I know the majority on here feel very good about RS going, but this is yet another sunset on a failed appointment. We have been on the doldrums nearly 10 years now from the back end of Brian Mac's reign. I know we won two trophies in that time but neither season was convincing and I think we were frankly lucky to win either.

We can keep changing coaches, and we have, but it hasn't worked for a very long time now. Either we keep appointing the wrong coaches, or there is something else deeper and more systemic holding the club back.

I don't expect us to win the league every year, but there is really very little excuse for us not to be up there regularly challenging. It's OK GH talking about competitive leagues and salary caps, but the truth is that clubs DON'T all spend the same as each other, because they either don't spend up to cap, or they spank it on the Marquee allowances.

There are some other assistants over in NRL with good reps such as Jason Ryles, but it would be an exceptionally brave move for Leeds to appoint someone else without top-flight head coach experience now.

Bottom line is we need a competent pair of hands and the right cultural fit for where the club is at. Needs to be someone who can work well with Blease. Anyone coming in needs to be super confident too because this is one of the hottest seats in world rugby league.

Indeed a very interesting question. Trouble is at the moment not many outstanding coaches are available . Not forgetting who will take over until the season end, that’s presuming we can’t find a permanent coach in the next few weeks. Whoever takes over will face a massive challenge, half the team are extremely average to say the least.

A coach with a proven, sustained pedigree in top flight RL, no nonsense, with a record of bringing players through. Preferably available now, as filling on an interim basis basically writes this season off and puts us back to square one at the beginning of next. Step forward Brad Arthur.

nobody's happy smith was a failure.
but the fact is he was. you can't keep going when something is obviously not working.
I don't blame smith.
I blame chev for recommending him and GH for appointing him. another cheap appointment

I don’t understand the clamour for Brad Arthur. I thought his 10 year NRL record has a win % of just 52%

The NRL is a high quality competitive league, not like SL which is low quality competitive. Parra haven’t been one of the glamour teams since the 1980’s and were wooden spoon candidates when he took over. Their improvement on the ladder, 5 times into the play offs and 1 GF beaten only by the incredible Penrith team, shows how far he took them. He’s a very strong candidate and would be exactly what we need.

GH says Super League is competitive too

Who would Leeds fans like to see as their new head coach.

Danny Ward for new head coach?

I can kindof see where GH gets his thinking from - Agar was a good bloke and so was RS. Both have not delivered as coaches though and so we've lost 4-5 years to these decisions ultimately.

People read too much into statistics and win percentages etc sometimes. We need to appoint the person we think best fits our needs now, technically and culturally. A coach doesn't have 100% control over their win %, I keep saying it but results are multi-factoral (e.g. injuries, player form, squad they inherit for the first year or two, quality of opposition, luck... it goes on).

Win % is maybe an indicator, but it's not the only consideration. To be fair in Arthur's case his win % is probably more indicative of his performance than some other coaches because of his length of tenure.

The main thing for me is that Blease appoints, and gets funded to appoint, the best person for the job. Not the cheapest, not the best value, but the best person we can afford. One area Leeds should be able to OUTperform our competitors in is the coaching staff.

Agree Jim there is no salary cap on coaching/ rugby department but compare
Rohan Smith, walker & Grix to
Shaun Wane, Peet, Tommy L, O’loughlin, Joel Tomkins and John Duffy.

We are not even trying to compete.

Good blokes yes

Good coaches no

It's a rugby club not a stag do. Keep your good blokes I'd rather have a good coach.