The youngsters are good enough but the coach wont play them. Imo its the fact we haven't signed top class players to supplement the british players. The fact is we have little in the way of top quality in our squad anymore

I think you mis-understand me. Watkins, HArdaker & Ward are excellent players and ones who will be up there for Leeds hopefully for years to come. You could argue that Watkins is Seniors replacement (though different side). Ward is Sinfield's replacement.

Its not about the players who we have in the team, its about the ones we don't have. McShane was obviously rated enough to get a 4 year deal, as was Hood, but both were shipped out despite our main hooker leaving, and us continuing to use a square peg in the round hole left behind. Clarkson could have been considered a replacement for Eastwood, and has been solid, but has stuttered somewhat this season.

We have signed great players extrenally over the years, and I guess I wonder why we have not had more in to replace the quality that has left recently

This is my first post on this site so I do expect a barbed comment or two, although I do bring 60 years experience of following Leeds.
Dead wood we must start at the top Brian Mcd must take most of the responsibility. Why on earth did he buy Moore,Griffin Harauki and Lunt None of these improved the team. McShane should have been given more game time, this also applies to Kirke and Clarkson. Peacock and Kylie should have started on the bench and used as impact players along with Burrow as he did in the grand final. McDermott appears to have overused JJB and Delaney.
Next season the four new players should go plus McDermott, Peacock and Kylie should have a reduced role and the academy players should be given a chance if the club do not feel they are good enough they shoud should also leave.
Leeds must urgently look to replace most of the forwards and half backs in the next two years.

So most of the responsibility for getting to every major final so far since he was appointed lies with the coach?

I can see why fans would want rid. Clearly this all-conquering group of pensio...players should still be sweeping all before it like it was in 2009.

Fair do's eagle!!!

Whilst I have big concerns over our coach, it does appear that GH does not want to invest in the team. This is the only explanation for our pathetic recruitment policy over the last couple of years. To bring in lightweights like Moore , Griffin & Hauraki , while we lose players of the calibre of Senior , Ali , Eastwood & Danny B ( the best hooker seen at Leeds for years ) must have cut our wage bill dramatically.
A big decision is now needed as we now need 4 to 5 top class players to make us competitive with the top teams - does GH have the balls to do this ?

Hetherington has one eye on a very large capital project, for which the club is not going to be able to rely on some bat decision making from its local polytechnic to cover the costs.

Spending a great wad of cash on transfer fees is a thing of the past - at least until the South Stand is completed.

As stated there is a lot of rebuilding to do on the ground, and there is no bottomless pit of cash. Our "sugar Daddy" is in construction - probably a little cautious with the cash at the moment. GH doesn't have that kind of cash and never has had. What he has done is invest wisely and sustainably. Chucking cash you haven't got at the problem isn't a good idea. Ask Bradford. It's not about balls, it's about cash.

Completely agree with this.

What I would say is that if this is the case, a coaching structure needs to be in place to get the absolute maximum from the players at our disposal - This is one of the areas we fall down on in my opinion. With the current playing rostar, the tactic is to coast through the season and try and lift for the business end to save our old guard from burning out (I've mentioned on other threads I dont like this as a long term solution, but that is a seperate arguement). However, even for this lift, the attacking and defensive structures are still way behind other top teams. Even if we want to coast through the season and keep the players fresh for the business end, the same attacking and defensive structures should be in place all season long, with greater rotation of players to keep them fresh.

It's generally agreed that the players brought in over the past couple of years have been average at best and nowhere near adequate replacements for those who have left.

But how do you know it's GH restricting recruitment? Maybe it's a symptom of having a poor coach in charge - poor decisions whether in terms of tactics, player development or recruitment.

There's a saying - A class people bring in A class people. B class people bring in C class people. Maybe this applies to BMcD.

I agree re throwing cash in terms of transfer fees isn't rfeally feasible currently.

But Leeds is a club that is able to spend to the full salary cap, and in these terms is on the same level as the likes of Wigan and Warrington. It's the choice of players brought in rather than their value that gets to me.

We sign Griffin, Moore, Lunt, Hauraki - all very average players (and players who won't cost much in salary), while players like Gareth Ellis, for example, get overlooked as presumably they were asking for too much. It's this lack of ambition that gets to me and is the reason why our squad is now weaker than before.

Warrington should be applauded for being ambitious and taking a punt on Morley when he came back to SL. Lots of people at the time said he was too old and demanded far too big a wage, but he's lasted six years and has been the lynchpin of Warrington's pack during that time.

How we need a Morley at the moment.

Sam Barlow at Halifax.
Just re-signed for (I think) 3 years but could maybe be bought-out of his contract.
I'm amazed he's not a SL front-row by now.

They got Morley, we got Peacock. Reckon we got the better of it.

True dat.

Word!