Moron! I doubt you'll find anyone outside of Wigan that rates pubehead over Lineham!

Best team won no doubts but we did ourselves no favours again.
The amount of stupid penalties we give away is getting ridiculous we know how the Refs are calling the ptb pretty early in games yet we continue with the brain farts!!
Defensively 1st half we were p!$$ ,no solid line and woeful communication.
2nd half i thought the lads dug in after losing Mags and Watkins plus Delaney playing at 50% but again we have to be careful we don't finish his career at 27.
I thought the younger lads did ok again but it's obvious we have far too many experienced and better players ot of form and even with injuries maybe its time to sit a couple in the stands.

How was that for ya Frankie baby?

Briscoe took a knock early in the 1st half and really should have come off but stayed on as we had no real way of replacing him

for me we have real problems in the forwards. kylie is showing his age, burrow looked far better at 7 playing wider of the ruck, clarkson is another jay pitts. good squad player but nothing more. delaney apart, and he is nowhere near fit, there is no grunt, no go forward. it says a lot when your best forward by miles is ian kirke!

The last month has showed what most knew Leeds were over achieving up to this point, their form in May is no worse than it was in March and April. The performance against Wigan was their best of the year by a distance.

Look at the attacking structure of Hull and how deep they stand and the use of dummy runners - compare that to the flat predictable structure Leeds have and have had all year.

I am unsure what McDermott does in training but it doesn't seem to involve attacking options - could be the key players are too long in the tooth to adapt?

I understand all this coming through adversity and that making you stronger but his selection criteria need to be addressed. All three pivotal halves look shot, Burrow at hooker does not work he is too slow, his passing is terrible and his instinct to run with the ball is killing the attack. With his speed in decline McGuire is struggling to make any impact in most games. Sinfield looks a shadow of the player he once was - he is now so slow that even mediocre defences have got his measure. JJB showed once again what a liability he has become - he missed the tackle on Lineham for one try and he went walkabout - not for the first time this season - for Houghton's try. Add to that the penalties he gave away yet again - you want your senior players to lead by example not make schoolboy errors. Moon is showing why he was at Salford and disgarded by Brisbane - his lack of effort in chasing back when Lineham caught the high ball is simply unaaceptable. McDermott will continue to pick his favourites no matter how bad they play, will he send JJB or Clarkson to Hunslet like he has Achurch and Moore? As for Delanney if he were a dog McDermott would be reported to the RSPCA, it is a disgrace the way coach has treated him.

The lack of depth of quality in the squad is being exposed if Vickery can get a game then the youth development team need to answer some questions as to what is going on. GH seems content - this is after all the "The best squad he has ever assembled" he must be happy he keeps re-signing them, maybe more about how cheap he is getting them!!

On a positive Singleton and Sutcliffe showed up well and Leeds have two easy games coming up to regain some confidence before the visit to Huddersfield. Should be an interesting June/July.

Too many people are getting worked up again on here.ok,not the greatest result but we have had a real tough run of games and this was always a chance of happening.the saints result was the missed opportunity imo,we should have got the two really.wigan and hull away always looked like defeats so no drama from me.

Some more winable games coming now and we still have a great chance of a second or third placed finish.The key for us now is making sure we get our key players back fit in good time before the real stuff starts in september.

I am mate ta! After having our Rses bared by you in the Agar era any 2 points against leeds will do for me.

My thoughts at the time mate,

Find myself agreeing with you Sal.

I said before the Saints game Leeds were on the edge of a performance cliff, anything less then their absolute strongest team playing at it's full potential would result in defeat. Unfortunately this seems to be the case.

We are completely shambolic with attacking ball. I would not wish an injury on any player but McGuire's was almost merciful, I've never seen him play so poorly.

Burrow starting at 9 is not bloody working. He distributes the ball poorly and he has not the size or strength to mix it up in the middle like McShane has. But that's just a small thing, as is the hopeless Vickery (really, running back towards your try line when taking the ball out?) and our inability to produce a back good enough to replace him from the juniors.

Other worrying things, Moon's defence was very questionable first half, the pack looks rudderless without Peacock who obviously brings the passion everyone else feeds off, referees seem to not like us particularly (not paranoia, we just don't seem to get 50/50's, there were several harsh and inconsistent penalties against us last night). Perhaps we can thank our coach for that. We have to be smarter, simply whining about it and carrying on doing things the way we do them isn't going to work.
I also worry about the squad development. Which is being (mis) guided by the fact we sit on the lip of this performance cliff and we are not prepared to take a small fall to eventually get away from the edge.

Sinfield was pretty honest last night, he's putting effort in, he's not hiding but we looked frighteningly leaderless last night. He puts so much into his own personal performance that I think when he's struggling himself he finds it difficult to lift others around him.

This is all spot on.

Those disagreeing with this are just been stubborn, and feel they need to maintain a stance, rather than accepting what is correct. I am sure they don't really have the same view away from posting on here, they really can't be that naive.

Tough decisions need to be made in respect of some of the senior players. Remains to be seen whether even if the coach wants to make them whether his CEO - who IMO is too close to this group of players - would be prepared to stand by him.

Don't think kevs leading the team well at the moment sorry but he's the captain and we keep seeing instances of poor discipline such as jjb brainfarts last night.I can't see the 100 percent commitment we are used to seeing is he worried about getting injured before world cup ? If so he is putting country before his club . Something is wrong at leeds and it needs fixing fast.

The thing that worries me more than anything is that we have not looked like a well coached attacking side since McD took over. In 2011 we had a terrible start to the season (admittedly without McGuire or Peacock), but there were many excuses flowing for the lack of attacking organisation. All the usual "new coach, new patterns, it's not clicking" bullS4!t, but over 2 years on we still look like the players only meet 2 hours before every game and then have their memories wiped straight after.
I said this before, we only look organised playing the most simple of game plans - having Delaney, Clarkson and/or JJB hit the ball at angles off quick PTB's from Peacock and Kylie. It moves us down the field but doesn't score points. Our 5th tackle plays are hilariously bad near the try line when we have (or had!) Watkins unused at 3 (when McBanana gets more out of him you know you're fekked).

Completely agree - the fact we have finished 5th two years running shows our 'run rate' in comparison to the likes of Wigan, Warrington and Saints. Winning the GF masks much of the mediocrity we see on a weekly basis. The Huddersfield CC game was a big turning point - it showed they cannot simply rock up an win when it matters. This definitely cost them the loss against Saints has their confidence will have really taken a hammering.

Leeds were never the most structured attacking side under either Smith or McClennan relying on attacking from deep with real pace and great support play from McGuire. Our options close to the opponents line have always been poor, mainly due to all the pivots having a non-existent short kicking game. Now the pace has gone they really struggle.

I'm amazed JJB and Burrow were singled out by the coach for praise after the game. Burrow had one decent run and JJB ran well in the second half, but both efforts were overshadowed by negative play IMO (penalties, missed tackles).

For me, Hardaker, Delaney and Sutcliffe were the main positives. Kirke imposed himself well.

Clarkson gave a terrible miss for the Houghton try. McShane and Singleton were also poor at marker though on that occasion.

Vickery was terrible but don't let his performance mask the inadequacies of the others - especially Hall who looked unfit and clumsy, and Moon who had a habit of disappearing in defence. All three tries were scored on their flank.

Agreed

The question going forward is BMD the man to turn the team around and integrate the next generation or will he go, perhaps with his reputation in tact and leave it to someone else to carry the can of the couple of years of not winning much the development of a new side will bring ?

The 'great' Wigan side of the 80s / 90s rarely dealt on sentiment or reputation ... When you got to 31 / 32 at Central Park, you were gotten rid of.

Luckily for the Pies at the time, there were schmucks in the Leeds board room who were more than happy to wave cheque books at whoever they released. For every Ellery Hanley (a player who could have stuck it at Wigan until his mid 30s) there was an Andy Gregory ... An Andy Goodway or even a Shaun Wane.

Meanwhile at Leeds, when you reach 32, you're handed another 2 year deal ....

Burrow made some important tackles and did cause some problems for their defence and almost got through on several occasions. JJB made too many mistakes but put in a huge effort once again in defence and in taking the ball up and I think his positives outweighed his negatives. Some of his teammates may have made less errors but they weren't getting around the pitch in the same way he was.

Hardaker seems popular with many fans but IMO his attacking play is just limited to his physical presence, which sees him make good runs but which not often enough lead to scores. He runs strongly but doesn't join the line to create space for others as Webb used to do. He too often dies with the ball and can't pass for toffee. We looked better on attack with Watkins at fullback but maybe worse on defence.

McShane had more game time but didn't use it too well. Bad mistake in losing the ball on the first tackle on a repeat set and didn't have a clue on restarts much to Sinfields frustration.

In general hardaker is very good defender especially one on one near the line. In attack he is again illusive and a good broken field runner, but doesn't chime into the line well bar the vickery try at Wigan and his passing game is poor. Myself watching this season I think I vastly underestimated what Webb brought to our team. Not saying it was the wrong decision to let him go but the work he used to do is not being picked up by our half backs

He will stay because the virtually the whole is signed up for another 2 years - so unless GH is going to terminate some contracts then what you see now is what you will get albeit at a much slower pace. Yeaman left Sinfield standing for the blown try in the second half - The captain is slow now just think what he will be like in 2 years time!! JJB struggles to get off a man in the tackle now in two years time he will not be able to

I bet Kylie get yet another extension alongside Peacock.

I almost pulled the princess from sleeping beauty at magic kingdom orlando today, then the wife turned up. Oh we'll, almost is just so goody.

Are those moaning that senior players that have been given extended contracts the same posters that a few Weeks ago were saying Kylies new deal was well deserved and that he was in the best form of his Leeds career?

Oh what I would give to have someone like George Burgess in our team. Once again awesome today. I think that`s 5 tries he has scored this season.
Agree with what has been said on here. Sinfield, McGuire and Burrow are past their best. Maybe Sinfield to LF but we must get a decent half back with a good kicking game and or someone who can move the team round the park.
Another year or two with those guys around and we will become Bradford Mark 2

You tell me?

I was happy to see Leuluai extend his current deal and I'm still of that opinion now.

__________



Compared to who? Sometimes it's better to keep hold than throw a ball forward or a bullet pass five yards



Is that right ? Just thinking about this past month perhaps you'll remind me who was it that put Achurch over at Odsal ? And who was it in the game V St Helens who sent Watkins in for Leeds' opener? Oh and who was it that made the outside break and put Sinfield over back on the inside at the Etihad ? And finally who was it in the same game that instinctively tipped the ball to Watkins to give Vickery a walk-in ?