Re: New Head Coach - who's it going to be? : Sun Aug 18, 2019 5:21 am  

ant1 wrote:

If it's Agar then the club's ambitions are rock bottom.

I think the ambition is probably to make the 5, steady the ship, have a year of bringing youth through and seeing out the last year in some of our poorer/badly recruited/past it players’ contracts, ready to make a proper go of it again in 2021.

Richard agar since coming in has won over the squad, who are playing for each other again, which they clearly weren’t for Furner. Salford currently sit 5th with a win rate of 53%. Agar since taking over has a 50% win rate.

I don’t think if the club appoint Agar their ambition is rock bottom. I just think it’s a bit of security while we transition. Make the job an appealing one again. No top ozzy coach would wanna come to Leeds as they stand and I’m sure the Furner saga wasn’t cheap. They won’t want that happening again. Another year to shed some players/bring some youth through and maybe a couple of signings here and there and sneak into 5th would probably be seen as a good season by the club for next year. Gearing up for a new coach and a much improved squad to make a go for it in 2021. The key this time being, we wait and buy quality not just the only player or coach available to us.

Re: New Head Coach - who's it going to be? : Sun Aug 18, 2019 5:32 am  

The win percentage is irrelevant. Look at the resources available to Watson at Salford, whom you are using as the 5th yardstick. They don’t even have an academy side. The players on paper at Salford are not as good as those available at Leeds. And yet despite all that, they are a million miles better than us.

That shows what a difference a good coach can make, and makes the players you are stuck with less of an issue.

As bad as this super league is, Agar would not get a side to break into a top five. It will simply be, sleep, eat, repeat. Therefore the ambitions would definitely be low if that happens.

Re: New Head Coach - who's it going to be? : Sun Aug 18, 2019 6:13 am  

I disagree. I think as we are Agar has turned us around and got us playing better than our position. He won't take us to silverware I'm pretty sure, but with resources available I'm pretty sure we could make the top 5.

It's still prefer a proper #1

Re: New Head Coach - who's it going to be? : Sun Aug 18, 2019 6:17 am  

The Eagle wrote:

I disagree. I think as we are Agar has turned us around and got us playing better than our position. He won't take us to silverware I'm pretty sure, but with resources available I'm pretty sure we could make the top 5.

It's still prefer a proper #1

Not sure how you are working that one out.

I agree on the playing better than position. I can’t see how anyone though can see we are at a level of the top five, as bad as that top five is. We are not.

Catalans above us yes. I mean had they not had the points on the board early, they would have gone down. But that only takes us to 7th. Not good enough. And still not acceptable when comparing to resources above us. The very definition of low ambitions.

Re: New Head Coach - who's it going to be? : Sun Aug 18, 2019 8:33 am  

Gotcha wrote:

The win percentage is irrelevant. Look at the resources available to Watson at Salford, whom you are using as the 5th yardstick. They don’t even have an academy side. The players on paper at Salford are not as good as those available at Leeds. And yet despite all that, they are a million miles better than us.

That shows what a difference a good coach can make, and makes the players you are stuck with less of an issue.

As bad as this super league is, Agar would not get a side to break into a top five. It will simply be, sleep, eat, repeat. Therefore the ambitions would definitely be low if that happens.

Just to make clear, my comment about win percentage is just to show what I think the club will be thinking with regards to agar. And the fact that 2nd 3rd and 4th are only 2 points ahead of salford is another reason I think the club will see agar as fit enough to compete for the 5th spot. This is not what I think. With widdop joining Warrington, and Hastings and burgess going to Wigan, And hull strengthening also, I think that gap is going to open up next year.

However I do think that I’d rather keep agar and wait for the right man than panic and get the wrong man. Agar isn’t taking us backwards, but equally he’s not gonna win us anything. If Ian Watson was available then I’d be delighted with that.

Re: New Head Coach - who's it going to be? : Sun Aug 18, 2019 8:50 am  

Gotcha wrote:

The win percentage is irrelevant. Look at the resources available to Watson at Salford, whom you are using as the 5th yardstick. They don’t even have an academy side. The players on paper at Salford are not as good as those available at Leeds. And yet despite all that, they are a million miles better than us.

That shows what a difference a good coach can make, and makes the players you are stuck with less of an issue.

As bad as this super league is, Agar would not get a side to break into a top five. It will simply be, sleep, eat, repeat. Therefore the ambitions would definitely be low if that happens.

Spot on Gotcha. Couldnt agree more

Re: New Head Coach - who's it going to be? : Sun Aug 18, 2019 9:15 am  

Joshheff90 wrote:

Just to make clear, my comment about win percentage is just to show what I think the club will be thinking with regards to agar. And the fact that 2nd 3rd and 4th are only 2 points ahead of salford is another reason I think the club will see agar as fit enough to compete for the 5th spot. This is not what I think. With widdop joining Warrington, and Hastings and burgess going to Wigan, And hull strengthening also, I think that gap is going to open up next year.

However I do think that I’d rather keep agar and wait for the right man than panic and get the wrong man. Agar isn’t taking us backwards, but equally he’s not gonna win us anything. If Ian Watson was available then I’d be delighted with that.

What are these comments about the right man though? We have had nearly a whole season to identify the right man. Why do we need to wait another? There must be at least another 20 coaches we could just go out there and get, whom are more right than Agar is for taking us forward. They may not win the trophies, nobody can guarantee that, but they would at least challenging and taking us forward.

I appreciate what Agar has done, and I feel he deserves to still maintain his role in the club, but he is not right to stick with through another season. This club is bumbling along from disaster to disaster, and not really learning at all.

Re: New Head Coach - who's it going to be? : Sun Aug 18, 2019 9:24 am  

Gotcha wrote:

What are these comments about the right man though? We have had nearly a whole season to identify the right man. Why do we need to wait another? There must be at least another 20 coaches we could just go out there and get, whom are more right than Agar is for taking us forward. They may not win the trophies, nobody can guarantee that, but they would at least challenging and taking us forward.

I appreciate what Agar has done, and I feel he deserves to still maintain his role in the club, but he is not right to stick with through another season. This club is bumbling along from disaster to disaster, and not really learning at all.

Again well bloody said. I find it infuriating personally

Re: New Head Coach - who's it going to be? : Sun Aug 18, 2019 9:24 am  

There are more than 20 coaches out there that are better than Agar, available and (the key one) want to come to Leeds? I personally don’t think it’s as simple as just go out and get one as you suggest.

Re: New Head Coach - who's it going to be? : Sun Aug 18, 2019 9:26 am  

Yeah, I'm not convinced either. I think Agar probably knows what the team needs to do but I'm not sure he can get the message through to the players, who seem to think they can play to their own plan whenever the mood takes them. Whether anyone else could do any better is a moot point but it has to be worth a go. One thing I would do is take the captaincy off Merrin who, whatever his work ethic and popularity, has been found wanting in terms of on-field direction more than once.