I've thought since we signed Croft and Ackers that Rowley would be the next coach. Now that Blease is on board it does seem the logical outcome. However, if Arthur were to come he'd be the first bona-fide head coach from the NRL in a long, long time. Would be a major statement of intent. Ultimately, there are pros and cons with either. Would be less happy with JD given the fall out at Souths.

So I’ve been clear I haven’t wanted him as coach for a long time, that’s not a personal attack, I just didn’t think he was experienced enough and I didn’t buy into his ideas about the way the game should be played. The club have made the right move.

I wish him well, people says he’s a nice bloke and his contribution to the club statement seems to underline this. I hope he has success in the future, and that his life is a bit more peaceful now.

Tinkering Tony Smith looking for a new job after doing such a great job at Hull FC

Please god nooooo

In hindsight, I don't think it did Smith any favours that we made the GF in his first season. Expectations (including my own) were raised too high after that.

Conversely I wonder if we had managed to win the first game against Saints this season whether the team would have had the confidence to kick on. Probably not, but things really dropped off after that peak performance.

I agree his position had become untenable, and his win-loss record sums that up (second worse after Furner, who admittedly was a lot worse than Smith). In a longer perspective Smith merely carried on the mediocrity of the Agar days, and we were looking for a Murray-style appointment. First few months aside, I don't think Smith had much luck at Leeds - and I'm not talking about silly things like the training ground flooding (the classic Mac era excuse). I think his spine signings will all be okay but failing to buy good forwards was a major undoing.

He also cleared out a lot of the players that many on here wanted rid of.

I think Hetherington needs to shoulder a lot of the blame here, Rohan’s remit was clearly far too big for a coach of his experience

Nobody wants to be sacked but I know his wife wanted to go back to Oz , so his wider life will be simpler now and it’s for the best.

she did. I met her on the school run a few times. Nice lady

It had to happen, personally I’ve not enjoyed watching this team for a long time. I think we played better stuff on attack in 2022 and the run to the GF , and I’d suspect Sean Long was a big factor. Since he left we have looked pretty clueless with the ball.

He has exited huge number of players but Also recruited a lot of mediocre and downright poor players.

Hetherington has ultimately ducked responsibility for his error “the most important appointment blah, blah”.

Even now he is still spouting utter garbage about strategy . What a shambles, 7 out with HIA’s . 4 from Saturday but none were withdrawn from the game.
We get Warrington’s 5th choice winger and Wigan’s 10th choice prop on loan plus trying to get in Jake Connor. Hardly a model senior pro.

Jesus wept, we are plumbing new depths every week. Unless someone gets a grip this season will get even worse

Yes GH has a lot to answer for and has a habit of deflecting the blame elsewhere to save his own skin.
He has in the past worked wonders for the club but I do feel he needs to take a back seat now and hopefully with IB in place the club can move forward.
Personally I would like Arthur as coach.

Just making this to preempt our first loss under our new coach.

He's clearly lost the dressing room. Players don't respect him. Heatherington is the one picking the team. Jamie Jones-Buchanan is the real problem. He should've signed whoever I wanted to sign. Should never have been appointed in the first place. How does he keep picking x? We should've appointed Wayne Bennett. I don't like the way he talks in interviews.

Am I missing any?

Why, oh why did we ever get rid of Furner?

I think Arthur has to be box seat. Don’t imagine Rowley would come midway through the season? Would we run half a campaign with interims?

Maybe the RS decision was made because we have agreed terms with another coach who can come in.

Agreed, I'd be staggered if we ran the rest of the season on a caretaker basis. If we do have a coach lined up, then who other than BA could it be, given the quality and experience needed. PR won't leave Salford part way through. The only other suitably experienced coach who is immediately available is JD, but I'd be underwhelmed, I have to say.

Smith was completely out of his depth, that was quite apparent to most people midway through last season. Presumably as his contract was terminated he will receive ample compensation. So I won’t be shedding crocodile tears, unfortunately due to some of his poor signings and contract negotiations he has potentially set us back at least a couple of seasons. Another bonus will be not having to watch his post match tv interviews in that stupid base ball cap. Let’s just remind ourselves that last week’s defeat by hull was the second victory of the season for hull, the previous victory was against a team who are so bad they shouldn’t be in the league. That’s how far we had fallen under smiths reign.