Your club is probably coming into a phase that Saints where in and still are around 3 years ago . Your main pivotal players at 1, 6, 7, 9 and 13 are less effective, mainly coming to the end of their careers. Your props are also losing there consistency of high performance. Brian Mac has a much harder job than previous coaches to create a dominance in superleague, his purple patch being the grand final last season. Top coaches availability is thin on the ground, Brian Noble perhaps but he only has a Plan A and a Plan A and a Plan A.

He cannot. Leeds generally run a little below full cap. This year they started off, no doubt, miles below it as no replacement for Senior could be found. There has been a rash of renegotiated deals which, I understand, include re-signing fees which will be made to count under the 2012 cap - but which will leave plenty of space going forward.

[quote="tad rhino"he can't go much longer.
dammit i like the man. he comes over as a really decent guy who is a deep thinker about the game.

sadly as a coach he isn't good enough. no structure, no shape, no sense even in his decisions.
the squad needs three or four top class players but a top coach would have them in the top 5[
/quote

I think more than three or four players.We are struggling but I can't see many of the Leeds pack getting a game for the Bulls

what's his plan a? winning rugby league matches?

'No plan b' is such a simplistic over used cliche for coaches and managers.

Seriously? He's worse than I thought

Leeds have never breached the salary cap unlike Wigan, Bradford, Saints etc.

From last year's squad Buderus, Senior, Pitts, Ali, Cross and Burgess have gone and Griffin and Moore have come in.

They weren't over the salary cap last year - it doesn't take much of a leap of faith to see the cost of the outs is significantly bigger than the ins. Contract extensions were given to Sinfield, Peacock and Webb all of whom will have been on reduced monies especially the first two given the length of the contracts offered. There has been some increases to younger players but that is unlikely to be huge and we still had plenty of cap space to take Lunt.

Hetherington has always allowed cap space incase another Ali comes along and they don't come cheap.

Winning the GF last year probably set you back at least one or two years in terms of facing the reality of regenerating the team. (That said, you could argue its a fair swap.) Guys like Macguire are way past their best - he's a great example of a player that doesn't 'age' well, because his game relies so much on pace. Tomkins will tail off rapidly as he nears and passes 30.

A lot of people are now saying 'it doesn't matter where you finish as long as you're in the top 8'. This is daft - last year was a freak result, and will happen every decade or so, that's the point of the playoffs - to give outsiders a hope. I'd still much rather enter the playoffs from #1 or #2 spots.

the problem is the pack. they are battered week in week out. put mcguire behind wigans pack and he would be fine.

i hear a lot of the senior players have turned on him so his time must be limited

Like him as a man but he never should have been given the job.

I think they should sack him and hire another proven coach in either Rob Powell or Richard Agar.

Contrast the reaction of McDermott and Robinson to this week's defeats!!

What Robinson had to say "Disgusting, embarrassing, unacceptable" etc is what you want from a coach I bet the Catalans players will running up some hills this week. I bet the Leeds players will be going through the motions just like they did when they wanted rid of McClennan.

Perhaps its the players that need a shake up and showing the exit?

For me McNamara is the obvious choice

it needs a top class coach and a shake up of the squad. anyone who has watched them week in week out will tell you that

That's the coaches job. If he doesn't shake things up, he'll need showing the exit.

Obvious to everyone except the G-man

That's is OK provided the bosses are prepared to back the coach - Hetherington has let the players dispose of Powell, Smith and McClennan - McDermott will be next

Didn't smith leave as he wanted to take the role of coaching the national side? And mclennan left a year early of his own choice.

The pickle Leeds are in reminds me a little of the situation Chelsea were in in the last wendyball season. Too many ego's in the dressing room that think they know better than the coach and will point at their winners medal collection when the coach tries to take them to task. The term "nest of vipers" sums it up I think. It tends to happens whenever the same group of players remain successful through several coaches. The sooner McDermott goes the sooner things will turn around there I'll bet, although whether the senior players at Leeds are still capable of producing at the required level remains to be seen

Is there any evidence that this is actually the situation?

It doesn't take the backing of the bosses to drop under performing players.

Powell was made Director of Rugby, not disposed by the club. Was it true he didn't even have any coaching badges?
Smith left for the national job, not because the players didn't want him. He won the SL with them in his last year.
McClennan left a year early from his contract of his own accord.

Basically, you've just made all that up!

No he hasn't. Powell was shuffled sideways/backwards but the other two were basically, without being sacked, forced out of the club.

To correct you.

Powell had all his coaching badges before he ever became Leeds coach, he was given a non-job to placate him as he had been with Hetherington since to inception of Sheffield. That job lasted 6 months and he was shipped off to RU. He was supposedly going to take over after Smith but that never came to pass either. No young coach wants a DOR job over that of first team coach. Smith had already announced he was leaving Leeds before the England job came up - the terrible 2006 season did for him. Hetherington just used his control at the RFL to get Smith the job. McClennan would have gone at the end of 2009 but for a contract foul up by the end of 2010 he was not wanted by the players - google Sinfield's comments about the players view on the end of McClennan. Rumour is now that the senior players can no longer work with McDermott so I doubt he will be in charge next season. So not made up - I don't profess to know anything about Hull and you quite clearly know little about Leeds.

Millward and McDermott are in identical positions, the players have lost their respect for them respect for them, but because of the conntracts they are on, they wont be sacked. simple as.

millward has told a lot of the players they won't be at cas next year as "they are crap".
hardly inspiring stuff