I thought the tone of the Sky interviews with McDermott (and Noble) painted Sinfield as being unnecessarily reactionary with his earlier statements about the 'rotten' culture at the club.

McDermott suggested in his interview with Carney that the team simply needed to experience the lows before being able to rise again, and they had been too accustomed to the senior players doing the team talks etc. IMO, McDermott is passing the buck here. It was his role as coach to identify leaders and provide inspiration, and if the crop of players were not good enough they needed to be told to shape up or be shown the door. Recruitment in the last few years of his tenure was not at the level of a top SL club (perhaps GH is equally culpable here). Furner realised this but tried to do everything too quickly IMO. Agar seems to have a more balanced rapport with the players, and so far seems to be the right man to oversee the rest of the transition.

I would also add it is refreshing to see the team with a proper controlling half-back and more structured attacking play - a big contrast to the quality of entertainment served up during McDermott's latter years. We may have won the GF in 2017 but the last few games of 2020 have been far more entertaining than the majority of league fixtures I saw that season. Glad we've ditched the off-the-cuff offload and hope game from the McDermott years... It seems to have taken a full season and many personnel changes to get this out of the team's system.

So by "lads" obviously I meant the youngsters. Including Walker and Newman yes, McD gave most of these their debuts and was involved in their early development, of course.

You say Smith wouldn't have still been here, you may be right but we'll never know for sure because McD went. It is just possible there were better options at 13 during Smith's early career (there may still be now if you consider Ward, and I like Prior at loose to start).

I'm not hiding from any problems, I think it was probably the right time for McD to go and I know he put a few people's noses out of joint along the way. It is more irrational to discount his contribution to the greatest period of success in the club's history just because you have a personal bias.

McD was at Leeds for a long time and worked his nadgers off for the cause, and personally he was the man in charge for the majority of my favourite Leeds-supporting moments, for which I'll always be thankful.

Players aren't always right and young lads coming through should expect to be patient, work their apprenticeship and earn the shirt they want. It's all on merit - Leeds aren't going to stop you playing if you're the best person for the shirt, but at a club like this you need to be close to international standard in every position (in theory).

Cam Smith has some responsibility in this too and he looks a far better prospect now than he did before - because he's worked hard. He is still very young. I'm enjoying watching him play this year.

It's certainly true that a malaise had set in over the last year of McD's leadership. I get the impression that recruitment wasn't totally McD's responsibility, but nobody wants to be left with the blame for that do they? Recruitment was gosh awful for years. it would be hard to see how McD *didn't* have any responsibility for all those signings that went on to have average Championship careers...

Every high performing team might have a shelf life, and that includes the coach. McD certainly isn't/wasn't perfect but I can't understand why he can't be given credit where its due as well as criticism where that's due. People seem to struggle with nuance these days...

One big change, and the advantage of finally having some controlling halves again, is the ability within this team for 1,6,7 and 9 to link play anywhere on the field. That is a nightmare for teams to defend against, and throw into the mix Smith and Cuthbo doing their thing leaves no easy defensive reads. Granted, Lui played mostly on the right side (and did it well) but the days of having one half on the left and one on the right are hopefully long gone. Simply chucking it to an isolated half, e.g. Sutty, and expecting them to create something from nothing, is hopefully a bad memory that won't return anytime soon.

Cam Smith staying a Rhino also which i think is fantastic news. Extention agreed.

Brilliant news. I'll be honest, I had doubts last season but now he looks an integral part of the team.

Good news, going to be a great player imo.

Wrong thread Marty but im guessing you were at the reserves game today? Narrow defeat, couple of trys each for Tindall and the RU winger i see. Whats your thoughts on who went well for us?

Brilliant news has that been confirmed anywhere?

Not yet. Will be announced shortly. All done though.

Cheers Marty, good news.

Fantastic

Well done. More of that please. We're getting back to being good to watch, exciting and fast (which for me is just as important as winning).