The whole 'culture' thing at Leeds just seems so forced and not authentic I think thats a big problem, that they're trying to create something thats very cliche and corporate. Following Leeds (even from your sofa) has become a pretty depressing pastime. With way more resources than petty much every other club they keep getting it wrong. Think I'm logging out for my own health til signs are we might see a return to better days..

[quote="rollin thunder":3rct4f47]He is a high quality coach, nothing to blame now but the poor quality players. Too many still not good enough and never will be. Connor Newman Frawley Ackers Bentley Smith just the tip of the iceberg, connor will get a right hounding this season unless he improves massively.[/quote:3rct4f47] Not really blaming him, just disappointed with the performance, if he can't get a tune out of these players, not sure who could.

[quote="rollin thunder":2y2ia3f9]All fair points nothing much to disagree with there. Think Wakey will go well this season, expected so much more from our lot.[/quote:2y2ia3f9] I expected a lot more too, especially after Boxing Day and the Wigan friendly, coupled with Brad Arthur as your coach. I just believe you have some incredibly overrated players ie Bentley, Newman and Connor. Your team will forever be compared to the glory days that seem a long time ago now. What’s happening with you guys is eerily similar to Manchester Utd, trying to buy success…… well it’s either that or you just got outplayed by us who evidently are decent and have a boat load of confidence coming up from the championship (like Leigh did) and performed really well.

[quote="Broadacres":pxs3nruo]Not really blaming him, just disappointed with the performance, if he can't get a tune out of these players, not sure who could.[/quote:pxs3nruo] Merlin The Wizard ? I think we’ve got to accept nobody can change the physical profile or inherent poor decision making of the vast majority of this squad. We may have a chance with the likes of Gannon and Lumb, but what you see is what you get basically with the rest of them. Motivation should never be an area for massive improvement at this level, the players should have been out of the door ages ago if they were lacking in that department. Maybe all the temporary rebuilds have got us all believing that bringing in new mediocre players as a replacement for other mediocre players will somehow work.

[quote="Pat Bateman":36jq2th2]I expected a lot more too, especially after Boxing Day and the Wigan friendly, coupled with Brad Arthur as your coach. I just believe you have some incredibly overrated players ie Bentley, Newman and Connor. Your team will forever be compared to the glory days that seem a long time ago now. What’s happening with you guys is eerily similar to Manchester Utd, trying to buy success…… well it’s either that or you just got outplayed by us who evidently are decent and have a boat load of confidence coming up from the championship (like Leigh did) and performed really well.[/quote:36jq2th2] The trying to buy success thing is something all sides with the resource to do so try. Wakey included these days. Sometimes the signings turn out well, sometimes not. Worse case, you're stuck with an iffy player 3 years max, probably less, who you then replace. Of far greater consequence is average quality home grown retained for multiple years. Obviously they help generate the culture but if they're mediocre talents then results will reflect this.

[quote="Clearwing":3rsdqg79]The trying to buy success thing is something all sides with the resource to do so try. Wakey included these days. Sometimes the signings turn out well, sometimes not. Worse case, you're stuck with an iffy player 3 years max, probably less, who you then replace. Of far greater consequence is average quality home grown retained for multiple years. Obviously they help generate the culture but if they're mediocre talents then results will reflect this.[/quote:3rsdqg79] I don’t agree. There’s a difference in trying to buy success and trying to create a culture to have prolonged sustainable success. Powell and Ste Mills have made it no secret the number one thing they look at when they sign a player is his personality. We are with the new backing starting to create a top culture to then hopefully target trophies within the next 5 years. Leeds are targeting trophies now instead of getting their house in order. Having the likes of Connor, Bentley and Newman who are well known to be marmite characters won’t help this. These types of players would have been no where near the Leeds team of old. You’re losing your identity and we are creating a new one for us.

[quote="Pat Bateman":v6vr1s46]I don’t agree. There’s a difference in trying to buy success and trying to create a culture to have prolonged sustainable success. Powell and Ste Mills have made it no secret the number one thing they look at when they sign a player is his personality. We are with the new backing starting to create a top culture to then hopefully target trophies within the next 5 years. Leeds are targeting trophies now instead of getting their house in order. Having the likes of Connor, Bentley and Newman who are well known to be marmite characters won’t help this. These types of players would have been no where near the Leeds team of old. You’re losing your identity and we are creating a new one for us.[/quote:v6vr1s46] Good posting, certainly food for thought.

It's one game. Let's not get ahead of oursens. Wakey will go well. Leeds will go well.

[quote="DMF":fdojd6s8]It's one game. Let's not get ahead of oursens. Wakey will go well. Leeds will go well.[/quote:fdojd6s8] Agreed, I will reserve judgement until we are seven or eight games into the season. I have mentioned before ,that the Arthur situation isn’t perfect. But we were in dire straits. So Brad was the only realistic option. Our pack yesterday was a huge disappointment, made worse by the fact wakey had a few forwards missing. First half was disastrous, they ran us ragged, three quarters defence absolutely woeful. Wakefield played some good rugby drove the ball up the middle. Then moved it wide very quickly. Quite simple but effective.

If we're going to stop being mediocre then dropping underperformers is a priority. At least we have a few options now. Clark-Wood and Jenkins will come into the team, and hopefully Sinfield/O'Connor. The first priority has to be to sort this pack out. Its been a powderpuff mess for years. Fix that and a lot of the other problems can be solved. Don't and it doesn't matter who else comes in.

[quote="Pat Bateman":z4ebfv7l]I don’t agree. There’s a difference in trying to buy success and trying to create a culture to have prolonged sustainable success. Powell and Ste Mills have made it no secret the number one thing they look at when they sign a player is his personality. We are with the new backing starting to create a top culture to then hopefully target trophies within the next 5 years. Leeds are targeting trophies now instead of getting their house in order. Having the likes of Connor, Bentley and Newman who are well known to be marmite characters won’t help this. These types of players would have been no where near the Leeds team of old. You’re losing your identity and we are creating a new one for us.[/quote:z4ebfv7l] Good post.

At least we managed to keep one skill from last season. The ability to kick the ball straight to a member of the opposition every time. I actually saw the ball hit the grass once from a kick in the second half but missed who kicked the ball. I am sure that a review of the game will allow the coaching team to identify this player and quickly teach this issue out of him.

I do think there's been a bit of an overreaction to the defeat. It was a poor performance, it's the first game, let's see where we are in 7 or 8 weeks time.

[quote="Jack Burton":2y4wh92m]I do think there's been a bit of an overreaction to the defeat. It was a poor performance, it's the first game, let's see where we are in 7 or 8 weeks time.[/quote:2y4wh92m] Absolutely not, that's far too balanced an opinion

[quote="Jack Burton":1otjuocw]I do think there's been a bit of an overreaction to the defeat. It was a poor performance, it's the first game, let's see where we are in 7 or 8 weeks time.[/quote:1otjuocw] But its been the same old same old since 2018 pretty much, we start poor flounder buff and bluster in the middle then fall short, so hard to be optimistic as it already looks like the writing is on the wall. I’m sure we all want to get proven wrong.

More concerning than the result was the performance. If there was evidence of some intelligence or ideas but execution failed then fair enough, however yet again we look like we met in the car park before the game and picked playing positions out of a hat. Edge defence horrific. All the back bar maybe hall poor. We've exciting players when in space yet never attempted to make space for them. Forwards the less said the better. Don't know what people see in cam smith. Wouldn't be disappointed never to see hackers in a Leeds kit again either. Positives though at least some youngsters should get game time next week

I have calmed down a bit from yesterday, I do have some serious concerns and i might be on my own but it isn’t the forwards. What I will say is all this talk of season over etc is a bit hysterical after one game. We've seen Wigan lose without scoring a single point, Catalans get walloped at home against Hull, Hull KR celebrating like they've won a GF after beating Cas by a drop goal in golden point, and currently Warrington are getting beaten and outplayed at Huddersfield. What I want to see is a response on Saturday

You cannot predict how a season is going to go based on one game, but I can understand people being worried after yesterday. It was the kind of performance that got Rohan Smith sacked, one where the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing. We have tthe much maligned Lachie Miller to come back, and not much else if yesterday was classed as our strongest team. The Aussie centre that has never played NRL may come in and be up to scratch, but he may be another “Momster”. Brad Arthur’s had most of them for half a playing season and a full pre season, I’m sure most people are worried about how much more he can squeeze out of this current squad.

[quote="leeds owl":3pv8wam0]You cannot predict how a season is going to go based on one game, but I can understand people being worried after yesterday. It was the kind of performance that got Rohan Smith sacked, one where the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing. We have tthe much maligned Lachie Miller to come back, and not much else if yesterday was classed as our strongest team. The Aussie centre that has never played NRL may come in and be up to scratch, but he may be another “Momster”. Brad Arthur’s had most of them for half a playing season and a full pre season, I’m sure most people are worried about how much more he can squeeze out of this current squad.[/quote:3pv8wam0] yes if i read correctly in to this post , it is saying we have not signed any decent players , so how is anyone expecting us to do much better than last season . you could have Wayne Bennet or his brother Gordon coaching this lot , it would not make much difference as there is little talent to coach. Oh and the plastic supporters in the plastic South stand create no atmosphere , its like a Library even before we go behind . Knock it down and put the old one back up

As a Wakey fan attending the match yesterday I expected us to beaten by Leeds (not by as many as some fans stated early on this thread) even moreso with some of our 'better' players like Rodwell, Griffin, Atoni, Nikotimo missing from the pack. Our bench was pretty light but as a club we reset last year with a clear attack and defence structure which last season and so far this season has seen us hard to score against. What was really pleasing is that 9 of the starting 17 played throughout the Championship last season. Looking at Leeds there wasn't much cohesion and we matched you and .ore down the middle and the edges. I did think we would get beaten with the sinbinning of Lino but credit to the team they held on. Two key decisions was the disallowed effort by Pratt and try given to Newman, either could have gone either way. Good luck for the season and we will be back soon at Headingly where you can try again

Some interesting stats here showing how weak our pack was https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15etaz ... tid=wwXIfr

Some interesting stats here showing how weak our pack was https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15etaz ... tid=wwXIfr

[quote="Trebor1":olewoo2u]Some interesting stats here showing how weak our pack was https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15etaz ... tid=wwXIfr[/quote:olewoo2u] Not sure that really show how weak our pack was? If Oledzki didn't get a head knock he would have probably made more metres than Mckmeeken - would that show our pack was stronger than theirs? Yes we made slightly less metres per carry but I didn't see our pack get dominanted

[quote="Trebor1":olewoo2u]Some interesting stats here showing how weak our pack was https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15etaz ... tid=wwXIfr[/quote:olewoo2u] Not sure that really show how weak our pack was? If Oledzki didn't get a head knock he would have probably made more metres than Mckmeeken - would that show our pack was stronger than theirs? Yes we made slightly less metres per carry but I didn't see our pack get dominanted

[quote="Exeter Rhino":23em98kz]At some point Arthur's tough talk is going to have to translate into progress on the field. I'm not saying it won't, and there is a long season to go... But I have to say I'm disappointed by the first half performance after what we've been hearing about all the work pre-season.[/quote:23em98kz] That performance was as bad as any I have seen in last 5 years. Shocking display and a Rohan smith type post match interview. Brad Arthur or Arthur Daley. Total incompetence

[quote="Trebor1":1re7bji9]Some interesting stats here showing how weak our pack was https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15etaz ... tid=wwXIfr[/quote:1re7bji9] Full stats here, not sure how it shows how weak our pack was? https://www.superleague.co.uk/match-centre/report/43416 We had 27 play the balls in the opposition half versus 19 (a rarity last year) Made 38 tackle busts compared to 13 for Wakefield Wakefield had 38 missed tackles compared to our 13. If were going of selected stats that would show our issue was a total lack of attacking threat not being dominated in the pack.

[quote="Trebor1":1re7bji9]Some interesting stats here showing how weak our pack was https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15etaz ... tid=wwXIfr[/quote:1re7bji9] Full stats here, not sure how it shows how weak our pack was? https://www.superleague.co.uk/match-centre/report/43416 We had 27 play the balls in the opposition half versus 19 (a rarity last year) Made 38 tackle busts compared to 13 for Wakefield Wakefield had 38 missed tackles compared to our 13. If were going of selected stats that would show our issue was a total lack of attacking threat not being dominated in the pack.

[quote="Bobtownrhino":3ths0qs4]That performance was as bad as any I have seen in last 5 years. Shocking display and a Rohan smith type post match interview. Brad Arthur or Arthur Daley. Total incompetence[/quote:3ths0qs4] Then you have a short memory, both Hull away games and saints away last year were far worse.