Rebuilding job could take Leeds Rhinos 10 years says club legend Jamie Peacock

Peacock reckons the club are still dealing with the transition from the side which won eight Grand Finals from 2004-2017.

Speaking to the Out of Your League podcast - which is available from 7pm today - Peacock said: “I think building culture takes time.

“It’s not a one week, two week, one month or three month thing.

“After three months you can start to do it, but then you’ve got to get your recruitment right and that can take, in a salary cap sport, one, two or three years.

“I think they are on the right path and the younger players they have got coming through are good.

“I want to see what Rohan [Smith, Rhinos’ new coach] brings to the side.

“He needs time to be able to get his stamp on the club and hopefully he can begin to build and develop a culture.

“I think it is a 10-year time span to replace a golden generation.”

Peacock also gave an insight into his winning mentality and why Rhinos were so successful during his time there.

“In any good sports team, people have confidence in themselves,” he said.

“We all had confidence in ourselves, but we weren’t bothered who got the limelight.

“There wasn’t one person who said ‘it’s all about me’, it was never about that at the club.

“We were lucky we had three great coaches who added in their different ways - Tony Smith, Brian McLennan and Brian McDermott.

“Our overseas players were outstanding, like Ali Lauitiiti, Kyle Leuluai, Brent Webb, Danny Buderus, Brett Delaney, Scott Donald.

“We had players who were from Leeds and really cared about the city and we weren’t all best mates, we could disagree with each other, but we would commit to something.

“We would commit to what was needed for us to be able to win.

“We’d get in a final and everyone would know their role and do them well.

“If you can do that in a final, you’ll win the final.”

Peacock picked out forward Ian Kirke, who played in the lower divisions before joining Rhinos, as someone who gave his all for the club, despite not being one of their big names.

“Ian Kirke is never going to be a superstar,” Peacock said.

“But when it mattered, he put his body on the line and gave you everything he’d got.

“In a Grand Final, he’d come on for 20 minutes and tackle everything that moved and he contributed towards us winning.”