Every Leeds fan I speak to (and I work with one and another is a supplier and the latest three-way "banter" was as recently as yesterday) is mortified at what has been happening at Leeds, and pretty well to a man they blame the coach. (My suggestions that they might be getting a bit short of wonga cos of the Union side and other commitments are met with derision...

). They point to a number of players, including Smith, who they believe have gone backwards under the present coach.

May be relevant to the various threads dismissing specified Leeds players?

I'd take Smith in a breath. Especially now that Royston is going, he can cover Wing, Centre and Full-back and assuming either Platt or Sykes will be finding another club we will need this cover.

Its not just the fans, i was talking yesterday to a person very well connected to the Rhino's and the players are very unsettled at the club under Mr McDermott.

I wouldn't imagine Smith would fancy joining a club who want him as backup. He'd definitely see himself as a starting player.

Smith's ok but I don't think he would add much more than we already have and I certainly don't think that its the kind if signing that will turn the clubs fortunes around.

I thought that this years campaign might have indicated that signing a load of players unwanted by other clubs, players coming back from injury or players with a point to prove doesn't worked. Foolishly, I had hoped that the clubs management would have spent the year lining up real quality players rather than having another panic buying spree similar to last year. If this rumour is true then it looks like we're in for pretty much more of the same.

That's interesting seeing as he was held under high regard (or so I thought) when he was there as a coach last time round.

Yes i agree, but thats what i was informed, maybe its certain players not all.

Agents McDermott and Lowes are doing a fine job. Knighthoods will surely follow...

His FB positioning for me is woeful my good man. Hence why Royston seemed to play FB when we were defending earlier in the season and Kearney played it when we were attacking.

It is all about opinions but the fact that Kearney generally IS believed to be one of our top players says more about the state of our team rather than the quality of the player. IMO.

Aye. What relationship does Hetherington have with the players? It would only take 2 or 3 of the senior players to arrange a meeting and get McDermott the push?

Lets think about this maturely. I personally don't want Lee Smith to come to Bradford because he is poo and wee.

Smith was poor under McClennan last season too, although he's deteriorated since. Hasn't been the same since a brief spell at Wasps. I suspect his current decline is down to attitude.

If he can recapture his pre-Wasps form he will be a good signing, but going on your recent list of Leeds rejects (Feather, Scruton, Diskin, Walker etc) I doubt he's going to suddenly come good again at Bradford.

IMO had Leeds not re-signed Webb and instead given Smith the FB position in 2009 he would have been a cert for England at FB (before Tomkins made the switch). He was never a centre and at present isn't good enough to nail down the wing position at Leeds.

I think Diskin has been outstanding. Far exceeded what I expected of him. The others....well yeah.

Lee Smith isn't going to want to come to us and play the sort of Paul Sykes type role of filling in anywhere he is needed in the backline.

I'm sure he would have a higher aspiration than that, and equally surely someone like Wakefield would be prepared to sign him and give him a regular Full Back or Wing starting slot.

Think you'll find that he signed a new 3 year deal at Leeds last year.

Leeds just forgot to announce it.

They can keep him.

Always thought Smith to be a player that would perform in a dominant team but in the mid table or lower team could dissapear

Decent SL FB but I doubt he'd want to leave Rhinos to play on the wing at the Bulls.
As for Kearney, he is probably overrated by some but still a very good SL standard FB. He isn't the best one on one tackler but he offers more than our cuurent halfbacks as a running threat. Short memories by some.. his form early season carried the team.

How has this thread lead to Kearney bashing. Chuffing hell! Kearney's not been amazing this year but which fullback would have looked good this season playing behind that shower? The team had had no go forward and he's often had to act as a playmaker due to nothing coming from the halfbacks. Kearney's the type of player we need to keep. Get the rest of the team up to speed and I'm sure we'll see the best of him. If he was fullback for Wigan or Warrington he'd be fantastic. I'm sure if Wellen's, Tomkins and co had attackers raining down on them, game after game, because they had a pizzle poor defensive line, they'd struggle too.

Smith needs to sort himself out. That's up to him not the coach. He was never that quick before he left but had an ability to beat defenders and reasonable pace. With Webb retained, the return of Jones-Bishop and Watkins (from injury), and the emergence of Hardaker, Smith had no obvious starting role at Leeds except left centre when Senior went.

It may be a bit harsh to blame it all on his attitude - he may well have been instructed to bulk up to make himself a more 'natural' centre. That rarely works - virtually every player I can remember artificially adding to their natural playing weight (as opposed to just filling out naturally with age) has looked a lesser player afterwards.

....erm, because we are discussing Lee Smith who, if signed, would be a contender for a FB berth currently occupied by Kearney perhaps?



Yes, that is indeed 100% correct.



Now what exactly are you basing this on? Fact? Opinion? Or opinion dressed up as fact? Anyway, it is a moot point because he is nowhere near good enough to get into these two sides at the moment.

The point that I am making is quite simple. Positionally at FB Brett Kearney is shocking.

WE GET YOUR POINT! YOU THINK KEARNEY'S POSITIONAL PLAY IS POOR. WE GET IT! Is there any particular reason why you feel you must repeat it everytime someone thinks otherwise. Your starting to bore the paps off me. I've put what I think and that's it. I don't see any point in re-posting it after every opposing view. I am not so insecure that I feel I have to change your mind. Each to their own, and all that.

I don't believe there is any "thinking" that Kearney's positional play is poor, it just is.

kearney may not be everyones favourite but he is not a union reject, or failure rather through own attitude and temperament.
He is not piling the pounds on because frankly he has already been saved and does not care.
Lee smith is no better than kearney and his career is massively on the slide cant help but think i am going to bump into him in a very different career soon. He had pace and potential but his attitude is awful- until his union experience leeds fans were talking about keef's replacement now both leaving club in same year.

In one of Leeds' games this season, Lee Smith's statistic for metres gained was a negative figure. Something has obviously gone very wrong when you consider how, a few years ago, he was tearing Saints apart in a GF for him to now be at the stage where he is making less than 0 metres in a match.