maybe.
hopefully it's available monday

That crossed my mind.

We need to see how the team and Smith performs against weaker opposition, when we are being stressed a little less.

Most of the criticisms about passive defence etc. have not really been evident in the last two losses. It still may well be the case that Smith ends up losing his job this year; the problem is that you lot complain about anybody and anything. Brian Mac go so much stick despite being the most successful coach ever. Same people using arguments about "only results matter" also bag BM....

My own frustrations are around some strange decisions around player retention, one or two signings and some in-game decisions which baffle me. I really think Newman and Fus should have been off the field when they got injured; Newman could have had treatment and gone back on later if he pulled up fit; Fus was clearly knackered yet again. They were both liabilities in D, I just don't think the selection that day allowed for injuries to both those players, which is bad luck to a degree.

People still trying to blame RS for a decision Miller made which was clearly wrong, and also blaming him for bagging him in the post-match. A thousand percent RS doesn't coach that kind of decision, and that player in particular has been prone to brain farts from pre-season through. Yes he's great going forward, no complaints, but RS needs to find a way to wind in his excesses/have another player make those kind of kicks.

I don't blame the coach for individuals making those kind of errors, but there comes a point where you can blame him for still selecting those players, or putting them in positions where their weaknesses shine.

Have to say there is a chance we could lose against Hull - if we do RS is in very big trouble. Even for me, with the investment we made pre-season this year, running at a 50% win rate with some of the poor performances we've seen, isn't good enough. 60% is just about acceptable. Big game.

I have no idea how the players view RS and the coaching staff at Leeds. If he still has their support, we should see it on the field.

It's a good post, and you're right to point out BM. I think the main criticism of BM was that we mostly player averagely throughout the season with our best playing group ever, and then turned it on when it came to the play-offs. We also played some dire rugby under BM, 2015 being the exception to both those points.

With Smith, we're playing dire rugby and not looking like we'll even make the play-offs.

I do slightly disagree with your post about Miller. Either the comms (from team or sideline) or the systems were not working during that play. It's the coaches job to make sure the right players are making the calls, or setting systems in place to make sure it doesn't happen. So in that sense, I do blame Smith.

Hull/London are probably the worst two games for RS at this point. Winning well (points wise), given their form to date, no additional credit there. Any other result and he has a very big, immediate problem. I don't see how he can improve his position from these two games. There is only down side for him.

If I was GH I'd be getting ready to offer him the role for next season. He'd be more likely to leave at season end which is fair enough. I just can't see RS turning things around to get us in the top 4 and challenging for a GF appearance which is where we should be. and if that does pan out and this season ends in a whimper, off he goes. no ifs or buts.

Good post Jim. Agree with much of that.

What I would say about Miller's short drop out is that it's very symptomatic of how we've played under Smith since start of last season and for me if we had a top coach who the players feared or coached them well, then they wouldn't dare do such a brain fart 99.9% of the time, they'd make better decisions week after week, we consistently make stupid decisions, short kick offs, don't respect the ball, don't earn the hard yards first and that is a reflection of the coaching..

I think for me I want to see how Leeds are playing with a little less pressure from the opposition. Hopefully we can pick up 2 wins next and be 6/10, which actually isn't awful as a win rate even if performances are wobbly.

I think my minimum success result for us this year was top half finish and a decent showing in play-offs. If we lose one of the next two games I'm not sure we're going to finish top half and so even voodoo doll gets dusted off. We need to be dominant too because points difference could well matter at the back end of the year.

I see it differently, I think this is a change for Leeds to get back on the horse and get back into something of a groove.

We need to play ourselves back into form, we're not going to do it on the training field only.

If we get two solid performances and wins, we are somewhat back on track. If we lose one or both of these then we are in serious trouble and I think RS position becomes untenable.

Let's be right - these are two must win games.
Hull are in a mess and are crippled with injuries.
London are the worst team in the league.
Literally no excuses.

Yeah I think it's win but also win well: our PD is rubbish and if it ends up being tight at the top half, it's going to count.

For me its the worst possible time for these 2 games. 2 'solid peformances' against 2 train wrecks of clubs isnt good enough and will simply paper the cracks / keep Rohan safe until we play someone decent and inevitably get mullered again.

You would have to say that looking at your above quote it says a lot about how hungry Leeds are as a club nowadays. McCllenan was on a percentages basis, the most successful Superleague manager we’ve ever had. Champions for 2 out of his 3 seasons, and play off semi finalists and Challenge Cup finalists the season he was released. That says a lot about what we were aspiring to back then. Yes he had a better team to work with, but I think the ruthless drive within the club that sacked him is no longer apparent. If Smith is a “project”, it’s one that must be swiftly curtailed if we languish in mid table at the end of the year.

Who has mullered us this year? Warrington was the only time I can think of.