But if we don't win next week, these silly loses will look even worse and we will probably end up finishing fifth and winning nothing

The guy got constantly bagged for trying to play his strongest 17 the previous years? Which do people want?

Had Sinfield or Burrow or Ablett got injured today they'd have been people burning effigies of McDermott in the street this next week.

What was most disappointing today was the fact we got into the big lead. I thought that if we did slip up today it would be from a slow start and constantly trying to fight our way back into.

Perhaps the cliche some like to trot out on here of "if you're good enough you're old enough" has taken a hit today.......good is one thing, experience you can't buy.

Today means jack all in terms of what happens on Saturday vs Cas even if some what to say it "adds pressure." What it does mean is going full strength against Saints and Wigan the following weeks even though it sounds like some are struggling.

You took a team lightly and got what you deserve? HA

Theres a difference between gradually rotating your team across a season, and just resting loads of key players at once just when league positions are up for grabs. Cup final or not.

Most interesting thing of note today was an interview with McDermott pre-match.

The interviewer asked McDermott if Wembley fever had taken over the team since the win over Warrington.

He replied that Wembley fever had taken over since we beat Saints in the 5th Round way back when.

Given that we immediately got drawn against Leigh and a semi was a given (although it ended up being much harder work in reality) then it just goes to show how the focus of this team has been so badly impacted by the missing CC win, and not just this year but since 2010 I reckon it's consumed and hung over this team's regular season efforts.

McDermott's reply is IMO the greatest insight into how this team has performed over the course of a season for a number of years now.

The monkey needs to come off our backs.

There were more than enough first team players out there today to beat London.

So we went to London today with our full strength team and won by 100 points. Next week in the final we lost as peacock, kylie, sinfield were tired.

Would all you cynics than be saying oh don't worry we beat London.

The FINAL is the most important game between that and the league match. WIN our last three games in the league and the shield still could be ours.

Our guys play weekly why would they be tired? They are professional rugby league players not fat amateurs from the local boozer, they could have played 10 first teamers today won comfortably and gone on to win next week,

If you rest Sinfield, Maguire, Burrows, Moon, Peacock, Kylie, Ablett, Delaney, and JJB all of whom played in the semi final you're going to struggle as the opposition will take heart in that approach and the experience any of the above players bring helps you close out games, either with the go forward from the pack or positional kicking from the backs. At twenty points in front you'd think we'd have enough to finish the game on top but having no kicker in the side and four kids making their debut sometimes it doesn't pay off, like the Bradford game this was another one of those games. When you looked at the fixtures a few weeks ago with Leeds playing the bottom four teams you would think it would be an easy eight points.....not so three games in we've beaten Salford, lost to the Bulls and the Broncos with Hull to face at the end of the season where they'll have nothing to lose and you wouldn't rule out a Hull win.

Saturday will be a different story with both teams resting their big players it's definitely game on. Let's hope we get the same reaction from the team as we did at St Helens in the semi final.

Not so. JP himself says it takes him nearly all week to recover from a big stint during a match to be ready to put another one in next time around.

We've got Wembley followed by vital league games against Wigan and Saints - in effect three cup finals in three weeks - from which we'll be wanting big stints from all the top guys. That means we need to ensure they're at their best going into that period.

I think you massively underestimate the effect a modern rugby league game has on a players body. Apart from pre-season, most of the weeks training time is to get the players back to a position of being able to play again.

We play week in week out we win 3 or 4 on the bounce playing at the top our game, what's different? If it was super league we would be doing it so why treat it any different, we should carry momentum into the cc final,

Momentum often brings injuries, which usually causes the momentum to stall.
Going by your logic it wouldn't ever be necessary to rest a player and players wouldn't pick up injuries.

Don't blame McDermott - that side should have beaten London - take Moon out that is the 3/4 line that will play next week. 30-8 up with 30 minutes to go should have been enough. This time the players need to look in the mirror!!

The players are only playing once a week - are we seriously suggesting the players are not fit enough to play once a week?

Good job these guys don't play in the NRL - one in three games in SL are a coasting exercise - are we seriously suggesting the likes of Sinfield - who has just had two games off - needs resting, same can be said of Moon, Burrow who has had 10 weeks off?

Well we played 12 first teamers so that blows your logic out of the water.

Not sure if you have noticed this but Rugby league is a physical sport where the bodies get bashed both in attack and defense.

Who actually cares?

Its all about next week, today was just a weekend to get out of the way.

If you care about today then you don't understand our priorities as a club and thiers as a group of players.

As a relative newcomer / outsider to the game a part of me assumes / expects that a professional rugby league player should be able to play a professional game of rugby league once a week, as the professional body determines is a fair frequency to play. Similarly, professional footballers should be able to play two professional games a week, as that is their profession that they have signed up for. A professional baseball player is scheduled to play 162 games a season across 180 days and although very few play all games (if any) the outfielders and big hitters play a decent amount of them.

I understand that I have no idea what it feels like to play an 80 minute game of rugby league and that for some pros it takes them a week to recover, but then no-one has forced them to be pro rugby league players. To some degree they have signed up for it - so long as they (or their manager) are not putting them at physical risk - ie. playing someone too soon after their last game as they have not recovered from the last - is it unreasonable to expect them to play once a week?

I'm not sure what some of you do for jobs, but presumably you have contracts. Your boss doesn't pull you out of business meetings because you had a big business meeting the week before, or you don't sit out fixing a car one time as you tired from fixing the last two cars that came in - you are there to fix cars so if there are cars to be fixed you and your colleagues fix them. It is part of what you signed up to do.

Anyway, that is my rant over for now.

the 1000 people who paid hard earned money to travel for 3 hours to watch that shower capitulate?

We should've played more academy players... Wait, oh.

Are you for a real?

Or are you of the opinion that leeds, should they win next week just opt out of playing the rest of the season, afterall next week is all that matters.

Some weeks they're fit enough, others not. It's not about fitness in the sense as we usually think of it, as in can they run enough etc. Its the physical toll a game takes on the players body. That toll gets greater and greater each season as teams improve and sports science/conditioners/modern coaching gets players to play faster, harder and smarter.

Taking a Friday to Friday game schedule, the players are usually in recovery training up until Wednesday. Obviously that's an average, some weeks they can do more earlier in the week, some weeks less. And obviously some players recover quicker than others and some players have higher game workloads than others. It's actually a coaching objective/guidance for Peacock to reduce his game workload.

The players, especially the forwards, take huge stresses on their bodies during games. In the Wire game at home this year Peacock took 30 impacts each equivalent to a 30 mph car crash. And that wasn't an unheard of figure.
Michael Monaghan is retiring because of too many blows to the head, another aspect to the fitness issue too.

Is it any wonder some need resting after a tough game? Especially those in their 30's?
I'm sure some of them could have played, but surely we want them in as good a physical condition for Wembley as possible?

As for the NRL, it's not an equal comparison as they have bigger squads, a reserves comp, fewer games and bye weeks plus it's a different style of play. And there haven't been many games this season in which Leeds could cruise. As I said on another thread not long ago, there are roughly just as many blowout scorelines in the NRL as in SL.

Add in the cumulative effect of several seasons of large amounts of games, the cumulative effect of games within a season, minor injuries not given chance to recover from and I'm not suprised we have times in the season where 8/9/10 players are injured.

As I said, I'm sure some could have played today, but do we want them to or do they benefit more from a week off and be in much, much better physical condition than they would have been for the final.

Some people see it as disrespecting SL to play a weakened team in that game, well you could also see it as disrespecting the Cup to play a strong team in the London game.

Refund?

People who knew enough about McDermott's Leeds would have taken London at 15-2 and more than paid for their Wembley weekend. You can't say they're not good to you.

I seem to remember us losing at london the week before the 2011 final.

We lost that final too.

And you have no concept of supporting a team. Just because you don't put your hard earned in, and waste your time, doesn't mean the rest of us can't expect to get something for what we are putting in. There wouldn't be a team without supporters going.

Mac has got it seriousley wrong on the last two games , he is accountable , if We win next week and still finish in the top two great If we lose next week and do not make the top two and then do not make the grand final then he has a major problem . Either way it has been his choice and he will be judged this season on whether or not we win silverware