krisleeds wrote:Until Smith gets a free shot with the OQ and frankly ridiculous money we spent on both Tetevano and Sezer's wages on the assumption they are both Marquee players - he won't have had a chance. He got us to the GF last year - his talents are clearly there.
It was reported that Sezer wasn't a marquee signing.
I'm not a pheasant plucker, i'm a pheasant pluckers son and i'm only plucking pheasants till the pheasant plucker comes.
krisleeds wrote:Until Smith gets a free shot with the OQ and frankly ridiculous money we spent on both Tetevano and Sezer's wages on the assumption they are both Marquee players - he won't have had a chance. He got us to the GF last year - his talents are clearly there.
It is very difficult to make a poor side play well when you inherit another coaches ideas and infrastructure.
The flip side is that Saints have a decent squad and its very easy to roll on success when the bones of the squad are there 1, 6, 7 and 9.
Leeds got it badly wrong with Dwyer (we havent had a proper hooker since Buderus), Sezer (made of glass), Tetvano and Fusitu'a (see Sezer).
It boils down to poor recruitment.
eg we need a centre, We have Newman but he's been really unlucky. Thats it, thats the only proper centre we have.
Wigan managed to pick up Wardle AND King late last season. Why weren't Leeds all over that?
We have half backs and wingers at full back. Back rowers in the centres. Back rowers at stand off. Loose forwards at hooker.
We all know Smith is patching holes - but the club need to look at how those holes have been created.
I was speaking to my Wakey mate this morning. They are now on 2 point chasing Cas. Cas have 6 points - 4 are from playing Leeds.
2024 needs to be a blanks slate.
If Leeds has signed Luke Brooks, NOW is a good time to get that announced.
So are you saying that Smith is playing all said players out of position and saying that is his idea because Gary hasn't let him bring in anymore players? A kind of stool pigeon?
Remember that role Agar was originally brought in for a few years ago? What happened to that?
Wasn’t Sinfield our DoR for a while, and now we don’t have one?
This all reeks of a rugby operation that has completely lost its way.
Smith has all the hallmarks of a coach who had a short-term impact or “new coach bounce” but doesn’t have the skill set to move things forward.
The trajectory of run and grand final last year and then totally flopping this year simply isn’t the trajectory of a coach who has what it takes for us.
BradAsquith7 wrote:Only asking Tad, heard it from a few folk now.
If this is true I will have lost any faith in GH and the club. Smith said yesterday words to the effect of “as a coach you can quit or fight and I will fight”. That is a message to GH that he won’t resign.
IF GH brings in Kear it will be a ploy to undermine Smith and hope he resigns or agrees to go with a reduced package.
This poor season could probably be traced back to a badly managed pre-season. It seems we approached the games half arsed with a lack of gameplan and the focus being on getting minutes in the legs, regardless of which position it was in.
That could be put down to Smith's naivety, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out the importance of pre-season for building combinations, structure and cohesion. I had a manager who insisted on people rotating teams so they knew a bit of everything. It doesn't work. People need to be experts in their areas with an understanding of others.
To play devil's advocate, this could potentially be the making of Smith, but he needs a wise head beside him as Director of Rugby. He's still a young coach and has made a fair few mistakes this season. If he can put his hands up and say he got it wrong, it could be a huge learning experience. But he needs someone there with experience. His coaching team is quite young and I wonder if there's anyone questioning his decisions, or if they're just nodding dogs.
What's clear is that the club is broken on the field, and has been for some time. It feels like we're stuck in the past still living off the success of the golden generation.
Sir Gregory ParsloeP wrote:If this is true I will have lost any faith in GH and the club. Smith said yesterday words to the effect of “as a coach you can quit or fight and I will fight”. That is a message to GH that he won’t resign.
IF GH brings in Kear it will be a ploy to undermine Smith and hope he resigns or agrees to go with a reduced package.
I hope this is all rubbish
I like Kear, managed to do a lot with very little resources over the years but in honesty to be a success moving forward would very much rely on him having any sort of ambition and drive.
Let's see what transpires but I for one support it 100%.
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