No sympathy for GH mate. He appointed a manager with no professional coaching experience, on the cheap. What did he really expect? Smith may still come good, as he’s learning on the job. Not his fault really……

To be fair, I think the club saw Burrow as a long-term coaching option, but we know what's happened since.

No professional coaching experience, except the eight years he'd spent as a professional head coach before he was appointed, and the eight years he'd spent as a professional assistant coach before that.

Agree. It was death by a thousand cuts, all the small decisions going Saints way, and Johnny Lomax once again proving what a great refs assistant he is. We aren’t a match for Saints man for man, but getting so many decisions going against us certainly doesn’t help. It’s quite obvious that some teams are favoured heavily over others, and the RFL’s disciplinary bias towards Saints, and against Leeds over the last few years, has been a sad indictment on the honesty of the governing body. Add to that the conscious bias from match officials towards certain clubs and players, and teams like Leeds are fighting an uphill battle. Lomax is a perfect example of a player constantly buzzing around officials and exerting his influence. It was beyond belief that he could get a player sent off for punching by simply telling an official he had been struck by McDonnell last season. A clear lie, and again a sad indictment on the honesty of RFL employees, this time the match officials that never saw the ghost punch yet went on the word of a favoured player.

You do relise that the forward pack you are slagging off have all been signed, or re-signed to longer deals by Smith?

At the same time, you are both....advocating Smith and his rebuild, whilst stating the players he's bringing in or re-signing for the rebuild are not good enough

Genuine question - what are all these incorrect or marginal decisions that went against Leeds given there is a narrative that every decision went against them?

As for players arms in the air - I sense a collective case of Newman-blindness.

Genuine answer, lots of small decision throughout the game. Pointless going through them, because as a supporter right/wrong decisions are only ever subjective. You would counter them from a Saints perspective and rightly so. The hangover from 2022, and perceived bias towards Saints with the Morgan Knowles farrago, cleared when appealing an appeal in contrast to Leeds players getting extended bans for frivolous appeals is a hangover that is failing to clear for me. Lomax disappointed me last season by lying openly to a match official to get McDonnell sent off, and that certainly coloured my view of this current Saints team, and once more made me question the integrity of match officials. As a Saints fan, what was your view of Lomax claiming he’d been the victim of a punch that never happened ?

Personally I don’t believe in sacking smith at this stage of the season. Unfortunately if we are mid table half way through the season he would have to walk the plank. Let’s not forget that last season was the transition period, he supposedly got rid of the deadwood ,so this season was to be a springboard to success. It’s the manner of last night’s defeat that irks supporters, we never at any stage looked capable of beating Saints. Take Newmans brilliant individual try out the equation and we have only managed to score one try over two games. You have to credit Saints as a club after the Cunningham debacle they have completely rebuilt the club. Two highly successful coaches turned the club around, looking at the Saints squad compared to ours. Across the board most of the Saints players are superior to ours, I am assuming that both clubs spend up to the salary cap limit. If that’s the case it’s a damming indictment of the management and coaching staff at Leeds. Obviously it’s still early on in the season so time to turn things around. Cas won’t be an easy game as it’s the cup final for them.

since cunningham saints coaching appointments have been faultless.
ours have been shambolic

Smith has very strong views on how the game should be played. Which is fine. But the definition of madness is continuing to do the same thing but expecting a different result. Playing soft up the middle and lacking real structure is just not seen from the best sides. We've played that way for a season and a bit and its not working and looks like only being a bit more successful against mid-table teams than last year, which is mainly down to us having some better quality players in the squad.

The way to learn from this defeat is to look at what Sts do better than us, and not just how they get away with things. They do have better players in some positions, but the way they play gives them much more chance of winning than us. Systematic, physical, looking to win collisions and field position. Stuff every successful side I can remember does well. I cannot remember a team trying to play high risk off the cuff rugby all the time succeeding for very long or in the biggest matches. RL is a simple possession and territory game for the most part. You cannot short-cut your way around the basics.