Jones-Buchanan vows to tear up script at Rhinos
AS A boy and a man, Jamie Jones-Buchanan cried when his beloved Leeds lost – but now he wants to make sure there are only tears of joy.
The Rhinos legend goes unexpectedly into Saturday’s Challenge Cup sixth-round tie against Castleford as interim head coach after beleaguered boss Richard Agar, below, quit on Monday.
Leeds lost five of their first six Super League games with Agar – who enjoyed Wembley success in 2020 – and feared he had lost touch with misfiring players.
Former Great Britain second-row Jones-Buchanan won seven Grand Finals as part of Rhinos’ famed Golden Generation before becoming assistant coach.
It has been hard witnessing the pitiful start and he felt “pretty sick” with their recent pathetic 31-8 loss against Hull.
But as one of the most charismatic individuals in the game, he is perfectly set to lift the spirits.
“I’m a relationship person,” said Jones-Buchanan.
“I love people. I’ve always been quite enthusiastic and optimistic and always see the greater good in everybody.
“My biggest strength is empathy. I recognise when players haven’t got a smile on their face and believe I can often remedy that. I’m really excited about having the opportunity to cheer some people up.That’s an easy win.
“In the past in difficult times, there’s always been passion and emotion but that was missing against Hull. I had knots in my stomach.
“Thankfully we’ve got around the players this week and started to find that again.”
Jones-Buchanan lost four Challenge Cup finals before finally helping beat Castleford in 2014.
“I used to drive up that M1 in tears quite often,” he recalled. “As a fan I’d be ruined for the week whenever Leeds lost. But the Challenge Cup has always been a big priority for this club.
“I just want our performance to be better. “We find ourselves as the lowest-scoring team in Super League. When you look at the roster and our DNA, we never want to be there – ever.”
Jones-Buchanan will draw plenty of advice from Leicester Tigers defence coach Kevin Sinfield – “the best leader I ever had”.
Parramatta Eels assistant Ryan Carr remains the favourite to take over. “Collectively, it was a really heavy day Monday,” admitted Jones-Buchanan. “It was difficult for all of us to take but Rich left lots of positives.
“There’s just some little nuances we need to fix.”