leeds blip or not

[willie c]

but did smith not take them down from super league as well

[robjoenz]

willie c posted:
but did smith not take them down from super league as well

He inherited the team in their relegation season, he turned them around the next year and built on that ever since. They are one of the only teams not to go straight back down again.

[Fraggle]

wiganrldeanh posted:
did he sign most of the players in the squad or did somebody else?

Half the team was signed by our own Dean Bell when he was in charge of the youth setup at Leeds.

[DaveO]

robjoenz posted:
He inherited the team in their relegation season, he turned them around the next year and built on that ever since. They are one of the only teams not to go straight back down again.

I think it is reasonable to question Smiths coaching abilities at the minute.

With Huddersfield he did as you say but they stayed up playing a very particular type of game IIRC. Very much spoiling tacticts and slowing the play down. They tried every trick in the book and it worked but they were not a good side to watch. It worked though, they stayed up.

But it is one thing adopting those tactics in those circumstances. Smith is now expected to pull a top side out of a slump and you can't win a GF with negative tactics. If plan A isn't working does he have a plan B?

His comments after the CC defeat and Leeds loss to ourselves were not very good. I mean he was basically whinging about this and that. It is OK for us fans to do that but I got the disctinct impression he was looking to put the blame somewhere else other than with Leeds for the losses.

If you start doing that then you aren't looking to fix any failings in your own team as a coach IMO.

If he is a good coach Leeds will play much better in the playoffs than over recent weeks. They may still not win it but if they get to the GF which is still much easier for them to do then any team except Saints, he will have done a decent job.

Dave

[redhead]

Leeds pretty much set themselves up for a defeat at the CC they'd pretty much been celebrating for weeks beforehand and didn't even expect a game from Hull so they'll learn. Now what they have to do which they haven't for a while is find players to fill their couple of injuries and get a bit of confidence which I will be surprised if they do this before the GF as IMO it will be between Saints and the Bulls.

[Fraggle]

redhead posted:
IMO it will be between Saints and the Bulls.

Saints vs Andrew Johns (plus a dozen other blokes wearing primrose and blue, but they're not important are they?!)

[waterside glens]

STAINS V BULLS in gf but don,t rule leeds out yet if they can get all their players fit

[Doveoverdave]

waterside glens posted:
STAINS V BULLS in gf but don,t rule leeds out yet if they can get all their players fit

Don't you think there might be a injury crisis at Saints? Scully, Anderson, Edmondson, Albert, Long.

[waterside glens]

yeah but not near as bad as ours