I'm sure they do on a daily basis, but practice is no substitute for a calm head and natural talent in a game situation. The harsh truth is that our current spine players our collectively not good enough to allow us to come away with the points in 50/50 games. Myler, Austin and Sezer were terrible for Agar and no better than consistently inconsistent for Smith. Our fortunes won't change in any real way until better options are found in at least 3 of the 4 spine positions. The prospect of Austin and Myler in the halves next year fills me with dread. The club still has a lot of cap space for next year but unless we sort these key positions out, we'll see similar or worse results.

Agree with AC. We can maybe squeeze another year out of Myler at FB with Austin possibly given another year (definitely not two). I'd keep O'Connor as back up but I in an ideal world we'd be bringing in a new half, better two, and a starting 9.

Need an on field leader too. Pity Cam Smith hasn't the physique of a spine player as I reckon he probably has the brain for that leader role

Smith is on the field almost every week. there's nothing stopping him taking the lead. Peacock didn't need to be captain to lead the forwards. I see no evidence that he has any more 'leadership' ability than anyone else in the squad.

We have individually enough talent when everyone's fit to beat anyone on our day, but too many players in the squad who need to be led around. When we do play well its generally as a team, but when things get tough our playmakers vanish and everyone seems clueless as a group. Add to that our general softness in defence and you can see why lower half teams love playing us - the message will be get into a wrestle and Leeds will fall apart.

If we lose at Sts we're likely to be 3 wins off the top 6. Its not far off being only a mathematical possibility to qualify for the play offs. Disappointing is an understatement.

I still think Smith needs a chance with decent players in the key positions. But if we don't get some real quality at halfback we'll struggle to be more than mid table again. Our spine is shockingly bad as a group.

We don't deserve to be in the top 6 atm.
It's sad ro say but it's true.

I think we need a proper captain and more leadership.
We should have gone for a drop goal earlier but in fairness to Cam Smith after senior knocked on, he got the pack together and told them all to set up for the drop goal in that set. He was set as a blocker and the ball would have gone to Sezer but sangare dropped it

There is definitely a big difference between practicing drop goal set pieces on a training ground, when everyone is under instruction from the coaching staff, and another thing doing it ad-hoc in a real game situation in front of 15,000 fans. Mostly the communication needed to put everyone on the same page quickly and efficiently. This is what Leeds lack - cohesive leadership.

There is no reason why we spent so long in range of a drop goal without having an actual attempt.

I actually thought on the last few sets we set up the right shape for the drop goal. For me, it was clear they had been coached what to do in those situations (whether we should have attempted one closer to 10 mins to go is another question). Whilst the Sangare knocked on is the obvious error, the more disappointing play was from Oldeski on the play before where he got held up over the line. In those drop goal scenarios teams are aiming for the tackle to be about 10 m out in line with one of the posts, oledski took the drive too far and held up on the play that we had the momentum. The next play we are against a reset defence that out muscles Sangare leading to the knock on.

Overall, I think the table probably reflects where we are as a team. Inconsistent with no standout game changers. The last few weeks I have noticed an improved kicking game and we actually look like we have a short kicking game for the first time in 5 years.

The last couple of games have been pretty similar, scruffy and on Leeds part lacking any real incisive play in attack for large spells I find this current team frustrating to watch for the most part, and ask myself how much input does Rohan Smith have on specific attacking strategies or lack of them. It’s noticeable how many other teams seem to have wingers getting the ball early in good space whereas our receive the ball stood still or marked by two or three defenders already. We dodged a bullet last week and then ran out of luck this week. A real disappointing season so far, crashing out of the cup in the first game and hugely inconsistent form through the league campaign. Our pack flatters to deceive and is simply not top six quality. I think overall it’s been a good Superleague season to watch in respect that so many teams have the ability to beat one another, but I think it’s the poorest standard one I’ve seen.

Rohan has said about supporters embracing the unpredictable nature of the league, I think I could if it was because there was a high standard being achieved across the board.

Spot on

Couldn’t agree more. It seems like we have a league based purely around attrition and who drops the ball less. I’m struggling to see more pure quality across the league. Also probably why Catalan are leading the way. Lots of effort players with a coach who plays a hard hitting attritional style.

The pocket was set a couple of times, and we seemed to go for one more drive each time. That is just putting the ball through an extra set of hands unnecessarily, tempting an error that eventually came.

On one occasion, possibly when Mik drove it to the line, the pocket was set and the forwards blocked the path from the dummy half. Sangare was one that was out of position spoiling the play. That's a case of communication breakdown.

We definitely don't look like a well drilled team that deserves to be challenging for silverware this year.

That’s a fair summing up. Drifting slightly off theme the most spectacular and successful winning drop goal was Englands Jonny Wilkinsons in the rugby Union world . Every play going up the field was designed to give Wilkinson the space and time to drop the goal. Apparently Woodward had rehed several different plays in training to accommodate a drop goal scenario.

That’s a fair summing up. Drifting slightly off theme the most spectacular and successful winning drop goal was Englands Jonny Wilkinsons in the rugby Union world . Every play going up the field was designed to give Wilkinson the space and time to drop the goal. Apparently Woodward had rehed several different plays in training to accommodate a drop goal scenario.

The easiest one to go for if we had the brain power was when Oledski was held over the line. He goes back to the 10 to play the ball, HKR are all on the try line, you stand in the pocket 20 yards back from try line, they can’t get anywhere near you.

Was that when Myler chose to just hoof it into the air? I just don't think drop goals are a part of his skill set. I'd be surprised if he's kicked more than half a dozen in his entire career and even more surprised if he's kicked one to win a game.

I agree wholesale changes in recruitment need to be made Austin and Sezer can't produce its that simple Sangare is a championship player no more with his size he should be ripping teams apart but just not up for it if we loose Bentley we only have one forward who the opposition are looking out for and that's Holroyd who seems to be playing to orders aggression wise and he's just not as effective.

2018 Widnes away in the CC game is the only one I can remember.

I've a vague memory of him getting one at headingley - maybe v Catalans?

Myler's kicked 2 drop goals - against Widnes in 2018 in a 23-20 win and against Cats in 2019 in a 31-12 win. So only one important one and none since moving to full back. we only scored one all last season and one this (Austin at Sts). It doesn't suggest we particularly train for it.

We didn't play well and didn't deserve the win, not that I thought KR deserved it either.
Last couple of games are showing realistically what we are, a lower mid table side. So frustrating as I believe we could be better than that.
So many twists and turns in this season that the top 6 won't be decided until the final week so never write us off making the playoffs.

I went to the game on Friday. A pal from work had never been to Headigley so I said I would take him.

I normally sit in the North stand nowadays when I go to games, but I thought I would treat him to the Southstand atmosphere. I stopped standing in the Southstand years ago as I was sick of people going backwards and forwards all the time to the bar. But for one game I thought I would put up with it.

We were late because of a train issue, but still got to the ground with decent time as I knew the SS would be busy because of the rain. Anyhow, we get a pint and go up into the stand. It's busy as I suspected and we find a place to stand. Only to have someone moan and say 'well this is what it's going to be like now they've reduced standing, p!ss heads coming in late'. I turned and told him that it was my first pint of the night, I wasn't late, the player were still warming up and I wasn't obstructing his view nor squeezed in. During the game I tried chatting about the match and he was miserable as sin!

Anyway, the game. We looked shattered. We didn't seem to have any energy. Was that down to the weather? We didn't move the ball quick enough. Our tacking technique was poor. It was constantly going down the middle and we lacked total leadership on the pitch. KR first half better team, second half we had more of the ball but looked clueless.

How the club's social media can come out and call it 'heartbreak' or whatever they saif is laughable. We had prime opportunity to go for a DG and we didn't. Why?

thing is, they should have dropped a goal v saints and blew it.
to do it twice is criminal. there is a mountain of experience out there. no excuse

We've seen countless times that our 1,6, and 7 really don't take charge often enough. They can all look great when things are going well, but all too often vanish when we need them to drag the team with them. Reality is they are a bottom half of the table spine who don't lead the team well. They are the players who could change the game from one-up rugby, or add structure to sets by demanding the ball and getting others into position, or prep for drop goals. Forwards and outside backs can't make that happen.