What went wrong for Richard Agar?

On Tuesday morning Leeds Rhinos announced that Richard Agar had resigned from his position as head coach after two and a half years in the role. In this time he coached Leeds in 64 games, winning 36, as well as leading them to victory in the 2020 Challenge Cup final. His resignation came off the back of just one win in the opening six rounds of the season and a clear regression in performance in comparison to the previous two years of his reign.

Before looking at what went wrong for Agar it is important to look at where the team were at when he took over the role and acknowledge the progress that has been made. Agar, who had coached Hull FC and Wakefield previously in super league, initially joined the club in 2019 in a player development role but took over the reigns as head coach following the sacking of David Furner. The former Leeds player Furner had won just five of his 16 games in charge and left Leeds languishing near the bottom of the table. In his first half season Agar guided Leeds to the relative safety of an 8th place finish, 8 points clear of the drop zone. 

Going into the 2020 season Leeds made a number of big signings in Luke Gale, Kruise Leeming, Matt prior and Alex Mellor. Matt Prior and Kruise Leeming are arguably two of the best players in the current squad and the heartbeat of the team. Before the season was brought to a halt Leeds had shaken off a poor first game against Hull FC to win their next five games including a comprehensive 36-0 thrashing of Warrington. After the season restart in August this form continued and Leeds finished in fourth place, making  the playoffs for the first time since the championship winning season of 2017. 

2021 was Agar’s first full season in charge of the team and the progress made in 2020 was somewhat reflected in an up and down season for the side. An off field spat between then captain Luke Gale and Agar led to the halfback being stripped of his captaincy with Matt Prior being passed the mantle. On the field the team managed to finish in 5th position and once again secure a spot in the playoffs. After a solid victory over Wigan in the first round the Rhinos were comprehensively beaten by the eventual champions St Helens.

Overall, the main success of Agar during his spell as head coach was to bring stability to the first team squad. The team for the previous two seasons had been in a state of transition after Danny McGuire and Rob Burrow stepped away from the side and this had not improved under the tutelage of David Furner. Thanks to some shrewd transfers and the coaching of Agar, Leeds in the 2020 and 2021 season finally looked to have moved on from the glories of yesteryear and started to find the blueprint for what the new Rhinos looked like. 

With all that in mind there are a number of reasons why many felt that this decision to part ways with Agar as head coach was inevitable despite the relative success that he has had in the past two years. 

The frailties in Agar’s attacking structure have been laid to bare at the start of this season with the Rhinos  scoring the lowest number of points in the 2022 season,  just 90 points in the first 6 games. In comparison, Toulouse who are last in the table have scored 100 points despite playing most of their games with one recognised halfback in their team.

During the 2017 grand final winning season, Leeds played an off the cuff style of rugby. After this season they continued trying to play this style but without players of the ilk of McGuire and Burrow the team struggled to replicate the success. Agar upon taking over the reigns tried to move to attacking in a more structured fashion utilising the clubs spine and set plays to create try scoring opportunities rather than relying on individual moments of brilliance. 

This strategy has been somewhat successful evidenced by the fact that Leeds had moved from the relegation zone to in the playoffs during the two full seasons under his tutelage. However, the attack as a whole has still been ineffective, especially against the top teams in the competition. Despite the signing of highly rated half backs like Gale, Sezer and Austin the Leeds attack has consistently missed a spearhead who is able to drive the team upfield and take control of the attack. The team are still relying on moments of brilliance by players like Kruise Leeming or the outside backs. 

I have mentioned it before in my reviews of the previous games but this season the fifth tackle options taken by Sezer and Austin have just not been good enough. Time after time Sezer in particular will choose to run on the last or take it in himself rather than create the time and space for him to put in a kick. The best halfbacks are always looking to create a chance through a kick or at least try to force a goal line drop out to increase the pressure in the opposition.

The problems in attack have been compounded this season by how poor the team's forward pack, and defensive unit as a whole, have performed in the first 6 games of the season. After being such a strength in 2021 the forwards have not created a platform  for Leeds to attack from. When defending the opposition are being allowed to make far too many metres and control the speed of the rucks. This was most evident in the Hull FC game when their forwards were running riot through the middle of the park. Off the back of this team’s are then able to score tries far too easily against our brittle defence.

Two tries that typify how Leeds have been defending in 2022 are those scored by Jake Connor and Elijah Taylor. Jake Connor during the thrashing of Leeds scored a try by simply dummying a grubber kick and then strolling over the line untouched as the whole defensive line fell for his ploy. Elijah Taylor’s try was even more disappointing as, despite the attention of four Leeds defenders, he was able to drive over the line and then simply drop to the ground and score the try.

Finally, and something that has been plaguing the whole of the super league is the ill discipline of the team. A player in the Leeds team has been shown a yellow card in each of the 7 games that have been played this season as well as a red card for James Bentley in the opening round of the season. This has in part been caused by the new directive given to the referee’s regarding foul play and some players, such as Matt Prior against Hull FC, can think themselves unlucky to be sent to the sin bin. On the other hand, it is the responsibility of the players to adapt to these new rules and do their best to avoid this happening. In an already poor defence the job is made even harder when each player is being forced to cover more space.

What’s important now is that the next coach that they employ is the right one. Although there are some weaknesses, the squad as a whole is filled with players who are capable of performing at much higher levels. It is now the job of Gary Hetherington and his team to bring in the right coaching setup to get the best out of this team.

Thank you for reading and remember All Leeds aren’t we.