The salary cap doesn't effect coaching appointments. You'd hope Leeds with it's heritage and potential was still a plum job - if only an attractive package was available.

Well they are still sending players round to open local supporters club branches like nobodies business

From what little most of us can actually tell there needs to be a review of coaching across the board, junior development and fitness/training even if nothing else.

This club is a marginal business, turnover is pityful when compared to normal businesses - Gary is tight but he needs to be.

The question for me is where the money being spent - if you look at the coaching structure on the web site there are 25 coaches/conditioners/physios that seems like a lot? If everyone of these is a direct report to McDermott then that is an untenable and poor practice. All these bodies and the club struggles with youth development and first team defensive structures?

If you look at the administration there seems to be a lot of bodies for such a small business.

Recruitment is an issue - there have been some really good ones: Senior, Buderus, Peacock, Ali but there has also been some shockers Bell, Millard, Falloon, Mullins, Clyde. Perhaps GH needs to hand this over and perhaps this is where Sinfield comes in?

This is a great club but as often happens when the processes are really stretched they haven't been robust enough. Maybe the current management team have taken the club as far as they can and they need support in the form of fresh ideas and culture revision

Time to smell the coffee, we are preparing for a new adventure in the middle eights (despite Macs numerical aspirations). Providing our badly scarred newbies with confidence boosting wins against Championship opposition will create the basis for 2017. Great succession planning that is doomed to failure.

No surprises from GH, and for the main, I agree with the line the club are taking.

Fans want constant success and quick fixes, but that is less and less achievable in professional sport/RL. The current plight of Salford and the inability of Warrington to dominate with the resources at their disposal in the last decade, not to mention wonder-coach Tony Smith, speaks volumes. God help their administrators if they don't win the GF this year!

The majority of posters on this board need a reality check. Like it or not, we will have to be patient before the first team get back on track.

A knee-jerk response of bringing in a new coach and/or players is just as likely to de-stabilise the team in the short to medium term. It is also not in the style of the Leeds management since GH took over.

Aside from a fully-fit squad (a red herring in the current era), the big thing currently missing is CONFIDENCE. This is one of the main reasons why some of the better performances in recent losses are not being consolidated. We only have to look back at how well the team were playing in the WCC and against Warrington to see what they are capable of when confidence is normal (I'm not saying they were world-beaters, but obviously a lot better than of late). This is the biggest problem now, but it can and will be turned around.

At the very start of the season, the losses of Peacock and Sinfield and the impact of the WCC etc were legitimate issues. But IMO to a large extent they have been overshadowed by the confidence issue. In the longer-term, the injury crisis should prove to be a big positive, allowing the likes of Handley and Lilley and others to lay claim to starting positions as first choice selections. Did the transition need to be as bad as this - probably not, but then again, this is Leeds - how long did we have to wait to get our championship in 2004? How unlikely were the wins from 5th, and the last-ditch treble last year? This club always seems to do things tougher than others with similar resources (although thankfully we haven't had to endure what Saints and Warrington fans have in the last decade).

It is impossible to predict when the team will start to turn performances and results around, but I have a feeling when it happens we will produce a big win in unlikely circumstances that will galvanise the rest of the season (middle 8s or no).

If the unthinkable happens, and the decline is not halted, the right time to review this is when the season is over for Leeds (as meaningful challengers). In the meantime I'm happy to let the professionals do their job.

The last thing we want is a hasty appointment to appease the fans, say bringing in Sinfield as coach, only for him to do a Powell-style move to the Championship in a couple of seasons (under the veil of an upstairs move). The example of Cunningham at Saints is not a path that I would like to see us repeat, unless we want to sully the wonderful memories of one of our great players.

There are - IIRC - six people working with the first team who report directly to McDermott. Chris Plume and Barry Eaton as assistant coaches, Jason Davidson and Ian Kirke on the conditioning side, Andy Bletsoe doing the analysis, Andy Barker as head physio.

You've then got the likes of Jonny Wainhouse, Peter Clarkson and Mark Butterill working with the two Academy age groups, plus their own physios and conditioning staff.

Lastly there's the ancillary staff - Glynn Bell doing the kit, the masseurs, Bob Pickles managing youth recruitment.

When you think about the number of things that need to go on behind the scenes to get three sides on the pitch over the course of one weekend, then 20-odd people isn't excessive IMO.

James

How often do we have three teams playing over a weekend? How many weekends has that happened this year?

How often do we have three teams playing over a weekend? How many weekends has that happened this year?

Don't a few work with Carnegie also?

Probably not all that often, but the three teams will all be training during the week. So while you can have some degree of crossover, say with the medical or conditioning staff for example, you're going to need to have dedicated coaches working with each grade.

Players could wash their own kit, or get their Mums to do it. Achurch could just hang his up on the peg at the end of every match. His boots would probably need a wet wipe though every couple of games.

Yep and some do, the most obvious being Chris Plume. As mentioned some work with Carnegie too, people like Ben Jones and Debbie Smith.

The 19's train with the first team twice per week.

Would help I suppose if the head coach actually coached also, which would spare up some men.