I would love to see your senior players collecting a winners medal at Wembley. They have provided some great entertainment over the years and lifted the Leeds club to a whole new level in my opinion. I could never bring myself to change clubs, but you have no idea how lucky you are to follow a club that may disappoint on the odd occasion but in general perform to a level that gets results.
Not only will the players have to be on form, but your support should be 100% and loud. Good luck .

So some of you think it is acceptable to lose to the bottom two in successive games , fair enough then but thats not everybodys opinion and certainly not mine , but as i have said all along Mac will be judged on what trophies he wins what is for certain he has made getting to the grand final alot harder than it could have been

How is it a lot harder? You still have to beat the top dogs.

A couple of weeks ago on this forum I was spitting feathers at McDermott, my opinion on him hasn't changed, but I agree on his team selection against London.

As said it after the Bradford defeat and I'll say it again:

Leeds don't play with structure, we've had many people from our own camp saying this, the latest was McGuire in his YEP column last week. We're not like other clubs where its coached from the bottom and is installed in the first team. What we do have in the senior side is a team full of stars that play off the cuff rugby - because the talent is that good we can play like that. That is all well and good when we have a fully fit 17, but as soon as those stars start dropping out of the team, then what happens? You've not got the talent for off the cuff and you've no structure running through the club. You're snookered. Its bonkers. But that off the cuff rugby has won us titles.

It's all about the season as a whole, and winning trophies - who will care about those games if we win on Saturday?

And as for making it harder to get to the Grand Final - the team are still very much in the race for second. There's no difference between finishing first or second in this play-off system. Except the 'hubcap', and possible ClubCall, which ends up being more of a hindrance to the teams that have it, rather than a help.

Plenty on here still run McDermott down even with the trophies he's coached the team to - that won't change even if we do the double. It will still be 'the players did it despite him' line from certain posters.

top post!

i never said there was a difference between first or second all i said was he has made it harder to get to the Grand Final as he has we now will have to win the last 3 games instead of 2 out of 3 otherwise an away tie at Wigan or Warrington in all probability instead of a home tie to get to old trafford . I also said he would be judged on trophies won at the end of the day

There are some big assumption being made by many posters. One of these assumptions is that it will be easier with home advantage. For this to be true you have to also assume that we hit better form than the opposition on the day. A home tie is obviously better for the supporters but also increases the pressure on the players to meet the expectations.

I do not subscribe to the view that all is lost if we don't make the top two. This year there are several teams who can win it some of those will be outside the top four. Once the playoffs start it is knock out rugby and the winners will be those teams that get it right on the day no matter which ground it is on. This requires performance and mental toughness.

We have a very strong record over many years in knock out rugby and I believe this can overcome a loss of home ground advantage. Sadly the playoff games are played to smaller crowds so some of this so called home advantage is dissipated. We usually take a vocal and passionate set of travelling fans who could make an away game almost as good as a home game. In fact often the players say this support gives them the lift they need when playing away from Headingley.

That is not to say we shouldn't now go all out to win our last games as I am sure we will.

What else can you do but accept the results? Gain vengeance by throwing bricks through McDermott's house windows? Slash all the players tyres?

And when I say "accept" that doesn't actually mean I'm happy or content we lost those two games but I'm also one of those who manages to realise that getting my knickers into a twist and foaming at the mouth about them losses doesn't actually make those who do "realists". Those games are gone and we can't change them, we can review them and try to learn from them but constant looking back in anger won't alter the result. If I get as angry and vexed as some others will that make me a realist? I'd rather remain calm thanks.

Already I get the feeling that if we do fail in the playoffs some on here will be looking back saying "that's because we didn't beat Bradford and London"......no, if we lose in the playoffs it because we weren't better than whichever team knocked us out. Some will say home advantage is crucial, it could be, but I've seen home teams lose plenty in the playoffs over the last few years

The last 3 LLS winners haven't even reached the GF let alone win so whilst "easier" on paper, reality is any finishing spot could make us or break us, it's about how the 17 play on that particular playoff day....not how the 17 vs London blew that match.

I think you can take the "how dare you expect Leeds to win every game you arrogant w*******r!" a little too far. I don't think it's arrogant to expect a pretty strong Leeds team (with a 22 point lead and 30 minutes to go) sitting 2nd in the table to finish off a mob who haven't posted a "W" in 23 league games.

Seriously, are you happy with that? Anyone in the top 6 can be competitive come playoff time and home advantage could be crucial. After dropping league points to Wakefield (a really awful performance) and Bradford we are now staring at 6th place if you factor in a post Wembley hangover (win or lose). The coach wasn't happy, I suspect he sees it pretty much the same way.

I sometimes wonder on here how many posters have gone to games regularly over the years


Only wondering by the way , not saying you should not post

When you say 'he' you mean McDermott alone yes? So I take it you are blaming him entirely for the loss yesterday because of his team selection?

You don't lay any of the blame at the feet of the players who had a healthy, and what should have been winning, lead and blew it??

Whether we are at home or away in the play-offs won't matter too much, especially this year with how little there are to choose between all the leading contenders. All I see is the coaching staff managing the squad the best they can to win BOTH trophies.

Really? I see them managing the squad the best they can to win the Challenge Cup.

And home/away *always* matters a lot in Rugby League, where there are huge swings on marginal referees' decisions and referees are influenced by vocal crowds. It matters *even more* if there is "little to choose between the leading contenders".

Yes, right now you do. That's because the final is on Saturday, in case you'd missed it.

And they shouldn't be doing this??

We did ok as the away team in 2011 and 2012 as I seem to recall. And went out in 2010 at home...

And weren't that far away last season, despite playing with a busted team. Which McDermott was roundly criticised for if I remember correctly.

This year, it seems as much as possible is being done to prevent that happening again. Result? People still not happy.

I don't think I've been petty about any point you made.
I don't see why losing against Bradford and London makes the "danger" of winning nothing this year particularly any more likely. In fact it's more than likely given us a better chance of winning the Cup this year.
Yes it's made it less likely that we'll win the league leaders shield but that would be the case had we lost to Wigan and Warrington instead of Bradford and London. In terms of the league I'd far rather we lose to the bottom 2 than any of the top 6.
We should have won both games. But had we won them the "danger" of winning nothing this year would still be just as present and just as likely to happen.
If we win the LLS this season and nothing else I'd still, despite having a slight smug feeling for a couple of weeks, feel like the season was a bit disappointing.

Leeds didn't lose to Bradford or London because of the above - they lost because players didn't do the basics like catch the ball and tackle opponents. That has nothing to do with off the cuff attacking style.

How many of the team spent the night before in the flesh pots of London........

If you win the CC next weekend losing to us on Sunday will be forgotten about, Brain Mac will be hailed a genius yada yada.....

not by everyone. there are some of us who can see past the trophies

It appears that Brian Mc and the Leeds management have learned a lot from Wigan's success last year and have take the decision to rest players for certain fixtures. This approach is clearly designed to keep the strongest side as fresh as possible going into the 'business end' of the season.

Ideally we would (and probably should) have beaten Bradford and London (the worst side I've ever seen in Super League) with weakened sides leaving us in a very, very strong position going into the playoffs. As it is we are still in a fairly strong position albeit we are unlikely now to win the LLS (a shame as winning it kills the League Leaders versus Champions debate we are subjected to every time the Champions come from a place other than top of the League)

Having said all that we will still have to play out of our skins to land the Challenge Cup and be in contention for GF winners rings...Exciting times ahead starting in 4 days!

COYR

Take issue with you there. Our team may be inexperienced and lacking in skill but they haven't lacked effort all season. They may not have played smart this season, but they do play hard.

You should follow London, by your yardstick you can 'waste your money' every week.

It is interesting reading comments from people who've got used to watching a winning team.

In the end, you took a punt on resting a lot of key players because you have a big game 6 days later. Correctly IMO, and I'm not just saying that because we won.
With a short turn around time risking your big play makers against a team who haven't won all season would have looked like a very poor call if one of your key players took a knock. We may not have the skills or the experience, but we have played with real heart all season; as shown by the 32 points we scored in the second half when, by rights, we should have been dead and buried.
So don't be buying all that BS on here about London being a cake walk, there are plenty of opposition players who've been carted off by the physio this season having come off worst in the tackle. The risk to your players was real, not imagined.

What I found interesting is that in the latter part of the game some of your players were really blowing. Could it be that the conditioning in the academy is not up to scratch? Just a thought.

Leeds lost to London because those players who knew their name was already on Saturday's team sheet avoided injury. I really can't think of any other reason why we'd give up a 22 point advantage with 30 minutes left on the clock.

When was the last time Leeds were 22 points in front and lost?