Both.

Replacing either of Sinfield or Peacock was always going to be tough. Finding a half back of that quality is almost impossible. I genuinely think GH thought this year would be Sinfield's last and his move to RU was a shock. Add to that Sutcliffe being injured and the 2 year planned transition was no more. We cannot produce half backs here and very few top halves ever come here - Carney is an exception and he would not have been available to Leeds anyway. Gidley would have been an ideal stop gap but Leeds weren't at the races where that was concerned.

Where GH should have done better is getting a hooker - Falloon is poor - we needed a serious player to organise and move the team around.

On the props Galloway should be better than he is showing but Garbutt should never have been signed he helped a tired side at the end of last season but he isnt even SL standard.

The most worrying thing of all is the lack of quality kids knocking on the door for selection. As the person responsible for all the coaching and development McDermott needs to brought to task on this. For this alone a change is required to the structure and the personnel within the coaching set up and that starts at the top

Guys... you are all assuming that BMcD actually does something and would need replacing.

All we need is someone to do the post match interviews and play with an inflated rubber glove at half time.

I think it's becoming more and more obvious that Sinfield/JP had a much bigger influence on the squad than even Mc.D himself stated when he highlighted how much they did in training/changing room and game by game management.
Personally i always thought this stage of the transition would be huge and the biggest yet previously we managed to evolve as a team despite not replacing stars on a like for like basis i.e Senior ,Ali ,Webb etc but at the same time we still had that core of strength/Leadership as the heartbeat of the squad.
Now we've lost that ,the players left behind have been exposed to not having that guidance nor that natural leadership to step in and fill the gaps.
Whatever the varying reasons of how we arrived at this point and granted there are many i do feel it's time for some fresh voices/ideas off the pitch and also a squad review which imo should see some departures and better quality recruited i think now would be perfect timing because the new Staff could settle in without any pressure to make the top 4 (not happening imo) & lay the foundations for 2017 going forward rather than starting cold in November.
Coaches leave Clubs all the time and its rare in RL they last over 3/4 yrs i thank Mc.D and his staff but imo the time for change has arrived
and i hope GH gets it right.

a mate who is a rhino's season ticket holder mentioned the rumour going round headingley friday nite was tony smith coming bk to coach you ???!!!!

No chance - he is going to Catalans if other rumours are true?

With the current situation at the Rhinos, the rumours will come thick and fast and eventually one of them might be true. But I can't see it being this one.

I thought Smith was going to HKR?

I'm sorry but I can't let you get away with this one.....Garbutt was rightly praised by many for his positive beefing up of the pack last season....and without a doubt was (and is) SL standard. Certainly he is of this season's SL standards: unquestionably.

How can you reconcile 'should never have been signed' with 'helped a tired side at the end of last season' ? Surely for that factor alone it was a 'very good, prudent signing' (as indeed most said at the time)?
Without the signing of Garbutt it would have been very much less likely Leeds would have won the treble ..or maybe indeed any silverware. As you say Garbutt came at the exact right time for a team that was on its knees in the forwards and sinking. How you can then go on to say he should not have been signed is a little contradictarily bizarre.

Garbutt isn't SL standard is a ridiculous statement. He was superb for the second half of last year and as Nantwich says, was probably the reason we were able to pull off the treble.He isn't playing to that level right now but quite frankly, who is?

Always though Brian Mac was massively overrated as a coach - how long until there's an SOS call to Sinfield?

Sal Paradise in "talking utter cr@p" shocker!

new coach never rated mc dermott anybody could have taken over leeds with the team that was in place and players coming through i think lowes had more idea

You can have James Lowes, please, take him!

Garbutt played a few games against tired opposition that didn't know his game. He was fresh given his lack of activity prior to coming here.

Now everything is on a level playing field his impact is non-existent. Can anyone on here seriously say he is having anymore impact than Galloway? No he isn't and his true quality is there for all to see.

Leeds needed a fresh pair of legs - it didn't matter than much who they were - it was the fresh pair of legs that made the difference not Garbutt.

The idea that he was the difference in winning the treble is ridiculous - comparing his impact to that of Ali is frankly laughable.

Sal nobody is making an impact it is why we are where we are.

And i never mentioned Ali so i don't know why you mentioned him.

Cuthbertson is making an impact - he has really stood out in a poor side so has Ferres - we are where we because the squad isn't good enough partly because it has too many poor overseas players - Garbutt being one of them.

I never said you mentioned Ali - most agree he was the difference in 2004 - you are suggesting Garbutt was the difference in 2015. I merely suggesting Garrett's influence was not that significant by giving you a near identical instance that really did make a huge impact.

Whilst i agree Garbutt has started this year not at the level he joined us last year i dont agree that he isnt good enough. The squad needs quality adding no doubts but id like to see what a fresh Coaching set up could do with an injury free settled 17 because i dont think the current set up can take us any further now.

i think his arrival had a huge impact on us winning the treble yes, of course i wouldn't compare it to Ali he was sensational but Garbutt lifted our pack and was a god send really just when we looked to be running a bit flat up front.To just say we needed another body is unfair he was frequently cited on here as a top performer on the majority of games he played.

Garbutt is probably an average player. He looked really good last year and rightly got praise for what he added to our pack, whether anyone could have done it is a strange question, the only thing we can say for sure is he did.

This year like the rest of th pack he looks unfit and not as enthusiastic as last year. Perhaps he had a bit more of a point to prove. Going forward I'd like to see him add another string to his bow, at the minute he looks one dimensional.

This could all change if/when the rest of the squad picks up. I think at his best and with some work, Garbutt would be similar to the Wire vintage Carvell, or a fitter Wigan days Feka.

The defence all year has been a shambles. That doesn't require people to be in form, just to work hard as a unit. It certainly doesn't need your first choice 17. That's the biggest indicator of the team spirit being up the creek.

I noticed Peter Smith pointed out that BM talking about injuries and players having to play whilst injured and yet not picking others who are fit. That suggests there's some serious interpersonal stuff going on behind the scenes. Also the first murmurings from him about BM.

One thing I've changed my mind on. If we don't make the Super 8s and form doesn't pick up markedly I'm no longer sure BM can survive to next year. Crowds for the Middle 8s will be awful, and without a couple of big signings for 2017 pushing season tickets will be a hard task if the rest of this year remains dreadful.

OTOH whilst clearly the buck stops with BM, some of the players should be ashamed of their individual performances as well.

Yep, no way the majority of the players are giving 100% at the moment imo which leads to the obvious question of whether Mac is/has lost the dressing room.

Cuthbo, Ferres and Delaney and Moon are the only first choice players who honestly look like they are giving it their all. Others such as Walters, Keinhorst, Lilley, Handley hold their heads up and take some pride in how they've filled in.

Too many big names not playing at the required standard, for whatever reason that might be.

Not sure I agree with that. Delaney is nothing more than a bit part, so hard to judge. Moon has made some horrendous errors and poor tackling. Yes, some good defence also, but not sure how you can equate that to putting in more than others.

Out of those you mentioned, only really Ferres has put his body on the line week after week, and up until Friday in the limited games he has had since return, JJB followed this up.

Throughout this tough period I do think Handley has come of age in that side, and really does look the part now. As for others, I just think because of the results there isn't the trust in one another like it was, and they are certainly not happy with the tactics employed.