It was always going to be the question asked if Leeds Rhinos inexplicably lost to Wakefield Trinity. One win in six had already seen pressure mount on Rohan Smith but this defeat, one that words can't explain the humiliation that comes with it, has really put the microscope on the Australian and his long-term future at the club.
Smith's willingness to make bold, unpopular choices always meant he was leaving himself there to be shot at and now, with Leeds suffering an embarrassing defeat against a side that had lost its first fifteen matches, that scrutiny is going to come and it's going to come to a great extent.
It's not a one-off, either. Between Wakefield and Castleford, Super League's bottom two teams have won four games all season. Three of them have come against Leeds. There is no way of dressing that up, It's simply not good enough.
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That defeat has left Leeds six points adrift of the play-offs with twelve games of the season to go. The situation isn't irretrievable but, not for the first time, the Rhinos have their work cut out for them if they're going to be in contention for another Grand Final appearance.
The bigger concern isn't so much the results but the manner of performances. More so, it's a different issue every week. In round one they were bullied by Warrington, the round two defeat to Hull FC was down to an inability to turn chances into points. Other defeats have been down to a lack of cohesion in defending their own goal line. Other games, such as the loss to Hull KR, was down to a sheer number of errors. This latest defeat was a combination of all the above and more. Even when victorious, a number of the performances have been chaotic and not convincing.
Ultimately that is down to the coach and as mentioned earlier, this is a coach that has made some pretty polarising decisions over the course of the year. The decision to not name a captain, allowing Kruise Leeming to depart, the constant meddling with players and their positions, team selection. At this point you do have to question some of those decisions.
There is plenty of mitigation in there. There were a number of people, this writer included, who didn't think this Leeds would make the play-offs this year given the scale of the rebuild the squad needed. The club's salary cap woe shouldn't be underestimated and the club's recruitment reflected that. This is a rebuild, no matter whether you want to accept it or not.
A number of youngsters have been pushed through and placed in senior roles which the club will benefit from in the long run. Smith does deserve credit for not only giving young players a chance but giving them important roles in the team. Has it resulted in some short-term pain? Possibly, you could argue the younger members of the squad aren't the problem. Will they reap the rewards down the line? Absolutely.
Gary Hetherington made it very clear in appointing Smith that it was a decision made with long-term thinking behind it and a lot of what Smith has done since arriving, from recruitment and other angles, falls in line with that. So making a change now, a little over a year on, goes against everything they planned to do. Let's be honest here too, Hetherington declared Smith's appointment as the most important he had made since 2003. It would be damning on Hetherington himself to change things up now.
It ultimately comes down to whether you trust Smith to oversee the next stage of the rebuild, one that is now at a pivotal juncture. He's had time to mould the players he's got and, let's not forget, he got the club to a Grand Final. Now he has the cap space to sign the players who will complement them.
From a broad perspective, it's too early to judge his first recruitment cycle and given the cap pressures, that needs to be taken into consideration too. But it's fair to say that there is reason to be sceptical because some of the additions have not worked out, although others have.
But Leeds simply must get this recruitment cycle right. It's too big an opportunity and if they are to be unsuccessful it puts to waste everything that has been put in place since Smith's arrival. It would, once again, leave the club starting from scratch, similar to when Smith inherited it just over a year ago. This club cannot afford that.
Is there a decision to be made on Smith's future right now? Probably not. But if there is, the timing of the last two defeats is awkward to say the least. At the height of recruitment, making that transition is practically the worst time possible. Yet then, if things somehow get worse, things only get more difficult again.
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