Weve as good a record as any SL team at bringing academy lads thru the system and weve as good a batch now as anyone to promote over next few years. Smith's and his staffs job is to get more out of some once promoted and develop them further.

Smith speaks well, clearly a smart and decent bloke but he gave little away today cos its far too early for him to say anything, hes literally just stepped off the plane.

Im happy with the appointment but lets see how it goes. Hes got a bit of time with the players now, a couple of winnable games looming and a happier and healthier squad than a few weeks ago. Lets hope he can hit the ground running.

We need to give him plenty of time that’s for sure. He’s had no offseason to work with the team.

One thing that press conference does make you realise is how absolutely awful some Rugby League journalists are. Some of the questions made me cringe they were so dumb.

100% agree,realistically it will take him 18 months to get to a position where we can call ot his squad of players and coaching and conditioning to the ideal level.
As we move through this period the test will be on how we see the development and change in culture,confidence and playing style. Hopefully we see player performance improve individually and collectively. Key will be identifying clear pathways to the first team for our young players supported by quality experienced players in the right positions.
Loads to do but give him time.

He’s actually coming in at a much easier time than JJB did. We were at rick bottom but confidence and energy back. All credit to JJB

I’ve been slightly critical of JJB but you can’t deny that he’s gone about his brief tenure well, kept things simple and brought back some pride in the jersey and in the players themselves.

Buckle up, here we go again.

We've fixed team spirit a bit and the defence has come along with that. Will be interesting to see how the attacking side develops over the season. We're still averaging 14 points a game and that's way too low to win most games.

To be fair to everyone - JJB but the players as well - most teams wouldn't be an attacking threat with most of the first choice backs out, but its a huge problem, and an area we went backwards in under Agar (last year our top two tryscorers were hookers which is something that should never happen).

Absolutely. It’s so important we all give him time now. We need to see progress and some wins but he needs plenty of time and backing

What struck me was many asked their planned question but someone else had asked it earlier, they could not come up with something new.

Agree, they were as wooden and robotic as. Very amateur. The journo at the back end who asked him for a message to the fans was laughable.

I'm not saying we shouldn't give him time, but I think we'll know pretty quick whether he's going to be a grand final coach, or the guy that takes us so far, before the real deal takes over and makes the last step.

If we don't notice an improved attack within 4 or 5 games, if he's not able to find some structural quick wins to get us scoring a few more points, then I don't think he's THE guy.

I see again there's this weird obsession with wanting to make everything a long drawn out affair, it fits with the general discourse on here about us starting a new 5-year project, for the last 5 years.

If he's the coach we hope is, and the coach he should be (based on GH appointing him) then he should be able to implement some quick wins structurally, have the players highly motivated and we should notice an uptick in performance pretty quick and be challenging for a playoff place. Then with a full pre-season and recruitment decisions, we should be challenging to reach the grand final next year. There are talented players in the squad, and a lot of young players with potential, a top coach can definitely make that work, remember this is super league not the NRL.

But yeah, once he's been here 10 years I think he'll truly be able to call the entire team, and the players coming through his own, and that's when we can judge him.

One of the so called journalists has the headline in Leeds Live ,
questions about Richie Mylers marriage “dominated the press conference”scumbag!

Under promise and over deliver?pretty normal I,d say!

I think the key thing none of us know is whether this squad is underperforming or is (was) overrated. It lies at the heart of what we do and where we go next and I still don't think for most members of our team we know yet.

Can Bentley and Tetevano be tamed, can Sezer perform, are Prior and Briscoe past it, is Austin a flat track pony, is Fusitu'a ever going to be in a state where he can play effectively again, can Dwyer learn to pass, are Newman and Walker doomed to injury etc etc. So many questions that Smith needs to untangle which will determine how much this is a rebuild job and how much is a coaching one.