Didn't help that the ref gave them absolutely everything in the second half, embarrassingly poor officiating

Its true that ultimately long term success depends on bringing through quality juniors. But its never been the full story. In 97 when Caddick took over we made some huge signings. Sinfield, Burrow, McGuire and co didn't come into a team full of numpties. We were a team just off being able to win things when they came of age.

What will likely never be repeated is having a batch of hugely talented kids all in the same age group coming through at the same time. If you look around the comp you're lucky to develop 2 quality first grade players out of any particular Academy group. It will take years for even a massive focus on juniors to bear fruit.

That means that signings will continue to be really important, and our record in that regards for years has been generally pretty inept. Big money on players in positions that don't win games, unfit players and players who just didn't want to join the club has happened way too often.

Excellent posting

Absolutely.
It's not only about youth development.
But that's probably the most important of the key ingredients.
Strong youth development program and quality home grown talent in key positions.
Top level British signings e.g. Senior, Peacock, Ellis who can act as leaders.
Complemented with quality O/S players in positions we are short e.g. Buderus, Webb, Lautiti.
Oh, and a good coach helps.....

What you refer to was a tackle made by a prop on a fb around 20+kg lighter than Lisone.
I`m talking about our forwards and props in particular running the ball in.
Not one of ours got anywhere near Lees and their impact in comparison was pitiful.
But yes Lisone did tackle the much lighter fb pretty well.
Shame our props didn`t do the same to the St Helens props on the day.

Yes, IMO the forwards totally failed to dominate, leading to a stalemate that was only broken by an exceptional individual on their side.

Our pack needs to be more ruthless in situations like this. Lisone and Sangare should have been more destructive in stints, and Oledski and Holroyd needed to impose themselves much more without the Saints big men to worry about.

Smith complained about the ruck and interruptions to the game (a consistent gripe with him), but ultimately Leeds need to develop a plan B for these 'scrappy' situations because this seems to be our achilles heel at present.

We have become too much of a 'fair weather' team... You can take this both literally and figuratively!