To be honest, Rohan sounded like the mold of coach I was after when we got him. I wanted someone like Holbrook or Woolfe who was still making their way as a coach but would hopefully be a success for us.

Its very unlikely we would get a top end coach as they are all likely in roles in the NRL. Even so, top end doesn't always bring a success. I thought Wayne Bennett was poor for England and Tim Sheens did nothing.

Any new coach will likely be a gamble.

Lets not reinvent Furner as some misunderstood genius, done in by the nefarious JJB. He brought the awful Lolohea with him, and continued to pick him despite him (and several other members of the team) looking hopelessly out of shape. We lost 8 of our first 9 games under him, it was an unmitigated disaster.

This actually could have been predicted given his record at the Raiders, where he only got the gig because of his dad being in charge. He had a 43% win ratio there, and was widely regarded as utterly out of his depth.

Similarly making up stuff about Rohan Smith being a failure at Norths is silly. If we're going to talk about coaches, lets be real about them.

Do not get trolled lads

A few points.

Fan criticism- if a coach avoids the job because they’re scared of fans on SM they simply aren’t cut out for the Leeds job.

Matt Peet, no experience - I mentioned on another thread. Wigan have their own bespoke model of bringing through coaches in their system, in structures already in place, with the best young talent in this country.

Dave Furner - that goes back to GH as well. Allowing JJB to influence the decision (if true). Appointing him in the first place, or appointing sinfield who appointed him. Whichever way you swing it, he was the root cause of that sorry saga.

Rohan smith’s record - the stats I quoted, if incorrect, I didn’t verify them that deeply. Regardless of win percentages, coaching at norths and Bradford is not the right level of experience for taking on the Leeds job in its current guise.

Ponder this, if Rohan smith had taken over during the golden generation massive eyebrows would have been raised. Yet, the cards were stacked in a coaches favour more than any time in our history during that period, but it would have still caused a stir, let alone now when the situation is far harder.

Maybe there were some other good guys interviewed and Smith interviewed the best. But, sometimes these things are intangible, and there is a sense when someone will be a good fit and will “cook”. GH has lost that sense.

Gweedy Gawry has had his day keeps signing overweight players or midget props.

What are you, five years old or something?

People need to put their lazy historic agendas to one side. Hetherington is a former first grade coach and one of the savviest administrators in Rugby League history. He's not going to be dictated to by anyone when deciding whether to sack his head coach.

Fact we sign overweight full time athletes Tui Garbo, Cuthbo Lisone, Konny etc etc.
People with injury histories Fui and small forwards.
True or False.
Common denominator Gawry.

Not sure that GH is the current problem.
When he brough in RS in 2022 and he got us straight to the GF, we all thought it was a master stroke and RS was the real deal.
Unfortunately it hasn't worked out and performances on the pitch through 2023 and 2024 have been very poor.
GH and the board have backed the coach and let him build his own team and have given him financial backing to bring in big signings.
GH doesn't pick or prepare the team.
He isn't responsible for on field performances.
On paper, we should have a competitive team.
Currently that is not the case and that has to be down to the coaching.

FWIW, no point sacking Smith now, but I don't expect him to be here next year and GH has another recruitment job on his hands.

It's spelt G a r y.

Gawwy

There is no doubt GH is an outstanding administrator - it helps a lot when you know the club has the financial backing to do what you need to do. Despite supposedly being pot less they managed to sign Iestyn Harris for c£300k. The job GH has done off the field is second to none - the new north stand is a triumph and a rival to any sporting ground in the country.

Unfortunately this is a business that needs to first team to perform for it to properly thrive. Some very poor decisions have been made in the last few years in respect of recruitment both coaching and player recruitment. Who is responsible for that - we don't know. The lack of development of coaches and juniors through the academy has been a concern for many years. When did Leeds last bring a quality half back or hooker through?

Perhaps that was going to be Agar's job until the situation with Furner turned sour?

The notion that GH just sacks coaches without taking on the views of key stakeholders is non-sensical. You think he would not of talked it through with Sinfield at least?

You just need to revisit JJB's comments at the time to see where the bad apple was. Hard enough for a new coach to make an impression with senior players undermining his efforts because of their own selfish attitude.

Perhaps

bless

He must have Jack all to do other than Rugby all that money and still working quite sad really.

Best England performance at a world cup since the nineties is poor? No pleasing some people.