the coach to go

I am not wanting to go. At the of 2025 we need to review and assess his position - but not until IMO

We won the CC when there was only 10 teams in the comp. IIRC Leeds only played 3 games inc. the final?

Compounding bad decisions is never a great idea - it seems Leeds specialise in this area

I went to my first Leeds game in 1968 - but I am not one to compare part time players to full time.

In northern hemisphere RL these are the elite - the cream of the crop. There are less than 500 of them out of 40k participants c2%. You surely can expect the players to be able to catch, pass and tackle to a high standard - is this what you are seeing each week - its not what I see.

As I have said in a previous post we won the 2020 CC when only 10 teams were included - Leeds played 3 games inc. the final

I'd give smith longer but I'm really not a fan. despite his methods failing badly he seems too arrogant to change them. he may prove me wrong, I hope his issuccesful but I just don't like him.
if nothing changes in 8 weeks I would get rid. another poor hetherington decision.

I don't dislike him and don't find him arrogant at all and would be sure the players don't see him that way, he seems a very personable coach away from the mundane media questions.

The problem I have is that he does seem too rigid at times to a philosophy that, if we're interpreting it right, looks like it's based on going against principles that for me will always stand firm owing to the nature of the game. Ie territory, possession, pressure, momentum and the energy battlee. My hope is that he does reflect (as he clearly did with contested kick offs) and finds a measured approach.

Still a lot of sorting out needed imo, way beyond week to week results. Reckon Smith can improve the young player production line which to say the least churns out variable quality. Jury's out on signings but I'm happy to wait til he has the cap and the quota to properly judge him on that.
More short term concern is defence. Whatever anyone's thoughts on JJB as a head coach, it's surely beyond dispute that our defence has taken a big dip since he was stood down as defence coach. Our conditioning actually looks pretty good. Surely there's a case for bringing in a specialist as it simply ain't happening under the current setup.

I'm not sure where the idea that he's arrogant has come from?

His media interviews can be a bit weird/frosty but I think that's just his demeanour, his dad and uncle are similar in that respect, and anyway, with the quality of journalism and journalists in our game I'd be prickly with them too (James Deighton aside!) most of them look like they've never done a video call before and often they just ask the same inane questions as the person before, terrible look for the sport.

Hmmm. That's interesting maths but I'm not sure I buy it. Surely the elite are the best players in the competition, not SL players in general. When I think of elite SL players I think: Lomax, Welsby, Williams, Vaughan, French, Field etc. To put it bluntly I'm not sure anybody in that class is trotting round in blue and amber. That is something that has to change for 2023 when we'll have lots of cash to splash. I don't think you have to be an elite player to be able to run, tackle, pass to a high standard etc, but I do accept that players are human and they do make mistakes/lose form (Rhyse Martin being a good example) so we'll always be tearing our hair out to some extent. That is the nature of sport. I also accept that success is cyclical in nature, and as a supporter you have to endure the bad and average to truly enjoy the good. Not sure what difference part time v full time makes to that equation. Finally - so what if we only one three games to win the CC in 2020? They were are all SL teams and the Wigan side we beat in the semi was top notch. Nobody gave us the cup, we won it. Seems silly to pretend otherwise.

He would probs be complaining if we werent able to string 3 wins together to win the CC that year, moaners gonna moan.

It’s increasingly clear there is still no end in sight, of the issues we’ve had last few years. I’ll be wanting to see a very good team after Rohan been in charge for 3 years, as he inherited an absolute shambles and we are not that bad at least now…..

Martin started the season in terrible defensive form in second row tbf. Just low on form and confidence, hope he picks up…..quality player….

Nah - I just don't agree with your definition of elite when it comes to SL. Part Time v Full time - not sure what my observation on the cyclical nature of success in sport has to do with fitness. On the CC Final - 99 is probably my favourite CC win just because it took so long in coming, but that doesn't detract from the fact that we won it in 2020, and it's pointless to try and dismiss that.

No problem - we must agree to differ on elite athletes - my view is the difference is world class and elite. You suggested the standard in the 80's 90s was shoddy - these guys were part time. These days basic skills should be a minimum full time athletes should deliver.

We must agree to disagree about 2020 - we won but a hollow victory given the nature of the competition.

why is it hollow? only super league teams ever win it anyway and they all had the same chance as leeds did