Absolutely the wrong thing to do if we change coach - unless and until we can find the right man for Leeds. Absolutely zero point changing one gamble for another gamble. We need a coach with track record and who is strong enough to handle egos like Newman. He should have been brought off after 20 mins yesterday but he seemed to refuse the touch line instruction.

The club should have top class technical and conditioning coaches and a head coach who can really handle players and pressure. That Leeds job is such a crazy hot seat.

What? Smith has been here since April 2022, you say it as though he's getting sacked after 6 games. He has coached the team for 55 games, and we look worse than ever after backing him financially with some of the most expensive signings in our history.

55 games
29 wins
27 losses
52% win rate

I'm not talking about RS, but the next guy if we sack him.
Say that happens.

Odds are we end up with temp coach / one of the assistents or former players doing it.

We sign a new coach. How long will he be given to improve things? How many players will he bin?.
We just restart the cycle all over again.

That’s the point isn’t it: we have to break the cycle and stop making “mud at the wall” guesses.

But like signing project players or injury prone players. We need to rely less on luck.

So, another glory supporter then? Only kidding

I've seen way worse Leeds teams than this one. Look at 1996, and more recently, latter day McDermott, Furner, and the mess Agar left us in at the start of 2022. Admitedly we may not have 'bottomed out' yet - but we're likely to find out in the coming weeks. Can't wait for that.

Not sure how hard Smith is on discipline, but he never struck me as a matey coach - the way the likes of Leeming, Austin and Macdonald were dealt with suggests he's more cold and calculating if anything. If the likes of Handley and Cam Smith are his favourites, I still can't picture him being buddy-buddy with them. If anything I'd say we need more of a Brian McClennan type to boost confidence.

We’re 8th.

Bar Leigh, a semi-competent team, the only teams below us are all train wrecks.

A quality coach can do something with this team. Things fall into place very quickly when you have a quality coach, we just don’t appoint them anymore. It doesn’t have to be an xx year transition. People are obsessed with that for some reason. In 96 we nearly got relegated, but in 98 we competed at the top and made the grand final. We just made good recruitment decisions and appointed a top quality coach.

Watson and Rowley have all been gettable in the last 5 years and would all be doing better with this squad than the current “coach”.

We are just rotting in mediocrity right now. People talking about having seen worse teams like it’s some badge of honour. Just because the club has been a mess in yesteryear doesn’t mean standards should be dropped.

Where is the ruthless drive for a success? Remember Hetherington at the turn of the century? Setting targets for success and dishing out the medicine when it wasn’t achieved.

The club is dead on the field.

Well said, Agree 100%

And its not just the first team suffering from the acceptance of mediocrity

Spot on, that’s a perfectly fair appraisal of our present situation.

terrific post. Agree fully

We're also 4pts off first aren't we?

We win the next two games, season looks much better

table does because London and Hull are crap.
in reality it's not

Nail on head

This

There’s only one way that GH will
actually do something about this, if the supporters make it absolutely clear that the coaching of the team is not good enough. This is already started, the North Stand under the coaching booth were very vocal on Friday, but it’s only when it’s coming from all quarters that GH can’t ignore it.

We’re going nowhere under this bloke he needs to be replaced with a proper coach.

Last year, I backed that smith was doing a really tough job, because he had been tasked with getting rid of the deadwood in the squad or toxic characters, and so the season was a right off.

Now Sezer is doing a half decent job back in the NRL, and we’ve spent £150k transfer fee basically bringing in a hooker who was no better than Leeming, who is now at the side favourites to win the league (I’m not saying Leeming is all that btw).

I do like some of the stuff Smith has done around the club, and he clearly thinks differently about the game and has some unique perspectives.

Ultimately, his downfall will be his rigid beliefs in the way only he thinks the game should be played, and his unique insight on players he signed. McDonell aside are bang average. JJB’s comments on sky were illuminating and Blake Austin’s on social media too.

Time to move on with loads of the season left to improve with a good squad.

Throw some money at Justin Holbrook or another proved coach who know the comp! Come on GH!