Leeds in Crisis?

It was all going so well. Second in the Super League, closing the gap on top placed St Helens and a Challenge Cup semi-final just around the corner. Fast-forward a month and the Leeds Rhinos look to be in free-fall.






Friday night's 20-18 win at the hands of relegation threatened Wigan was the fifth defeat in succession for Tony Smith's side in all competitions, three of which have come against sides in the bottom half of the table, a run which has seen them lose their grip on a top two position and a place in the Powergen Challenge Cup Final.

Take the individual defeats at face value and they generally don't look too disastrous. A one-point defeat at Castleford, a traditional Leeds bogey ground was followed by an 18-14 defeat at home to first-place St Helens and a 23-16 defeat at Hull.
However, the results only tell a fraction of the story.

These aren't the narrow loses that they might at first appear. The scorelines have been more than flattering to abject Leeds performances, as epitomised by the Challenge Cup semi-final to Huddersfield. No longer are the Headingley faithful seeing the slick passing, clever offloading and the mean defence that they had come accustomed too in recent years. Instead, they are seeing a Leeds side that seems to be lacking any cohesion, is devoid of ideas in attack, clearly missing the creativity of Danny McGuire and error prone in defence.

What the problem is depends on who you talk to. Rumours will continue to circulate, particularly at a club the size of Leeds and these rumours have intensified in the current slump.
Rumblings of a training ground bust up have emerged and in addition, Coach Tony Smith's people management skills have been called into question.
Smith's expressions as the Sky cameras were fixated on him throughout Friday's game didn't give the impression of a coach confident of stopping the rot and whilst some would question the strength of so called 'player power', few could argue that the performances on the pitch are that of a team playing in complete unison.

Some supporters point to the departure of assistant coach Brian McDermott as a 'turning point' in the season. McDermott's departure coincided with the first defeat to Castleford. Francis Cummins has since been promoted in the official capacity of "Assistant Coach", yet appears to be working more alongside Graham Hallas rather than occupying the role vacated by McDermott.
Despite that, the poor form is hardly restricted to the five defeats that are under the spotlight. The Rhinos were lucky to snatch a last gasp defeat against Bradford prior to the Castleford game and it was only a late drop goal that saw them escape Salford with two points. In fact, barring a 60-0 win against Harlequins in March, it's difficult to highlight a clearly good Rhinos performance this season.
The nature of 30-0 victory at Odsal in May somewhat overshadowed the poor performance of Bradford and the comfortable victory in Perpignan came against a Catalans side with 12 men. The story of the season seems to be one of half performances and 'coasting' victories.

The depth and balance of the squad had become a key concern for supporters before a ball was even kicked. Player recruitment, particularly regarding the improvement of the forwards, had been questioned. Aside from Jamie Peacock, the activity on the transfer front did little to inspire the fans at LS6. The signing of Mark O'Neill indicated that Smith would toy with the idea of rotating second row forwards in the prop position. The apparent lack of size up front was compounded when Danny Ward was handed his P45 just two weeks before the start of the season.
In the backs, Leeds haven't recovered from the departure of Mark Calderwood and Marcus Bai as well as the loss of Richard Mathers to a season ending injury. Scott Donald hasn't been the replacement for Calderwood that Leeds fans thought he would be and Lee Smith, Danny Williams, Ashley Gibson and Jordon Tansey have all tried their hand at replacing Bai and Mathers with little success.
There is little doubt that this side is reminiscent of the 2002 and 2003 sides with were decimated by injury. That period saw the emergence of Rob Burrow, Kevin Sinfield, Danny McGuire and Richie Mathers who were all thrown in at the deep end and the loiners would hope that the academy players this term will lead them on to similar success. Their performances so far have not been consistent enough to suggest they are ready for regular Super League rugby at present, but these players are in that awkward position where they have outgrown U21 football.

The Rhinos now have four games to cement their place in the play-offs. The Rhinos desperately need to find form at the business end of the season and secure a third place finish as a minimum. They will draw confidence from the fact that Bradford came from that very position to beat them in last year's Grand Final but the Bulls of 2005 were a much fitter, larger and more confident side going into the same stage last season.

The current side seems a far cry from the Championship winning team of 2004 and even though many of the personnel remain, not one individual appears to have improved from then.
Most would expect the people in charge at Headingley to stop the rot, but it may take a major change along the way.