Leeds with eight games left are second in the league and semi-finalists in the Challenge Cup can we dream of a league and cup double. I hope so.
Then, is it really possible the golden generation of Sinfield, Peacock, McGuire, leuluai, Bailey, Kirke, Jones-Buchanan and Burrow on block decide to retire on the basis it is best to go when at the top and it is unlikely their achievements will ever be repeated.
In addition our most successful coach would do the same to allow the new regime led on the field by Hardaker and Ablett to develop under the new coach. Ideally David Furner.

Something I would have classed as "impossible" (or should I say so unlikely it could effectively be seen as impossible) happened to us 3 weeks ago. So, yes, at the moment I believe anything is possible.

I was thinking what a decent first post, however your inclusion of kirke in the golden generation let you down.

to answer your question I would say it is going to be very difficult to claim the double.it takes a lot out of the team to go through the emotion of winning the cup then getting re focused for a tilt at old trafford almost straight away.

I also dont see any way all those players will retire all at once and the most likely scenario is 1 or 2 a year for the next few season although it could be argued that a few of those mentioned should be moved on in the near future anyway.regards the coach, judging by the usual lifespan of a coach in our recent history and probably accross SL as a whole then his time at the club is likely to end either this season or the next.

Like it or not i think the present coaches lifespan may be a lotlonger than a couple more years . Kirke has been part of the golden generation despite what a few keyboard warriors on here may think and few other sheep following them . 5 grand final rings and 3 grand final winning coaches selecting him will define his achievements . I suggest a few on here talk privatley with the other players who have played alongside him and have plenty of respect for him and do not have a bad word to say .

Its certainly going to be an intriguing run in to the end of the season,earlier on in the season I thought we looked the real deal. With a grand final win on the cards, at the moment I am not sure about our form. Like everbody else we have been hit hard by injuries to key players.
Most if not all the top teams form has been patchy,one thing in our favour is our squad of players is vastly experienced in play off games.
As I have commented before the wire match will be a big test for us.

merely pointing out he should not be mentioned as part of a golden generation.just because he happened to be there hanging onto the coat tails of those mentioned to pick up a hatful of medals does not make him a Headingley great in my book and in no way will he be missed when he moves on.I know what I see(very little usually in kirkes case) and am entitled to my opinion and reckon he has to be the luckiest player around for having had the career he has had.fair play to him for that like.

not wanting to start another kirke bashing thread by the way,god knows we've had enough! just my opinion.as you were.

I think you are correct in moving players on, someone once said its better to get rid of a player one season too early than one season too late.
A prime example was sean long at saints, a mistake was the giants release of hodgson who wanted a long term deal .
He went on to play a big part in the revival at the wire. I suspect we have several players who should be moved on at the season end.
Any thoughts who if any should be prime candidates for shipping out?.

I think I have made one name pretty clear on this thread.

Mcguire,JJB and Bailey would imo now be canditates to be moved on if not this season then the next,although it would be with a heavy heart of course,as all three have been a huge part of the club one way or another for the last decade.

When we look at the history books and read about the finals going back to the early 1900s we see names of players who played in those games and got medals.There will be players who the fans at that time will have said 'not good enough' but to us they were part of a trophy winning team.Future generations will see Kirke's name in the team line ups for those finals and regard him as part of this great period

When Sinfield retires I'm going to cry.

Yes.

And then the covering story in the paper can sign off with

''and so concludes the greatest rugby league story ever told''

To answer the OP's question, is it possible we'd see a mass retirement if we were to the double......no, we'd just see them want to do it again in 2015.

The reason Leeds have won so many GF's isn't because the team is so far ahead of the competition quality wise (as Saints, Wigan and Wire have arguably been better or at least level) but because we have a group of guys that have never tired of winning the big one.

That's the most impressive thing about this generation. People can talk about their various abilities and the tries they might've scored etc. but what marks out a special team/athlete in sports is not when they win the big prize.....but when they still have the fire and desire and fight to win it again and again when many others would've won one or two and lost that fire and slipped backwards.

It's also why I can forgive poor showings away to Wakefield on a rainy Friday night when the opposition look hungrier as it surely can't be simple to excite yourself up to play at the likes of there and a lacklustre Odsal when you've played in so many big games at Old Trafford and Wembley, faced Wigan and Saints in massive games, taken on the likes of Melbourne and Manly at a full Headingley and for quite a few of them faced the Aussies and NZ teams for England.

My first thought when Peacock (8 GF rings) said he was going to play on into 2015 was that part of the reasoning would be to have a shot of reaching 10, if we win this year for him to make it 9 then I can't see him not wanting to have a crack at 10. Also I don't think it would be in the style of those players to suddenly go "I'm done" just after the GF and leave the club with no real time to fill the roster for next year. Retirements will be well planned barring injuries.

When these guys retire it'll be when the body tells them it's had enough. JJB's might be trying to tell him that now and might be the odds on favourite if anyone was to retire at the end of this current season (if Leuluai is going around again in 2015). Also Burrow and Bailey are only 31 which give them at least 3/4 years at SL level I reckon (granted they might not be all at this club in the latter's case).

Also depends what plans each individual has for their post RL careers. The club does a better job than anybody else IMO in trying to set up their players career-wise post RL and I think that's why we're seeing (and will continue to see) Leeds players going on for a few extra years as going out and getting a 'regular' job seems to be something they have to worry about less due to better planning for that inevitable time.

Don't think you can have it both ways. At the risk of turning this into another Kirke/Bailey thread I don't see how we can dismiss Kirkes contribution as piggy backing on the success of others then claim Bailey had a huge part in the last decade. Let's be honest Bailey is Marganally better player but both are pretty ordinary squad filler

I pretty much agree with you on the whole and both are currently no more than dispensable squad fillers for sure.I would argue though that Bailey still deserves to be classed amongst the golden generation due to his early years(2003-2005) when he certainly brought plenty to the table for us, he represented GB,was a key forward for us for a brief time and looked like he would kick on to be an excellent front rower for many years.The fact he hasn't done so is purely down to him and his attitude.Bailey is by far the better player of the two imo, and its so frustrating that we only get to see him showcase it a handful of times a year if we are lucky these days because he is still capable.The fact he is even being put in the same category as a player as mediocre as Kirke is damning in itself imo.

IIRC Bailey and Luke Burgess were pretty good off the bench in the 2009 GF. He may not have been consistent, but Bailey's generally been good in GFs.

A couple of months ago I suggested the so called golden generation should consider retirement if they won the cup and league double. I now feel the following should be strongly encouraged to go, Leuluai, Peacock, McGuire ,Jones-Buchanan, Sinfield, Kirke and Bailey with the thanks of a very grateful group of supporters for their massive contribution to the clubs success over the last 10 years.
Burrow should continue but only at scrum half and Delaney should play at prop with Cuthbertson.
I am concerned at where the next generation is coming from, this season over 35 Leeds registered players have played in Super League surely some are capable of moving up to he first team squad. Perhaps not.
In the meantime persuade Bradford. Castleford and Wigan to sell us Gaskell, Millington and McAlorum.
And by the way Mr McDermott should also go.

we should have started the rebuild at the end of last season. done it gradually. now it's a far bigger job

I don't think massive rebuilding is required. They need something fresh in the halves, another forward and to tweak the way they play. When we used to have such big individual threats we scored points for fun and didn't need to play with much structure.