As much as I enjoyed Leeds winning away at Wigan last night, I can't help feeling uneasy about how they will go in the play-offs.

Finishing 3rd, in-form, players returning from injury etc all seems a bit too good to be true - anyone else feel the same?!

Leeds traditionally don't perform well when there is a burden of expectation on them - just look at our various Challenge Cup capitulations. We only just managed GF wins in 2004 and 2009 when we were biggest favourites; all the other wins came when Leeds were underdogs to Saints or someone else. Hell, even our landslide CC win of 1999 was shaky for most of the first half!

I don't think we're clear favourites, but like it or not many are now talking us up. Hopefully the players won't start believing in the hype (no 'special' haircuts please!). If anything the media and fan communities are doing their best to help the likes of Huddersfield and others create the sort of siege mentality that Leeds have relied on in the past at this time of the year.

It will be interesting to see how things go. Sinfield was clearly trying to remain grounded after the game last night, but in a sense this is uncharted territory for the team.

I think if anything our peers (Hudds, Wire + Wigan) will be thinking 'oh no'.

They will have to expect Leeds at their best in the playoffs, tenacious tackling, top drawer kicking, little field position....

Good luck!

Regular Season Leeds and Playoff Leeds are 2 entirely different beasts.

A play-off encounter with Huddersfield at some point will be very interesting.

Leeds are ready.

It was liking watching a Rocky film last night. Leeds went through their final training montage, and the next 3 weeks will show the Champion side do what they do best....WIN!!!!

That's why we're Champions!

[iIf [/iwe get to Headingley West then we'll win, I've no doubt.

We played last night like a team who knew what they were doing - forcing repeat sets, barely any knock ons or unforced errors - I can't remember the last time our last tackle plays were so good. It was visibly like we were starting our run to OT again and it's great to see.

These playoffs will be interesting.

As each year passes the odds must go against more repeat Championships so we must go into games with hope and confidence but not arrogance. To have produced this result against Wigan was quite remarkable considering recent form and injuries. More important than the result was the manner of our performance and the form of the returning injured and of our key playmakers.

These indeed are a special group of senior players backed up by special medical and fitness coaches and last but not least an outstanding British head coach who has been moulding the newer players, in what has been a transional squad, into the club's ethics and mental toughness.

The newer additions are being dropped in, being around and learning how to win big games.

BJB and Ward last year.

Hopefully Singleton, Sutcliffe this year will pick up on that too.

Seems a nice cycle at present, allbeit one that we can improve and tinker with certain members needing to be planned to be replaced etc.

Careful, that won't go down with some of the 'fans' on here

Amen brother.

I'm really not sure the burden of expectation will be a big deal. Nobody was going to write us off for the play-offs this year. Hudds and Wire will be pretty confident. It's all about them finding the next level.

The more concerned team might be Wigan. I've been thinking for a while that they were holding something back for the play-offs, but I do start to wonder whether they're just shot. Time will tell. They've clearly got the players (although the halves are relatively un-tested in the real high pressure games). O'Loughlin's a huge loss for them going into these big matches. Of course it could be that they've got it spot on and are ready to catch fire next week.

It's going to be very interesting seeing how all this plays out this year.

Huddersfield are not our peers yet. You have to bring more than one dinner plate to the table to dine with us.

I don't think so.

How many super league winners rings does this group have between them?

They have nothing to prove to anybody. Neither Hudds or warrington have claimed a championship in some time so theres pressure on them to end the drought. Warrington have pressure to go one better than last year, hudds have pressure to back up their regular season dominance.

My bad.

We'll know inside the next few weeks if Fartown can 'bring it'.

Over the last few years, the benefit of the week off for winning in Week 1 of the playoffs hasn't looked as significant as you might expect.

Last year, Wigan and Saints both won their Week 1 games but neither made the GF.

In 2011, it was Warrington and Saints and only one of those made the GF.

2010 Leeds and Saints had the week off, only one made the GF.

Under the eight team play-off system, the week off seems to be something of a poisoned chalice with only two out of six teams winning the following week.

Even if Huddersfield come out on top against Wigan next week, it remains to be seen how well they cope with both the expectation and the enforced layoff that success in Week 1 brings.

Defensively I thought Wigan looked good until we simply ground them down & offensively how different it could have been had Thornley not been so greedy?
But the Wigan fans must now rue last week's wholesale resting of their stars, unless of course they prefer to play away against the Giants rather than the Wolves.
So we shouldn't be getting too carried away, the Giants given how they've performed all season & with a full or virtually fully fit squad should still be the favourites.