Dont panic youll have Bradford to look forward too ,dont knock the traditional derby.

Yeah that's why I titled the thread "New Zealand Exhibition Game" you genius.



Yeah great pick 4 guys who extended their seasons with England and international players usually start their seasons slow (notice the difference it made for Peacock retiring). And it's not just the playing the 80 mins, the whole club spent too long celebrating what they did in 2015 (especially including the NZ game) rather than focusing on the 2016 season.

Can you honestly sit their and say the likes of Warrington and Hull weren't focused and concentrated on 2016 around 2 months or more earlier than us?

I didn't say this as answered above.

But what I did say in the pre-season of 2015 was that the CC semi and Final of 2014 gave a true indication of what this team could do in 2015 and said they'd do well in 2015......you said the final 6 league losses gave the true indication of where the team was at when predicting massive gloom for 2015 and said my view was only made with blue and amber glasses on.........


.....who hit the nail on the head more? As much as you dislike that and anything I say, it isn't with blue and Amber glasses on, it's because it's what I think will happen regardless of my support for the club and it's been far more accurate than any cr@p you've come up with.

I doubt you last sentence very much - Leeds is the most professionally run club in SL, if you think the preparation for 2016 started when they came back for pre-season I think you underestimate the people running the club. You don't suddenly go from hero to zero and all the good practises that got the team to win the treble go out of the window?

My view is the injuries have been brutal and have exposed the lack of depth/quality in key positions and focuses the attention on youth development - IMO Leeds haven't brought a really top player through since Watkins. That needs to change if things are to improve in the longer term.

Easy in hindsight though!! - even you couldn't have predicted McGuire's piece of genius that turned the whole 2015 season on its head. I don't disagree with everything you say but I do think its easy to say well its the NZ game, its the flooding at Kirkstall, its the SPOTY - all excuses you have you used as to why the team is not competitive. The issues are a bit less superficial than that. Again easy to say it will be all OK after Easter - it will be difficult for it to be any worse tbh.

2017 is a long way off - and it is near impossible to see Leeds losing their first three games of 2017 and having the injury issues they have now - losing 3 players to serious injury in one game seldom ever happens - so you don't need to be Nostradamus to predict an improvement

Stevie Ward? also Singleton has progressed well after we have stuck with him for a couple of years, maybe not top class as of yet but he is still improving at a decent rate so who knows. still early days with the likes of Sutcliffe, Lilley, Golding, Handley, Baldwinson but at least they are now getting the chances. for several years many on here were crying out for fresh blood and now it is happening. Patience needs to be shown though, these lads can't be world class from the get go, they won't be consistent and will make mistakes but that is what will make them better players in the long term. i think it is exciting times for the club if these lads can push on, we will see.

Jury is still out on Ward - he seems to spend more time injured than playing - he has the potential to be a top class player if he can stay fit - time will tell. He has become more of a tackling machine than anything which is a shame as he had some real skills coming through as a youngster.

Well, he was knocking on the door for rep selection so he is pretty damn close to top class already imo, although i still believe like you he has plenty more in his locker which will probably come out more now Sinfield has moved on. Lets not forget he is still just 22 years old, hopefully the injuries will ease.

Agreed - hopefully he has all his injuries at beginning of career.

Jesus , if other teams were making all these excuses we would be just taking the Mickey , there are things so obviously wrong that need fixing up in training and a bit of mongrel in the pack would not go amiss , there is some real powder puff defence going on .

A 32 point defeat for Huddersfield this afternoon at home to Widnes would ensure that Leeds move off the bottom of SL into 11th place.

My glass is half full.