BY JOHN DAVIDSON
“The problems here have been deep-rooted. The place has been rotten and it’s been left to erode.”
That was the bombshell words of Leeds Rhinos director of rugby Kevin Sinfield in a seemingly innocuous interview with Sky Sports on May 17.
It came a week and a half after head coach David Furner was sacked by Leeds, after a dismal six months in charge. In that period under Furner, the Rhinos won just four of 14 Super League games and were stuck at the bottom of the Super League ladder.
In the seven weeks since Furner was axed, and near six weeks since Sinfield opened up so revealingly on television, little has changed at Headingley. Interim coach Richard Agar was handed the job but the losses have continued to mount.
Leeds were embarrassingly bundled out of the Challenge Cup by Bradford and have lost three of their past five matches under Agar’s watch. As round 20 of Super League dawns, and a date at home with Catalans, only points difference separates them from Hull KR and bottom of the table.
The demise of Leeds Rhinos, the fall from grace of a giant, has been THE story of the UK in 2019.
Make no mistake.
How does a club that has won eight championships in the past 15 years, won three World Club Challenges and two Challenge Cups since 2004, go from the top to the bottom so quickly since winning its last grand final in 2017?
How does the biggest and most successful rugby league club in England, the richest and most profitable, with the largest home crowds, crumble so fast?
It’s a conundrum that has many scratching their heads, and one that is not easily explained.
In that explosive interview with Sky last month Sinfield, who was appointed director of rugby last July when head coach Brian McDermott was sacked, hinted at the problems that have bubbled under the surface at LS6. Sinfield, nicknamed ‘Sir Kev’ because of his legendary status in his playing days, pointed out that the Rhinos issues have been there for some time.
“What I’d say is the club have had some difficult times over the past couple of years,” he said.
“This hasn’t been last week after Bradford, this hasn’t been a two-week old problem since Dave left, this hasn’t been a problem since I came last July. Three out of the past four seasons, we’ve been in the bottom four so there has clearly been a problem here.”
Reading between the lines, Sinfield points the blame squarely at McDermott.
It is clear to anyone who has watched the fine documentary As Good As It Gets, about Leeds’ treble-winning season of 2015, that Sinfield and McDermott did not get on. In the film Sinfield tries to bite his tongue when explaining the hurt he felt when he was benched by the 49-year-old in his final season before retirement.
This animosity is backed up teammate Kylie Leuluai, who shared Sinfield’s pain, and another teammate in Rob Burrow who was bluntly told he was not wanted by McDermott in his line-up.
Now it is well known McDermott is a unique personality, a coach that divides opinion. The former marine has been known to intimidate journalists and annoy agents with his behaviour. He is a lover of playing mind games. Some of his players love him, some loathe him.
Eccentric, an oddball, a one of a kind. Regardless of what you call him or his methods, McDermott had success. Four Super League titles attest to that.
And the 49-year-old could argue he is not there to play nice or be friends with his players, but to find a way to win. And he did that in spades.
Famously in that 2015 season the Rhinos made history when they won the League Leaders’ Shield, the Challenge Cup and the grand final to send out the retiring trio of Sinfield, Leuluai and Jamie Peacock as winners. It was a dream finish for the troika.
But the strained relationship between McDermott and some of his players did not abate.
The following year Leeds struggled and missed out on the top eight. They avoided relegation by topping the Qualifiers, but 2016 was an embarrassing campaign. The powerful impact of Sinfield, Leuluai and co was not adequately replaced and cracks were showing.
2017 was better as the Rhinos finished second and made the grand final. There were still some troubling moments during the year, including a bitter 66-10 smashing at the hands of local rivals Castleford Tigers.
At that point McDermott was publicly put on notice by club supremo Gary Hetherington. Things did improve and Leeds reached Old Trafford and even managed to upset the Tigers in the Manchester rain. Another premiership was won and another fitting farewell to club legends in the retiring Burrow and the Hull KR-bound Danny McGuire was notched.
But 2018 was a reversal in fortune once more, the return of the yo-yo, and Leeds floundered. McDermott was sacked in July, with Sinfield appointed as interim coach, but things only got worse.
They were well below their past high standards all season and were again in the bottom four. Again they missed the drop, but this time only by points difference, only by the tightest of margins.
It was a huge wake-up call.
This time the reaction from the Headingley hierarchy was swift. They emptied their coffers, broke the bank and made two marquee NRL signings in Konrad Hurrell and Trent Merrin, and signed South Sydney assistant Furner as coach. They threw money at the problem and hoped it would solve it.
It has not.
And what made Sinfield’s appearance on Sky Sports last month so amazing, so staggering and eye-catching, was the lack of self-awareness or the ability to admit that the wrong decisions had been made. Sinfield came across as arrogant, full of hubris when he bristled when asked – quite validly – about the sacking of Furner.
“Do we really want to go there today? We’re two weeks on.”
Frankly, Sinfield appeared out of his depth. In that interview he then doubled down on the appointment of Furner last year, maintaining that hiring the Australian was the right call at the time.
“What I would say is: absolutely, he (Furner) was the right man for the job, at the time,” Sinfield said.
“Clearly, we haven’t been on the right path and I just felt the confidence and belief we needed to take the club forward wasn’t here and we needed to change path quickly.
“Obviously, I’m desperately disappointed it didn’t work out, and it’s my job to try and direct this club – and especially the rugby department – in the right way to make sure we get back on track.”
What is clear is that Furner was never the right decision, never the right man to coach Leeds. His only time in the NRL as head coach was a bust with Canberra. While his experience as an assistant in the NRL and with the Kangaroos was impressive on his CV, his short tenure at the Rhinos was a nightmare.
Some describe the environment at Headingley under Furner as being “toxic”. He reportedly told eight Rhinos players earlier in the season that they were not wanted and could leave the club if they could find deals elsewhere. This, unsurprisingly, did little for team morale.
Furner’s tenure was so corrosive that assistant James Lowes quit the club. He could no longer work with the Australian and returned to rugby union.
As first revealed in The Daily Star newspaper, Sinfield also fell out with Furner. He could no longer work with him. Sinfield offered to resign from his post, but Hetherington decided to axe Furner and keep ‘Sir Kev’ instead.
So for Sinfield to defend Furner’s appointment is baffling.
Let’s be clear there is no one single person to blame for Leeds downfall – not solely McDermott, or Furner, or Sinfield or even Hetherington. The Rhinos’ so-called rotting is down to many factors and many individuals, and is quite complex. There is no one scapegoat to hang.
Matt Diskin, who spent nine years at the Rhinos and played more than 260 games for the club, made a telling observation recently.
He opined on the TV program Rugby League BackChat that: “The club, since the success it’s had, has let to a certain arrogance about it. From when I first joined the club they were brilliant, they based themselves on good values, good morals and I think that’s slowly disappeared at the club.”
In other words – success has gone to their heads.
Sinfield has repeatedly asked for more time and said resurrecting the Rhinos “is not a quick fix”.
“Look at Leeds United, how long has it been since they were back in the Premier League?” he said.
“Manchester United haven’t won a premiership since 2013 when arguably they should be there or thereabouts.
“Look at Saints and Warrington not winning grand finals. I think it shows we need a little bit of time. The club needs stability. It’s really important that this club is built on really firm foundations and it hasn’t been.”
It is fair point made by Sinfield that there are cycles in professional sport and no one club can stay at the top forever. Some fans certain to forget this. There is no god-given right to success.
Leeds United have shown that since the collapse of the Peter Risdale days at the turn of the century, and so have Manchester United since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson.
But that is in football where money is abundant and good players can be snapped up from all over the world. There are little financial constraints. In rugby league, in a salary-capped code, it is even more difficult.
Manly Sea Eagles were a dominant force in the NRL from 2006 until 2013. In that period they were perennial challengers, were in the semi-finals every year, made four grand finals and won two of them. They, along with the Melbourne Storm, were the top club side in the competition.
But since then Manly has fallen away because of a number of reasons – internal politics, the retirement of key players, the back-ending of contracts, bad recruitment, poor planning and nepotism. Only now do the Sea Eagles once again seem headed in the right direction.
Melbourne is an anomaly, the exception to the rule. They seem to be able to regenerate every year and remain as contenders. Great players come and go – Greg Inglis, Michael Crocker, Israel Folau, Gareth Widdop Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater, Tohu Harris, Kevin Proctor, Ryan Hoffman – but the Storm machine rolls on.
The continual presence of captain Cameron Smith and coach Craig Bellamy have ensured they remain at the top.
But it is not just down to Bellamy and Smith. Melbourne has a fantastic culture, smart leadership, the best recruiters in the NRL and the highest professional standards. The regeneration of the squad is constant and never-ending.
There are many different cogs in the operation that makes them great, not only in the playing squad and coaching staff, but in the front office as well.
For Leeds, their decline can be explained through several factors. For several years their recruitment has been exceptionally questionable. They have been unable to replace their ‘Golden Generation’ of homegrown players, nor their overseas signings.
Despite being 37, Jamie-Jones Buchanan was given a one-year contract extension last year. He has made just six appearances in 2019.
Carl Ablett is 33 and he was given a one-year contraction extension last year. He has not played a single game this season.
Adam Cuthbertson is 34 and was also given a one-year contract extension at the end of 2018, despite his advancing years.
Brett Ferres is 33 and in 2016 signed a long-term deal to keep him at the club until the end of 2019. Once an England international, Ferres has not looked the same player he once was in previous seasons.
Stevie Ward is only 25 and is a talented forward. But he remains injury-prone and has played only 44 games in the past three and a half seasons.
The list goes on.
Leeds are not getting value from their salary cap.
Ryan Hall, a current England Test international and regarded as one of the best wingers in the world, departs for the NRL. Who was he replaced by? A Featherstone Rovers winger in Luke Briscoe.
A similar case came in the form of Joel Moon, an experienced Australian who had been at the heart of grand final wins in 2015 and 2017. At centre or at stand-off, Moon was a match-winner. He left at the end of last year and was not properly replaced.
While of course the salary cap prohibits the Rhinos making like for like signings in every case with every player exiting, that’s where good cap management and retention policies come into it. The club’s succession planning has been dire.
At the end of 2017 club captain Danny McGuire left Leeds to join Hull KR. A local product, he wanted to finish his career at Headingley but the club only offered him a one-year deal. He wanted two and so left to sign for the Robins.
Since then on-field Leeds have struggled in the halves for organisation and a decent kicking game. Their spine has often been at sea. They lack direction.
Richie Myler was recruited from Catalans Dragons for the 2018 campaign, but he is not the kind of halfback to lead a team around the park. That has been painfully evident again and again.
The Rhinos needed another halfback so at the end of last season they signed two – Callum McLellan and Tui Lolohea. One is 19 years old and not ready for that pressurised position yet, and the other is just not suited to it.
Lolohea was picked up from West Tigers at the end of last year to be the number one halfback, despite playing most of his NRL football at fullback and wing, and being a notoriously inconsistent performer down under. Lolohea has been so poor that this week he was shipped off to Salford so the club could acquire playmaker Rob Lui.
These ordinary recruitment decisions and others – like handing Ash Golding a five-year contract and then never playing him – have repeatedly come back to haunt the club again and again, again and again.
And Hetherington and Sinfield, at least in the case of the 38-year-old for the past 11 months, have to cop the brunt for them.
Now Hetherington has been the mastermind of the rise of Leeds Rhinos, along with Paul Caddick, since they bought the club in 1997. They have turned Leeds around from basket case and made it into a powerhouse. For that, they deserve immense and eternal credit.
But at 65, Hetherington’s power and influence is on the wane. With the exit of Nigel Wood from the RFL, Hetherington is not as influential as he once was. His golden touch in the sport may be starting to falter. Perhaps his best years in charge are behind him?
An example of that is the decision to place Richard Agar as interim coach. Agar is a close family friend of the Hetheringtons and has been for decades. Gary’s wife Kath made Agar head coach of Hull FC when she ran that club, then made his head coach of Wakefield when she ran Trinity.
While he is widely regarded as technically a good coach, Agar’s record in Super League is mediocre. The 47-year-old is not highly thought of by Hull or Wakefield fans, and did not win at least half of his games when he was in charge of either club. He has won not won a major trophy as a coach.
Placing Agar in charge of the Rhinos is an odd decision, at best, and a dreadful one, at worst.
And then we get to Sinfield.
As a player, the Oldham product could do wrong on the pitch. He was tough, talented, courageous and creative. A one-of-a-kind. Either for club or country, Sinfield did it all.
But success on the field does not guarantee success off it. The 38-year-old had no experience of running a club when he was parachuted into the director of rugby role at Leeds last year.
His nativity and inexperience has been on show regularly in the past year. From the treatment of Kallum Watkins to the hiring and firing of Furner, the recruitment of the likes of Lolohea and Dom Crosby, some dubious media comments, the signing of Wellington Albert and panicked approaches to rival clubs for Jake Connor and Josh Drinkwater.
Once confident and stable, Leeds have become desperate and disorganised. Sinfield has to take his own share of the blame.
With nine games of the season left the Rhinos future is not yet clear. They could win the majority of their matches and be saved from relegation. Or they could continue to struggle and may even end up with the disastrous prospect of being in the Championship.
Lui’s arrival from Salford should help, but they remain a club rudderless and under intense pressure. Relegation would be catastrophic.
In Good Times Prepare For Crisis is the title of a book by former World Bank expert Ira Lieberman on sovereign debt crises. That might seem like a leap of subject, but there are learnings here for Leeds. They took their eye of the ball when they were collecting trophies.
They did not prepare for the future, they let success cloud their vision. And now they are badly paying the price.
