I said at the start of the season we were looking at 10th position and last week i replaced that prediction with 11th with an option of relegation if we lost to London and some bright spark came on and said we could finish in front of Wakey and Wigan

. .Make no mistake we are now looking down the Barrel . These are desperate times ! Nothing has been learned from the last few years of Macs reign , we are still signing absolute dross and retaining over the hill forwards as we have for the last 4 years . Myler , La La , Donaldson ,Luke Briscoe ,prop from wire who is so good i can never remember his name in the first camp , Ablett , J.J.B , Cuthbertson , Ferris in the second camp . Then we have the not good enough Suttcliffe and Handley and whilst Merrin and Hurrel are two of our best players they are not worth Marquee money .
So what does that leave us with
.
Goulding never going to be good enough , ridiculous contract on the back of showing enthusiasim
Walker yep more than happy with him
Tom Briscoe ok
Watkins yep once he gets fit and confidence back will do for me
Singleton Just seems to have gone backwards
Parcell Club seems to want get rid of him
Ward Love him to bits but never plays
Polish Kid Will be a fantastic player as he gets older
Dwyer ok for me as an interchange , but coaching staff do not seem to want him

And a load of promising kids who will probably not improve playing with that lot above

If i have missed anyone that probably tells you all you need to know about them .

So our team

Walker
Tom Briscoe
Watkins
Hurrel
??????
??????
??????
Oledski
Parcell
??????
??????
Merrin
??????

I Think that shows where we are

Hopefully Crosby can be a plus when he gets back, and Peteru is going OK. Smith has potential as well and Ward is good when fit. But other than that its hard to argue that our forwards are dire.

In the backs Handley just looks nothing like a winger - not really that powerful and too slow. But the real problem is halfback.

I am not one calling for Furner to go as I do think he will improve us. However, I will reiterate what I have said since his appointment, we went for the wrong coach. Our needs for this rebuild needed different, and Griffin was the man they should have put in, as I said at time.

Now Flanagan is available, that would also be a big changer.

Furner will improve things, I just see it been longer due to not tough enough quick enough. Exactly my concerns at his appointment.

That is the big worry for me. There is only really Crosby and and fully fit Watkins who are missing and would improve us. Ablett may help a little but we are pretty much at full strength. Peteru was good last night but has been mediocre at best on occasions this season. I'm not yet convinced he has the quality to be a first choice prop for a top side, but is probably our best atm.
Handley has played ok most of the games imo. Not a top class winger granted, but we have far bigger problems than him.
The half backs are terrible.

Your greatest ex Leeds signing is Powell. He continues to get the best out of his players, some who have looked average at other clubs.
Only Mcshane from that list was a glaring error imo, although Foster was given little chance at first team level, so hard to judge.
Gale is better than we have now but we had better players in his position at the time.

I have one impeccable source at the club but I haven’t spoken to him for a while. Got a little insight on Thursday though. It would seem they are in total melt down. Furner
Is not liked and his approach is all wrong. Some backroom guys have left. He has concentrated on attack and not done any defence stuff. That’s all he said but apparently Sinfield is pulling his hair out.

What are our realistic options here?

People calling for Furner to go, the management team to go, half the playing staff to go are delusional as it won't happen, so what next?

We all know we need at least one quality prop and it looks like the club are trying but it hasn't come off yet. Yes this should have been addressed earlier but the squad was in a real mess. They need to find a solution.

Neither Tui nor Myler are having an impact. Part of this is due to the defeciencies in the forwards but looks like time to try mcellend? Certainly wouldn't appear to have anything to lose.

Ferres shouldn't be in the team for me, let alone captain. Perhaps controversial but Merrin as a former kangaroo and SOO would be my captain. We need a leader and I think he would relish the extra responsibility.

And a word of caution for those advocating wholesale academy promotions. Holroyd was good for ten mins last night then ran out of steam. Newman will be good but was dominated in almost every tackle. We have a good crop of kids but they are not the wholesale answer yet.

What is clear is that the players are not playing for Furner for whatever reason. No doubt about it.

Is it that the players aren't playing for Furner or is it that the players are simply not good or hungry enough?

I said when we signed 2 marquee players that it would be fine provided we win games but if we lose other players will quickly turn and say hold on he's getting more money let him do the work. It doesn't help team spirit. It happened in 80s and 90s and it's happening now.

I've been very critical of Lolohea but I'm now beginning to feel sorry/embarrassed for the kid. He has never been, never will be a stand off. He has the potential to be the best full back at the club. Playing him at 6 isn't doing him or the team any favours. It was the wrong choice of player to sign for that position. We needed a playmaker/organiser. GH got that one wrong I'm afraid.

Confidence is clearly lost in the whole team, pressure is beginning to weigh down and there is no leader on the field. I'm not sure you can bring a leader in I think they grow and develop in the group. JP came in but it took him a year to develop into a leader in the group.

The entire club needs to stick together now desperately, board, management, coaching staff, players and fans, everybody it's absolutely critical.

The next 6 month are now about survival. I see people saying it's good Hudds and Wigan are losing but I don't see them as the threat, London will be team we have to finish above.

The players need to dig in and fight and I don't see enough in the group to think that they care or have the guts for it. Mental toughness is what need right now and other than a few I don't see it on show at all.

Be interesting to see the 19s today, who in that team wants to earn a place and have the hunger, fight, drive and desire to break into this team and build a career for themselves and take this club forward in the way the golden generation did in early 2000s because the chance is there for them over the next 2 years.

The biggest thing we miss is professionalism, we are mentally beaten in all areas. I've said before and I am absolutely certain that this group of players have so much negative mental baggage from the last 3-4 years that they are done. We desperately need more new blood and fight in this group to survive even this season.

We have to sign one or two more players this season (soon) who will be with us as leading players for the next 2-3 years, even if we have to back load contracts to get them in. If we don't commit soon to this, then we are really playing with fire as relegation is definitely possible (not yet probable) and should that happen it could easily be 5-7 years before we are back properly competing again.

It's time to make a few tough and bold moves.

Being fair to Furner, coming from the NRL you wouldn’t be expecting to coach basic defensive skills into players in their mid-20s, because they wouldn’t be in first grade over there.

It’s like the previous generation England sides playing Australia; you can’t be coaching skills at that level, it’s about game strategy and the mental side of the game more.

We have too many players who aren’t good enough, especially in defence, and it’s off the back of years of sub-par recruitment and particularly a dearth of quality coming through the youth system. No coach could fix that; we need to continue to change the players and get to 80% rebuild from 40%...

Who are the backroom employees who have left?