The Australian had planned to mastermind a clean sweep of domestic trophies in his last match before returning home but saw his dream dashed as Leeds Rhinos retained the Super League title with a 24-16 victory.

Anderson conceded that Saints had been second best in most areas and was left to rue a crucial 40:20 kick by Harry Sunderland Trophy winner Lee Smith, the Leeds full-back whose 49th-minute touch-finder set up the position from which Danny McGuire scored his first try to put the Rhinos 18-12 ahead.

"That 40:20 was the key point in the whole match," said Anderson. "We had done a good job harassing him (Smith) but he still managed to kick it. That was a backbreaker for us."

Anderson had appeared to read the riot act during the interval and St Helens duly responded in the second half but rarely seemed capable of dominating Leeds as they had done at Knowsley Road two weeks earlier, when they won 38-10.

"We were off the pace in the first half. We missed a lot of tackles and Leeds got the opportunity to build pressure and score a couple of tries," said Anderson, who described his language during his half-time team talk as "unrepeatable."

"I didn't think we were honest with our capabilities in the first half. We didn't play anywhere near the standards we had set. I was doing a soliloquy in the standards we could get to.

"We battled in the second half but when we tried to get our teeth into the game it didn't happen. Leeds broke tackles, they won the ruck and kicked off the front foot. The number of times we had to kick the ball with three or four blokes coming at us was significant. Leeds tackled better one on one than we did: they did better than us the whole game."

Anderson, pictured right, is heading back to Sydney after eight years coaching New Zealand Warriors, the Kiwi national team and Saints and has yet to find a position in the NRL, despite a record as Super League's most successful coach.

"What an outstanding tenure he has had," said Leeds coach Brian McClennan, who worked under Anderson as his assistant with the Kiwis in 2004. "The NRL club that finally smartens up and gets him will celebrate their decision: the others that don't will kick themselves for not going for him."

Mick Potter, the coach who led Catalans Dragons to third place in Super League this summer, is to take hold of the coaching reins at Knowsley Road.