I'm not saying this because I don't want CC to go and I don't but I don't think CC is where Smith was in 2003 in terms of coaching ability. CC has found a very encouraging chairman and leaned heavily on Kear for a fair while. He's not a rookie but he's not the ready article, not yet.

Any future Leeds coach needs to have a tough skin.

[iSinfield's at the wheel, tell me how, how does it feel.[/i

David Furner has been badly treated by the Leeds officialdom, especially Gary Hetherington. It is not David's fault that Trent Merrin and Tuimoala Lolohea have not performed to their ability.

If I was David Furner I would pursue adequate compensation from Leeds via whatever legal channels are available to him.

Now, with Richard Agar at the helm, Leeds are in for a difficult time. If I was Hetherington and Sinfield I would be flying to Australia to try to persuade the former Cronulla Sharks Grand Final winning coach, Shane Flanagan, to take over at Leeds.

Why “especially Gary Hetherington”? He was Sinfield’s appointment and Sinfield is in charge of the on field operations nowadays.

Also why isn’t it a coaches fault that players are underperforming? The likes of Powell and Chester are credited for getting the best out of the players at their disposal so why doesn’t it work the other way?

Depends if he’s learnt a lesson from this. He’s been lined up for and talking about having this kind of role at Leeds and eventually taking over Hetherington for several years before he retired (possibly as far back as 2010) and at the same time Furner’s name often popped up as a future head coach. Given their friendship you could’ve bet your mortgage on Furner getting a gig at Leeds as soon as Sinfield got his dream job regardless of whether it was the right time, which it clearly wasn’t. Maybe Furner could’ve been a success at Leeds if he took over in 2/3 years time after someone else had the patience to oversee the turnover of the current squad.

Gareth

Oh yes it is. Almost totally.

I’m convinced it’s going to be Chester. He’s done a great job at Wakefield. But they aren’t a big club like Leeds.

Plus the amount of money belle vue is going to take away from the footballing side now they own it.

Leeds have far greater resources to meet his ambitions. He’s exactly the sort of coach Leeds want too and the sort of appointment they’ve had loads of success with.

I'm convinced otherwise.
So I guess that's a draw and he stays where he is.

And apart from McDermott, which other English coach similar to Chester are you thinking had success at Leeds?

Chester is developing into a very good coach, I would not be un happy if he got the job, but cannot see it, just don't think it's a good fit for either party, Leeds is such a much higher pressure job, it's not for everybo, some people just work better where expectations demands are not so high. Hence Man U have gone through some very good managers and even Ferguson nearly got the axe early on. Think Chester has a good thing going at Wakey, and they could be like Cas and Huddersfield a few years ago and compete and get to some finals and maybe puck up a Lls or Cc. And possible get to a GF.

I'm convinced your trying to wind up us Wakey fans with your comment but on reflection you do have a good point, both Chessie and Powell have worked wonders with limited resources,
Powell and has been quoted as not interested and Chessie is silent but MC has made comments of he's not going anywhere.
why would Chessie want to leave, yes Leeds are a big club in fact I'd say the biggest, they have better training facilities, bigger back ground squad, I bet the best medical team, wonderful stadium 4 times as big as our dump but look at that squad he would inherit, its got not guts, no discipline, no leaders, in fact I'd say the teams gone soft, Furner wanted to change what he saw yet he held back in achieving this.
we at Wakey have quite the opposite,

I know in my employment I once landed a dream job in a top notch environment to have it shattered by back stabbing selfish employees so its not the bee all and end all having everything at you disposal even though it would be nice.

I hope he thinks twice if he gets an invitation for interview

Given the success McDermott had given to leeds is always seemed a bit of a rush to sack him.

Especially given the money was being spent on the stadium.

When you start sacking coaches each year it becomes a serious question for future coaches about how much time they would get and whether they would want to risk any coaching stock they have to move to Leeds.

There is a simple answer, bin Hetherington, he and his wife are pariahs.

Yeah what has Hetherington ever done for Leeds Rhinos...

Don’t think Hetherington really wanted to sack McDermott but that along with giving away a lot of his duties to Sinfield mid season were forced upon him by others at the club and also sponsors/fans who never really liked McDermott and believed the idea that those GF wins were all down to the players.

We were in a worst position in 2016 than 2018 as we spent most of the first half of the season bottom yet the didn’t sack him and only signed him Parcell for 2017 and didn’t even sign him a replacement for Hardaker instead gambling on a very inexperienced youngster in Golding. In 2018 we actually were in a similar position to Cas now, started well and were looking on for a top 4 spot after 8-10 rounds but then injuries caught up and we started to slide down the table. Again the money wasn’t spent on helping McDermott mid season with some recruits to help bolster the squad.

People blame McDermott for the squad we have now but he wasn’t given the money to make it better, whether that was because the money wasn’t there in 2016 because the stadium work had yet to be approved or certain people at the club didn’t want to give him any money because they wanted him to fail so they could get their hero Sinfield in, like i’ve mentioned before it was no secret Sinfield wanted and was lined up for the job for several years before he retired.

Used Caddicks cheque book!

Wrong. In fact money has been taken from the Rhinos over the years to pay for Caddick’s vain attempts to keep a Union side going in Leeds.

Who said anything about English?

Smith had gained promotion with Huddersfield so had some success but bags of potential, the kiwi bloke had won the 3 nations with NZ but was coaching in a semi pro comp and McDermott had revamped London including developing a successful production line of talent. All three went to Leeds and won everything going.

Chester is proving to be a great coach with bags of potential who’s turned Wakefield into a top 4/5 side.

If I were Leeds I’d be speaking to carter and trying to come to an arrangement.

Either that or Shaun wane but give him free reign to do what he wants.

On paper Leeds shouldn’t be where they are in the table.

The issues clearly go deeper than the coach. Junior development until very recently was shocking. If we'd been turning out 1/2 quality juniors every year over the past 5 years we'd already have a better squad mix in terms of age and ability. The other huge problem for me was the whole club buying into the 2016 excuseathon (floods! injuries! retirements! alien invasion!) and not recognising it as a wake-up call.

Having said that, McDermott had to go because the buck did stop with him. Last year wasn't 'going well' before he was sacked, we were going backwards at a rate of knots and looking at our second horrific season out of 3. The fact that sacking him didn't stop the rot doesn't mean it wasn't the right decision. In restrospect I'd guess even McDermott probably acknowledges he should have left after 2017.

The evidence this year is not looking good for Sinfield. I'd personally have no problem with him leaving if he doesn't show signs of turning things around. The club owes him nothing other than gratitude for his playing career and some sort of memorial in the ground. I also really don't like the club hiring too many ex-players from the same team in a mutitude of roles. I can't imagine anything more unbearable for current players than having a bevy of pot-bellied ex-players wandering around telling them how things were much better in their day etc.

No the problems started last year when McDermott wasn’t given quality (or any) reinforcements during the first part of the year when we were so low on numbers especially in the props. Making big almost silly bids this season for players and signing 2 marquees in the winter....where was this money during early 2018 when we needed it? That’s the question Leeds fans should be asking because if we’d have brought in reinforcements early in 2018 when we were still top 4 then we certainly wouldn’t have slipped into the bottom 4 and possibly still could’ve stayed in the mix for too 4.

But because sections of Leeds supporters wanted McDermott gone because they’ve never liked him they don’t/won’t ask this question. The reality is he wasn’t helped because people at the club wanted him out so Sinfield could come in on his white horse and take on the role he and they have dreamt of him doing for years thinking he’d be as good at that as he was as an on field leader. Likewise in 2016....where was the money and reinforcements when we were depleted and struggling?

He could end up being the Keiron Cunningham of Leeds.

Still early days for him (Sinfield) but, it looks like a classic case of having been given too much responsibility, too soon.
We see it all the time in football but, Cunningham, albeit in a slightly different role, is a good recent example in RL.

Indeed, being a good player doesn't automatically lead to being a good coach/administrator. The best example of this is Gregory, who couldn't stay out of the club house, it's why Schofield spouts from the media and not put his b4lls on the line.

He’d have probably been fine if their was a gap between him joining and McDermott leaving. He was too self interested and still bitter though that he couldn’t judge or treat what he saw as “McDermott players” correctly.

But he has a masters degree in something doesn’t he?

That aside you’re right too much too soon I suspect it’ll end in tears