Hetherington backs Sinfield and criticises under-performing players

Leeds Chief executive Gary Hetherington has given his full support to Director of Rugby Kevin Sinfield following the club’s shock Challenge Cup exit.

The Rhinos were dumped out in the sixth round by arch-rivals Bradford, who are currently sixth in the Championship.

David Furner was sacked as head coach on Tuesday after a poor start to the season, but the appointment of Richard Agar as interim boss saw no improvement on the pitch.

And as the fans voiced their anger following another humiliating result, Hetherington this morning addressed the fans and signalled his full backing of Sinfield.

“I can assure everyone we are fully focused on doing whatever is necessary to bring about a change in our fortunes and this includes supporting and backing our Senior Management,” he said.

“In this regards, Kevin Sinfield as head of our Rugby operations has already shown his leadership qualities by making some tough decisions.

“In all my time in the game, I have never worked with anyone with as much focus and determination to succeed as Kevin and I know the pain he is enduring at present.

“What he and all our Management need most of all is support. This will certainly be provided by me and our Board and I hope all our fans can do the same.”

Adding to this, Hetherington also revealed that they will look to rebuild the current squad after stating that the current group has “under-performed in so many ways.”

He added: “We have been here before and must firstly recognise our mistakes and then implement a plan to rectify and improve as soon as possible.

“On Thursday we open our new North Stand and please be assured we are just as focused on re-building our team to match our facilities.”