Fortunately next game up is at a ground Leeds have yet to taste defeat at (5 from 5), in a city Leeds have yet to lose in (19 from 19) during the SL Era.

At least Salford or the Dr have no added motivation to get one over Leeds, or more specifically the coach..... (if we remember last year's weird rant)

I wonder if a bit of an old school approach for one day might help to lift spirits and get the group smiling again. Appreciate the game has moved on but heard hardaker earlier on radio Leeds and he said the team had made same type of mistakes in recent weeks. Let's say today, The whole squad including injured guys had got on a coach and gone to Scarborough. Done a light hearted training session on beach, gone to the south side and played the machines, ice cream at harbour bar, fish and chips and stopped at a pub on way home and had a couple of pints. At end of day jjb gives a rally the troop speech lets train well for rest of week and go for it for rest of season. Tomorrow they would all come in feeling happier and smiling, joking about what had happened day before. It would release the pressure. If half of them are injured or knackered I reckon it would do them all more good than dwelling on more missed tackles etc. they would also put more in for rest of week. A bit of Syd Hynes or Uncle Dougie. just for 1 day.

There's a lot of messages coming out of Headingley about "working harder" and "pulling together" and "grafting our way out of it".

The problems don't appear to be lack of effort, more lack of execution.

Bit of a horrible management cliche, but what's needed appears to be working smarter, not working harder or for longer.

Agree. Some of our class players need a shot of confidence. We know they can do it, they need to believe it again too.

The effort is there but it's almost an 'auto-pilot' effort....not an effort of a team determined to defend their titles.

I think the mutual respect for each other doesn't exist anymore. There is no way Mullally would have made such a pathetic attempt at a tackle as he did for the second try if Peacock had been on the field. No way Hardaker would have been mouthing off at his team mates like he did if either Peacock or Sinfield had been on the field.

The whole smacks of a team that needs some leadership and some senior players to start setting an example by their own quality on the field. Hardaker is hardly in position to shout at anyone given his own pathetic performances. JJB would be the obvious Peacock replacement in that respect - he needs to start pointing some fingers and pointing out a few home truths

The old adage about keeping on doing the same things and being surprised when results don't change would seem to apply if the only off-field response is training more and harder.

Schofield's also right when he says individual players need to look at themselves before anyone else.

Well we've got room for at least one new player next year with Achurch told to move on according to the YEP.

Some interesting reading regarding Mitch thinking the coached need to get their heads together because the players are doing what they are told and. Working hard.

Not sure how much I agree with that.

Get distinct impression Mitch does not care for Mac very much ! There is a good player in there somewhere but sadly its never worked out for him at leeds

At the top level results are rarely down to lack of physical effort, initially at least. They are down to poor execution.

Would you blame him? don't think many care for Mac either.

I think there will be more than Achurch going end of season. Really Leeds should also be looking to manager the cap with what signings are needed, and to do that I would also release Burrow, Delaney, and dare I say it Hall (as I don't think we lose anything with Handley replacing, but save big money). Falloon and Ferres are out of contract, so you look at the options there.

Definitely think we need to look at a few of those. Achurch already confirmed, if we are being ruthless Walters has the opportunity to fill the Delaney workhorse role. I wouldn't get rid of Hall/Briscoe yet but Handley definitely has them on notice, rest and rotate like Wigan did with Charnley and Manfredi last year.

We should be looking for better than Falloon, I would keep Ferres. Burrow make it clear that he would be impact sub only, he's had a chance to reassert himself as a 7 and blown it. If possible get him a job on the youth development side, he's highly regarded in that aspect.

Galloway, I don't think we will be able to get rid of, but personally I'd prefer to keep both Delaney and Garbutt over him.

I'd like to think that with Achurch confirmed going young Baldwinson will get every chance over him to prove he belongs here, but if it's true they told Achurch he wasn't getting a new contract last year that isn't going to happen

The dressing room must be a strangely quiet place this season! There are players who could and should step up and do the talking that gets the results in terms of motivation, confidence and intent. Mac is not doing that and some, like Achurch, have their minds on something else. He has been focussed on his new business venture and he can't think about two things at one time! He has never appeared to give his all to me. I am completely unimpressed with the impact of all the new signings - even Ferres. Sorry, but he just does not do it for me. So - we need both new coach and new players, but they are not out there at this moment in time, so what do we do? It is not about 'grafting' or working longer. It is about attitude , motivation and pride and getting the right game plan to perform as a team again. So do we use this season as a platform to rebuild towards that or do we just accept that this is now where we belong? It's an obvious answer, surely.

It's that Mac doesn't like Mitch more like. In Pre-Season he plays him at Prop (which isn't his position), then b0ll0cks him for not playing how he wants. Then he drops him from the team without an explanation. As for the Training situation, the players are getting txts at 8pm telling them where to be the next morning.

Mac got on with Sinfield and Peacock and nobody else. Sinfield and Peacock got on with the Squad. I think it was a case of bridging Coach and Squad. That bridge has gone. Problems have started.

This sounds pretty sensible, however, out of curiosity how do you know this?

I wouldn't be in a rush to judge Ferres. He's come into a side all over the place in attack and lacking that Danny Brough type figure he thrived off at Huddersfield.

Couldn't fault his effort with or without the ball in the games he played, at times he was maybe trying to do too much with the offloads to make something happen. Still one of the best second rows in the competition IMO.

Walters needs to follow Achurch out the door, not be given the Delaney role. Thanks for being in the right place at the right time at Old Trafford, but he's never going to be physically commanding enough to play in the middle unit. He got walked through for Allgood's try on Friday. There looked at one time like there might be a decent player in there somewhere, he ran some clever angles and understood where he needed to be on the field. The attempt by the conditioning staff to bulk him up ahead of the 2015 season though just seems to have completely ruined him as a player.

Those in favour of retaining Burrow in the bench role - when was the last time he came off the bench at dummy half and changed the course of a game? Give him a role with the 16s and 19s, but this should be it in terms of a playing contract.

Hall leaving would be a huge call, I think he's still got an awful lot to give at this level. IIRC his partner was pregnant during pre-season so he's dealing with being a new dad, and then subsequently got injured. Can't see any signs of a terminal decline in his game though.

Discussions with Players and Staff. Hopefully it can be worked around.

Funny. I know Stevie Ward quite well, and what you're claiming (Mac only got on with JP & Kev) is utter rubbish.

Ok then.

I agree with everything you put there pretty much, Ferres is a quality player he has worked hard in a mostly beaten team and in time will get chances to show his qualities in attack. I don't rate Walters either from the evidence so far, He may well improve a bit in time but i don't see him getting to the top level of a SL back rower, no better than Clarkson standard for me.

I'm a bit undecided on Burrow, i have been one to write him off before, saying we should release him to Cas, and he has come good again and provided the difference come the end of the year. He is still handy to have in the squad provided it is just the bench role, i still think he is a weapon when the pack is dominant and on the front foot, can't say that has happened this year yet.

Fancy asking him what the issue is then? I don't accept this training ground issue, I can understand that being a factor but there's more to this than meets the eye.

Burrow has been brilliant for the club and one of those players that the opposition just can't or don't know how to handle. He has been a game winner for us in several massive games including finals but i agree he looks tired and just hasn't got the legs anymore to zip in and under the opposition defence. same goes for McGuire. His time is up. I'd love to see both of these legends involved in the club in youth development or whatever but it is time for them to hang up there boots.
McD is no top class manager. It was the team that he had under him that made what has been a golden era golden. I don't see anymore tactical or strategic thinking out of him than we got out of Bluey. The last good manager Leeds had was Smith.

Time to have a proper clear out and rebuild from the top down and the bottom up. I don't mind the break from winning trophies if it gives us the opportunity to bring in a fresh new culture built around a strategic and tactical management and playing approach that matches the players we've got and the teams we are playing against. It's no good relentlessly trying to smash a triangular group of players through a square hole. We don't have a square team anymore!

Wouldn't b0ll0cking him for not playing how he wants be an explanation for dropping him?



Nonsense. They'll be players who don't get on with the coach (McDermott admitted a few years back that they'll be players in the dressing room that won't like him and I imagine that's the same for most coaches) but to say only Sinfield and Peacock got on with McDermott is stretching it when you consider the likes of JJB, McGuire, Ablett, Delaney etc. at the club and McDermott has always spoken well of and who are in his "favourites" club so to speak in terms of being picked and played long mins and trusted more than others.

No. It's called constructing a Players exit by not playing him to his strengths.


Not nonsense at all. He's not a people person. He thinks hard graft is the answer to everything and people who don't "Fall in Line" are in his bad books. But it will never be made public knowledge & we could partake in P1ss1ng contest tennis all year, but it will get us nowhere. So lets leave it there.