He was offered the coaching gig because he had a SL contract and GH saw it as a way of saving money!!

Terrible coach who dropped Sinfield for the 2000 CC final so a players whose wife was his wife's best friend could get a game.

Also brought Paul Bell over who lasted all of 6 weeks!!

Way out of his depth who should have gone much earlier imo.

GH's original target for replacing Graham Murray (whose salary was also paid for by SL Australia) was John Lang (another contracted to SL Australia) but was turned down. Lance was the only other SL Australia contracted coach out of a job after Adelaide Rams were shunted, but at least he came cheap

Was always led to believe he was of the main reasons Harris became so disillusioned with life at Leeds.

The Dean Lance era was the most miserable time to be supporting Rhinos in Super League up until 2006.

as I have said before, my mate was media training officer back then. he told me it was the other players who didn't want sterling in.

Met him in a pub the day after he was sacked, he wasn't very happy

Hives

It was during Dean Lance's first months in charge that I realised what a bunch of dicks a large number of fellow Leeds fans were. The booing of Keith Senior and then of Lance when his face appeared on the screen at Headingley was mindless and pathetic.

I remember the fifth of those opening league games, the heavy defeat at Warrington, when to the young me it seemed like the world was ending. But the following round we finally won and, although there were a few more bumps in the road like the Utu game and the slightly unfortunate cup final loss, the epic winning run began shortly afterwards with, I think, a win over Wigan.

Lance was a coach placed in an invidious position who suffered from a really terrible opening. Like McDermott, he got all the blame when things went wrong and it was the players ignoring the coach or playing for themselves when they won. The Sterling thing was something of a tragedy for him; my reading of it then and now was that he simply told Sterling he was never going to be picked and should find a new club - something lots of coaches tell players, never mind ones who are 36 years old. The basketball comment floored him however, notwithstanding the judgement's description of him as "an honourable man".

His qualifications for the job were good and he came well recommended but ultimately it didn't work out. He did, however, oversee the initial transition from the Murray team, which clearly had no future, to the Golden Generation team and his record doesn't seem quite so awful in retrospect.

I think you're extrapolating too far there. But I do wish people would let it go. Maybe because we were so desperately awful last season and he was the embodiment of hope.

One of the most pathetic posts ever made on this forum.

Graham Murray didnt sign a 4 year deal. In fact he was contracted to Super League. Which was one of the reasons Leeds didnt extend his deal which led Murray accepting the North Sydney Bears job.

He was a fantastic bloke, a great coach and did a truly great job for Leeds. I was lucky enough to get to know Muzza well in his time at Leeds and even met him a few times after he had left the club. He was without doubt one of the greatest blokes ive ever come across.

On the subject of Lance.............my blood still boils!!!

You can of course always lance a boil.

Or boil a Lance.

It wasn't the fault of the coach or player that Bell got injured though. Although I'm not sure if he's been fit he would have been an adequate replacement for Godden, in the same way David Barnhill didn't effectively replace Morley.

I think it's unlikely there's any unconscious racism at play in this instance but they are definitely playing hardball with a player whose behaviours signal some mental health issues in play. I thought McDermott's "Man-Up" public tirade against Segeyaro displayed ignorance and a lack of class as well.

If the club management don't let this go, I wouldn't be surprised to hear of several players in future having reservations about signing for Leeds.

That's a definite possibility. We may already have that rep.

Am i right in remembering that Murray recommended Millward to replace him but GH went for Lance? Seem to remember Millward did quite well at Saints...

Mmm if I remember correctly Ian Millward's end at Stains,and Wigan wasnt too glorious.If Brian Mc behaved in the same manner at a press conference he'd be lynched by the mob on here.

Without doubt, McDermott gets lynched by a mob on here when he says something that isn't really harmful but gets twisted to be.

Despite popular myth all conversations about Leeds don't need to lead back to McD. This is about Lance.

Exactly, lance on paper was a good signing as coach, but after six months it was obvious he was the wrong fit. Hetherington has never been trigger happy with hiring and fireing and has mostly got it right, some signings like delea, Scott Donald looked poor in first season, but then kicked on. He did give lance time to turn things around but it was a mistake to perseavere so long. My reference to mcd in this post was that I hope mcd has gone gone beyond his shelf life.
If mcd can get us back to we're we belong, then hetheringtons faith will be justified and mcd will then finally be regarded as a great coach.

It was you who brought Millward into the mix.Just pointing out that you have got to look at the not so savoury flip side of Ian Millward.With the advantage or the retrospectoscope then GH made the right decision in the long run.FWIW I too thought P Sterling was past his sell by date,and Dean Lance did not have enough coaching experience to take Leeds on in the first place.

The other problem with Lance was that his tenure as coach ended with DP being brought in to coach too early. That was always going to be a huge ask because he hadn't much experience and was coaching players he'd been alongside previously. I never found DP's time as coach particularly convincing, but regardless being dumped in the deep end probably didn't help. I'd have no qualms at all about him coming back again as head coach in the future.

Crikey.



Yes. Don't sign for Leeds and that evil Gary bloke, they'll keep you to your word and make you honour any contracts signed.

Anyone who feels like that, is most likely an Aussie who's run or is running out of options and isn't worth signing.