Just seen the video of McDermott's post match interview on the Leeds website. That definitely isn't a man who doesn't care that we lost, he did seem very annoyed with individuals.....he kept emphasising the word "individuals".

Reporter "will this have any bearing on next week?

McDermott "it'll have a bearing tomorrow when I drag those blokes in who played, those that we feel were culpable, it'll absolutely have a bearing."

TBF to the guy he's been accused of not sounding too angry or upset post defeat/poor showing but watching that he really wasn't happy and quite angry at what happened.

The whole point of training is to prepare players for the job in hand surely? Players should be able to manage one game a week - many don't even need to do 80 minutes as they are substituted for significant time during the game. On here some are suggesting players are rested after 3/4 games into the season. Some were suggesting Sinfield needed resting despite having two games off only a week ago

The play offs have shown a week off is not always a positive move for a team - Mcdermott was in a no win position today, i for one thought he got it about right, the players let him down

On soccer the players at Leeds simply wouldn't be able to live with the physical speed of the premiership especially for the whole 90 minutes

I am the proudest man alive tonight after todays slim victory - and almost throwing it away in the last play. It's as if London's victory equates to winning the League Leaders Shield, the Challenge Cup Final and the World Club Challenge in the same week. Hats off to all the Leeds fans I was surrounded by for being so supportive of the London team and the good natured banter after the final whistle.

Of course it is, but it can only do so much. As I said on a Friday to Friday game schedule, teams will only do "game training" (ie training as we would think of it, working plays/skills/shapes etc) on Wednesday or Thursday as the rest of the week prior to that is based around recovery. Also I would be very surprised if there is any full contact training session at all once the season starts.

But what is the statement "players should be able to manage one game a week" based on? At what point, with players size, power and speed increasing all the time, would that have to change? If it's the case then would you say no player should be rested at any point this season?
Of course players could physically play in the game, but how effective would they be? And what effect would that have for the week after?

You're right some players don't play 80 minutes, but most of the players people would rest are players who play long minutes and are usually in the thick of the action. People like Peacock, Ablett, Delaney, Sinfield etc or a player like Leuluai who's an impact prop in his mid 30's. I don't think anyone would say someone like Bailey or Clarkson needs a rest.

I agree on McDermott, though I'd have been tempted to have had one of McGuire, Burrow or Sinfield out there to give a bit of leadership and structure from the halves. But, like the Bradford game, the players out there should have done better.

The coach also needs to start looking at himself after the recent defeats to Wakey , Bradford and London plus Warrington apart we have been ordinary for months at best . Yes he can still turn it round but if he does not the buck stops with him .

i was a bit amused at my fellow leeds fans at the game. at 30-8 there was signing and dancing, i even joked that i hadnt put enough on my bet. by the 75th minute disbelief had set in. goulding was terribly, ok first game, but if you cant shine against london i doubt you ever will. London did the right thing and targeted hanley i think it was on Ryans halls wing. scored most of their tries through his defensive lapses.

Ok, IF we win next week and we all cheer. then we look at the table and see that we boned ourselves in the league for a CC win. 3 cup finals in 3 week i heard one of you say. well had we respected london and bulls they woulnt be the must wins that they now are.

I blame mac for his subs, should of started with the debutants and brought on experience to tidy up any lapses. the players alos take a huge chuck of responsibility.

However, i felt Singleton played a blnder in the first half. really showed that he is coming along nicely. though sutty was ok and was much better in his kicking game than zak. za did ok, the sort of performance you expect from a player whos in a cup final next week. watkins was amazing. every time he got the ball he looked like scoring, maybe had he passed to briscoe (broscoe

) on the final play... Ifs, BUTs and MAYBEs...

for 1 thing, we had better win next week, because for all the promise they showed start of season we are in real danger of winning nothing

What the absolute f-k, how are we in real danger of winning nothing?!?

This board is so pessimistic it's untrue.

FINALLY we see McDermott getting just as peed off as us fans. COINCIDENCE that senior/golden generation/leaders of this Leeds team are the ones that will not be blamed? McDermott is scared of falling out of favour at Leeds. Big individuals in the side that he needs to keep onside, that is why he has never publically critised and voiced his frustrations at them. But as soon as they are out of the side, we see him doing just that.


I'm annoyed & embarrassed. But just think on Saturday at 5pm all will be forgotten.

I care. I wasted a day and a boat load of money going to watch the team i support capitulate without even a whimper. Perhaps they should come out and tell us fans that they dont give a toss about certain matches so we can avoid wasting our money going to support them?

Well, he can't criticize the senior players when none of them were playing. He could have criticized himself for not playing any of them so there was no leadership on the field (just playing JJB, who's had hardly any rugby this year, would probably be enough to seal the win). Or he could have criticized himself for building a club that has no structures or relies entirely on individual play to get through a game. The reason Wigan can bring their kids in and look fine is not because their kids are better, it's because they're fitting those kids into a jigsaw they already know how to make.

There is a big difference in fitness between Premiership and championship players in terms of fitness.

Quite right Sal. You can forgive the debut boys as they need time and you must expect a few errors however certain of the more experienced players obviously took their foot off the gas which was the problem. There was enough experience to defend our big lead and the kickers should have gone for field position and close down the game. We must look to learn from this and turn it into a positive to motivate a strong run in for a top spot.

Also had we not been in the final it is likely that this game would have been chosen to rest key players and blood youngsters before the big end of season matches in any case.

To compare a RL player to a baseball player is bizarre. The physical demands are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

To quote the ex-RL-players among you 'how do you know what is like if you have never played'? Every sport has a different kind of physicality but regardless of what sort it is, as a player of the sport you have to be able to match the physical requirements. The likes of Djokovic or Murray might struggle to recover from playing a RL game to then play the following week, but then they are tennis players. They run around for about between 90 mins and 4 hours almost every other day for as long as they are in a tournament and play dozens of tournaments through the year. If they can't hack playing back-to-back tournaments then after a while they have to question their ability to do the sport as (to get anywhere in it) it is required of them.

A rugby league player who needs 5 days to recover from the physical game should consider his ability to play the game - unfortunately it IS a physical game. He either gets fitter, bigger and stronger or if it is too knackering, maybe he should look at something he is more physically able to do.

If I played an RL game, I'd probably end up in hospital for a week. Therefore I don't play rugby league. Instead I play football, run, cycle and play baseball as my body is able to manage with what is required of it to do those things. If I start getting dicky knees for a few days after running or cycling long distances, eventually I will have to reconsider if they are the best activities for me and find something else.

I think there are a lot of good, able rugby league players. There are a lot of average players too. Maybe this is a cross-over period where the overall standard is improving and it is just that whereas some are physically able to take and recover from the big hits, others are not yet there and need several days afterwards to recover. In future, maybe it will be different.

Most RL players take 5 days to recover from games these days. It's what's expected and is built into the training schedule each week.
Why do you think coaches moan when they only get 4 or 5 days between games.

One thing that appears to have been overlooked in all this is that we played yesterday (Sunday) when Cas who also rested players had their game on Friday. So 2 full days less for our guys to recover & they had to endure a trip down to London (4/5 hours each way on a coach) compared to a 3 hour round trip to Warrington.
None of which helps those who paid good money to watch I agree but surely mitigation for the coach's selections?

so which of our remaining games are we going to breeze through? we are in a real danger. cas always raise their game to get one over us as its their "cup final" this actually is a blooming cup final! it wont be as easy as some are saying.
as for the league, the 4 points weve dropped are crucial. we need to win our last three to stay in the top 4 let alone top spot, which we should be competing for! now we will be lucky to finish top 4 considering who we play...
but i guess youre one of the "we can win it from anywhere" brigade where i am being realistic, not pessamistic!

Each year we're in real danger of winning nothing. Every club is. That's sport. We are, however, one of only a few clubs who stand a realistic chance of winning something each year.

i actually think i prefer SLFans to this place... at least on that board you expect idiots and that.
ofc all teams have that, but my point youve decidied to be petty about, is still true. by the high standards the team set this year we shouldnt be dropping points against bulls and london.

Indeed. And we are one of only two clubs who can win both competitions this season.

I seriously don't know sometimes why some people bother 'supporting' this club. It's embarrassing the negativity from some.

I agree with a lot of what you say here. I also think that the quality of some of the younger Leeds players attempting to come through and the fringe players is not as good as it could be - with exceptions obviously. Our structure - particularly with the ball - is non existent. We rely very heavily on Sinny and McGuire organising and Peacock's strength of will up the middle. We also need Carl Ablett to have a good game as well. Having said that, 22 points up with 30 minutes left against the bottom (winless ) London should have been game over. Inexplicable and a very, very bad result. I thought the Wakey result was awful, the Bradford result was very poor, but this one is the worst result of the season.

Only positive is that I think it will have absolutely no bearing on the game on Saturday. However, come playoff time it could be catastrophic to have dropped these 6 league points because you know, win or lose at the weekend, the way our team is mentally placed at the moment you can probably kiss the Wigan and Saints games goodbye as well.

Like it or not and i don't like the last two league defeats Mac will be judged on what he wins , one thing for sure he has made the super league crown alot harder to win now so lets hope Saturday is celebration time

real danger of winning nothing , bloody hell. Wakefield, Bradford, London, Hull, will win nothing and not for the first time. Hkr Widnes, Cats, Salford, Hudders, will probably win nothing. Cas Leeds Wigan St Hel. Warr, may well win something, While from the may well bunch Cas and Leeds have a better chance than most of winning something. Just what do you expect . I hope you win at Wembley because your players deserve to have a medal, not just from the C C final but for having to put up with some of the comments so called supporters make. GET A GRIP.

why are you not allowed to be upset with a teams performance on here? why all the grief because im ed over us dropping points against teams we shouldnt? honest question, why am i not allowed to be upset on here?

You are pal its the ones who think Mac has done nothing wrong who have the problem