'No leadership, ideas or passion': furious fans blast Leeds Rhinos after 50-0 humiliation by Wigan Warriors

Mathematically, Rhinos could still qualify for the play-offs, but they need to win both their remaining matches and hope Warrington Wolves and Salford Red Devils don’t pick up another point.

Our Jury have slammed the number of errors made by Rhinos against Wigan, accused the players of lacking effort and questioned coach Rohan Smith’s tactics.

Here’s what they make of the current situation.

DAVID MUHL

Well, that was a shellacking! I think this game summed up our season: no leadership, no ideas, no passion.

It was a game, yet again, where unforced errors and poor discipline were to the front. To be fair, Wigan are a really good side, on form and were at full strength and we had a young patched-up team, but even so to leak 50 points with no reply at home is simply not good enough. If we had been playing until next Saturday I don’t think we would have scored.

I don’t think players go out with the intention of playing badly and making mistakes and I am sure they are as disappointed about that performance as we fans are.

We have had lots of disruptions to our team this year, but this is really no excuse. I don’t like picking individual players for criticism as this is a team sport, but what on earth has happened to Mikolaj Oledzki? Last season he was England standard, this year he’d struggle to get in a Leeds and District Sunday side.

There is no doubt Harry Newman is a class player, but he really needs to control his temper. Jack Sinfield needs time. He has the skills, but is still very young in rugby league terms. A run in the side will help him.

Our tactics left a bit to be desired as well. Wigan were successful kicking to the left with the sun behind them, scoring two tries from this. What did we do in the second half with Wigan playing into the sun? Kick into the shade of the south stand.

The patience of the fans is quickly running out. I realise we are mid-rebuilding, but at the moment are seeing little signs of progress. I can’t see us getting anything from this week’s trip to Catalans other than a sun tan.

BECKY OXLEY

Well, on the hottest day of the year we suffered the biggest defeat, against Wigan. I don’t know if I can quite find the words for this magnificent loss.

‘Rebuilding’ and ‘time’ were two of the words coming out of the club post-match, but I’m not sure how long this can keep being the excuse.

I’ve heard it for years and it’s only going to continue into next season with the outgoing players and the incoming.

We had one try opportunity in the first few minutes which was disallowed by the video ref and the rest of the match was scrappy and very disjointed.

We dropped a lot of ball and didn’t seem to have any idea. It’s hard to watch and keep the faith. I’ve tried so much this season and have backed them when others haven’t, but this was definitely the hardest .

There were certainly plenty of boos and people walking out 20 minutes before the end.

You could blame the weather, but both sides had the same conditions and it didn’t stop Wigan from attacking and scoring some great tries.

The top six is out of the equation, but Catalans on Saturday I can see being a whitewash, judging on last week’s performance.

We have nothing to play for and Catalans have everything at stake, to try get into the top two and secure a home semi-final.

TOM GOLDSWORTHY

Saturday’s 50-0 home defeat to Wigan was effectively the final nail in the coffin for Rhinos’ season and just highlights how rotten the club is at the moment.

Wigan were clearly the better team, there is no denying that. What angers me about the defeat is the lack of effort or fight on show from the team and the manner in which we were beaten.

A club of Leeds’ size should never be getting beaten 50-0, especially at Headingley. I appreciate we were not at full strength, but there were enough first-team players on the field who should have made a difference and helped prevent an embarrassing defeat.

There are too many players at Leeds who are stealing a wage and clearly not good enough to be at the club.

The depressing reality is that Leeds are just stuck in a vicious cycle at the moment and there is no sign of it ending any time soon.

I could call for Rohan Smith’s head, like so many other fans, but what would change under a new head coach?

We would not hire a quality manager, it would be another cheap option and we will go through this all over again in a year or so.

The recruitment for next season has been underwhelming so far, it feels like we are constantly trying to cut corners and then getting annoyed when it does not work out.

I fear the worst for our trip to Catalans this weekend. The spark in our team has died out and I do not think we will pick up another win this season.

The 2023 season is a write-off at this point and the opportunity to restore any pride has been lost following Saturday's pathetic display.

IAIN SHARP

“Come and see rugby league,” I said to my visiting American academic friend. “It’s great,” I said. Of course my biggest mistake was to pick a game where Leeds wilted in the late summer heat. The positives from the performance could have been written on the back of a postage stamp, several times.

It highlights the massive gulf between the current Leeds side and the top teams in Super League. A huge amount of work is required to turn around what we have now to get us to anywhere like we need to be.

The spectacle wasn’t helped by the officials disallowing an early Leeds try. How much different would have been the outcome had it been given?

Liam Moore, acting as video referee, tested Einstein’s theory on insanity by watching the same video clip over and over, expecting a different outcome than the rest of us had established minutes earlier.

The defeat also fizzles out any remote chance of Leeds making the end of season play-offs and effectively means dead rubbers in the last two games of the season. I fear a similar outcome as Leeds visit Perpignan to face second-placed Catalans Dragons.

SAM BROCKSOM

After we looked to be making progress with the performance the previous week at Hull, we threw it all away by whatever that disaster was on Saturday.

In the post-match presser Rohan Smith blamed injuries and didn’t take responsibility for the lack of effort his players showed. None of those players cared on Saturday and Smith is fine with it.

Full credit to Wigan, they played very well. With two games to go, the race for the league leaders’ shield is hotting up. That’s a position it seems Leeds are a million miles from.

The season is over now, so drop the so-called starters and just play the kids. What have we got to lose? Give them the Super League experience to prepare them for next year, should we need to utilise them.

It’s Catalans away this week, another team vying for first place. I have no faith in the squad at all and just want the season to be over.

At least the women’s side have some chance of silverware. After securing third place they are just 80 minutes away from the Grand Final.