I don't for one minute think we will sack Smith this season and would suggest he has maybe 8 to 10 games next season to see how things go.
The lack of an available coach is more the concern and if we do manage to find one the rebuilding will take yet another 2 years until they can mould their own team.
Rinse wash and repeat.

If something clearly isn't working - Leeds are 9th out of 12 - then you have to make a decision as to the best way forward. Given the lack of recruitment it suggests Leeds are happy with the way things are going including the coach.

What will change this is corporate activity or a significant reduction in it. I suspect that is the reason JJB had to go because it sent out the wrong message to sponsors etc. The golden generation is a look over the shoulder not a look forward and sponsors will have had an impact on these kind of decisions.

Yes you can blame poor recruitment in the past but what you cannot overlook is the poor performances on the field - is Smith getting the best out of the players i.e. is he adding value? If he isn't then changes need to be made - if he is then the club need to come out explain to supporters how this manifests itself.

What you don't do is fly someone and his family half way round the world and then fire him after 3/4 months - that is not how good businesses treat their people. What message does that send out about the values/culture of the club. Furner wasn't helped by having a spy in the camp who undermined him with his boss - poor all round. Was he a good coach who knows he wasn't given the chance.

So your saying we should have stuck with Furner a proven poor coach, potentially got relegated, just because he flew around the world. He was given a chance and it was very clear he had to go quickly.

You provide a support network to assist with the transition not provide a platform for matters to get worse. Leeds did all their research and decided of all the coaches they could appoint Furner was the most appropriate. All of a sudden he is no good - perhaps it was the people around him that were no good and prevented him showing his quality.

Leeds have obviously learned a lesson whereby they will back the coach and move the rotten eggs on e.g. Gale and Leeming. We have all worked in businesses with poor staff who disrupt the other staff - these people are poison. Smith saw through JJB and he was gone within 6 months - shame it wasn't done three years earlier.

I have absolutely no idea what happened with regards to Furner. We are suffering from lack of on field leadership, in the past Sinfield plus Peacock and Danny McGuire used to sort things out. Several occasions this season things have gone wrong, dropped balls, forward passes the main players just stand around looking sorry and dejected. Nobody seems to communicate any sense of urgency. Unfortunately we are a deeply flawed team starting with Myler at full back. He does an adequate job but ultimately he his not Brent Webb. Most of the season we haven’t had a decent set of half backs. Plus we have a forward usually playing in the centre role, Conner is trying his best as hooker , not getting much support. An expensive winger that seems to be permanently injured. Sadly unless things change we will be in the same position next season.

Wasn't JJB just in charge in a caretaker role while we found a new coach?

He thought he could be so successful they would offer him the job - that is the impression he gave. Thankfully things didn't pan out the way his delusional mine thought they would

Agreed

X2

In this squad there are some good players - unfortunately there aren't any x-factor players, Newman has yet to prove that. The squad needs some star quality in key positions. Look at our players and ask yourself how many would get in the Saints, Catalans or Wigan side - more worrying is how many would get in either the Leigh or Hull KR sides?

Therein lies the problem - too many average players.

We really need to avoid getting sucked into a football culture where the coach is always the scapegoat. I've always believed that coaches get too much credit when things go well and far, far too much stick when they don't. It always comes down to the players. Doesn’t matter what the game plan is if the spine players do not have the talent or character to realise it on the field. It's blatantly obvious that the current occupants of those positions are collectively not good enough. That's where the focus should be. Smith worked wonders with a squad that was near bottom of the table when he arrived last season. This year, with peanuts to spend in the off season and with a full back and two halves who are all heading towards their mid thirties he has not been able to maintain that momentum. However, as bad as some of it has been the team has generally competed every week. Our "passive" defence was 4th best in the league last time I checked. Quality additions (if they occur) in the spine positions would make a massive difference. Sacking Smith would be chucking out the baby with the bath water.

Probably more than you think, look at Hurrell at Saints, slotted in and his weaknesses weren't exposed as much.

The issue for us is the lack of quality in the halfs and the forwards not always having the correct attitude to working hard and getting on top of the opposition. If our pack plays well, we generaly play well, if they dont, we dont.

We'll need the pack to do much better for the rest of the year if we're going to stand a chance of winning many games. We're highly unlikely to have much creativity/fluency out of the spine players we have left. Best chance to get wins is to turn games into a genuine wrestle and play for position. That would mean a much more aggressive defence than we've generally shown, but I just don't see we have many points in us now.

I agree entirely though that IF we had a really dynamic full back and a playmaker (or two!) who could really lead us around the whole team would look massively better for next season. Take the halfbacks out of any team and they'd struggle.

4th best defence 9th/10th best at league positions thanks for the stats!

Do we get a trophy for 4th best defence?

Talk about coaches getting too much credit, suggesting Lee Briers is the reason the Broncos' attack is firing is way OTT. If you were looking for one person who has transformed their attack, its Reece Walsh. He scares the hell out of defenders with his pace and opens up spaces all around him. They have Reynolds who generals the team, Ezra Mam who is developing into a decent 6, and two of the best strike centres in the competition. I really don't think it takes a coaching genius to make them a hugely potent attacking side. Not saying Briers isn't doing a good job, but way OTT to suggest they wouldn't be about the same with any other coach in there.

You can have all the best strike players if they don't work to a pattern they will be redundant. Great thing about Brisbane is they play to their strengths - a bit like Penrith - which is their athletic ability. Watch their plays their all about exposing the opposition so the greater speed/power comes in to play. They are not an off the cuff side/kicking side nor are they a tight physical side like Penrith who simply grind you down to a standstill.

Someone whether it is Briers has devised an attack that suits the participants. He might have been lucky to be in the right place at the right or he just be a very good coach.

I would agree with much of this - the one question I have given the squad he has "Is Smith adding value - are the team performing to the best of its abilities on a regular basis" that is all that matters he can only coach what is there - if the honest is yes great, if not then "Houston we have a problem" Which do you think it is?

Whatever this team needs in terms of recruitment to move forward, Smith is not currently getting the best out of the players we do have.

Maybe, maybe not. I honestly don’t know. As I said, the spine was poor, and now we only have 50% of it, so things aren't going to be pretty. Ultimately I think it's time the club did the brave thing and really backed a coach. McNamara, despite is England stint, was pretty derided when he took over at Catalans. They had some wobbly seasons on the back of significant investment, but despite that Guash stuck with him and it's paying off. Coaches need time, investment and a lot of luck to be successful. Just think we need to give Smith the first two and hope he is blessed with the third. Sacking him (especially given the dearth of available quality coaches) would be a cowardly act of short term fan appeasement on the part of the club. I don't think they'll do it.

The make up of the team is an irrelevance - does the team he puts out perform to its ability or even exceed its ability - that is what Smith is paid for?

I am with you I would give him more time but surely there are limits to how long the club and its supporters can accept performances of this quality. A team with the resources that Leeds have should not be in the position they have found themselves since 2017.

Now I’m no RS apologete, but are we sure this group of players isn’t performing to their ability?

I don’t think they are. But I also think the fact a number of senior players been told they are likely to not be kept beyond this season my have impacted smiths ability to get them to buy in and play to their ability.

I totally agree with your sentiments re 2017. Just think that frustration and anxiety transfer directly on to the shoulders of each incoming coach, and they can’t be held accountable for systematic failure. Will have agree to disagree on your point about the make up of the team being an irrelevance. To my mind it's always relevant. If the other team has better players, and sadly a lot of them do, you'll always be up against it.