Rowley could commute from his home in Worsley to Leeds daily.

Hull is too far, so he would have to stay there overnight.

The logistics fit for Rowley signing with his family and home life, but I agree, his recent contract extension means he will cost big bucks.

Has Gary H written his letter to the YEP for the fans yet? No doubt mention the golden generation, stadium rebuild, covid etc. which are all incredibly stale now.

I'd imagine on Saturday there will be a fair few out on the beer for the afternoon and if Cas score first when we make an inevitable basic error it could turn nasty.

Think it’ll become a little clearer after weekend.
Can’t see Smith leaving until end of season so we’ll get a leaving by mutual consent email and we’re going on a worldwide talent search, no stone left unturned, rhinos DNA , knows the club / knows the city / knows the milkman spiel.

We can’t be relegated so there’s zero urgency to appoint a new coach / back room team. Sad for this season but he’s already got your season ticket cash so what you going to do?

Spot on.

I don't think that is spot on. GH will, I imagine, want Leeds to be successful, winning things again, and attracting more sponsorship and higher attendances. What he won't want is declining support and spend at the club going forwards.

I don't know why so many seem to have such a negative attitude towards the club they support - maybe it's an ingrained "us and them" mentality. My view is that GH's race may well have run its course from some time ago now, but the club itself is still amazeballs and our facilities are the best in SL by a distance. Our foundations are solid, but clearly we are missing key elements still and have been for a long time.

It's far more likely that GH and other senior figures at Leeds are hungry for success and want us to be doing much better, than the idea of them sniffing white powder off girls at the weekend while laughing at the few hundred quid you might have ponied up.

I don’t have a negative attitude, I have a realistic attitude that recognises the mess we are in. It goes without saying we have the best facilities in super l league. Which makes it frustrating when you see the dross that’s served up on the field. Have some sympathy with Hethrington he appointed Smith and Smith has failed. Although I am mystified as to what he saw in Smith , highlighted by the esteemed bullseye on the bulls site.Foundations are solid , but key elements missing for a long time? You might like to explain what the key elements are that we are missing, apart from the fact several players aren’t good enough for a potential top four club. Plus the coach is out of his depth.

What a horrible image

Well yes it looks that way - I've said loads before that in order for us to compete in the top 4 next season, which is one thing everyone on this forum would agree on - we need 2-3 real top quality signings. I would go prop, second row and a new scrum half. I'm assuming Martin will leave and whereas we lose Mr Consistent and a great goal kicker, it does give us an opportunity to find a more Sironen-esque player. Our pack is too soft throughout, we need to change it up.

I know this is as popular as a poo in a perfume factory but I think RS is a good coach, I'm just not sure where he comes back from losing the fan base to the extent he now has, and I said at the end of last year, he would live or die on his next signings and too many haven't worked unfortunately. His judgement has been off with too many players when the side us under so much pressure.

It looks increasingly like we need an experienced hand now to guide this young side forward. I wouldn't have a problem with that, but it does need to be a proven coach. Said elsewhere but from the little I've seen, Brad Arthur would be a good fit for us potentially, although his star has fallen quite a bit over the last 18 months a little like Demetriou.

I agree with you here on GH. We're fortunate he's been such a success initially with rugby related matters, but overall as a custodian of the club, which is in a fantastic position overall.

I said on another thread, Smith was a gamble, which simply hasn't come off. His background isn't a million miles apart from Holbrook and Woolf in terms of assistant jobs and Qld Cup coaching, it's a real shame it's not worked.

Back on GH, I don't think he's run his race in terms of CEO, but I do think it's important to have a DoR figure, who will choose the head coach, be in charge of recruitment and oversee the rugby department. GH can then focus on his strength of running the business side of things. I used to think that Smith would ironically make a better DoR than coach, due to his ability to get rid of the deadwood on the roster, but his choices in recruitment this season have changed my mind, and I think we need a fresh approach altogether.

Jim, give us an insight into what you like about Smith's coaching.

For me, I'm sure he has some really interesting ideas and thoughts. The reality is that this is one of the biggest jobs in world RL, and for whatever reason the messaging isn't getting across. It's not as black and white as people make out that he's a terrible coach, as he wouldn't have held the positions he has if that were the case, even at assitant level. I think Leeds is just too big and too much pressure for him. His tactics and philosophy might be better suited to a small, plucky side who could surprise teams with some unusual tactics the way Tolouse played in SL, but not for a top four club.

This is a good post, which is why I really dislike the personal aspect of some of the criticism (well I dislike that in general for players and coaches) Ive seen fraud, idiot, clueless and all sorts thrown at RS.

Fact is he has been in and around coaching for a long time, done some great work with Norths Devils, but as you say it could be that he's just not a good fit for a club like Leeds, well maybe not as head coach, as speaking to players and people within the club the stuff he has done with the whole set up has been very good - it's just seemingly not translating into results for the first team, which is ultimately what will be his downfall.

It will be interesting to see where his career goes when he leaves Leeds

I think he is smart, I think he's logical, I think he knows the game deeply.

Where I think he's tripped up is some poor recruitment and retention decisions (although praise be he moved on a load of dead wood which was desperately needed), he's had some crap luck frankly, and I don't think he's coaching the side to it's strengths as much as his own vision of the game.

Tactically, with the injuries, loss of form and lack of ability to execute in this team, I really don't think we've seen what RS is about. I don't take any glee that we're struggling still, but it is what it is and sometimes a change of voice in the club is needed - the players will show us over the next few fixtures whether they are still with Smith or not.

Probably go back to NRL and headhunt our best youth talent mate...

I think what's been disappointing is I think we did see what a Smith coached team was all about in those first 19 games to get us to the GF. But for whatever reason it's not continued through.

I think bottom line is GH took a gamble on the cheap and it backfired.
If his pedigree was similar to that of Woolf and Holbrook and probably better than Peet and Burgess.
Then we have just been unlucky in what we have ended up with.
Peet and Burgess were probably a bigger gamble especially for the clubs they are now coaching.
Whilst I`m no big fan of Smith and the way he portrays himself.
We need an established coach or another gamble decision such as the names I mentioned previously in Briers or Carr or Holbrook.
Or if he`s willing, Butterill.

With respect we've had two years. We've seen exactly what Rohan's style of rugby is about. On his best day it's exhilarating, exciting and very hard to beat. But when was the last time we saw a best day? Middle of last year maybe? Even then we didn't see a complete performance. The only conclusion I can draw is that it just doesn't work and the results and the stats support that conclusively. If Rohan showed any indication that he could accept and adapt to that I could still get behind him. Despite multiple chances to reset his team haven’t changed their approach in any respect. We are awful week in week out. I don't see how you can really say any different.

Definition of insanity and all that ….

In smith’s eyes, his system works perfectly but pesky things keep getting in the way. Mitigating circumstances. He’ll still be doing the same things and getting the same results in a decade, if we let him.

He must be stopped.

Smith's track record of actually coaching sides in decent level competition was better than Holbrook and as good as if not better than Woolf's.

Woolf took over a stable championship winning saints side, Smith took over a rabble and a salary cap nightmare.

But what style is going to work when players are making 14/15 errors a game Clueso? You can’t implement anything.

I do agree we’ve seen a lack of appetite to adapt and change in the face of evidence. Like the ruck speed was slower than promised, so we just complained about it for 2 months and lost the ruck. Like asking small wingers/FB to take the brutal carries out of yardage, when clearly we need to pick and choose. With Fus fit that might work better; but not with who we’ve actually had. Net result is we fail to establish any momentum in sets and the opposition are dominating us in the ruck.

Anyway if Smith is going to save his Leeds career, he’s going to have to deliver some strong performances and results in this next sequence that’s for sure.

I know its a bit chicken and egg with respect to mistakes vs style of play, but I tend to agree with Arthur. I think a chunk of our mistakes are because of the style we are trying to play. Some are down to execution, but is it a surprise we panic when we have decent field position given how rarely we get it? Or that players continually running the ball out of trouble either drop the ball under pressure or try dumb offloads? Other errors like kicking out on the full should have been stamped out on day one.

We also have a squad who could not easily execute a more 'basic' game requiring forwards to be much more physical. Lisone can do this but only when the opposition are not up for it - a classic flat track bully. Holroyd can bang a big but for a big guy he doesn't run the ball in with enough venom, and Sangare is worse. Oledzki is a worker not a dynamic forward, and he really doesn't stand up that well against more powerful opposition IMO. And we have no genuine props in reserve.

If Smith wanted that rotation to be more dynamic they'd only be able to do it in patches, and then revert to type. Is that what we saw first half vs Sts in the cup? We've seen time and again that powder puff forwards never really change, and that size alone isn't enough. Sangare is today's Chris Feather.

That's why even if Smith wanted to change tack now I'm not sure he can. He built the team to play a specific way, which isn't working (and in some cases the players aren't up to it). I don't know how much can be changed without - yet again - turning over players. But he's the coach and he seemingly wanted this squad - either way a lot of responsibility is down to him.

Again disagree that style = errors. I think people are finding any way to attribute blame to RS when we're talking like this frankly.

There is plenty to criticise about his approach but the errors are individual players lacking quality and/or concentration and discipline in key moments. We will retain the errors unless we switch out some repeat offenders.

I agree with you mostly over the analysis on the props. Holroyd needs an injury-free run and a real pre-season, but he does defend aggressively and puts himself about in the middle. Mik is fine, he's a good player. We fall off very quickly beyond those two though - Lisone is one with errors/sloppiness to his play, and Sangare doesn't run his weight.

Part of the problem though is the lightweight-ish back row. The only back rower who can bend the line is probably Smith, but I think we need another second row who is hard to handle. Personally I think McDonnell is our best grafter/dirty work player but all the other pack members should be awkward to defend against if we want more domination in centre field.

Re-signing Bentley and Donaldson (who to be fair is more here for morale than actually playing at this stage), and signing Goudemand just exacerbates the problems we have in the pack. We do have some better prospects coming through the academy but they could be a couple of years off realistically.