I was talking to one of the Sky Sports SL presenters on Saturday evening (one of the ones who knows what he's talking about - so that narrows it down a bit...) and he raised a similar point about how Leeds skill levels were very poor these days. Compare how good we were with the ball at times in the past and the players today sometimes look like they met in the car park before the game for the first time. We also discussed how this and decision making are the main reasons that we still lag behind the southern hemisphere teams at both club and international level.

He also thought that Cas will once again surprise people next season, and that the quality of their signings is much better than they are being given credit for, although he had lots of praise for Luke Gale so I guess everyone makes mistakes sometimes...

Does that article mean that B McD has / is going to leave himself open for feedback from Southstander?

I wonder what username he has been using if he has been on already..? It would be good if he included us in the feedback anyway; probably might have saved him a bit of time as well!

No, it just means he knows the name of the club's fan forum, I'd be amazed if any coach didn't know that after several years at a club.



Yeah asking us is definately better than asking his players and coaches. The day he or any future coach chooses to ask this forum is the day even I'll give up on this club.

Don't know why - it was all the fault of the CC - all those years of walking past the trophy and not picking it up!!

The fact the coach has admitted the basic skills of the players is not up to scratch begs the question as to what he does in training!! I expect to see a more NRL type risk averse style i.e. 5 one man plays from the ruck and one expansive play or kick on the last.

Bring a pillow to HQ you will need it

I'm presuming this reply was tongue-in-cheek or at very least people understand that my post was said with tongue-in-cheek?

Unless Printer is double-bluffing and is actually B McD himself..?

A lot of people seem to mention Wigan and the way they are set-up in attack. They are at one end of the scale, we are right at the other in terms of structure. But a point people are missing is all that off the ball running (which Wigan do a heck of a lot of) will be energy sapping. McDermotts theory is probably to save that energy and instead use it in defence and error free rugby to strangle the opposition. We need to find the happy medium.

Jon Wells then.

John Wells then. And I too think that Luke Gale is a much bigger signing for them than given credit for. He is a miles better player than Sneyd. However, I don't think they will be the "surprise" this year, but will still be competing for a credible place, along with others.

Time will tell but I think Cas will be one season wonders - Whilst better than Sneyd Gale is no great shakes.

A player like Gale is exactly what Cas needed alongside Ben Roberts. A steady head who will organise and look after the kicking responsibility, letting Roberts just go play in the same way that Chase used to for them.

They'll miss Clark and Huby far more they'll miss Sneyd. There's probably a good player somewhere in Scott Moore, but Powell will do well to find him.

There's a very decent nine inside Scott Moore. Someone just needs to throw him a lifebelt so he doesn't drown, allegedly.

What works for one team, doesn't always work for another, remember when the England footy team were going to play tiki taka?

Its alright saying were going to start playing a certain style to copy / emulate another team but do we have the set up TO do that? The right personnel etc? I don't think we do. We are set up to play off the cuff rugby and rely on individual skill to eke out opportunity's and judging by our turgid, predictable play inside the redzone for long distance trys. When this comes off, we look great, when it doesn't we look dire.

We made plenty of meters last year, our defence was spot on for large swathes of last season, we rotated players and looked the part all the way up to the magic weekend where we were jolted out of our groove and we coughed and spluttered away till the end of the season. Some games we turned up, some games we just went through the motions (Leigh at home, Les Cats both games at home)

We achieved what we all had waited for so long for in taking out the challenge cup in a clinical display but had depleted the tank and sank without so much as a ripple in those last 6 games. A taken pass here, a half break converted there who knows? we can only deal with what actually happened and we stank, stank royally.

Am I disappointed? Somewhat yes, all Gawwys bluster at "We're going for the lot next year" we had a brilliant chance to do it THIS year.

But hey! that's sport. You pays your monies, you roll with the punches.

The structure I want to see isn't set play after set play, but more a sense that a set of six has an objective. Not having that stands out a mile near to the opposition line, and is really odd given the number of 'playmakers' in our team.

In fairness that's a failing that's reared its head from time to time whenever the team hasn't been playing well, not just last season.