]

I think Poaching and Cummings leaving has more to do with keeping training fresh rather than them not being deemed influential. The playing personnel can’t change every few years so the coaching staff needs to otherwise things can get stale. There’s only a certain amount of training techniques they can know so some variance from different coaches can’t help IMO to keep training interesting. Look at Fergie at Man u he might have been there 20 odd years but his staff are constantly changing, doesn't mean they weren’t influential just means they need to keep evolving otherwise you plateau.

Since when does a signature on a contract mean anything these days?

Greg Eastwood.

Is funny. People are banging on how its the end of Leeds because a few folk have left. So lets look at it:

Donald - offered a job out of rugby he couldnt refuse, so took it
Diskin - still second fiddle behind Buderus, with two good youngsters snapping at his heals. He has a one year contract and offered a 3 year one by another club, took it. lets be honest, i dont think Leeds considered keeping him on after 2011, would have been time to give McShane a try.
Bluey - Was always leaving at the end of 2011, has decided to go sooner. Watch this space, expect him to pop up in a good job in the NRL.
McDermott - When he left as assistant coach a while back the rest of the team were absolutely gutted. They stated that his pre season training and mid season training was amazing. And think about it, when he was with us I don't recall us having loads of injuries like we have had in 2010.

That's my view on it all. Other club fans would say its a melt down, but I think that's wishful thinking on their behalf. We are a club in transition with a lot of aging players form the golden years. Instead of having to do one big over haul in the space of a few years, we are padding it out over maybe 4 to 5 seasons. I think that's a team that's decided to be logical.

As for McDermott as head coach. Hmm not sure. He didn't exactly set the world alight at the Quins. But he now has the control of a hungry team. A team that love working under him and a team that never wanted to see him leave back in the TS days. Maybe just having him in the hot seat will make the team play out of their skin. if not and we have a poor season, then it sounds cynical but replace him. But lets support him throughout 2011 and make a verdict at the end. You never know, Graham Murray might pop up out of the blue as his assistant coach

I'd love Noble as a number two, I think he has a good rugby brain but he'll never coach at Leeds as 1. he hates us and 2. what he allegedly said to Peacock when he left bradford.


However, I do think we need to be wise about what assistant we take on. McDermott has great defence coaching instilled into him but i worry about his attack coaching. Maybe we need to look at someone who has great attacking skills coaching as i think this season we have lacked that in buckets, then again in some cases we were crap in defence too.


I do think having a fresh start will change the team though. We thought it was doom and gloom when Smith left, yet we went on stronger with, lets not forget it a coach who at the time hadn't coached a top flight league team ever in his career

It not a complete Bradford bulls meltdown, we haven't lost any players we particulary needed as yet and they are building gradually,

Franny - The idea was to use Bluey and McDermott, so it was forward planning that has now backfired, too many cooks and all that
Willie - As above
Alex Gross - As above
Eastwood - Wanted to be back in the NRL. Was a mistake letting him to to the Bulldogs last year. He wanted to come to Leeds when he wasnt a regular at Brisbane. Went to the Dogs and he was a first team player and loved it there. I knew we were to have trouble the moment I read an interview with him while at the Dogs stating that he was going to be gutted when he went on to Leeds

Yes, you do seemed to have missed my point though. I said that they all had explanations and could be justified. I didn't ask you to explain or justify them.

The point I was making is that whilst everybody individually has a perfectly good and justifiable reason for leaving, it doesn't stop the fact that, for whatever reason, we have lost 7 staff members when mid-season we were expecting to lose 0.

I would guess that they were always going to leave bar something unusual. The contract extensions on the players and head coach provided a small amount of security for the club in that if we really did need any of the players/coach, then they were under contract. Also if someone else wanted them and they wanted to leave it wouldn't be as simple as signing an out of contract player.

My mate (Ex-groundsman at HQ) seems to reckon that Ickle Rob's off back home to the Bakers.

Why would you have a testimonial year?