They’re representative of a team that’s consistently competing. The team that won it from 5th had basically finished in the top 2 for nearly a decade prior.

Don’t know how people can quote finishing 5th in relation to the current mob. They have no legacy of being a top team. We need to get back to being consistent and finishing in the top 2 if we want to ever win a grand final again.

That won’t happen anytime soon because we’re crap all round.

St Helens after the Cunningham debacle fired him in 2017 ,took approximately 18 months to regroup and then proceeded to win 4 grand finals.

We lost our way before the end of the Goldens (signings like Ferres that never worked out, and worse); then we managed to find our way even less.

It’s really hard to predict where young players will end up, so many of our academy products have looked okay and then gone on to have sub-stellar careers at lower SL and champ clubs.

We really need a couple of future England players to develop from the youth system.

For balance, Saints managed one title between 2006 and 2019, and that came against 12 man Wigan. They remained consistent, but still, it's a long time between drinks. Wigan won the GF in 98 and didn't win another till 2010. In the meantime we were having a rather spectacular trot. We'll get there I'm sure, but as they both found out, nobody has a divine right to success.

How many did they win in the previous 10-12 years?

It’s almost as if sport is cyclical or something.

One of the big problems for me is that the club, and the game in general, needs to attract new fans.
Not us lot. The next generation.
I don't think the spectacle is currently good enough.
And it certainly isn't at Leeds.
We'll all be too old to go soon, where's the next 15,000 coming from?

Speak for yourself old chap, I plan to be good for another 30 years yet. In seriousness in the seats around me there are loads of young kids - boys and girls. They aren't jaded by the weight of expectation and just enjoy the thrill of live sport. Crowds are double what they were when I started going in the late 70's. The ladies team will eventually bare fruit in terms of attracting new fans and the mens fortunes will turn around again. Headingley is a magic place to go and watch sport, and even in the lean times that hasn't changed for me. People will come.

There is plenty of youth on the South Stand terrace. And plenty of them seem to travel away well. I don't think we have a problem with an increasing age of the fanbase.

As a club we won't be dire forever, either. We will get a decent squad and couch together one day, and the casual fans will return when the wins come.

Hope you're right chaps.
The demographic I see is not a particularly young one.
Maybe it's just my old eyes deceiving me....

Ladies baring fruit? Freudian slip there mate have you been thinking about those cheerleaders again?

Kids dont care as much about the results and performance, I started going to Headingley when i was 11 and I just loved the atmosphere and the occasion, thats what got me hooked.

Give over, you.

I hope you're right, but that would need the kids to come on very very quickly as I don't expect us to bring in enough signings of enough quality (and the appropriate coaching) to get us there without them.

Let's see.

Obviously sport is cyclical peaks and troughs and all that. It would be pretty boring if we won the grand final every year, however I would expect a club as big as Leeds to be in the top four every year. Sadly our downward spiral continues ,bargain basement signings like olpherts and Hooley are the barometer of smith’s ambitions. You missed my point regarding saints, which was they took approximately 18 months to assemble a decent side with a competent coach. What had happened previously to that situation didn’t alter the fact they turned the club around in a relatively short space of time.
I note you think it will be 2025 season before we are back in contention, I sincerely hope you are right and reluctantly I would accept that scenario.
Unfortunately unless we come up with some intelligent signings ,that prospect seems light years away.

That’s clearly nonsense isn’t it.

Still plenty of work to do on the squad for 2024 but we’re gonna need some luck too.

We could sign Nathan Cleary. OK we’re gonna win the title then. He breaks a leg in 2 places in a pre-season friendly. Now not going to win the title.

Or our competitors get injuries to key players which weakens them and strengthens our chances.

This whole sport thing is an inexact science of risks and probabilities, as much as some of you like to control. You can’t and neither can GH or RS.

I do think we are on the upward cycle now and we should be competing for trophies I think from 2024; big “if” is who else we sign, how some players recover from injury, how pre/season goes, how young players develop over the next 3-4 months, etc.

Your lack of rugby knowledge is becoming more apparent with each posting.

Deary me.

If we get Croft and Momirovski then we are right up there on paper. All up to Rohan then.
We can truly judge when he has a squad to his liking…..

Absolutely agree ,Croft is a tried and tested finished product, by and large you know what you are getting. Newman would blossom from Crofts playing style.

My thing with Newman is that he suffocates his winger and we have potentially the best winger in SL outside him.

I am wondering whether we should switch Harry to the left where he has a more natural pass (if he ever does pass), and he is more an attacking centre than defensive.

Big year coming up for Newman and Corey Johnson. Newman has to have a real good conditioning pre-season and get and stay fit. Johnson is at the point where he should be taking that 9 shirt and making it his own, or probably moving on.

Also interested how Gannon goes after a stuttering 2023 - there is a player in there for sure.

You having a laugh , our away support is diabolical same as the team performances

I never said we had a massive away following.

Out of the people that you see at every away game, a decent amount of them are under-25. Some of the better travelling fans are the younger ones.

Do you go to away games?

Cost of living crisis, money is tight massively Jekyll and Hyde team performances can see why the majority of more “Seasoned” fans now pick and choose their games as is their want.

Our club coach has struggled for numbers all season, some others more regarded than ours out there aren’t even running anymore. The current climate financially has had a drastic impact on people’s spending power and shouldn’t be dismissed, couple this with a team that was haphazardly inconsistent many of our members decided to not attend and I can totally understand. Now we’re not the oldest coach age wise but it’s hard to justify £50+ every other week when you’ve bills to pay, kids to feed and the team is gash.

It’s easier when your a bit younger and have more disposable to justify your attendance and I would say that yes some of the away games have been sp but hopefully with a bit more action on the field more of the floating attendees will return and atmosphere improve.