Running the academy is a part time role, as is head coach of Hunslet. They are both part time teams.

Don't a couple of the players also coach academy sides at the club?

Gary Heatherington has also coached in his time if Leeds are ever short of coaches.

Personally I think this might be another masterstroke by the sleeve as it will put Leeds Rhinos in prime position to offer potential superstars marquee contracts to choose rugby league over a career in the NFL. The club already sends scouts to local athletic competitions so I don't see why it can't happen in the USA as well.

Plume took over Barrie MC's job very much a FT appointment Coaching the u19's is P/T and i know Eaton is P/T but Hunslet is his primary role is it not?

I'm no critic of how Leeds is managed as a team or a club, nor do I have much knowledge of Plume or Eaton. But I do know the U19s have had a number of thrashings & Hunslet are third bottom.

But is it a full time role? Coaching the u19's is much more like coaching an amateur side than it is a first team side. Train a couple of times a week plus a game.
There's obviously a bit more goes into it than that but then he has 3/4 assistants/conditioners etc to help him. I don't see it as unreasonable that someone could coach a part time team in a part time capacity. The same goes for Hunslet.

I don't see any problem at all having Chris Plume & Barry Eaton fulfilling the role of 1 full assistant.
It also has the added benefit of better integration between the academy, first team and Hunslet.

As for McDermott, again I don't see why him spending a few weeks in the U.S. in our off-season is a bad thing. He presumably gets a few weeks holiday time in our off-season anyway. What he chooses to do with that is up to him.

As I said, Tony Smith and Brian Noble coaching GB didn't seem to do Leeds and Bradford any harm.

I'd rather the coach has a coaching setup he's happy with instead of hiring a No.2 simply to please some fans.

I thought Barrie Mac's role was less "hands on" coaching and more an overview as head of youth development. I'd say that was pretty much a full-time job at a club the size of Leeds. So if Plume is doing that, plus coaching the 19s, how much time does he have to commit to working with the first team?

You see I wouldn't say it was a full time job, especially as we don't have the u21's anymore which means all the academy are now part time.

IIRC the U19's train twice a week (occasionally 3 or twice and some gym/rehab) and the u16's once (though Plume doesn't oversee their training) plus a game. The actual coaching time is fairly minimal and not much more than an amateur club, we're talking 3-4 hours a week training plus a game.
Now obviously there's more than that goes into it from Plume and his staff but even if it was say 18 hours a week that Plume put in to the U19's that gives him more than half a working week to commit to the first team, and due to the u19's training being on an evening he's on hand during the day for the first team.
But significant parts of the first team training are also taken by Jason Davidson, he's heavily involved in the training.

So a combination of Plume, Eaton and Davidson assisting McDermott doesn't seem unreasonable to me. Especially as the team only "train" (as we would think of training ie team training out on the pitch) for approx 2.5-3 hours per week. The rest of their time is made up of weights, conditioning and rehab.

You're telling me he has 2 assistants??

It's a feckin disgrace; why can't he manage with one? Like the proper coaches do.

He works on the principle, divide & rule.