I will be renewing my season ticket again this year.
I want to guarantee that I retain my favoured seat in the Carnegie Stand.
That is less important for season ticket holders in all the standing areas of the ground.
I don't relish seeing the Rhinos underperform but the times that they exceed my normal pessimistic expectation makes the disappointments bearable.
Having lived through the constant underachievement of the 80s & 90s, I can more forgivably accept the occasional loss to Salford, Huddersfield or Wakefield.
Plus this year the cost to me reduces since I'm now in Rhinos terms officially an old giffer.

I've got a vague memory of Noble saying something along the lines of seeing other players being better than Sinfield in the positions Sinfield plays. I don't recall anything about Noble's view also including any comment about Sinfield limiting himself or even expressing a preference for a particular position.

Hypocrite

One thing that can't be denied is that Noble didn't like Leeds during that period. In fact, for didn't like, read hate! JP alludes to it in his auto biography. That Leeds could only manage 1 player in the starting 13 for the 2004 tri-nations fixtures also backs this up, bearing in mind Leeds were beyond any doubt the best team in SL.

The form of Leeds players was irrelevant to Noble, the face didn't fit.

I'll be blunt.

I believe you have completely made it up.

In fairness you may simply be mistaken. I will state categorically that Noble never made any Comments about Sinfield being excluded because he stated a preference for a set position.

My evidence in support. The complete absence of any link to any such material. Also, the links I have provided where Noble has given his reasons for exclduing Sinfield and they are in no way shape or form like those you have attributed to him.

Like I say to the kids, it's do as I say, not do as I do

I'm guessing that 1 was Senior?
Didn't Walker, McGuire, Ward, Bailey & Diskin also play in that series though? I have a vague recollection of them playing and Diskin doing his knee I think.

Yes, big Keith flew the flag for Leeds, the others had various bench warming roles. The exception being that fateful (& meaningless) match against the kiwi's which started and finished Disko's international career. We had 3 starters in that game with Chev Walker & Danny Ward on the bench

100% agree. I don't think you have to completely swap consistency for being good when it counts. We could have been a good way below our "peak" and still picked up 4-6 more league points, and been a bit closer in some games we have lost.

That said, in defence of the current squad, we're now in our second successive season of playing in every single available competitive round (with the addition of the WCC this year) of every single competition. In 2010 I think the only one we didn't play in was the GF ( or did we get to sit a week of the play-offs out after winning at Piedome?). As a fairly large number of the players have played in the bulk of England's fixtures in that period too, there has to be a toll on the body. How many matches have Sinfield and Hall, for example, played in the last 3 seasons? Versus how many they've missed? We are I think, to a degree, prisoners of our own success.

An extremely valid point. I believe Sinfield played in 42 games during 2011, the GF will be game 38 for 2012. A, frankly, ludicrous number of games for such a tough sport. Given the regular season fixtures are of least importance it's no surprise thats where we fall behind. It's also THE main reason we can't touch the Aussies in my opinion (but that's another story)

Is the same situation happening in reverse? Lots of Leeds players in the squad despite a moderate season (ignoring the play-offs)

Indeed, as much as I would rather not have McNamara as the national coach, he is the only one to give Sinfield an extended run in his preferred position. I assume he sees the big match mentality of the Leeds squad, not their indifferent form

I agree. I think despite people slagging him off he's done a pretty decent job with England

Can't argue with that mate although i do think that could have been handled differently at times with some reasonable squad rotation especially the pack and possibly Sinny had some results gone our way.

McDermott doesn't seem to buy into the rotation idea at all. With McDermott it seems to be all about toughness. We'll be tougher, more intense and play harder. Rotation to give rests doesn't fit in with that. I've heard some scary stuff from London players about what they used to go through. I'm actually surprised our players get water on the pitch


Whilst I don't entirely agree with the approach, you can't argue with results.

I'm not so sure. The only thing that has stood out for me was getting the likes of Reed and Widdop to commit to England, and alongside those two relative successes we've had the likes of Chase and Heighington who have been disappointing.

Otherwise, he's benefited from the availability of better players, especially in the backs, than his predecessors. The likes of Hall, Tomkins, Briscoe, Reed and soon Watkins, Hardaker etc are far superior to the backs available to Smith (Wellens, Gardner, Sykes etc). And despite these better players, not to mention a record number of forwards playing in the NRL, England have shown no sign of being able to live with the Australians or a fully fit NZ team.

As a club coach McNamara did NOTHING to suggest he was anything other than a mediocre coach. His time at the Bulls was littered by records such as the first SL team to lose to Crusaders, and epic capitulations such as Catalans in the CC and Wigan in the play-offs where the Bulls built up seemingly commanding leads. I struggle to see how he motivates the players - his domestic career was pretty average and he hardly comes across on TV as an inspirational coach (e.g. Wane, McDermott) or being particularly canny (e.g. Smith, Maguire).

He's certainly no [iUber[/i coach. Not like tony smith, his former master. Saturday could be Smith's 5th major final win on the trot. In fact the only 2 i can remember him losing are the 2005 finals at leeds. What a coach!

Interesting point - I felt exactly the same in 2005 when Bulls lifted the trophy. As a season ticket holder I was really annoyed at quite a few "give away" performances that year. It appeared to me the team did not even try in many of our games that year - but as your lads have done (twice!!) - fettled up when it really mattered.

I suppose my attitude (and maybe yours too) could be debated under the "managing success" topic - which I think is as hard - but different to dealing with failure..??
That is - we have raised expectations after a sustained period of success - after which we refuse to accept a lower standard again?
For me - looks like I will have no choice



Anyway, good luck for Saturday - I think you have a good man in Brian McDermott and some really good guys in your squad too.

Off to the docs now - it seems I am mellowing towards our "enemy" since I almost had no club

I think these 'poor' regular season performances is a bit of an anomoly in sport to be honest.

We have a team that has grown up together, won (almost) everything but is still hungry to win the big games when they matter. It makes sense that they'd not get up for a regular fixture that they know in the scheme of things won't really impact them - whereas the other team is obviously motivated to try and beat one of the big teams in the league.

There aren't going to be many teams that have won as many GFs as us with the same backbone of players, so perhaps the lethargic approach to the regular season will subside once a 'new' Rhinos team starts to develop in the next 4 years or so.

I don't know - i'm just happy we have a chance to be 'Back to Back' champions again

As a bulls fan I dont often venture on here, but on this topic I will have a go.

leeds is a properly run club with no massive benefactor a la Lenighan and Moran. The club has a good record of promotion from within, a good record of bringing decent overseas players in and getting the best from them, and a shocking record when it comes to big name overseas players!

Mc Dermott is a very canny, but also very quirky individual. Lowes is very much the same. they were obviously both legends as players for us and are both held in very high esteem by bulls fans ( in a similar way to how Francis Cummins is by many on here!)

He is a very systematic person. He will have had three objectives for this season: 1, win WCC, 2 WIn CC, 3 WIn SL.

To be 80 mins away from hitting 2 of those and getting to the final in the third is some acheivement.

Part of me hoped that you'd go out early in the playoffs, and Jimmy and Mac would come to us, but that wassnt to be!

Best of luck for the final. Whoever wins, let it be because the best team wins, not because a ref has a 'mare!

Who cares?

It's finals rugby. It's the end result that counts. If we were second best for 70 minutes and nick it I could live with that.

That hurts. I'm not really in the habit of making things up.



Noble probably didn't use 'because' in that way as that would be harsh coming from the national coach (I've already clarified that I've interpreted the comments) but I still recall him stating the non selection was after Sinfield had stated where he wished to play.

I can't recall the context but Noble said he didn't want to keep Sinfield hanging around for an opportunity like he had the previous series. Sinfield IIRC had just become a father for the first time - perhaps that also had an influence.



You have linked to soudbites. They don't go into the detail I recall seeing at the time. Do you accept the possibility that such as the YEP could have covered the comments in greater detail?

Anyone out there with YEP's from October 2004 would be useful at this point. I don't but almost certainly read the comments on their website at that time. I've no idea how to link to them now but just because I have poor IT skills doesn't prove the article containing a fuller text of the Noble comments doesn't exist.

Quote That hurts. I'm not really in the habit of making things up. '" It's your age. You probably don't even realise you're doing it. Quote Noble probably didn't use 'because' in that way as that would be harsh coming from the national coach (I've already clarified that I've interpreted the comments) but I still recall him stating the non selection was after Sinfield had stated where he wished to play. '" He probably didn't use "because" because he probably never said it. Quote I can't recall the context but Noble said he didn't want to keep Sinfield hanging around for an opportunity like he had the previous series. Sinfield IIRC had just become a father for the first time - perhaps that also had an influence. '" So, his exclusion was due to demanding his own position and having the temerity to father a child. Noble has a lot of prejudices. Maybe it's just because Sinfield plays for "them [is[/i". That's a verifiable Brian Noble quote from Jamie Peacock's autobiography and I'd interpret those sentiments as having more to do with Noble's attitude to Sinfield. His predecessors and followers have all been happy to select Sinfield. Hmmmm. Quote Anyone out there with YEP's from October 2004 would be useful at this point. I don't but almost certainly read the comments on their website at that time. I've no idea how to link to them now but just because I have poor IT skills doesn't prove the article containing a fuller text of the Noble comments doesn't exist.'" Try this link www.cantlinktowhatdoesnotexist.com

Quote That hurts. I'm not really in the habit of making things up. '" It's your age. You probably don't even realise you're doing it. Quote Noble probably didn't use 'because' in that way as that would be harsh coming from the national coach (I've already clarified that I've interpreted the comments) but I still recall him stating the non selection was after Sinfield had stated where he wished to play. '" He probably didn't use "because" because he probably never said it. Quote I can't recall the context but Noble said he didn't want to keep Sinfield hanging around for an opportunity like he had the previous series. Sinfield IIRC had just become a father for the first time - perhaps that also had an influence. '" So, his exclusion was due to demanding his own position and having the temerity to father a child. Noble has a lot of prejudices. Maybe it's just because Sinfield plays for "them [is[/i". That's a verifiable Brian Noble quote from Jamie Peacock's autobiography and I'd interpret those sentiments as having more to do with Noble's attitude to Sinfield. His predecessors and followers have all been happy to select Sinfield. Hmmmm. Quote Anyone out there with YEP's from October 2004 would be useful at this point. I don't but almost certainly read the comments on their website at that time. I've no idea how to link to them now but just because I have poor IT skills doesn't prove the article containing a fuller text of the Noble comments doesn't exist.'" Try this link www.cantlinktowhatdoesnotexist.com

Thanks for the reply. You appear to have responded to each of my comments but not to the question I asked - namely



Presumably you do accept that possibility?