Ablett cost Leeds the game tonight with a couple of stupid offloads.

I demand mcdermott presents a full dossier of his tactical game plan from tonight so it can reviewed and critiqued by the experts on here,

And here we all were thinking it was something personal about McShane in particular.

I don't think he helped, although at some point Watkins needs to develop better hands in traffic, however we were well under the kosh before that. Saints battered us for the last half hour.

He certainly didnt help with the one he threw straight to the saints player not long after we went 18-12 up and i think it ended with makinson going over in the corner

I think you were in front at that time, the pass wasn't on.

I'm not really one for knocking the coach but McDermott's use of subs is bewildering

Ive been out heard nothing ,read no report.So the Ablett offloads,how did they affect the result?

I'm not disagreeing, other than that I don't think it changed the course of the game. Regardless of the score Saints were well on top and never relinquished that dominance for the rest of the game.

Leeds were in front and he pushed the ball on a couple of occasions when he should have stuck. It gave Saints field position from which they scored.

That's from a neutral fans pov btw, I was unsure which of the two I wanted to lose tonight.

I agree about the Ablett off loads, but he wasn't alone in playing some staggeringly dumb rugby tonight. There was plenty to choose from.

Also, if a line of defence follows the kick, they should make sure they actually act as a line of defence.

Oh, and what the hell was the point of starting with Rob, if Lunt wasn't going to get on the field?

We won from fifth last year. Now, we were the first to do so, indicating it's near impossible to do. Why do we seem intent on trying to repeat this year?

They aren't trying to repeat last years effort.

This year's plan is to win it from 6th.

Plan B looks more likely at the moment - 7th

If you're going to compliment me, at least get your quote right!

There is a lot of truth in this....but maybe Ablett was about the [uONLY[/u one trying to get the ball into the hands of one of best two attacking threats.

Nah, I'm confident they'll finish 6th just as I predicted pre-season.

They'll still be rewarded with a nice easy home game in the play offs against whipping boy SL rabble.

Abletts offloads were momentum changers but our ptb was too slow all night. Ganson decided to let this go unpunished for both teams most of the game but Saints exploited it far better than us and were the better team for the majority of the game.
We really struggled for field position and when we did get it we surrendered it to easily. Webb kicking dead early in the tackle count and Burrows forward pass on the second tackle were a couple of occasions in the second half that stopped us mounting pressure on Saints. They were making metres far easier than us and a good kicking game mean't that we were coming off our own line most of the night.
It is not over yet but I am more concerned than I was last season.

With every loss 7th place looks more likely.

I'd still back us at Hull in the play offs though

Nah...the only hope this season is the CC, which probably best concurs with the players' ambitions.

Give them this one last chance to better complete their medal hauls (they do deserve it)....BUT then let's start 2013 with a team we mean to go on with: one built around Hardaker, Hall, Watkins, Chisholm, Ward, McGuire, Bailey, Lunt, Singleton, Hood, D.Smith etc.



Losing last season's CC final was the the [umain[/u reason Leeds won last season's GF ....(the other reason been Buderus given the full 80, WITH Burrow used as the super-sub).

If they want to win the CC then they need to learn the lessons from the CC and Play Offs last year - get into some form BEFORE the big games. The difference in results between the GF and CC had a lot to do with going into one game on the back of playing cr*p (loss to the Broncos at home after walloping a dire Cas side the wek before) vs ratcheting up the standard of play over the course of the Play Offs.

If we p*ss around again then the players deserve not to win the CC, and almost certainly won't.

I don't mind the scrums, doesn't really matter but do the players know their positions when defending or do they have multiple options? I observed Burrow defending in right centre, left centre and left wing. Sinfield switching between centre slots and Mcguire in left centre. It's a bit of a mess.

On Lunt, before the coach is hung out to dry (even though he does have form for leaving hookers 'sub not used' in big game defeats), did anyone see him warm up in the second half? I didn't. Unless I missed it. Injury?

By default Lunt contributed as much as Griff.

Didn't warm up at all in the second half, not even on the bikes. Looked fine when he was warming up in the first half.

Careful. Expressing that opinion a couple of weeks ago was considered treasonous.