I like many others over the last few seasons have become bored watching Rugby League in general and Leeds Rhinos in particular.

Now I admit I am getting old and in my late 50s, but I have played the game, have watched Leeds from the age of 5 and I have had a season ticket for years, which I gave up about 5 years ago, and went to picking my matches, to lately watching the game on Sky only, to now not even being bothered with that.

Having followed Leeds over 50 years I have had great times and low points, however especially in the former years lots of fun and excitement.

In my view the falling gates are due to the game being boring!!! and the high gate fee, we have followed the Aussies at everything, our game has always been built on flair, and local rivalry. A game played by men and watched by men. Exciting and affordable.

We now seem to be more bothered about what is said on the field, how inclusive we are, how we are going to expand.

The first thing the game needs to do is to get back on track, lets get back to local derby's played in the Rugby League heartlands, Featherstone Leigh, Hunslet, Whitehaven, Halifax etc, places you can drive to in an hour. Get rid of London, Wales, Catalan !!!!

Get rid of all the idiots of the PC school at the top, promote individual talent and get the excitement back.
Oh and last but not least, make the game semi professional, so we can reduce the price at the gate and run the game without dancing to the Sky tune !!!

You forgot about moving back to Winter Rugby too. Proper men play in the snow and proper fans come out in all weathers.

Why not go back to Winter, lots of fans miss matches because of Summer Holidays, the Boxing Day match against a local rival, in a match that mattered could not be beaten, with crowds in excess of 20,000.
Just because we have changed things to accommodate Sky it does not make it right.

I don't find it boring.

Maybe you should have a season watching Yorkshire Carnegie, it'll make you appreciate the Rhinos and RL again.

Typical insular RL fan twaddle.

Watch something else then. In comparison to most sports RL is still a very reasonably priced sport.
One of the reasons we need to expand the game outside of poxy towns like Leigh, Feathertone and Keighley is so we can attract a better standard of customer, and sponsor with the necessary finances to invest in the sport. I can't see many companies wanting to invest in RL because Featherstone are getting 3 thousand people watching them every other week.

I agree to an extent that the game needs freshening up, and although I'm not really a fan of the new structure I hope it provides us with the catalyst we need for the game to grow. However, changing the structure doesn't address the real issues of the samll player pool and lack of commercial investment.

Initially I was against summer rugby but by and large I am reasonably happy with the summer format.
Like several other posters on here I am not enamoured with the rugby I have observed over the last few seasons.
My main complaint is the obsession with statistics ,any reasonable criticism of a player and people refer you to his documented stats . One thing for certain is the lack of general talent/skill , you don't see many players with the ability to side step. Most of the centre threequarters don't have the ability to draw a man and pass. Hence briscoe wandering up and down the touch line like a lost soul.
Maybe the modern coaches are obsessed with territory. Or is it the modern trend of players playing in several different positions. The hooker scenario with burrow springs to mind. This I have always thought to be bizarre in the extreme.
As for our season we managed to motivate ourselves for two games, the wire semi- final and cas at wembly.
The rest of the season was poor. I am not sure how anybody expects us to win anything next season with virtually the same squad of players who will be a year older.

I assume this thread is a joke. Hard to tell on here these days.

Try watching the borefests served up by the football leagues and the international game last night. Rugby League even at its worst will never get anywhere near as bad as that, the only reason its the 'national game' is because of the hype, money and exposure.

Quite correct, after twenty minutes of watching the England match I decided to take the dog for a walk.
Much more rewarding .

Rugby League has been played in the south of France since the 1930s. How much more 'heartland' do you want?

You gave up your season ticket 5 years ago due to Leeds being boring? When Leeds finished top of the table and won the Grand Final for the 3rd time in a row?

That seems rather strange behaviour.
Maybe you've become bored by Leeds' success and now expect Leeds to win nearly every game fairly easily. So now anything other than that is a disappointment.

FWIW I do think the sport was better to watch 10 years ago (in general) as defences weren't as good and there were spaces and gaps for quick players to take advantage of, along with fewer players in the tackle so much more scope for offloads.

Several valid points here.
We all want our game to thrive, don't we?

I agree about the obsession with statistics - they are a curse of our modern world!
Relying on computers is what has brought us all to our knees about so-called "Global Warming"
Predictions constructed from the past can never be accurate - the past is history and will never happen again. I suppose it gives employment to boring old has-beens (eg Phil Clarke) with his visual preposterous predictions and meaningless block diagrams.
Like the Met Office, Clark is rarely right. (Same disease)

The Leeds plight has been created by this very over-reliance on the past - it is nothing short of disgraceful that we go on doing the same thing and expecting different results, with the same players who have steadily been wearing out and are now well past their best.
This points out a dire need for a new coach, doesn't it?

Leeds used to be famous for their nursery, "A" team and youth development.
Now, because they almost never get a game in the first team, we are gradually losing them.
A new coach who isn't afraid to take risks is the answer.
I hate the Arch-Thug Shaun Wane and all he stands for in the win-at-any-price culture, but you have to admit he is skilled at bringing on brilliant young players! This in turn attracts the talent that knows there is a good chance of getting games in the top-flight.

As for the training ethic, do we not live in the age of specialists?
What on earth drives some coaches to attempt to produce "Utility Backs" and "Utility Forwards"?
Teaching the unique skills needed in each position takes time, effort and capability and, once they are learned, polishing these skills as diamonds rather than rocks can produce real stars, to beat the Aussies, Kiwis, etc...
Skills as mentioned by Backwoodsman like the art of sidestepping, drawing the man etc simply have to be learnt and practiced until they become second nature. Playing men out of position and expecting them to do a different job just doesn't work.

McDermot has produced a side of rocks, rearranging them to his own taste, and watching them get steadily worn down. This has given us a recipe for ultimate failure.
We will not start winning again until a fresh new coach is given his head by Gary Hetherington, together witha loosening of his tight purse-strings!

As far as the desired thriving of our great game, the sooner that thye fat fraud, Nigel Wood and his parichial-minded cohorts are removed, the better in my opinion.

Rant over - resign yourselves to more of the same next year I suppose...

I have read with interest the points raised by other posters on this subject. I do not take issue that France is a Rugby League heartland, however the French should play the French in France, they are just a bunch of journeyman Aussies. As for the poster that suggests we don't want to watch Featherstone with 3000 other souls, why not, I have seen some great matches at Post Office Road. Why must we expand? why? look at the gates this year, they have been down year on year for the last few years.
I accept that I am against the tide, I do not think my views will prevail, but I hope others see value in some of my points.
It will take a lot to get me back to the game, I miss the biff, I miss the skill, I miss the characters and the fact that different teams played different ways, but most of all I miss standing on a packed terrace after a couple of pints watching my heroes take on local rivals.

Whilst the game looks to expand, looks for more corporate sponsors, and new partners, puts all its efforts into being inclusive and offending no one, whilst not investing in skill ability and risk taking, then I for one will not be taking my place on the terraces.