Re: Smith out ASAP : Mon Apr 08, 2024 10:50 am  

RS is not to blame for the last five or six years level of performance or the lack of young players development within the club. He is responsible though for tactics and playing styles which is why he is under increasing focus.
He did a great job clearing out a lot of players that the majority felt where not good enough. The bulk of the current squad now are players that have been signed under his tenure or club trained however we seem to be utilising the same tactics as we were with last years squad! That highlights 3 questions?
Are the incoming players any better than the outgoing ones? Are they performing at the level that they did at their previous clubs!
Are club trained players developing and becoming a better version of themselves.
Do we need to approach coaching differently or employ different tactics?
On the current evidence you would have to say the answer to the above is that we must do better.
Yes we are a couple of players short of challenging at the top level but we should be strongly placed to be best of the rest with the squad we have on paper.
To achieve that the coaching and tactics need to change and thats in RS compass. He has done a lot of good things but he needs to take a look in the mirror and recognise that our tactics are not working and player development is regressing because of them.

Re: Rowley : Mon Apr 08, 2024 10:56 am  

Sezer managed to be disappointing for multiple coaches in SL, not sure what the point is here.

Re: Smith out ASAP : Mon Apr 08, 2024 11:01 am  

this is what I really don't get. smith, who started as an analyst, studies games and think his tactics are working. they clearly arent. bielsa was the same.

Re: Smith out ASAP : Mon Apr 08, 2024 11:06 am  

I'm genuinely not sure whether it's RS tactics or players lacking form and execution at the moment.

Looking at the season so far as a whole, there is still a chance we might be around that "best of the rest" position. We got spanked at home by Wire who are top of the table - I didn't love that myself, but at the moment it's an anomaly. We have stuttered and made errors in most games so far, and it hasn't been as good as we all wanted yet.

Huddersfield is a good test. At home again, they have a big CC game to navigate, whereas all we have to do is get fit and practice for them for 2 weeks. They will challenge us and play at us like Wire did, we're gonna have to come up with the answers this time.

Re: Rowley : Mon Apr 08, 2024 11:41 am  

Think the fact Newman is marquee, shows what a mess we have gotten into…..

Re: Smith out ASAP : Mon Apr 08, 2024 12:21 pm  

I want Rohan to succeed at Leeds. He's done a huge job rebuilding the squad, junior development seems more on track and we seem a lot more professional as a club than under Agar.

But in the end the first team just has to do better.

Its starting to feel like last year, when we kept waiting for the team to turn the corner. We're hearing the same excuses - we weren't really that far off, just a few things went against us, we were in the contest, injuries, the mean other team keep slowing down the game, the referee isn't controlling the game the way we want, its raining, etc etc. We lost 34-8 at home to a team missing some of their best forwards. I must have missed the memo where it was decided that was an acceptable result, or that after the huge outlay on new players a 50% win ratio almost a third of the way into the season is OK.

I don't think its terminal yet, but if Smith doesn't have a serious rethink about some of the things we're doing then I don't think he will be here for the long-term, because I don't think dry weather or a fully fit squad alone will make much difference.

Re: Smith out ASAP : Mon Apr 08, 2024 12:41 pm  

Slightly off topic but this week’s Saints -Warrington May give an indication of the true league form. Warrington far superior to us last week , be interesting to see how they shape up against Saints. Personally I think Saints, Wigan and Catalan are miles ahead of the rest of the pack. Sincerely hope it’s not another Saints-Wigan grand final. A final sobering thought ,our points for is the same as Leigh who have only won one match.

Re: Smith out ASAP : Mon Apr 08, 2024 12:44 pm  

How many players did we produce who starred in the first team during the golden decade 2004 - 2015?
Senior, Peacock, Ellis, McDermott, Furner, Poaching, Lauitiiti, Webb. Bai,Luluia McDonald, Buderus, Moone. Plus many others who were None home produced.

Sinfield, McGuire, Watkins, Hall, Burrow all top quality and Yes there were some others like like Diskin Jones- Bishop, Bailey, Smith, Abblett (plus a few others) who were a level below also Gale and McShane who got away.
Great Rhinos players all but not so many big home academy produced players as you would imagine.
Obviously some names have been missed for whom I apologise and of course it is only my opinion which I am sure many will question.
My point being we probably have not produced as many big name internationals as might be imagined. I do believe we have a current crop from scholars to U18’s who just might come through and star in future first teams. So we are still amongst the best (certainly this side of the Pennines) at bringing on young talent.

Re: Smith out ASAP : Mon Apr 08, 2024 12:46 pm  

KaeruJim wrote:

I'm genuinely not sure whether it's RS tactics or players lacking form and execution at the moment.

Looking at the season so far as a whole, there is still a chance we might be around that "best of the rest" position. We got spanked at home by Wire who are top of the table - I didn't love that myself, but at the moment it's an anomaly. We have stuttered and made errors in most games so far, and it hasn't been as good as we all wanted yet.

Huddersfield is a good test. At home again, they have a big CC game to navigate, whereas all we have to do is get fit and practice for them for 2 weeks. They will challenge us and play at us like Wire did, we're gonna have to come up with the answers this time.

But the way we play is not an anomaly!
Its been the same for the last 18 months its just the level of mistakes and player confidence that fluctuates!
We spend the majority of games defending in our own half ,flog our backs by expecting them to constantly bring the ball off their own line and rely on broken play to create scoring opportunities.When we make an error or concede a turnover because of the way we play it is usually in our half. The top teams do this in the opposition 20m.
This season we are 2nd for most team tackles made behind London and that tells you all you need to know.
I am not necessarily advocating getting rid of Rohan but if you keep doing the same thing you will across a season get a similar series of results.

Re: Smith out ASAP : Mon Apr 08, 2024 1:11 pm  

That's my view as well. We're getting killed by mistakes because of where we're making them, as much as the number.

If we keep trying to play the same way we'll keep getting the same results. It works so sporadically that we can never build momentum across games. So confidence is always a bit brittle as well, and cannot get us across the line as it should.