Make-or-break time for Leeds Rhinos '“ on and off the field '“ warns chief Gary Hetherington

Chief executive Gary Hetherington says the club will be in a “much better position to make an accurate judgement on the performance of all our players, coaching staff and senior management including myself” after the next four matches.

Hetherington has written to fans on the club’s database outlining his views following last week’s record 66-10 defeat at Castleford Tigers.

Hetherington says the decision not to make major changes after last year, when Rhinos finished ninth in Super League, was a “judgement call which I believe was the right one”.

He adds: “But we are not stubborn enough to believe no change is always the best option.

“But equally we don’t make knee jerk decisions and any actions have to be carefully thought out with the only consideration of ‘what’s in the best interests of the club now and in the future’.”

Hetherington described Rhinos’ performance at Castleford as “very poor from start to finish”, but questions how they would have fared if injured players had been available and if it was a “one-off” freak result.

He also says the playing squad is in a “period of transition” and the side against Castleford included six recent academy graduates who are still getting to grips with Super League.

Rhinos have won two of their opening four games in Betfred Super League and are seventh in the table.

Their next four games are at home to Catalans Dragons on Friday and Wakefield Trinity seven days later, followed by a trip to Huddersfield Giants and a Headingley clash with Wigan Warriors.