Re: Where do we go from here : Tue May 09, 2023 7:58 am  

Zoo Zoo Boom wrote:

Schofield was a great centre - very average half back. Iestyn on the other hand - the greatest player I saw in a Leeds shirt in the SL era. His body swerve was a thing of beauty

Schofield was far more than " a very average halfback ". He Captained GB from that position against a great Aussie side, ( when we came as close to matching them in a 3 match series as any time probably since 1970) and was consistently one of our best when at stand off.

Re: Where do we go from here : Tue May 09, 2023 9:34 am  

The Magic Rat wrote:

Schofield was far more than " a very average halfback ". He Captained GB from that position against a great Aussie side, ( when we came as close to matching them in a 3 match series as any time probably since 1970) and was consistently one of our best when at stand off.

This is all a matter of opinion - he was a much better centre - he was world class - than as a half back IMO of course.

Not difficult to be amongst the best players at Leeds in the late 80's early 90's

Re: Where do we go from here : Tue May 09, 2023 9:36 am  

tad rhino wrote:

couldn't agree more david. in 98 and 99 harris was untouchable.
what a player

A star in the true sense of the world - you would pay just to watch him - a genius sadly lost to RU in his prime

Re: Where do we go from here : Tue May 09, 2023 3:21 pm  

tad rhino wrote:

couldn't agree more david. in 98 and 99 harris was untouchable.
what a player

One of the best players I’ve ever seen at Leeds in my lifetime

Re: Where do we go from here : Wed May 10, 2023 7:49 am  

I suppose we need to recalibrate our expectations. Since the start of the goldens (I go a lot further back than then) I’ve expected top 4 and a decent cup run every year. There was a period where I think we were that good we could reasonably expect a final per year.

Since the last hurrah in 2017, it seems that we can’t even expect to make the playoffs or if we do we limp in and fail quickly. Last year was a change, ironically I don’t think we played well, but found a way to win when it mattered. That’s what is keeping Rohan in a job longer term at the moment I think.

So, my expectations have been significantly lowered by the years (and it has been years) of significant underperformance for a club of the size and resources of Leeds. We should be top 4 each year, and in with a genuine shout of winning things. We’re a long way from that right now.

Re: Where do we go from here : Wed May 10, 2023 8:32 am  

batleyrhino wrote:

I suppose we need to recalibrate our expectations. Since the start of the goldens (I go a lot further back than then) I’ve expected top 4 and a decent cup run every year. There was a period where I think we were that good we could reasonably expect a final per year.

Since the last hurrah in 2017, it seems that we can’t even expect to make the playoffs or if we do we limp in and fail quickly. Last year was a change, ironically I don’t think we played well, but found a way to win when it mattered. That’s what is keeping Rohan in a job longer term at the moment I think.

So, my expectations have been significantly lowered by the years (and it has been years) of significant underperformance for a club of the size and resources of Leeds. We should be top 4 each year, and in with a genuine shout of winning things. We’re a long way from that right now.

Since 2017 we had two dreadful seasons,

then in 2020 (a weird year all round) we finished in the playoffs and admittedly got knocked out in the first round
2021 we won the challenge cup made the playoffs and got to the SF
2022 after an upheaval of a start we got to the Grand Final

We've had 4 coaches since 2018 and numerous back room changes.

What's keeping Rohan in a job is he's only starting out in the brief he's been given and it isn't all going to be plain sailing, the club since 2017 has made various bad decisions but I believe they are starting to rectify that.

Re: Where do we go from here : Wed May 10, 2023 8:45 am  

batleyrhino wrote:

I suppose we need to recalibrate our expectations. Since the start of the goldens (I go a lot further back than then) I’ve expected top 4 and a decent cup run every year. There was a period where I think we were that good we could reasonably expect a final per year.

Since the last hurrah in 2017, it seems that we can’t even expect to make the playoffs or if we do we limp in and fail quickly. Last year was a change, ironically I don’t think we played well, but found a way to win when it mattered. That’s what is keeping Rohan in a job longer term at the moment I think.

So, my expectations have been significantly lowered by the years (and it has been years) of significant underperformance for a club of the size and resources of Leeds. We should be top 4 each year, and in with a genuine shout of winning things. We’re a long way from that right now.

Fully agree. For too long now have we been way off from winning trophies and competing for the top spots in Superleague. It's not good enough and needs to change fast.

Now, undoing a lot of the damage since 2017 to start of last season will take time, there's no doubt about that. We have some cracking young players especially in the pack but nothing in the halves or at fullback as we all have discussed on many occasion, and that is a huge challenge for the club to solve. We have Fusitua and Mcdonald in the back line who seem to get a fair few injuries, Fusi in particular needs to be sent packing end of this season along with Tetevano and his wages spent in the halves and no doubt the pack, same with Sezer who is done. I'm no recruitment expert, none of us on here are, but until we get some good homegrown players in those areas we are going to have to look at young overseas talent. Jack Sinfield looks a long long way off yet, he needs to go on loan imo.

We're also lacking a top leader out there. The best teams have 2 or 3 in there team as we did at our best with JP, JJB, Kev, Mags, Buderus etc. We had great talent in the backline such as Webb, Hall, Watkins, Hardaker, Moon, Briscoe (in his pomp), Mags, Burrow.. the gulf between then and now is absolutley huge.

Re: Where do we go from here : Wed May 10, 2023 2:00 pm  

The damage started way before 2017. The utter lack of succession planning on the playing side was criminal. We ended up nearly relegated in 2016 and won the most awful final in SL in 2017 against a Cas team that should have blown us away, thanks basically to McGuire. That proved to be a blip in our decline as the following year we were nearly relegated again. 2015 is eight years ago - had we focused all efforts on youth development we should have a bunch of homegrown mid 20s players at the peak of their game in the squad today. The only ones remotely close to fitting that bill are Handley and Smith.

This is going to take a few years more to fix because the proven pathway to success is youth development, and we've really only started fully focusing on that in the last couple of seasons.

Re: Where do we go from here : Wed May 10, 2023 2:48 pm  

Once were Loiners wrote:

The damage started way before 2017. The utter lack of succession planning on the playing side was criminal. We ended up nearly relegated in 2016 and won the most awful final in SL in 2017 against a Cas team that should have blown us away, thanks basically to McGuire. That proved to be a blip in our decline as the following year we were nearly relegated again. 2015 is eight years ago - had we focused all efforts on youth development we should have a bunch of homegrown mid 20s players at the peak of their game in the squad today. The only ones remotely close to fitting that bill are Handley and Smith.

This is going to take a few years more to fix because the proven pathway to success is youth development, and we've really only started fully focusing on that in the last couple of seasons.

Incredible to think youth development was neglected. When you consider the best players were many home grown, and Saints have won so much with a core group of talented young former academy players too ….
Not rocket science to see what’s important!

Re: Where do we go from here : Wed May 10, 2023 3:09 pm  

Once were Loiners wrote:

The damage started way before 2017. The utter lack of succession planning on the playing side was criminal. We ended up nearly relegated in 2016 and won the most awful final in SL in 2017 against a Cas team that should have blown us away, thanks basically to McGuire. That proved to be a blip in our decline as the following year we were nearly relegated again. 2015 is eight years ago - had we focused all efforts on youth development we should have a bunch of homegrown mid 20s players at the peak of their game in the squad today. The only ones remotely close to fitting that bill are Handley and Smith.

This is going to take a few years more to fix because the proven pathway to success is youth development, and we've really only started fully focusing on that in the last couple of seasons.

Yep, you're correct. It is shocking when you really think about it. But, we need to start showing an upward trend now but that's not happening other than the young talent in the pack.