I got that impression with his "last chapter in the book" comment, but we'll see.

Utterly fantastic for McGuire in particular to prove beyond any doubt that Leeds don't need Sinfield to win in a grand final.

Great personal stories for Burrow, Ward, Briscoe and of course Mac. Thought Cuthbertson temporarily stepped into JP's boots for this one - what an effort! JJB was also immense - hope they can do it again for him next year.

Feel for Powell though... Some nice interviews in the build-up about his role in bringing through the likes of Burrow and McGuire at Leeds, and his part in the first GF.

Despite all the talk about how Cas would cope without as much experience, Leeds proved again that this was a big factor. Just goes to show how difficult it was for teams like Warrington in the past - and how big the win against the Bulls was in 2004 when Leeds overcame a multi-trophy winning Bradford team.

Cas put in what must be described as one of the worst ever performances in a GF. I wouldn't want to be in Hardaker's shoes - whatever he has or hasn't done, he must be in a dark place now. Hopefully he'll have a chance to atone and move on with his life.

Indeed.

Life is going to be very tough for him after this. Can't see how he'll be able to look his teammates in the eye again let alone pull the shirt on again. Him not playing hurt Cas massively, in so many ways. We may well have won anyway, but him not being there was a loss of a huge attacking threat.

Took great pleasure in watching Leeds win.

Leeds get Hardaker on the cheap, go on to win 3 GFs, 2 CCs and a WCC, he goes on to win MOS, then Leeds get 150k for him, and then he goes and has a meltdown a week before the GF to all but gift the title to Leeds. GH and McDermott couldn't have planned it better

Amazing in so many ways. Two club legends bowing out on a high.

Winning a final without Sinfield. McGuire controlled the game like Sinfield tonight.

Burrow, McGuire and jjb now have eight rings. They have officially run out of fingers.

Great to see Stevie ward come through are his injury, and as mentioned in the interview having some dark days this week.

Great to see briscoe who's has a tough year end on such a high.

Great for McDermott who has emphatically put to bed the fact that it was Sinfield and peacock who ran the team. Such a thoughtful man. Always deflects praise to the players. The first man to win 4 grand finals. We fans may not understand his methods, but it's hard to argue with the results. I've thought this for a while, but maybe the reason people don't get his way of doing things, is because he sees the game in a way no one on here could even dream about.

Great post, especially the last paragraph.

I seem to recall him once making a comment about sometimes playing beyond the limit and not making replacements when he was able to was all about toughening the players so that, should the time come in a really big game when replacements weren't necessarily available they would be hardened and able to cope with it. Which, whilst infuriating to many, actually makes quite a bit of sense. And his record suggests that perhaps he knows what he's talking about.. For the record, I thought his use of subs tonight was nigh on perfect

The non use of subs is a strange one, and what you say above is the only way I have been able to rationalize it these last few years.