Brad Singleton: Leeds Rhinos players must take responsibility after Dave Furner’s sacking

It is never nice seeing a coach leave because it indicates you are not playing well and that is on our doorstep as players.

The clear consequence of us not performing is that, inevitably, the coach gets moved on.

It will be really tough for Dave because, in the time he was here, he put a lot into it and I know how keen he was to do well.

He will be feeling sore at the minute and I have every sympathy for him.

He has uprooted and come to the other side of the world and it has not worked out, but it is on the players’ shoulders.

We need to improve drastically; we are not a club that wins only four from 14 league games.

I have been here a long time and we all know the demands are massive here – and so they should be.

It is the biggest club in the country and we are not where we want to be at the moment.

It has been a tough week, but we are in an industry that, unfortunately, is results driven.

Everyone was shocked when we got the news, but I think it will be a kick up the backside in the regard that we need to sort this out.

Obviously it is not wholly on the coach or wholly on the players.

You need the right formula and Kev Sinfield and Gary Hetherington obviously think a change is needed.

But, as far as I am concerned, we, as players, need to get our act together.

It has come early in the year, but that means we do have time to rectify it. We just need to crack on.

There’s not been any opportunity to dwell on it because we have a huge game against Bradford on Saturday and we absolutely have to go out and play well and get the win. The Challenge Cup is massive for us and then we have got another really big game against Cas at home the Thursday after so we have to get on with things.

None of us knows what’s around the corner, but Richard Agar has come in and he will do a good job while ever he is in charge. I did a pre-season under Rich at Wakefield when I was on loan there.

He is a good bloke and I think he will do well.

He has obviously got first-team experience at various clubs and he knows what he is doing, but – as I’ve said – it is mainly down to us to sort our performances out.

It is going to need a good team performance tomorrow or we’ll be out of the Cup.

From what I have seen, Bradford have had a good year, they have signed a few good players and they will be up for it. It is a derby and this is probably the biggest game they’ve had so far this year, but we will be ready for them.

The Cup is huge for us and if we win our next three games in the competition we will be at Wembley.

It would be a great story for this group of players if we can sort this out and get on a decent Cup run.

Who knows what can happen? One thing’s for sure, I would love another trip to Wembley.

I am not playing tomorrow so I can rest a bit of a niggle, having played all through Easter, but I’m hoping to be back against Castleford next Thursday.