Superman will always be a Leeds hero

Indeed....but this one the club has got right I think.

Why not?

I saw some poor play, some bad decisions, plenty of errors and some bad technique.

I didn't see anyone showing a lack of commitment. Never have with this group of players (bar the odd exception). even in their few and far between darkest days they always had plenty of effort.

I have previously stated the same.....let's not forget it was the Leeds players constantly asking Silverwood to stop the clock. They obviously were still 'committed' to getting a victory.

I just had a Eureka moment.

Maybe Wakefield just played better than we did on the night. Can Leeds fans live with that?

He may well have been blowing after 25 minutes but that didn't stop him going on to make 37 tackles and almost the same metres as Griffin and Luluai put together (191m) To have rested him as you suggest would not have improved this performance IMO.



Just like you I do not see the players daily on the training field and therefore, like you, do not know how long a first team rest Clarkson needed. What I do know is that Clarkson has done quite a lot of the heavy tackling and marker tackling but little else so perhaps the coaches wanted a look again at Hauraki before the big end of season games. Remember last year when, after a terrible first half of the season, Hauraki improved his game and featured in our run in games including Wembley and that great victory at Warrington. IMO it was therefore reasonable for this game to check him out. That he failed on the day is not the coaches fault but he did make 25 tackles before he was withdrawn.

With regard to Kirke at 13. He was picked to fulfill the recent role of Bailey and play as a 3rd prop, not as a LF, to tackle around centre field to allow Burrow some attacking freedom. This he did with 32 tackles but unusually for him also 4 missed tackles which was about par for the other Leeds forwards on the night.



Yes it is better to play players in their natural positions which is why Webb started at fullback. Hardaker has done well in his short spell at FB and looks the part. But he has more SL experience at centre so again it was a logical decision for Big Mac. How was he to know Webb would be so awful?



I have no problems with you posting you opinions, as you know rhinoms, and I know you don't mind if I post mine too. I am not saying everything is fine and dandy but this is sport played (and coached) by humans and so it can never be always fine and dandy.

I think we are going through a transitional period and this quite exceptional group of the key players have been growing old together with obvious signs of decline yet they have refused too lie down and have kept proving that on their day they are a match for any other side. This has made it very difficult for the coaches and management to replace them.

I believe they have earned the right as a group to one last hurrah (some of the group will last a bit longer) and so I choose to support them warts and all which includes a bit of tolerance when things are not going so well. So I say lets get behind the team and coaches and look to the positives. Negativity is so corrosive.

[url=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/leeds-rhinos/leeds-rhinos-coach-s-plea-to-departing-brent-webb-1-4567965The wise words of the head coach[/url from when Webb confirmed his exit should perhaps be recalled here:

“The thing is going to be making sure he doesn’t try too hard.

“His persona is that he’s a bit of a free-spirit, but in actual fact he is a very focused and meticulous athlete.

“His challenge is not to get too focused and just to keep on doing what he has been doing.”

JC I agree with 99% of your post but like i said i call it how i see it whether negative ,positive OTT or otherwise its just the way i am.
I will continue to support the team rain or shine hence why i attend most of the games and the juniors also that will NEVER change until im deceased or strapped to a bed on me last knockings incapble of getting to a game!!
I will also add imo i think this transition could be made a little easier this year with 1 or 2 more appearances for the young lads in the pack.

That is a statement that cannot be denied.

with regard to whether the team was fully committed. I take fully committed as matches like Saints a few years ago in the playoffs when they lost but rattled the Saints. Their play in this match didn't approach them levels and therefore not fully committed in my opinion. I don't expect them to play at that level every week but I always like the team to start with a similar level of intensity, to get into the faces of the opposition. I don't think that happened.

That's gibberish.

It baffles me that everytime Leeds lose that fans (both Leeds and rivals ones) say it's because the players aren't fussed about the 2 points and are content with a mid-playoff place. Usually when we've lost the opposition have played really well (Bradford away the only exception i think), have Hull played better this year than when they beat us at the KC? Have Wakey been better than Monday night? Again Leeds players (unlike others) get accused of short changing the paying fans, why aren't people questioning why Wakey can't play like that every week, they'd be in the playoffs if they did.

Yes we've played rubbish at times this year but i certainly don't think it's because the players aren't fussed about winning some games, i personally think the management are just trying to get through some games hoping to pick up the win without pushing for full out mental focus and intensity from the players because they realise there is only so many times a year a team can lift like that and they have to hold something back especially when you have a WCC, CC and Playoffs all in one season spread apart, Wigan reaching last years Playoffs with the tank at zero illustrating this. I liken it to a boxer who knows he's going to have to go 12 rounds to win because he's not got the power to knock out his stronger opponent and knows not to punch himself out early on. It's a bit tiresome people confusing Leeds not being in 'the zone' every week with not caring about some games.

You (Wakey) are rubbish thats the point

How very dare you



My belief is that Webb has never before had any self-doubt about his position in the team. He was the full back, no-one could challenge him for the role and he was secure in that. Security is nice. And he is Superman, he is loved. Public adoration is nice too.

Suddenly, he's in a patch of bad form and he gets a bit of criticism. Which he could probably handle fine, he'll be used to a little bit of that and has the means to turn it around as he'll always be playing next week. Then he gets injured and some young kid is being hailed as the best thing since Gary Lord. And to compound matters the minute he leaves the field his team mates immediately look better.

Hell, that's got to be a blow to your self esteem.

So Webb returns and he is reinstalled at full back straight away. But he is wound up, he knows people will be disappointed he is back and Zak has moved for him, sort of. So the pressure is on him personally and professionally in a way it never has been before. He goes out and is playing too hard, trying to snatch everything, desperate to prove himself to his team mates and to the fans who have so quickly turned on him. He wants to be adored again.

I imagine, mentally, he wasn't in a great place before Monday's game. Perhaps McDermott should have seen it and managed it better.

There's no doubt he's in a worse place now though - his non appearance through "illness" at the disciplinary may or may not be a coincidence.

Return from where exactly?

Sorry to bust-up this rare moment of agreement but I don't recall Burrow being substitutied at any point during the game, although he may have been M.I.A. for a while.

__________



This eagerness to 'snatch everything' was hardly in evidence as he allowed the ball to wander past him and in to the in-goal area, that resulted in his desperation/risky pass to Hall behind the line to concede the drop-out which led to the opening try to Raleigh.

In fairness to Webb the situation wasn't helped by Peacock conceding a penalty from the drop-out on tackle one and then the same player making an ineffective tackle on his opposite number a few moments later.

He went off after the Wilkes hit did he not?

not sure he did mate

He stayed on. Warrior.

He's one half back that isn't made of biscuits.

My mistake i thought he was taken off and whilst here's no doubt in my mind he's the toughest player in SL he SHOULD have gone and stayed off imo he was seeing stars and initially i thought when thecamera zoomed in he was out cold for a spell.

Rob stayed on after his bellringer - although he did spend the next 20 minutes stood directly behind either a prop or the ptb.

So to think he was spelled is entirely excusable.

Yep ! Foul play yet again succeeds.

Players like RB need to better protected with immediate sendings off. Either that or all of our props needs to get more Bailey like in getting discreet-wind-up-on-Radford-type revenge.

No but it appears that didn't stop you managing to convince Juan that he did, so well done for that. I blame Opta.

Burrow remained on throughout defending at left centre and trying to direct play primarily on that edge in a semi-conscious state. Arguably that still left him more alert than the coaching team.

Oh dear. I am kept busy enough challenging rhinoms opinions.....don't say I cannot reply on his eyesight either! I have been in Northern Scotland and only saw the match on my laptop so thought he had seen something live that the cameras missed.

You are Shaun Wane and I claim my £20 .

Sounds like a Nathan Brown whinge to me...........

The irony is it's usually Burrow that does Bailey's enforcing when push comes to shove comes to fisticuffs.