Sun 11th June : SL : Wakefield Trinity v Leeds Rhinos KO 15:00

[Segovia Carpet]

Brilliant for Super League 

[Old Frightful]

Someone appears to have enjoyed their afternoon today...

 

[Ragingbull]

Love it.   Up the Trin

[Old Frightful]

Apologies for that rather long Twitter link, I have no idea how to shorten it, sorry.

(Or perhaps I'm not!)

[The Mighty Trin]

Ohhh David Fifiiita, Ohhh David Fifiiita, Ohhh David Fifiiita lalalala 

Positive energy burning around Belle Vue, think I will play the mighty quinn haha        ️

Come on gotta celebrate, it's been a long road, hopefully more wins to follow

[Harry Stottle]

Not many comments from the Leeds lot.

[Harry Stottle]

Well Wakefield have done it time and time again will this be their greatest ever escape?

[FearTheVee]

Assume Smith’s men didn’t take enough short kick offs to win the game.

No doubt he’ll have the stopwatch out to talk about holding down when he should be worrying about how badly coached his team is.

[hindle xiii]

Back in the day there was a "Let's all laugh at Leeds" thread.

[Just Browny]

Pleased for the Wakey fans who turned up today (and all season) with probably no hope of a win, must be a nice feeling.

[The Future is League]

IF Leeds were to sack Smith who could they replace him with?

[FearTheVee]

3 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

IF Leeds were to sack Smith who could they replace him with?

My first thought in terms of improvement is: literally anyone.

[Tommygilf]

14 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Not many comments from the Leeds lot.

I've only just got out of the car on the way home from work so not seen the game, however...

Absolutely unacceptable. A half decent squad with stuff to build on last year basically dismantled by a coach having his first taste of first grade at what by most metrics is the biggest club in England. A coach who can't replicate why we win, and doesn't know why we are so bad. A coach who coaches to a game that doesn't exist, doesn't believe in hookers doing anything other than passing and tackling, doesn't believe in defensive linespeed and doesn't believe in slowing down the tackle by putting more than 2 men in if possible. Oh he does believe in short kick offs...

Wakefield had scored more than 13 points on just 2 occasions this year prior to today. There's no other way to see this result but dire.

Leeds have won just 1 game in the last 7 in League and Cup. And even then, the first half against Wigan was poor. 

Edited June 11, 2023 by Tommygilf

[Tommygilf]

6 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

IF Leeds were to sack Smith who could they replace him with?

This is a real problem. Though like anything it depends on who is available and who can be convinced to become available. Leeds have the cash to make a tempting offer to basically anyone, but as evidenced by having Smith in the first place a cheaper option will be preferred...

[Agbrigg]

When I saw the Wakey team before kick off I nearly decided to stay at home. That has left me completely gob smacked. It was the weakest team we have put out all season and yet they looked miles better than anything we have shown so far.

Well done to all the young kids and trialists that played today. Also at last Proctor decided to put a shift in too, so well done him.

[Tommygilf]

The absolute irony of Rohan "we don't have a captain" Smith going on about a lack of leaders in the team when no other coach has done more to singlehandedly dismantle and disempower the leaders in the squad.

I'm sure the leadership council will have all the answers

[Snowys Backside]

A great win for Super League. 
 

Well done Wakefield and let’s hope the Momentum continues now and make a relegation battle out of it. 
 

As for Leeds ?  Wakey had a really inexperienced side out obviously hungry. The Coach really needs to be looked at here !

[Harry Stottle]

13 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

This is a real problem. Though like anything it depends on who is available and who can be convinced to become available. Leeds have the cash to make a tempting offer to basically anyone, but as evidenced by having Smith in the first place a cheaper option will be preferred...

I asked the question last week, how much of Leeds underperformed in the bigger picture is down to Gary Hetherington?

[Tommygilf]

2 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

I asked the question last week, how much of Leeds underperformed in the bigger picture is down to Gary Hetherington?

In addition to my reply last week, we have a director of rugby operations (I think that is his title) Matt Cook, and clearly Rohan Smith has had a significant impact on the makeup of the squad from the end of last season. Neither have anything like the same credit in the bank at Leeds or experience in their roles as GH.

[redjonn]

49 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

In addition to my reply last week, we have a director of rugby operations (I think that is his title) Matt Cook, and clearly Rohan Smith has had a significant impact on the makeup of the squad from the end of last season. Neither have anything like the same credit in the bank at Leeds or experience in their roles as GH.

when you listened to Smith last season and the beginning of this I got the sense he didn't have much say in those that left the squad nor the recruitment of most of this squad.

To add Leeds have had a number of coaches over the last few years. all with poor results against expectations that such a club should have bar a few surprises like the CC win and getting to the grand final last year.  For me they have had a poor squad of players over a number of years now... 

I think the problem is more fundamental than just the coach that happens to be stuck with managing an overall poor squad. Plus having to cope with the leaving of such as Hardaker, Sutcliffe, Briscoe,  plus the impact of current squad players going on the other squad members etc.  They also have an higher opinion of some of the academy players that come through or put too much emphasis on them being part of a squad that is limited if run of injuries. 

I accept the coach has to bear some responsibility and I know you have advocated early in season/start of season he wasn't the right coach.  I myself think he shouldn't be having players not in their strongest positions nor his tinkering in pre-season trying in his word to gain flexibility in the squad which to me leads a factor in being inconsistent.

That inconsistency ultimately leads to impact on players confidence    This as I say above comes from the pre-season tinkering.

Paul Caddick should be looking at fundamentals within the whole  Leeds set-up and whether the focus is were it needs to be.

Edited June 11, 2023 by redjonn

[Guest]

A few squeaky bums in Cas suddenly?

[Red Willow]

Pleased for the fans. It is soul destroying watching rubbish every week. Also glad it isn't Salford that provided their first win.

 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Got pulled away from following the game and only just seen the score. 

Well done Wakey! What a great win, some spice has certainly been added to the relegation battle!

[Curly perm]

I said in an earlier post on this thread that I had no hope of a win so I’m astonished. The lads put a proper shift in. We made metres and our attacking plays were working! Whatever your thoughts on bringing Fifita back, it’s obvious he’s a galvanising force for the players, as well as fans. Hopefully he’s the leader/figurehead we need and it’s not just that Leeds were dreadful.  

We got away with a couple in the first half because Leeds couldn’t execute but they had nothing in the second against 12 men (like us against Leigh). Rohan Smith talking about a lack of leadership is comical. 

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

The two French lads - Salabio and Franco - seem to have made an impression on the game, though possibly for somewhat different reasons!  

What were the first impressions of them gained by anybody on here who attended the match?