LEADING rugby league agent, Craig Harrison of Show Me The Money UK, has put forward Kevin Sinfield’s name to potentially replace Brad Arthur as Leeds Rhinos head coach.
Arthur has been linked with the number one spot at the potential new NRL franchise Perth Bears, which would mean that the Rhinos will need to look elsewhere for their future head coach.
The former Parramatta Eels boss has always been honest about his intentions to return to the southern hemisphere competition and Harrison believes that Leeds now need someone on a multi-year contract to help create a new ‘Golden Generation’ with the stars that are coming through the system.
“I think it has to be somebody English, we have had Rohan Smith, Brad Arthur, Dave Furner and, in between that, Richard Agar,” Harrison said on The Full Eighty Minutes podcast.
“I’d like to think there is someone out there who would sign a five-year deal – I don’t think Leeds can have short-term deals anymore.
“What they’ve got coming through there, you’ve got to have a coach who believes in that so let’s tick some boxes.
“You need a gentleman, a coach who believes in developing young men because they’ve got so many coming through as well as keeping that quality at the top.
“You’ve got to give him a long-term deal for that to happen. Clubs don’t give a coach long enough and after 15 months the coach is under pressure and daren’t play young lads and goes back to type with stop gaps to turn it around quick.
“It’s got to be a development coach, someone who is willing to commit, someone who can handle the job because it is massive.
“You’ve got to give Leeds fans success, from 2017 the club hasn’t had much success so it’s got to be somebody who can tick all those.
“I will throw one name in, what about Kevin Sinfield coming back? He will tell me off, I’m going to throw him in there.
“I think he has always wanted to coach in Super League, this is my opinion. I think because of his name and the enormity of that, it’s hard when you’ve got that reputation. Do you want to risk that?
“You’ve got Kevin, is it too big to bring him back to Leeds? I think he went to rugby union because he wanted to coach. When he got the director of rugby at Leeds, I don’t think that was his role.
“I used to talk to Kev all the time, I think he wanted to coach. It’s tough.”
