The pickle Leeds are in reminds me a little of the situation Chelsea were in in the last wendyball season. Too many ego's in the dressing room that think they know better than the coach and will point at their winners medal collection when the coach tries to take them to task. The term "nest of vipers" sums it up I think. It tends to happens whenever the same group of players remain successful through several coaches. The sooner McDermott goes the sooner things will turn around there I'll bet, although whether the senior players at Leeds are still capable of producing at the required level remains to be seen

To be fair, there were comments at the start of 2011 season from the players saying that things had gone stale under McClennan and that players didn't know their roles etc however I've not heard or seen anything about players disliking McClennan or trying to force him out. All I've ever heard from anyone in the club is that he left for personal reasons to do with his family.

No, it's a fact. Sal has already said.

I'd heard rumblings, but that is predictable after a (in Leeds' terms) poor season. However, it's hardly likely they drove him out. Players may have felt things were going stale, but that doesn't mean things couldn't have changed under the same coach.

Keith Senior discusses McClennans tenure at Leeds in his book and said that beyond being a strong motivator, he was short of skills to coach a Super League team week in and week out.

I think that the snipers were out for McClennan when he stood down early, both through his relationship with the players, and the fact that Hetherington brought in McDermott as his assistant who would replace him at the end of the coming season.


Things appear to be stale at Leeds, the game plan hasn't altered as the team has aged, flat balls and offloads dont seem to work in a team that is bereft of pace in the middle of the park and struggle to support the ball.

Ryan Hall's nickname at the club is apparently WBW (Worlds Best Winger) but he seems starved of the ball for long periods of games, there is no X factor at the club anymore, ie McGuire (pre rugby god injury), Ali Lau, Eastwood, Senior etc and yet Leeds still seem to rely on individuals to win games rather than having a game plan, the forwards look beaten on a regular basis and the team seem unable or unwillingly to win arm-wrestle games which is probably why the club has struggled in the league for the last few season against the better teams.

Signing Shaun Lunt was a step in the right direction (ie attepting to replace Buderus) but then McDermott leaves him on the bench for 80minutes against Saints three weeks ago.

All in all Leeds are in, or should be in a transitional period, but seem unwilling to acknowledge this and are just limping along hoping that everything falls into place at the right time like it did in September and October last year.

This time last year you could - and many did - say exactly the same thing. Poorly coached, weak pack, lack of spark etc etc (although to be fair there were a few Leeds fans pinning hopes on McGuire and Peacock returning from injury).

My take on it is that a couple of players have been kept on too long, and Leeds really, desperately lack some dynamism and aggression in the pack. On the personnel side I don't think there's too much else wrong - or that could be sensibly done under the salary cap.

The real issue IMO is that the senior players are complacent. Whether they like BM or not doesn't matter - patently the guy cannot get them to compete every week. There is absolutely no way this is BM's plan - particularly last year as a brand new coach he would have wanted to try to win every game. The fact that the team could turn it on at the end of the season (and against Manly this year as well) tells its own story that its down to the attitude amongst the squad.

I'd be willing to bet that there are more than a couple of players within Leeds' squad who DO believe in the 'mythical back end' to the season. Whilst I'd love to see Leeds turn it around and do the double, in some ways I wouldn't be too upset if they can't, and players have to totally re-evaluate the way they are approaching the season. Not turning up for home games against the likes of Wigan and Sts should be considered completely unacceptable by all concerned - not just suffering fans.

I think you're spot on there Brisbane. The only time in the Wigan game when we started tackling properly (ie getting the shoulder in) or running in anywhere near fast or hard enough was just after the incident with JJB. But that only lasted a few minutes.
If we can beat Manly we can at least be competitive against the top of SL, but it appears too many are taking shortcuts. Not getting in position defensively, not getting the shoulder in and dominating the tackle, not running from deep enough, not helping out teammates by providing a dummy run etc.