the players alone. Were that not to be the case, Wigan would have shown up a whole lot better before now.

Losing the dressing room at the end of a disappointing season is immaterial IMO (assuming this to be fact). Plenty of time to get things back on track. Think back to TS's reign in 05 & 06 when similar rumours were rife, then fast track to the end of 2007. No evidence of dressing room dissent by then. The most important thing is that the team gets back into the habit of winning. If that happens they'll all be mates again.

What did John Monie once say, 'My grandmother could coach this team to be champions.'

and

Graeme Lowe, 'I'm 46 and I've had triple heart bypass surgery but I could still manage to play international rugby union.'

__________

Coach McClennan was given the tools but he still had to make them work similar to Coach Smith when he took over in 2004. Both coaches ran out of luck in year three of their time in charge. Let's wait and see what year four will bring.

My favourite Graeme Lowe quote was after he was asked if British players had improved their fitness to match the Australians:
"Skill wins matches, not fitness".

If he was talking about Wigan in the early Nineties, he was probably right. Clearly, not too many of his other teams were capable of coaching themselves.



I can't find a lot wrong with this statement. It rings very true to me!

Maybe he lost the dressing room during the season and if so that would have had a negative effect on the team performance. It all depends on the reasons which may not be immaterial.

There have been a few speculative claims of this nature over the season.

But no-one has come with any meat to back it up.

I ignore speculation.

I think some people are jumping to conclusions about McClennan having "lost the dressing room" and McClennan's skills as a head coach simply because we didn't win anything this year.

As has been said these same rumours were mentioned about Smith in 05, 06 and for a large part of 07.
I've spoken to several players over the last few months and not 1 has said anything even remotely close to criticising McClennan and everytime I've seen the first team train together they always appear to get along well with McClennan.

To suggest that the 08 and 09 wins were not due in significant part to the head coach at the time is harsh on McClennan in my opinion. Since the same must then be said of Tony Smith in 2004.

For me the parrallels between Smith's tenure and McClennan are striking. Smith won the GF in his first season in charge, as did McClennan. Smith, in my opinion, would have won the GF and possibly the CC in 2005 were in not for some unfortunate injuries and Bradford's salary cap breach. Then the 3rd year in charge, which in my opinion Smith's 3rd year (2006) feels incredibly similar to McClennan's 3rd year in charge.
Hopefully McClennan's 4th year will mirror Smith's.

The 2006 playoff defeat to Wire at HQ may be worth remembering at this point, especially for the fickle Rhinos supporters.

Christ - I thought my knee jerked around a lot!

P-E-R-S-P-E-C-T-I-V-E

Firstly, this season is deemed to be a failure by many yet we finished 4th, reached the CC final and came within 80 mins (well 45 really) of the GF. So really this is about context and what it shows is that we have been spoiled for the last few seasons, two of which Bluey was in charge so he can't be that bad.

Secondly, Bluey is head coach but one of a team of coaches who work with the players. Im not suggesting this is correct but perhaps other coaches have not been pulling their weight in their areas? For that some blame must fall with the head coach I agree, but surely not all.

Thirdly, injuries. We have just been so unlucky all season. Im not moaning (too much) its part of the game, but perhaps if Danny and JP weren't injured for the Wigan game we would have won. Then would it have been a terrible season and would we be even having this thread?

And finally, and perhaps most importantly, the squad is now ageing. Maybe we have been so successful recently because a lot of our team have been at their peaks, not perhaps they are just over that hill (Keith, JP, Kylie, Buderus, Ali). Every team in sport has to rebuild now and then which means a few lean years. Is that the coaches fault? Would a new coach changes that? I dont think so.

Im not particularly for or against Bluey but what I do dislike is that we have one bad season and suddenly the coach needs to be replaced. If we are having this thread after next season then all bets are off but until then ...

I hold my hands up here. At that point I'd utterly lost faith in Smith's ability to turn it round and was convinced all the potential shown previously had been wasted. Needless to say my opinion one year on had changed 100%.

Who knows whether McClennan can oversee a similar turnaround? Though I would point out that although Leeds have disappointed this year, they've in no way sunk to the level of the cup semi defeat by Hudds and the play off defeat by wire in 06.

The loses against the likes of Salford, Crusaders and other teams that we should of beaten on the day are the hardest ones to take in. However this years challenge cup run proves that this team is still up they with the very best in the world on its day. Ok we got to the final and lost but that cup run is an indication that Leeds can still beat the likes of Wigan and Saints in knock out rugby.

Unless I've blanked it I don't recall Salford beating Leeds this season.

Its nothing to do with Bluey

Its the guys on the field that are the problem, we dont have world class players anymore we have world class players from 2 or 3 years ago or maybe longer, they are a bunch of has-beens,

Buderus
Senior
Burrow
Diskin
Webb
Sinfield
Ali

These guys are way past there best and need to be replaced IMO. Bring up all the stats to prove me wrong if you like but we have seen the best of these guys a while ago and most superleague teams have sniffed them out and they dont make anywhere near the impact they used to.

I was thinking generally over the three seasons whilst we’ve had bluey at the helm. I didn’t make that too clear though so forgive me!

I knew you were mate, we have an understanding.

Just clarifying for the other board members.

Slowly getting used to the telepathic understanding