I don't know whether he means this or not, or whether he's trying to shield the players.

He's clearly an unorthodox coach, which may be in part how we got to the GF last year where he clearly got us playing as a team, which Agar couldn't do. I wish he would just come out and tell us what he is actually aiming for in performance, but the RL journos don't seem to press him on tactics enough. If he genuinely thinks we've played well in attack, what is he marking that against other than 'togetherness' which isn't exactly measurable. If he would give some indication as to what he's aiming for, at least we'd have an idea of how he's trying to play, as at the moment I've no idea!

As others have said though, this is a re-build and I'm sure many very senior high paid players have been told that they are not being offered new deals. That's not a great recipe for getting a team to but into what he's doing.

I think give us more transparency and a road map of where he sees this team going and more of us will get behind him. That's if he knows...

Yep, good point and could be a factor behind recent performances. I don't like the way that works is RL. You end up with loads of players knowing that they playing elsewhere next season and it's only May.

If that was the case they would be on the RFL recent player list as not offered a deal I think? (I could be wrong)

I wouldn't read too much into the pressers, its very rare a coach will come out and berate the players, he has said on multiple occasions that as a team we are nowhere near we should be but still has the belief that we can be, that's pretty standard for a coach to say in pressers, he's not daft.

I think the point he is making is that bar Warrington, we haven't been hammered, which we haven't, we've always been within one or two scores, I'm not saying that's good enough, it isn't.

How many players rumored to be leaving/not offered new contracts come end of season are we at now? Fusitua, Tetavano, Sezer,Walters, Tindall, Bentley im also hearing another 1st team member ready to Jack, what are people's thoughts on how that affects the on field performance?

Like Warrington last year Im sure it does affect performances, but what can we do, this is the problem when Smith inherits a salary cap and contract mess, we can't offer players contracts just so we perform better this year.

If any player wants out, it's a case of see you later IMO.

People may not agree with Smith but he has shown that he isn't afraid of making the tough calls layer wise, which is what we have been missing for a fair few years.

Is Jack a clue?

Agree. If players down tools because they aren't getting a contract for next year, it only goes to prove they never had the right attitude in the 1st place.

Most people aren't as committed to an employer when they know they are moving on - its just human nature

It’s not comparable though, most people have other jobs to go to and aren’t working in the public eye for a contract elsewhere.

Let’s take Bentley who’s off contract, he needs to seriously up his game to either get another contract at Leeds or for someone else to want to give him a decent deal.

Mind you isn’t his agent Craig Harrison? If so he’ll automatically end up at Hull KR

It's not too bad if it just one player but......

Who is that would rather Jack than Fleetwood Mac?

Just to be clear I am not calling for RS head but I cannot work out this passive defence philosophy. We oncede metres and metres of ground then expect to score from 70, 80 or ninety metres out. How is that ever going to work against any half decent side? A good coach should be able to change tatic when something is not working. If we play the same way next season, when RS has the squad he wants, then it is time for him to go.
And I agree the six again is a lousy rule. It is just being exploited. The ref should be able to award penalties for laying on but that never happens now. six again is an easy cop out for the ref and does not really penalise the guilty party.

Chris - I agree with your sentiment - if these players are already sorted e.g. Olpharts last year and the fans aren't aware then that would be a reason - not justifiable to me but reason none the less. Bentley wants to go to the NRL - maybe this is already sorted?

The performances here in the SL will have no bearing on where the NRL players will end up e.g. Josh Reynolds so professional pride apart why risk serious injury by giving it everything - might as well coast - they will get paid either way.

So looks like we are losing/ ooc
Tet
Donaldson
Fusitua
Bentley
Sezar
Austin

That's a lot of cap and QS and I dont think I'd care about losing any or all of them.

wonder if Christopher has thoughts of being a cheerleader....

Actually some good players there, not as simple as replacing these to improve!

Not with my knees.

It’s better than being a miserable sod.

I'd keep Austin TBH. Im pretty sure we'll struggle to replace both halves in one go. The rest I'd let go. Bentley can be very good, I'm undecided if we should retain or not. Depends on salary cap.

I'm open to keeping Bentley, mainly because he has bags of potential if he can reclaim his Sts form, but also because Martin needs to be kept on his toes form-wise. Bentley is also english, moved to Leeds because it's his home town club, and won't cost the earth.

I'd rather let Sezer and Austin go, providing we can get 2 halfs in. The problem is we need to prioritise a half with speed. Austin isn't exactly an organiser, so if we can get a quick, explosive running half, do we opt to keep Sezer instead even though his forms been worse?

Are you Ronnie Rhino?

Nope, Are You Bull Man?

Seems that way with how much you seem to dislike the club

I doubt we'll get two decent halfbacks in one go either. Its got to be horses for courses, as Sezer and Austin are very different styles. That's supposed to be a good thing but they've rarely actually played that well together for us (that's another issue).

We've seen before what happens when you try to play without an organising halfback - umpteen combinations of Myler, Sutcliffe etc failed miserably. I guess Sinfield is the future hope there, but would you want to rely on him next season? I'm not even fully convinced he's going to make a SL player yet, let alone run the team. Problem is if we bring in someone for two or three years (which we might need to do to attract someone) does that mean Sinfield will leave regardless?

Its all very hard, and I'm glad I'm not the one having to make decisions. Get it right and we're set. Get it wrong and we'll be having this same discussion in two or three years.

Agree re Bentley. You've convinced me that we should keep





There's no way we'll get two good halves in at the same time, it would cost a fortune. But, what do we know ?

Funny Chris. Keep it up