Totally agree mate

The problem with all you critics is ....where you advocating the same not resting key players [iprior[/i to the game?

I agree it is a real faux pas to end up losing to BOTH the bottom 2 so close to the end of the season thus tragically jeopardising the chance of finishing in the top 2....BUT I think most do not appreciate how much winning the CC must mean to these players and the club. No excuse I know but understandable if not something to be condoned. Having the CC run in coincide so much with the end of season championship run in is a stupid fault of the RL which again does the game's crediblity no good at all.

LEEDS simply MUST win the CC....and I believe they will. All then again will be forgiven and the coach again rewarded with another season in charge, but again I also pity anybody paying to watch these poor regular league games.

But if we don't win next week, these silly loses will look even worse and we will probably end up finishing fifth and winning nothing

The guy got constantly bagged for trying to play his strongest 17 the previous years? Which do people want?

Had Sinfield or Burrow or Ablett got injured today they'd have been people burning effigies of McDermott in the street this next week.

What was most disappointing today was the fact we got into the big lead. I thought that if we did slip up today it would be from a slow start and constantly trying to fight our way back into.

Perhaps the cliche some like to trot out on here of "if you're good enough you're old enough" has taken a hit today.......good is one thing, experience you can't buy.

Today means jack all in terms of what happens on Saturday vs Cas even if some what to say it "adds pressure." What it does mean is going full strength against Saints and Wigan the following weeks even though it sounds like some are struggling.

You took a team lightly and got what you deserve? HA

Theres a difference between gradually rotating your team across a season, and just resting loads of key players at once just when league positions are up for grabs. Cup final or not.

Most interesting thing of note today was an interview with McDermott pre-match.

The interviewer asked McDermott if Wembley fever had taken over the team since the win over Warrington.

He replied that Wembley fever had taken over since we beat Saints in the 5th Round way back when.

Given that we immediately got drawn against Leigh and a semi was a given (although it ended up being much harder work in reality) then it just goes to show how the focus of this team has been so badly impacted by the missing CC win, and not just this year but since 2010 I reckon it's consumed and hung over this team's regular season efforts.

McDermott's reply is IMO the greatest insight into how this team has performed over the course of a season for a number of years now.

The monkey needs to come off our backs.

There were more than enough first team players out there today to beat London.

So we went to London today with our full strength team and won by 100 points. Next week in the final we lost as peacock, kylie, sinfield were tired.

Would all you cynics than be saying oh don't worry we beat London.

The FINAL is the most important game between that and the league match. WIN our last three games in the league and the shield still could be ours.

Our guys play weekly why would they be tired? They are professional rugby league players not fat amateurs from the local boozer, they could have played 10 first teamers today won comfortably and gone on to win next week,

If you rest Sinfield, Maguire, Burrows, Moon, Peacock, Kylie, Ablett, Delaney, and JJB all of whom played in the semi final you're going to struggle as the opposition will take heart in that approach and the experience any of the above players bring helps you close out games, either with the go forward from the pack or positional kicking from the backs. At twenty points in front you'd think we'd have enough to finish the game on top but having no kicker in the side and four kids making their debut sometimes it doesn't pay off, like the Bradford game this was another one of those games. When you looked at the fixtures a few weeks ago with Leeds playing the bottom four teams you would think it would be an easy eight points.....not so three games in we've beaten Salford, lost to the Bulls and the Broncos with Hull to face at the end of the season where they'll have nothing to lose and you wouldn't rule out a Hull win.

Saturday will be a different story with both teams resting their big players it's definitely game on. Let's hope we get the same reaction from the team as we did at St Helens in the semi final.

Not so. JP himself says it takes him nearly all week to recover from a big stint during a match to be ready to put another one in next time around.

We've got Wembley followed by vital league games against Wigan and Saints - in effect three cup finals in three weeks - from which we'll be wanting big stints from all the top guys. That means we need to ensure they're at their best going into that period.