No surprises from GH, and for the main, I agree with the line the club are taking.

Fans want constant success and quick fixes, but that is less and less achievable in professional sport/RL. The current plight of Salford and the inability of Warrington to dominate with the resources at their disposal in the last decade, not to mention wonder-coach Tony Smith, speaks volumes. God help their administrators if they don't win the GF this year!

The majority of posters on this board need a reality check. Like it or not, we will have to be patient before the first team get back on track.

A knee-jerk response of bringing in a new coach and/or players is just as likely to de-stabilise the team in the short to medium term. It is also not in the style of the Leeds management since GH took over.

Aside from a fully-fit squad (a red herring in the current era), the big thing currently missing is CONFIDENCE. This is one of the main reasons why some of the better performances in recent losses are not being consolidated. We only have to look back at how well the team were playing in the WCC and against Warrington to see what they are capable of when confidence is normal (I'm not saying they were world-beaters, but obviously a lot better than of late). This is the biggest problem now, but it can and will be turned around.

At the very start of the season, the losses of Peacock and Sinfield and the impact of the WCC etc were legitimate issues. But IMO to a large extent they have been overshadowed by the confidence issue. In the longer-term, the injury crisis should prove to be a big positive, allowing the likes of Handley and Lilley and others to lay claim to starting positions as first choice selections. Did the transition need to be as bad as this - probably not, but then again, this is Leeds - how long did we have to wait to get our championship in 2004? How unlikely were the wins from 5th, and the last-ditch treble last year? This club always seems to do things tougher than others with similar resources (although thankfully we haven't had to endure what Saints and Warrington fans have in the last decade).

It is impossible to predict when the team will start to turn performances and results around, but I have a feeling when it happens we will produce a big win in unlikely circumstances that will galvanise the rest of the season (middle 8s or no).

If the unthinkable happens, and the decline is not halted, the right time to review this is when the season is over for Leeds (as meaningful challengers). In the meantime I'm happy to let the professionals do their job.

The last thing we want is a hasty appointment to appease the fans, say bringing in Sinfield as coach, only for him to do a Powell-style move to the Championship in a couple of seasons (under the veil of an upstairs move). The example of Cunningham at Saints is not a path that I would like to see us repeat, unless we want to sully the wonderful memories of one of our great players.

There are - IIRC - six people working with the first team who report directly to McDermott. Chris Plume and Barry Eaton as assistant coaches, Jason Davidson and Ian Kirke on the conditioning side, Andy Bletsoe doing the analysis, Andy Barker as head physio.

You've then got the likes of Jonny Wainhouse, Peter Clarkson and Mark Butterill working with the two Academy age groups, plus their own physios and conditioning staff.

Lastly there's the ancillary staff - Glynn Bell doing the kit, the masseurs, Bob Pickles managing youth recruitment.

When you think about the number of things that need to go on behind the scenes to get three sides on the pitch over the course of one weekend, then 20-odd people isn't excessive IMO.

James

How often do we have three teams playing over a weekend? How many weekends has that happened this year?

How often do we have three teams playing over a weekend? How many weekends has that happened this year?

Don't a few work with Carnegie also?

Probably not all that often, but the three teams will all be training during the week. So while you can have some degree of crossover, say with the medical or conditioning staff for example, you're going to need to have dedicated coaches working with each grade.

Players could wash their own kit, or get their Mums to do it. Achurch could just hang his up on the peg at the end of every match. His boots would probably need a wet wipe though every couple of games.

Yep and some do, the most obvious being Chris Plume. As mentioned some work with Carnegie too, people like Ben Jones and Debbie Smith.

The 19's train with the first team twice per week.

Would help I suppose if the head coach actually coached also, which would spare up some men.

The Head Coach does coach. I've seen him doing it many times.

I find this website and its inhabitants a very strange bunch. We've gone from severe criticism of McDermott last season for not having a full time assistant and doing too much himself to now he's got too many assistants and he's not doing enough.

Just as an aside GH showed no hesitation in dumping our previous coach who had won 2 championships in his first two years followed by a relatively poor third season. By relatively poor I mean a year we got to the CC final and got knocked out of the Play Offs following McGuire's injury against Wigan away.

TBH if you can't classify this season to date as a crisis then nothing qualifies.

yes, but in 2010 Mac was already lined up and chomping at the bit to take the reigns.With focus shifting to the new stand and everything that comes with that this year, i would suggest what is happening now is not good timing and the last thing the CEO needs is to be opening the purse strings for severance packages and busting the bank for a new coach and big name players he may want.

This.

I would say the likelyhood of closing the Southstand and people sacking off turning up and watching on Sky is growing by the week. Getting people to come back in 2018 if next season is anything other than a Leeds resurgence back to the top is impossible without on field success.

My dad has been going on and off for 50 plus years, he's had a SS season ticket for 20ish of those years.

He does a 2 hour + round trip to home games. His opinion right now is "GH is kidding himself if he thinks I'm gonna stand on the western terrace and watch that shower of $hit every week!"

GH is gonna lose thousands of fans. My old man has paid his dues. He can handle losing but not shipping 30 points a week.

I agree Wilko and this is the Dilemma that GH has right now.It seems as though to me from this Email that he is going to gamble that when everyone is fit we will have a strong end to the season so he can put his PR machine into overdrive on how things will be all guns blazing into 2017 now the horrendous early season bad luck is behind us.He may well turn out to be right, but its not a call i would be happy making and it could back fire massively.

I find the way you twist/interpret things very strange - the issue about the assistant was the quality and the ability of the assistant to challenge the coach and influence his decisions. Perhaps most pertinent of all provide the club with an option should things not go well. Can you honestly say Eaton or Plume have the quality and diversity of experience to offer Hetherington with an option?

McDermott himself was quite happy to offer himself as an assistant but seem unwilling to appoint an assistant of similar standing

An assistant is not there as a back up head coach should you want to sack the main one. That is not an assistants job at all. Nor is it going to happen with Hetherington anyway. There is no way on earth Hetherington is going to sack a coach mid-season.
An assistant is exactly that, an assistant. To help organise and run training, physios, analysis etc etc McDermott has 3 of them.
Why wouldn't Barry Eaton or Chris Plume be able to put their own points of view across to McDermott? They're all grown up human beings, they talk and they have meetings about issues. The same goes for Jason Davidson, in fact the last few years I'd say Davidson has had significant influence in McDermott's thinking re training and conditioning.

There was significant criticism of McDermott last season for only having a "part time" assistant. Now there is criticism of him for having too many. That seems rather silly to me and simply another excuse for having a go at McDermott without any real knowledge or thought behind it.

An assistant should be of sufficient quality and experience to be able to assume the responsibility for the first team - can you honestly say either Eaton or Plume could do that?

How can either of these two talk on an near equal footing to McDermott - seriously. You could see your senario at say Warrington where Agar has experience at a high coaching level or Cas where Orr has experience at a high playing level. Neither Plume or Eaton has either. Personally I think its protectionism on the part of the coach no one to really challenge his decisions on an equally footing.

Didn't McClennan leave part way through a season? Leeds had an able assistant in place to mitigate McClennan's/GH decision to change.

Spot on with this.

Just because some people don't like Eaton and Plume as assistants they dismiss them as "yes" men for McDermott when in reality people aren't privy to the conversations they have together.

They say this because the like to paint a picture of McDermott as stubborn and refusing to hear anybody else's opinion except his own, yet we all know he let senior players coach and do halftime team talks.....bit contradictory that on one hand he's as stubborn as a mule and on the other hand he's prepared to let players take on responsibilities and do things off their own back without him needing to hold their hand.

When? Are you talking weekly? or are you talking previously in his employment?

He certainly isn't doing it consistently at all, and is rarely seen the twice a week the under 19's are on the training field, or for that matter with the first team either. He does do video reviews, etc, but not in training.

What needs to be remembered here, and it is not just a coincidence that things behind the scenes started to regress at the same time, is that McDermott looks after the whole of the football side operation, he has control. This was done two years or so back, and was also why Sinfield and Peacock took most of the first teams coaching sessions previously. This is what Hetherington put in place, and what McDermott requested. It was part of the fall out from Barrie McDermott.

The success Leeds had in building through the ranks, was seperating the first team from the youth and development side, and having two equal in control of either side. McDermott has everyone on the coaching singing to his tune or not at all.

Don't forget the drunken gloits who define their whole communal existence in terms of ownership of the southstand along with their [i'Oh we are weeeeeee'[/i presence to the centre and rear and their duty bound reverence to the out of tune and out of sync bollox that moronic band happens to strike up.

I suspect plenty of them are still be sulking and when the current southstand does gets bulldozed, they may not renew their season tickets for that reason alone. The role of the team being utter pants in 2016 may well be enough to sway the rest of the gloits whose support is currently wavering.

In your opinion - you are no more privy to the conversations than anyone else.

Often on Sky coverage they show the dressing room at half time - not once have I ever seen Eaton or Plume addressing the players?

Of course he going to allow Peacock or Sinfield to talk to the players - they were far more important to the team's success than he was - it could be argued he has ridden on the back of their coat tails?

If you look at this season how would you say the coaching is going?

To be perfectly honest in Plume's case I'd either never heard of or forgotten the former Sheffield, Huddersfield, Gateshead, Hunslet player - I imagine the Leeds players don't remember his playing career either.

As opposed to the great playing careers of Brian McClennan and Tony Smith?