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.

Well I'm really enjoying seeing the Treble winners having a bad time of it. I'm also happy with Saints and Huddersfield struggling. Not so happy that Wire are looking really strong though.
The standard of SL is getting worse, but I remember 2006, the 74-0 and 75-0 thrashings, and nobody else's fans cried too many tears for us then.

"Danny....Danny, it doesn't matter what you think.....the rugby gods have decided"





Garbage! Cas are on for 50+ here!

I do feel for the few leeds fans that arent t1ts as i know what it was like for us back in 06 but i must admit i am absolutely LOVING leeds' season so far

Cas have been unreal tonight to be fair.

As bad as Leeds have been, I can definitely see them turning it on against us at Magic.

This season is actually turning into a farce for them. Every week i think, 'they will be back this week' but they keep getting WORSE. Could Leeds be Leicester City in reverse for probably the most sensational story in RL history (or one of them)

They can't beat a SL team. If they get Hull KR, Salford and Hudds in the middle 8s Salford and Hudds are more than capable of beating them and Hull KR have already won at Headingley, couple that with Bradford getting a couple of good results in the middle 8s and we could just be seeing a million pound game at Odsal between Bradford and Leeds, Or at Leigh. Crazy stuff

At least there is no longer any mystery about why the Aussies have never tried to sign Kallum Watkins.

You say that but I have a feeling we won't get four points from them in our two games.

Cas were superb tonight, halfbacks were unreal. Think we would have struggled against them personally.

Leeds missed a ridiculous amount of tackles and their structures were all over the place. No leadership in defence or attack since Sinfield and Peacock left. We won't miss that many tackles against Cas so hopefully we won't lose by 40 points

Leeds are really struggling and with guys like McGuire, Burrow and JJB on the back street of their careers it's tough to see them turning it around to the pony of consistently winning things for a little while.

That Cas cup game looks an even bigger test now though.

The good thing is thats quite some time off yet, plenty time for us to come into some form. They did look good, but my god Leeds were shocking!

After watching tonights game between Leeds and Castleford I wondered what was going on! Sinfield and Peacock retire and the ENTIRE team seems clueless! they lost by 50 points at Widnes and 50 points and could have been 60 points at home TO Cas I think the team cannot be bothered playing this year. I noticed there training ground got flooded last Christmas but that must be a bad excuse.

Credit is due to their support though, over 17k for a Thursday night tv game is excellent.

I agree. We saw our crowds rise in 2006 when we were rock-bottom (record breaking season average 16,500 IIRC) but that was helped by a Brian Noble led team that galvanised and started winning games from about June onwards.

Cas did look good and if they maintain that form we are going to find it hard to get past them in the Cup. Sets up another great contest in prospect! Gale very good.