The most worrying aspect in all this is that it doesn't even look like the team are any closer of getting out of the rut than they did 2 months ago.

I tend to agree. Every time there is the suggestion of movement in the right direction [and as other threads document there are lots of things to be fixed] the next week any progress and good work seems to be undone. One step forward two steps backward. I think Peter Smith’s report in the YEP of the Huddersfield game is interesting in the line it takes. The back page headline reads “Mac Is Defiant” and documents how the team “Couldn’t train or try harder”. The actual match report leads with “ Spirit is not enough. Leeds played with their hearts……………………but not their heads”. Smith views the defeat as the most depressing of the season – I must say I found listening to the match once Keinhorst had scored the first try, with the penalties & the dissent pretty disheartening. Smith ends by commenting that the “Rhinos fans, who made up the majority of a poor crowd, deserved better”. If YEP coverage is taken as a general barometer of how Leeds are viewed by the wider fan base there’s a bit of a shift here. We have to take the rough with the smooth and we have had plenty of good times, plenty of close wins, plenty of trophies a golden age. That had to come to an end at some point, which it certainly has for this season. However, looking at Castleford’s performance today – half a team out no recognised half back’s at all. Well we should be doing better with what we have got.

McDermott said both before and after the first Huddersfield defeat that Leeds were going OK. He accepted people would disagree with his assessment - I think that was the bit he got right.

Nobody expected a repeat of the last few successful seasons,, but no one expected to see the dire performances we have seen this season. The last 2 games against a poor Huddersfield team have seen us go further backwards and have shown how little influence the coach is having on the team.
A mid table position would have been entirely acceptable this season , but what we have seen is not.
As said, Cas played today misssing 6 or 7 first teamers including both half backs , but they still had a structure ,planned moves , and an effective kicking game. We have none of these - the coach carries the can - time to go - NOW !!

Do they though?
Why?
Turning up and sitting there whinging even before kickoff (yes I was there before the attention seeker and his lap dog pipe up)?

Why exactly do Leeds fans deserve better?

Why exactly DON'T Leeds players/coaches/owners deserve better than the speaking of them like you've stepped in dog sh*t 'respect' they're getting after the success THEY'VE won that you could celebrate despite you never having made a single tackle, scored a try or kicked a goal???

Stupid sports mentality I've never understood....

People who actually achieved the success can become villains in just a few games???

People who just sit in the stands are always great because they clap and sing when it's great but slag the team off as soon as it doesn't look all roses???

Will be ripped for this I'm sure but the theory that fans are without criticism and always need to be praised is b*ll*cks just to make the average Joe feel like they've achieved something when they didn't actually do naff all.

People keep saying this but I know that if we were 6th/7th they'd still be the usual miserable b*st*rds whining like an 8 year old girl who didn't get the pony she asked for for Xmas that we weren't at the top.

You make an interesting point.

Without the supporters you don't have a game and the players would be doing something else.

All supporters want is that their team plays to its potential i.e. they get value for money. Let's face it if you buy a car you expect it to be able going forward and backwards etc.

I don't think any supporter expects Leeds to win trophies every year - I went to my first game in 1968 so I have seen the ups and the downs - but I don think the supporters deserve the team to perform to a reasonable standard and at least be able to do the basics to a competent level.

Even you most agree that is not happening at the moment.

I think you are wrong I think most would accept 6/7th - what they can't accept is the quality of the performances. Nobody minds getting beat by a better side - what p1sses people off is elite athletes not being able tackle, pass and catch. People work hard for their money the least they can expect is if the team gets beat do it with a bit of honour knowing they have give it everything - that is not happening at the moment.

You talk a load of Bull Printer , yes supporters will moan but the Leeds fans in general and especially on Friday have been fantastic and even when the game was lost kept backing the side right to the end . No one expected miracles this season but despite the obvious problems the performances have been dire .

Honestly, how can a great team go from heroes to zeros ? Overnight metaphorically speaking.

I know 3 very good players have retired, but i think too much is being read into that. At the end of the Grand Final you had arguably 16 truly outstanding players.(not including young Walters).
McGuire had just won the Harry Sunderland trophy as much for his organisation and leadership as his 2 tries. Adan Cuthbertson had been the stand out prop all season for his amazing ball handling as well as his grunt. I would have been equally if not more concerned if it had been Moon, Watkins and Man of Steel Hardaker who were leaving the club, or Briscoe, Cuthbertson, McGuire.

In comparison, since that same Grand Final, Wigan have also lost Matty Bowen, Joe Burgess, Larne Patrick, additionally Mcilorum has hardly kicked a ball, neither has Bowens replacement Sam Tomkins, and their own talisman, injury plagued O'loughlin is out of the side as much as he's in it these days. Those key 6 players are arguably as influential as the loss of the Leeds golden 3. But Wigan are still doing it, how's that then ???

Leeds should have had enough class all over the park to cover for the 3 losses. The choppy waters of this transition period should have seen the vast winning experience of JJB, Ablett, McGuire, and Burrows guide the team through this period. Internationals Hall, Watkins, Ferres and Briscoe should have fitted easily into "bigger boots" The class of Moon should have reached a new level, Cuthbertson and Delaney had the chance to become leaders.
The truth is no-one has delivered, players or coaching staff. The ready made excuse was always there and quite a cosy place to hide behind. and indeed they have.

Many teams this season could argue they have been hit with even greater losses of personnel than Leeds, yet the likes of Wakefield and Huddersfield, Wigan et al have dealt with it, they've not had a ready made excuse, apart from plain bad luck, and yet all these sides and more have shown Leeds the way to play in adversity.
Some bad decisions have to be owned up to. The Aichurch and Garbutt projects are proving to be just that, projects. Kangaroo and Origin veteran Galloway is either proving to all he is just a veteran or he has come for his pay check. His best days look well behind him at the mo.

Maybe Hetherington should be asking himself why on earth he didn't stagger the leaving of Peacock and Sinfield. Kev was still playing well in 2015 and could have easily gone round again for the good of the club, if he had been cajoled and sweet talked for the good of the club he loves.
But all that is History now. It is simply time for this gifted squad to man up, grow a pair, stop blaming bad weather and retirements of seasoned players AND GET ON WITH IT !!! The fans are owed that much.

With the exception of Garbutt, who I believe merits some perseverance, I can't really argue with any of that.

Yeah they sing and clap.....so does the cast of Glee.

The cast of glee get paid to sing and clap - the way Leeds are playing GH should be paying us to sing and clap

Dear all the point I was trying to make in my post about Peter Smith’s reporting of Fridays match and the fans deserving better was not so much that we do deserve better - we have had it pretty good. If I was a fan of the London team with ground changes, changes of name, losing all our better players over the years I might feel that I deserved better (although I would be quite happy at the moment) – the point is that his report suggests a growing level of frustration and exasperation with things. The fact that its like ground hog day hints of better things then seemingly no carry through and progress. Local sports reporters don’t tend to go out on a limb – invite criticism and pressure from readers that could jeopardise sales. I think the points he makes reflect a growing general loss of belief in things getting better.

GH has not said much about the current situation .