Does anybody actually want Leeds to finish down the league? I hope they can squeeze into the super 8s because let's be honest if Leeds have to play the championship clubs it will become a non event and would make a mockery of what it is designed to do. I bet not one championship club wants them in there otherwise we can look forward to the same clubs in Sl again next year. I would like to see 2 or 3 come up and shake things up a bit.

I don't want to see them in the super 8's.
We play them twice in a couple of week's and i'm not that confident. However if we can defeat them in at least one of our games I struggle to see them getting into the Top 8.

If they finish in the middle 8's then that's only of the 4 "promotion" spots taken. It's not as though Leeds being there will completely ruin the whole concept and take away any chance of Championship sides being successful.

I do, it would be a nice payday for the Championship sides, and I bet Bradford would give them a good run for their money! Having said that, judging by last year's standings Leeds would need to win 7 out of their last 10 to make 8th place. Considering they play us (twice), Wire and Catalans in that time amongst others it would be good for the neutral to see them pull off a great escape.

nah, let them stay down there

Let them stay there, they have earned the place. I wouldn't be surprised to see them get a loss or two in that group, I'm not sure why people are worries that' it would make a mockery - Salford have more chance or making a mockery there as it's not ability that has them in the same group.

Yep, i completely agree and understand both sides of the coin here. I too could also see Leeds lose 2 or 3 of those games, Salford are no mugs and if Huddersfield end up down there then they could even find themselves in the million pound game. I had honestly forgotten about Salford's point deduction. It just seems like the gulf between SL and the Championship is widening making it extremely difficult for a promotion. I don't think the Leigh fans would be too happy with the calibre of side they might have to face, although they are the best side in the world so it doesn't really matter. If they fail to go up this time i see bad things happening for the gobblers.

I would love the Rhinos finishing in the middle 8's.......Bring it on

I know what you mean but Leeds finishing bottom would be a reet laugh!

Weirdly there seems to have been a lack of their usual suspects on here these past few months.

I still can't see it though unfortunately can you?

They'll make the Top 8 with a game to spare.
Hopefully though, they'll be too far off the pace to challenge for the top 4.

[iGelling mode on:
[/iI guarantee that the Rhinos will not make the top 4 play off's this season

4th place was 38 points last year. To do that Leeds would need to win 16 of their next 17. No way they are making the play offs, the CC is their only chance of winning silverware this year.

Come on Huddersfield!

you need to think about fc first we play you next week .and we owe you one

We will see. Be good to see you play our first team.

Headingley could be rocking for the Million pound match come the end of the season.

An 80 minute battle to avoid relegation against Batley

When people on here responded to the ribbing after the Grand Final by forecasting that Leeds would collapse without Sinfield and Peacock, I don't think anyone actually envisaged this.

With Wembley all they had left to play for, to get knocked out in the first round - with a 4,000 crowd watching (and the game only a half hour away by car) - beggars belief.

This is NOT the Leeds we've come to know in recent years. And the injuries don't explain it all. Most SL teams are injury-stricken this season.

All comparisons with Wigan under Millward must now carry weight. Surely only a complete malfunction at coach and team level can lie behind this ... ?

Then again, maybe not !

I don't think us Leeds fans aren't on here because we're embarrassed, its because like every other club the one thing that gets much better when you're doing badly is your forum. When you're winning and playing well there's not a huge amount to say. When you're losing, especially as badly and as often as us this year, its a festival of misery, anger and backseat coaching. Its way too much fun on our forum to be able to spend much time elsewhere.

This Thursdays SKY TV game is a massive one for the Rhinos IMO and one that they surely have to win

This game could almost be a season defining game for them as they certainly can't afford to lose too many more games and especially at home, before they will ultimately end up in the middle 8's

IMO that is due to the lesser lights of previous season amassing win's from each other and actually stacking winning points on the ladder when they weren't expected to against the more fancied sides

The Rhinos have the ability to make the safety zone of the top 8's IF they string some wins together and gain some much needed confidence, But something inside me thinks that there's something not quite right over there in their camp this season and that if they actually lose this week's game against the Tigers then they may have to go through the procedure of actually having to secure their Super League status for 2017 by winning a play off series containing the top 4 from the Championship along with the other lowest ranked Super League sides

Who would have thought that this was a possible outcome prior to the season, especially after winning the treble in 2015?

There are two old phrases:

'Form is temporary, class is permanent.'

And

'Good teams don't become bad teams overnight.'

However, neither of those pearls of wisdom takes account of what may happen if a team's key components are removed. I, for one, refuse to accept that Kevin Sinfield, and even more so Jamie Peacock, were such vital players for Leeds that their departure alone has transformed the Rhinos overnight from worthy champions to abject cellar-dwellers. Unless those two players, primarily Sinfield I suspect, were doing an awful lot of coaching as well.

With memories in mind of Ian Millward at St Helens and John Dorahy at Wigan, I can't help wondering if Brian McDermott, who hadn't broken many pots before, was rather fortunate to be appointed coach of a team that was already well-oiled and well-coached from within, and maybe if he himself had litttle to do with the honours they would go on to win. It seems churlish even to think that, but as I say, it's not unprecedented.

However, even if it's the case that Brian Mac is not as good as everyone thought, it's still a bizarre scenario.

Wigan's spectatcular fall from grace in the first part of the 2000s - which was due to a succession of average-to-poor coaches and increasingly inept recruitment - happened over about five years. For it to occur in one close-season makes me wonder if something else is involved too. Millward was the icing on the Wigan disaster cake because, or so the rumours would have us believe, because his man management skills were so poor that he totally divided the playing staff and created deep ill-feeling in the camp.

Could something similar be happening at Leeds?

Didn't anybody tell you, it's because of the floods and there are no other facilities in the entire of Leeds which would allow the team to train. Currently they are training on Asda's carpark on a Tuesday.

Haven't they had a few injuries as well? Maybe related to trolley incidents during training....

McDermott has coached them to:
5th, 5th, 3rd, 6th and (luckily finished) 1st last season

They were about to be knocked out of the playoffs by Saints last year barring a miracle 40-20 by Sinfield. I think he has massive failings as a coach and was carried by some great senior (now ex) players, like we were with Rads, Faz, Furner etc. The thing that tipped it for me was when they hammered Salford last year and he ranted about them as a club and criticised Koukash but then this season sniped about other coaches commenting on his teams state of affairs.