They're done.

People on here have said, they may not be good week in week out but we'll know when the big games come around if they've got anything left.

Well the big game came, the one all the players are desperate for, the one that's eluded all the players, and they were totally outclassed by a ruthlessly efficient warrington team.

You knew, after 10 minutes, the way warrington made ground up the field with quick play the balls, offloaded and then broke through and scored that first try which was so clinically devastating in it's execution, that leeds were not going to be good enough.

No one player stood out as the worst. But one player did seem to give penalties a way at bad times and was generally a hinderance. As he get's singled out for special treatment on here without doing anything especially good i thought it only right he singled out for criticism. Ryan Bailey. Was sh*t and stank up the joint.

Now to the fans. We got exactly what we deserved didn't we? Afterall theres always some kunt on here telling everyone how bad we are, how we don't deserve to support this team. So i guess that sh*t performance was on us eh? Let's hope we get more.

Lastly Kevn sinfield. This trophy is destined to elude him. The challenge cup, it's just not happening for this group of players.

Same things were being said this time last year....

No they weren't. Not after the CC final. In fact I posted a thread pretty much saying ''bring on the playoffs''. Don't keep falling back on history all the time.

Other than that post where else have I?

I didn't know after 10 minutes we would lose at all. Thought we did ok first half.

Ok.

Don't fall back on history.

That better?

I was very optimistic at half time

No

I;m sure our backline being called "past it" when the vast majority of them are starting out

Maybe not last year but I'm pretty sure there'll have been similar threads in 2010.

This side is evolving all the time. We have a massive job to replace some of the most successful and influential players to ever play for our club in the next few years but it will not happen in one off season.

Snap so was I.
After the delaney no try and drop out I started to think it wasn't our day but before that was quietly confident

i thought we were outplayed for large periods of the first half. we struggled to get out of our 40 in defence while warrington made easy yards. they looked miles better at half time and the scoreline flattered us massivly

I was somewhere in halfway house between tad & ferdy - certainly not confident but I thought we had an outside chance with some luck.

We got none and were battered

Obviously I didn't declare we were going to lose then storm out of the stadium after 10 minutes.

But for example saints away this season, when saints broke straight up our end then ade gardner scored from that cross field kick in the first few minutes, what did you rate to our chances in that game?

Sometime you just get an impending sense of doom about a situation.

Slightly lower than when we started and slightly higher than after each subsequent St Helens try. If I got despondent each time we conceded first I'd lead a pretty miserable life.

More rain might have helped us. Their handling was e for 10 minutes when it monsooned it down!

Think they got distracted by the Lightning above, I certainly did

This was my view at half time also. I thought Warrington lacked some discipline, lost ball and concession of unnecessary penalties in that 1st half, hence the closeness of the scoreline. However, they always appeared in cruise control IMO with Leeds hanging on in there.

My thoughts at half time were that Warrington would knuckle down more in the 2nd half, exert a sustained period of territory and pressure which Leeds would struggle to cope with. It was just a matter of time before the inevitable occurred.

I broadly agree, but not for the whole side. The young backs-i.e. Hardaker, Jones-Bishop, Watkins, Hall, Ward; are the future. In the Halves Burrowstillhas it, and will do for a while yet. In the forwards Ablett, Delaney and, next year, Achurch & Amor, will give us some zip, while either McShane or Lunt will be starting hooker, I'd be happy with either. Meanwhile some of the old stagers still regularly perform-Leuluai & Peacock being an example from this weekend. The question is where those players in between-i.e. McGuire, Sinfield, Jones-Buchanan, Griffin, Kirke, Moore, Bailey etc. fall. They're not young, they've more than 1 but fewer than 3 seasons left, and their powers are declining.

How is Burrow in a different category to McGuire & Sinfield?

If anything he is the one who we are struggling to find the correct role for.

Not that I disagree with your general point but to consider an unplanned, lucky build up with admittedly a great kick and finish as being indicative of anything meaningful is stretching it a bit far for me. At that point I was just thinking I'd witnessed one of those spawny Wembley tries.

The point I started thinking here we go again is when Leeds started conceding the all too typical needless, brainless penalties (five in a row in seven minutes) including a leg pull FFS, Webb wasn't even playing.

Agreed. Personally my thinking was that we needed a big improvement to compete. We only took the 2 points from the penalty so we could have a breather and try and eat the clock up to HT, because we'd been defending for most of the previous 15 minutes.

I'd have still rather we ate the clock up in their 10 trying to score and gain a huge boost before half time than taking two points which didn't really affect the game situation at all

So let me get this right - Leeds lose the Challenge Cup Final and you want to scrap the current World and Super League Championship winning team?

You KNEW after 10 minutes that Leeds would lose, even though we were only 2 points down going into the brake? Frekkin' genius you!

Well if there is a fan who deserves yesterdays result then it is most definitely you.

The disappointing aspect of the game is that we actually had chances after the 30 mins mark to gain control and we blew them. I was fearful that we could get blown away in first 20 and the game be over before we'd even got going but it wasn't the case.

1, After we go ahead 8-6 and Warrington are starting to struggle in the rain we have Hall tackling Hodgson a yard from Wire's tryline and we have the position and momentum to dominate the last 10 mins of the half and a take at least a 2 point lead into the break if not 6 or 8, instead we concede back to back soft penalties and its 12-8 down.

2, The Delaney try, correct decision made, 2 knocks on, scrum to Leeds. Whether or not the players thought it was the wrong call they were still only 20m out with a full set at Wire's defence and if they score then nobody remembers the no try as we still come away with the try and the 2nd half plays out very differently.

As well as Warrington played in that 2nd half can't help but think we shot ourselves in the foot and our own unforced mistakes were the key.

This team is not done by any means, but they are showing their age. They remind me of a once great boxer, who is still capable of flooring a young and cocky opponent, but is unlikely to become world champion again (yes I can see the irony in that last bit...).

We have a number of players who are rapidly approaching the end of their playing days, and a host of very promising younger players, and the trick is to replace the elder statesmen one at once to minimise the impact on the overall team. Maybe we should have started this process a year or two ago, and risked letting someone else have a year or two of quality from one of our "heroes" whilst letting our new stars settle in a controlled environment.

It seems to me that whilst this team is capable of better than it showed yesterday, that the "surgery" needed to regain a top 4 team status needs to start sooner rather than later. I wonder if GH will be good to his word earlier this season and start to move some players on? Somehow I doubt it, as long as the attendances hold up.

I don't disagree with you, but I think that's the reason we took the 2. The point I was getting at was that we took that kick because we'd been largely dominated in the 1st half, and therefore I wasn't confident at HT.