I'm not even sure it's disrespecting the rounds. I think we clearly the 4th or 5th best side which our League position reflects. Having said that on our day we can still match the best sides if they aren't firing on all cylinders. Unfortunately these days are becoming more infrequent.

Disrespecting the rounds probably isn't the right term - but the focus and effort clearly isn't there for every game - certainly not in the first half of the season. And I can seriously see this having an affect on attendances and season ticket sales moving forward!
I do tend to agree with the rest of your post though - we can beat anyone on our day - but for the better teams, we also need them to have an off day.
We can't be the best team always - there is no shame in being second (or third) best to the current wire squad and coaches.... They are currently better in all aspects, and by quite a clear margin.

I agree. Wigan and Warrington are way in front and one of the main reasons are structures put in place by SMith & Maguire. Despite being proved wrong on more than one occasion, I'd still like to see us appoint a new coach next year.

I wouldn't say we had no game plan. In fact it worked quite well in the first half when we still well in the game. I think our game plan was to hold them early doors and then go onto the attack. The selection of Keinhorst over a forward rather backs that theory up. But the rain came down and meant different substitutions.

I do agree with you regarding our average/below average props with the exception of JP who was head and shoulders above our other 4 props and as a unit were not good enough. When Lunt came on and Burrow went to 7 we lost our shape IMO.

Had Bailey and Co. kept their discipline in a crucial period of the game the score would have been closer but without McGuire and with Sinfield a bit below par (and his effectiveness well closed down) it was always going to be an uphill task.

We have to accept that there are other sides with better players now and despite needing some new props with better go forward we are still knocking on the door for honours.

Relevance to 25th August 2012 ??

This is how to Lose badly!
We were beaten by a better team. The Delaney try if it had have gone our way may have been a different game but we will never know. At the game I thought it was a bad decision and went against us. (cracking tackle though)
Watching it back on tv think the right decision was probably made. I still don't think it was clear cut and I imagine some would have given the try, but probably right decision made.

Thought we played poor after the delaney decision but you have to say well done wire the better side on the day. Saying "come back when you win a GF" has no relivance and not needed.
You have to be a good loser as well as a good winner and admit the other team deserved the win

We lost to a better side,thought we played reasonably well in the first half,but the second half we were poor. Giving penalties away at key moments of the game and field positions cost us dearly.
At this stage seeing the huge effort the players put in I am reluctant to criticise anybody ,at the end they all looked drained both physically and mentally.
It will be a huge task to lift themselves up for the playoffs.

You could say that but he wasn't doing anything yesterday so had plenty time to waste.

Oh dear. It's 5 in 8 as it happens but the sentiment is still the same, you're a terrible loser.

Must admit I watched it back this morning and started to question that decision!

Watching from the upper tier behind the sticks really showed a stark contrast between the ball movement and speed of both teams. Leeds were one dimensional and slow for the biggest part, more concerned about ball retention while Warringtons moves were slick and direct especially near our line. It really summed up two things for me, you simply cannot concede 30 points against the top teams and expect to win a game. We've shipped points against all the big boys and have conceded between 30 and 50 against the all top 4 teams this season, our defence hasn't been good enough. Secondly, the loss of Mcguire really was as decisive as we all thought it would be. It showed in the first 15 minutes when Peacock broke the line a couple of times and ended up going down with nobody on his shoulder for the pass.......oh for Danny ! Our attack near their line was ponderous and predictable until it was too late. The game plan was to play it safe and let them make the mistakes, it sort of half worked for 50 minutes but needed changing when the momentum swung. Getting Mcguire fit is imperative for our playoff hopes.

kylie, griffin and bailey to go. a real hard nosed prop and young singleton to come in.
the second row of JJB,ablett and delaney are all much of a muchness. all good footballers but no mongrel in there. we need a hock or a westwood in there. a young anthony farrell if we can find one.
our pack is dominated most weeks. we have good backs and halves but they are always on the back foot.

As much as I love the banter around Bailey, he was awful yesterday

Bring back Amor?

my mates a coach at wakey and he raves about him. he thinks he could really be a top class player.
i had forgotten about him tbh.

As bad as Bailey was yesterday, he would look a million times better playing alongside a metre making prop. Unfortunately that has never been a strength of his.

Delaney and JJB were huge disappoinments for me. Delaney as he's been one of our strongest runners all year and I just didn't really notice him, and JJB because for all the effort, desire and commitment it saddens me to say their doesn't seem to be a great deal left in the tank. I truly hope I am wrong.

The balls in his court.

unless he's been told he's not wanted

Beaten by a far superior side on the day - the team gave it everything they had and as fans that is all we can ask.

McGuire was missed and Burrow would not have played had this been a regular season match. Having said that even if Danny had played and Burrow was fitter they would have struggled behind a pack that were dominated from the start.

The club needs to revisit the forwards for next year - the thought of Kylie/Peacock/Griffin trotting out again does not inspire me with confidence. As for the second row what would the club give to find another Ali!! JJB looks shot, Delanney is slow and playing Bailey at 13 simply doesn't work.

As for the coach - not sure, I would looking at how the season finishes and then make a decision - If he stays he needs a strong assistant to replace Lowes, someone with some new ideas.

Finally it helps if you spend to the cap - a club with the revenue streams Leeds have should be spending to the cap.

There's not much I can disagree with here.

Are you certain we don't spend to the full cap limit though? Has this actually been reported anywhere?

Look at the squad for last year and the high profile departure Buderus, Ali, contract renewals to the likes of Sinfield, Webb, Peacock, JJB these will all have been downwards given the length of the contracts. There will have been some increases for the likes of Ward, Watkins and Hardaker but their increases are likely to be less than the decreases.

If the Leeds squad is costing what the Warrington squad then GH needs to be taking a serious look at himself in the mirror.

That's fine - I just wondered if it was official or just what you had interpreted.

Wire will be in a similar position where the likes of Hodgson got less for longer deals. People like Riley, Ratchford, Higham, Harrison, Wood, Hill won't be on big bucks but are a huge part of what they do.

Pretty sure both hetherington and McDermott both said there was some room left in the cap to bring another player in.

Ratchford will not have been cheap a number of clubs were after him, agree re the rest.

I'm glad somebody speaks some common sense regarding Wire's squad and their wage spending....If you believe some of the rubbish you read on other forums (mostly blinkered Wigan fans), the likes of Ratchford and Higham are on massive salaries and Wire are giving illegal payments to all their squad in order to cheat the cap...