One has invested significantly in a new stadium and the other will have to do so in a new stand.

Factors which is convenient for a fan to ignore but not a CEO. So he cuts his cloth accordingly. Ours has been cut to a sufficient standard to have us 160 minutes from an unprecedented 3rd consecutive SL title.

That may not meet [isome[/i supporters expectations but others will realise its' quite remarkable. Those not satisfied remain unable to convince me that spending £x on player B would have altered our playing course in iota. In fact, as widely discussed, the one splashy expensive overseas signing we have made has, in fact, taken the team no further than where they were last year.

maybe because the academy isn't producing like in recent years. we had a golden period, mcguire, burrow etc, but only since then in dribs and drabs(some quality dribs and drabs admittedly).
hence buying the likes of pitts and amor,young players who feel they can improve.

I can think of several players who Leeds have deemed surplus to requirements, path blocked by a better 1st team option at the point where they need 1st grade rugby to develope or released to prevent blocking a bigger talent coming through below them.

My question is; do you have any examples where Leeds have received a fee in such circumstances?

Jordan Tansey to Hull and?

Hardly a surprise when that one 'splashy' overseas signing didn't directly replace any of the four players Leeds were losing from their 1st grade squad between the end of the 2008 season and the start of the 2009 one.

It was an odd signing, guaranteed only to reduce the role a long standing, existing and continueing member of the 1st grade squad.

Whatever the Leeds recruitment policy in the last off season was, the results thus far have seen them relinquish their hold on the WCC trophy they held and lose at the first hurdle in a home Challenge Cup tie. Results that the club would be right to consider unacceptable. On the plus side the absence from mounting any serious challenge in the cup has allowed them the breathing space throughout the year to take out the League Leaders Shield (thanks in part to a faltering St Helens outfit) and place themselves in absolute pole position to win their third successive title.

If and when that happens I'll be as proud as any other Leeds fan, IMO.



There is no maybe about it, is there? When you look at the reserves who went out to St Helens last weekend it was a Leeds team containing plenty of SL experienced young players who are supposed to be on the fringes of the Leeds 1st grade, (Watkins, Jones-Bishop, Ratu, Broughton, Allan, Pitts, McShane, Manning, Gibson and Chandler), they got beat 59 - 28.

I take as much pride as the next Loiner for Leeds staying within the salary cap and within the overseas trained limits set down by the RFL but next season they are using a loophole to get around the quota.

if saints, or anybody else falter tvoc, then that is there fault.
the coaching staff have been supurb this season in the timing of the run at the end of the season

Anyone got a list of ex leeds players playing in SL?

Fox, Murell, Cockayne and and now Ratu all HKR. Do they have their own acadamy?

That's a fair comment.

My point there was that St Helens blew a four point lead (with a healthy points difference advantage) and turned it into a four point deficit (with a healthy points difference disadvantage.) Leeds did all they could do by carrying on winning (Wigan away aside) but it was St Helens that lost their way. Only two points of that eight point swing was directly down to Leeds.

The same thing happened (only in reverse) in 2008.



I never realised he had any connection to Leeds.

My mistake!

Ask Hull FC if we have our own academy!

Netherton?

Theyve also stolen Sam Moa from Hull FC on a 2 year contract, announced tomorrow apparently.

I think ive got them all, its all I can think of at the moment anyway so it'll have to do!
Danny Sculthorpe
Peter Fox
Chev Walker
Nick Fozzard
Scott Murrell
Jason Netherton
Chris Feather
Terry Newton
Nick Scruton
Adrian Morley
Garreth Carvell
Richie Mathers
Ben Kaye
Danny Ward
Jason Golden
Luke Gale
Mark Calderwood
Gareth Raynor
Ewan Dowes

All the above plus:

Michael Wainwright
Peter Lupton
Matt Gardner
Joe Walsh
Jordan Tansey
Richard Moore

Unsure

Michael McIllorum?
Chaz I'Anson?

Chaz I'Anson was ex Leeds Academy for sure, don't know about Michael McIllorum

no on McIllorum, he was on the rhinos scholarship but signed for wigan.

walsh was released wasn't he?

could also add Joe Mbu to the list, although he was only here on loan

Most of the above were released or chose to leave at the end of their contracts. Very few were sold on which emphasises a point I made earlier in the thread.



All the above are on the playing rostas in 2009 of other Super League clubs, which club is Mbu currently at?

Why downplay Leeds league leadership in such a manner?

Leadership often changes hands during the course of a season. The only league positions that matter are those after the final rounds have been played.

Leeds, as you say, held a healthy lead in the league table in 2008. They held a massive lead in 2005. I don't recall Leeds fans ever questioning whether Saints won their LLS those years or whether we threw them away. How typical of Southstander though that our own fans would question whether we won it or Saints threw it away.

McIllorum was born in Leeds but joined Wigan's Academy aged 17 in 2005, he played for England U16s in 2004 though, but dont know which club he was at then.

I'Anson started his career for Leeds, before a serious knee injury ruled him out for a subsequent amount of time and Leeds parted company with him.

i meant released by huds, aka he's currently no longer in super league.
(possible that it meant going to be released at the end of this season, but i seem to remember reading "had been released" a few months ago)

back at quins

started at quins, went to huds on loan, came up to rhinos on loan, went back to quins, then to donny, back to quins

Got you now. He was on their books some time this season which was the criteria I applied......



......and then missed Mbu at Quins, never mind.



Where have I downplayed Leeds' League Leaders Shield for this season?

I've previously stated on this forum that this years LLS is the most relevant since 1998. If anything I've bigged up the achievement. Nevertheless it was won with more than a little help from a uncharacteristic St Helens fade out just as theirs in 2008 was. That fade out came on the back of a Challenge Cup semi final defeat just as Leeds' had done last season. The CC evidently still matters a great deal to the clubs and to some fans.



Absolutely. There was a seven point swing to St Helens in 2008 and an eight point swing to Leeds in 2009. Both were won ultimately by a combination of the two competing teams results.



That would be incorrect when comparing the two seasons (2005 and 200icon_cool.gif but don't let that stop you.



It's a legitimate point, as it would be each season where a team that looked to be in a fight to keep hold of second end up top by four clear points.

__________


How many times have Leeds won the Championship and the Challenge Cup in the same season?

Broughton R, Halifax, Hunslet, Huddersfield, Swinton, Warrington, Wigan, St Helens and Bradford have all managed it.

In the last 6 seasons (including this one) a league and cup double has been achieved only once.

How many times had Leeds won the championship before 2004?

How many times have Leeds won two championships in a row?

How many times have Leeds won 3 championships in a row?

How many teams have won 3 Super League championships in a row?

Why must you focus on what Leeds have NOT done when they have recently done so much and will soon hopefully do even more that we should be rightly proud of?

What is so special about the last six seasons? It has been achieved sixteen times in 114 seasons which averages at just over seven. Only never by a Leeds side.



Not enough.



Once



It's never happened.



None that I'm aware of.



I don't focus on it, I include it.

I've already recently said it would be a magnificent achievement if Leeds go on to win back to back to back Championships.

Its' when we started winning championships. Little point considering the prospect of a league and cup double from the preceding 32 years as those teams, unlike this one, couldn't attain the ultimate prize.

It also shows that a league and cup double is very, very difficult to do now that the salary cap is starting to have the desired effect and the talent appears to be more evenly spread.

Especially so now the final of the Challenge cup is so close to the play offs

That's a fair point and one I've argued before that it's time the Challenge Cup Final was moved back to it's traditional early May slot and get it well away from the play offs. Perhaps it would help breathe new life into the comp?

That said pre the summer era the two events were also very close together.