I hearby apologise to Brian McD and the team for my early doubts. That was the best performance I have seen a Leeds side in years. Well done fellas! I will not call for heads to roll again!

Agreed, Brian Mac knows what he's doing, well done the lads, especially the forwards, big mention for Kirke, play like that every week boy.....

Lets go all the way!!

your asking for trouble giving kirke praise on here the guys just a player who does what he his told and has quite a trophy cabinet at home

it's good to praise saturday's win but a season with more poor performances than good is the bigger picture

Isn't this thread from last year...?

Could be.

Beat me to it



Fickle lot on here ? Never

You could cut and paste yours (from last year) on here Nanty

What makes you think I haven't ?

This all started when Brian McD found out when his his treasured Bulls Shi t (missed the R) sorry, was sold down the river along with £500K of fans money. Now he needs to win at Wembley so that he can have a Rhino's one to replace it.

Ha! You didn't write that last year!

Did you.....?

Oh, and for the OP it wasn't our best performance in years IMO. We were frequently better than that in 2009, and I would certainly argue that we were better still in our win at Wire in the playoffs last year, which was the best Leeds performance since the 2007 GF in my very humble opinion.

Didn't you also start a similar thread after the WCC?

OK, here goes, shoot me down if you want, I'm listening.

I might be slow coming round to it but I have worked out that Burrow can play hooker like he used to play scrum half, getting up to the line and drawing the attention of the defence, and at hooker he can do that straight from the ruck with great effect.
I have worked out that Bailey is an extra prop on the field (at Loose) to make up for Burrow not being a real defensive hooker (I'm not saying Burrow can't tackle, he most certainly can, but he couldn't and shouldn't have to defend the middle against opposition forwards like a hooker does. Long term, playing hooker will damage Burrow's head, he's always taken some hammer from the forwards and bounced straight up again but he's getting a lot more of it now).
I had always worked out that McGuire can do scrum half.

I still don't think Sinfield is a complete stand-off, despite having a great kicking game.

But what I think McD has done is to divide the tasks for each role and distribute them according to who can do it, rather than according to the standard list if who-does-what-in-which-position, thereby covering the bits of stand-off that Sinfield isn't and the bits of hooker that Burrow isn't and the role of loose forward where Sinfield isn't.
That deserves credit where it's due.

It worked on Saturday ... but that game was won in the forwards, giving Sinfield, Burrow (especially) and McGuire the space and pace in which to work their 'fluence and regardless of McD's decisions on positions.
In the warm-up, Peacock had the pack in a huddle and was giving them a real good old geeing-up.
Their very energetic, never letting-up, in-their-faces defending ... well, it out-enthused Wigan, forcing errors and knocking their completion rate for six. (Granted, Tomkins also made a couple of bloody awful unforced errors that gave us a juicy advantage ... couldn't happen to a nicer guy

).

So, I'm not there yet, but even I am grudgingly moving towards credit for McD.
Especially as he is starting Burrow now, instead of keeping him as an impact player off the bench, I never liked that.

Note, that is [utowards[/u credit, I'm not wholly there yet, not after some of the performances we've seen this year and last.


Right ... where am I right and where am I wrong?
Happy to be corrected.

The first time Bailey 'played in the back row' this season he looked more effective than he has done for some considerable time.... but he [iwasn't[/i kept there. Has McDermott got got to where he is through design..... or by accident, as the season has bumped along horribly at times ?

The problem for me ( and surely for the club owing to the drop in floating supporters especially last weekend ) is the [usevere[/u drop in form for the bulk of the mid season. It's an indictment of the game that Leeds are as high as they are in the league at this point, despite those abject performances against Saints, Bradford and Wigan (at Headingley of course).

There is a pattern emerging here, which is surely going to have an impact on the sale of season tickets.

More will decide to save their cash for the end-of-season-Leeds rather than the woeful-at-times-full-season-Leeds.

I can see a possibility that the shape of the last 2 seasons might have much to do with the age of the key parts of the squad. It could be that McDermott knows that his charges can't sustain that level for a full season, so the focus is on peaking at the right times. If so it has worked so far.

It is also possible that this view would be a massive over-interpretation of the available data. Truth is that we don't really know.

In any case, succession planning is a big issue for Leeds at the moment. Not the panic issue some would have you believe, but it was clear in 2004 that with so much of the team having emerged from the academy at around the same time there would come a point when they all retired or moved on at about the same time. It's a bit of a headache when the incumbents of so many key positions are as good as players like Sinfield, McGuire, Burrow etc have been. It is difficult to leave them out for long periods of time to give game time to emerging stars.

yeah good performance but the ref did help a bit....best team won all the same

IF true then it really is not fair on those paying spectators.

Nor is it fair on some of the young lads playing so well in the U-20's that might have expected a crack, knowing that the first team were indulged in their not 'focusing' quite so much.



If you don't give the likes of Ward, Singleton and Olds some mid season time in the same 'key' positions as the present uncumbents then you can [uguarantee[/u a difficult transition in coming seasons.

How is it not fair on paying spectators? Would you sacrifice building for the big games, for mid-season consistency?

after 2009, when saints threw away top spot, I still hoped for more consistency and we've got worse even after declaring this year wouldn't be like last year.

For 20 years I bought a season ticket with hope and it only seems to be after the golden period of 2004-2005 that i seem to question the merits of a season ticket when standards fall.

Just can't work out if the team enters some games with the attitude defeat doesn't matter or they are coached that way for certain games. Sometimes the other team may be so much better (saints away this year for example) but so often we've fallen below the levels of such as the warrington, manly and wigan games.

What other product would you pay for in advance expecting it not to work half the time.

What the (El) devil.....I think you are getting there!!!

I think Big Mac deserves great credit. None of us know what goes on on the training field but he has shown that firstly he can motivate the team, which is no easy matter considering the pedigree and time at the top of so many in the team. He has also shown that he can create a successful game plan to win the big matches. And he has shown the judgement to ask some players to take on different roles. He has also shown he can prepare the team to peak for the important occassions. For a young English coach these are some achievements.

I do not believe for one minute that this team and coaching staff are going into any game without making the preparation and planning to win. What I do accept is that with age (and I should know!) it becomes harder, perhaps even impossible to keep consistently sharp. Much has been said about resting players and more rotation etc. But when the players timing is a bit off the best way to correct it is by keeping playing. You only get match fit in a match!

In the modern game if your timing is just slightly off and you come up against a side running hot with perhaps some decisions going against you, then you can be blown away so quickly. Momentum is everything. I think that has happened to Leeds quite a lot in recent times.

Maybe some of the youngsters could have played a bit more but I can understand why most coaches will stick by the proven experienced players when the chips are down.

The Leeds players really want to win the Cup that much is obvious but I have a feeling that they would also like to achieve what many think impossible and that is the double.

Brian Mac has maintained the team spirit through the bad times both last year and this but had he lost faith in his first choice players this could have been a disaster. The players know this and they look to be about to repay him once again...we hope.

I do not for one minute buy that either the team or the coaching staff deliberately set out to under-perform for chunks of the season.

Some of the key pillars of this Leeds side either have a lot of miles in the legs or are still finding their way at this level. Consistency of performance is bound to suffer as a result.

In 2004-05 and again 2007-09 the bulk of the squad were at or approaching the peak of their careers and better able to turn it on week in, week out.

So for the last two years its coincidence they have been average at best until this time then hit there straps?
Sorry andy no. Leeds have found a formula and are sticking to it

The coincidence for that last two years is age which has only taken its toll during this time.

Was your "formula" theory was created on a 'grassy knoll?'

You think im wrong? Just say it instead of snidey comments

As for age im guessing the average age is about 27 ish.