I started supporting Leeds in 01/02 so i was around for a little part of the 'underarchiving' years. When Leeds got to the 2003 CC Final, it was like a dream, which was then shattered. The year later we got to the 04 GF, when the final whistle went i was just stunned. I was thinking to myself 'this just doesnt happen to Leeds, its not meant to happen'.

Yesterday i watched the 2008 GF on Dvd and when the final whistle went and the camera showed Gaz Ellis going balistic, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and i had a massive grin on my face. Just after that 08 victory i remember walking out of the stadium thinking Wow were only the 2nd team to win back to back titles, it was a huge sense of pride to be up there in a little bit of history. I felt the same mind set as what i had in 2004 - "stuff like this is not meant to happen to Leeds - were meant to be the losers of finals, get so near but yet so far". To be up there with Saints and to do something Bulls havnt done before was a great feeling. And now to think to went on to make it 3 in a row - well i dont think that has sunk in yet.

So just to taste a little bit of the 'bad times' is enough for me to savour every single minute of this golden era we are in.

Nonsense. The pack of 2004 had large contributions from the likes of Wayne McDonald, Chris Feather and Danny Ward.

If last seasons' squad wasn't good enough for you then you appear to have truly missed the point of Tads' thread and are a perfect example of the kind of whino fekkwitt that blights our club.

People were saying all year that we were not playing very well (even though we were 2nd for most of the season). I bet Warrington or Hull would have liked to have been in our "terrible" predicament.

Clubs are now fully aware of how to play the system after all these years of GF's, especially after the Bulls (in 2005) showed everyone that hitting form at just the right time is the key.

I think the people who savour our GF triumphs the most are any of us who had to suffer the 80's and 90's barren years. The trebble is a tremendous achievement but is not as special as our 2004 win.

No such thing with the GF. Always comes down to 1 game

So you would swap 1 GF win for 3 in a row?

The group of players who just did the treble have won as many championships as the club did from 1870 – 2003, think of all the greats who have played for the club in that time, all the true world class players.

Sinfield, McGuire, Burrow, Senior, Bailey, JJB & Diskin have all won more Championships in 6 years than Leeds RL could manage in 133 years, that’s how I will remember this current bunch.

Was her not meaning that it felt mopre special to him after the 80s & 90s?

Are you related to Danny?

2004 will always be special to the many long suffering and knowledgeable Leeds fans.

To ask such a gormless question would indicate that you are not in that category, and poses the question.....will Gareth and Danny be happy to share the stage with another and possibly more cerebrally challenged numpty?

tweedledum and tweedledumber are a fairly well established act on here, and I'm not too sure that a trio including dumbest is necessarily the way forward for the Windowlene faction.

Standards must be maintained here on SS.

My second post was not in reply to chunky, it was just in general with the thread and my thoughts on the treble winning squad and the people who moaned about it throughout the past 3 years and this last year in particular.

2004 was huge. After many years of underachieving it was a fantastic feeling. It will always be special.

Three years on the bounce is something else though. A much bigger achievement. I was immensely proud when the hooter went in 2009.

for me 2004 was relief. at last we had won a Gf. the other 'big 3' had won it and to do it at last was simply,as i say, relief rather than joy(although that changed later).

my point was do we realise what it takes to win it 3 years in a row?
watching stuart barnes a minute ago on SSN he said it takes a special team to become champions but a great team to retain it.
we have done it 3 years in a row. it's hard to imagine what it took, and quite honestly i think it will be well into the future when people look back and say, boy, they were a special,special team.

as for standards i thought 2004 and 2006 were pretty poor and i would agree that last season was too. if saints and leeds hadn't have had large parts of there squad at the world cup i would have expected both teams to be miles clear of the rest.

IMO Maybe breaking the salary cap to bring Adrian Morley over was a bigger factor?

I truly hope the board and coaching staff arent thinking like that.

Last seasons squad was good enough for me. Just winning the LLS would have been good enough for me. In fact just being top 2 and getting to the GF would have been fine with me. Id rather it did better though. Just as i would rather we had won the CC, WCC and gone through the season unbeaten as well. And whilst i understand this isnt a realistic benchmark for success i would be disappointed if it wasnt our ultimate aim.

The whole point of sport isnt to be the best, but to be [iyour[/i best and if we arent doing that then we are failling ourselves.

And im sorry for some reason you find it insulting to this team, but i think the 2004 one was better, and i think it beat more, better teams

im not sure thats much of an issue when neither Leeds nor Saints spent the full cap last year

Why?

because im not sure you can say the cap is spreading the talent more evenly when comfortably the two best teams dont even need to spend it.

I would simply argue it has led to less talent in the league overall

Here we go.....quote splitting again





That's a rather large assumption to assume that the gap between what we spent and the cap ceiling is enough to retain all the players both clubs let go, and likley a false one.



Where have they gone? A couple to RU, but I see players coming the other way, especially at academy level. Who else?

Interesting question – 3 in a row is an unprecedented and unparalleled achievement. Something I doubt that we’ll seem again for a very long time.

But there was something special, almost magical about the 2004 win – a feeling that the superseding wins never quite emulated.

Would I swap the 2004 GF win for 3 back to back? Probably not but it’s a lot tougher decision than you may think.

2004 meant the world to me

the team I had grown up with through my teenage years had just done something I had only dreamed of

To do three in a row is amazing but I would love to go back to Old Trafford on the evening of the 16th October 2004

At risk of knitting fog, I'd have thought from a fan's perspective 2004 was the best moment. It followed, for most, a lifetime of no championships and at the time could have been a once in a lifetime achievement.

From a playing perspective (and leaving aside the strength of opposition each year), 2004 was big because of the 'weight' of all the barren years; 2009 was a remarkable first (back-back-back); 2008 was an unexpected retention. So if i were to rank them it'd be:

2004
2009
2008
2007

that isnt what i am saying.

What i am saying is that you cant credit the cap with spreading out the talent when we have had three consecutive GFs with the same teams, the same teams have been the top two in the league and they have pretty much dominated the league, when neither of them needed to spend the cap. I think it shows the incompetence at some of the other big clubs that they cant do anywhere near the same

a couple to RU, and plenty to RU at youth level as well. Some were never attracted to the game, and some (if not most)clubs have simply put less effort into youth development. Some have chosen to look to barely good enough NRL rejects as the easy option

For me 2004 was the best, but I'm not sure I enjoyed the day the most. I didn't really beleive it until I watched it again next day. ("Robbie Paul has gone without it" was & is still the best moment in RL for me!!)

Most enjoyable was 2007 when we destroyed Saints in the 2nd half, almost to the point of taking the whatsit out of them on the field as well as off!

Both 2008 and 2009 were great tight knife edge games but for me didn't live up to the other two, nor fir me was the excitement as good

I don't think anyone will really understand how hard it is to win 3 in a row until it's next done, which could of course be next season (yes it would be four, but it's also three), alternatively it may never happen.

So to answer the op's point, no I don't think any of us are really taking it all in!

that isnt what i am saying.

What i am saying is that you cant credit the cap with spreading out the talent when we have had three consecutive GFs with the same teams, the same teams have been the top two in the league and they have pretty much dominated the league, when neither of them needed to spend the cap. I think it shows the incompetence at some of the other big clubs that they cant do anywhere near the same'"

For me 2007 is the tops because I was there in person, missed 2004 due to hols, likewise 2009.
Roll on 2010, here's hoping for four in a row.

couldnt agree more mate,2004 was a magical year,you always remember your first time!
my favourite moment of all the gf's was scotty sitting wellens on his backside,only then did i know that we we're safe
what a fantastic acheivement 3 in a row is,here's to making it 4 in a row,i wouldn't bet against it