Somewhere in that post I will take it there is a compliment, but you are right, I am special.

But not special in the Loz interpretation of the word special.

I hope I'm wrong on that one. I genuinely thought he was a good signing and Diskin's poor form suggests the management were aware we needed a quality 9, but that was before he tore his bicep and before he needed a knee op.
Like I said, I wouldn't care a bit if I was made to eat those words.

i don't get this thread.

McClennan has been afforded no more leeway then smith ever was.

smith 1st season won the title = dogs bollox.

bluey first season won the title = dogs bollox.

Only towards the end of smiths 2nd season did people have doubt.

bluey is only 1/3 of the way through the 2nd season so if people are doubting bluey now he's been given less leeway than smith.

Or you could say his effect has waned sooner?

In Reilly's solo tenure there were times we could score 50 points very uninspirationally.

At the moment it's not like the slumps of recent years where we are losing games we could have won. Games we have lost this year we've never looked like winning.

One out rugby & unsupported breaks is not something the present squad should be producing.

Yes the last 2 seasons have shown the middle of the season doesn't matter & leeway was probably given last year after the finishing run of 2007.

There is probably more chance of winning the grand final and not the league leaders again this year but i don't expect to be bored in the meantime.

Good luck to Ellis we're certainly missing him, i'm not sure who we could have got to play as strong a game as he did.

Only time will tell. I just think our players look knackered. The forwards look knackered, mcguire and burrow look jaded (mentally as well), webb still not right after his injury and we are very low on confidence which is contributing to the knackered look.

loads of people seem to be sh*tting themselves and beefing but we'll get our mojo back eventually.

Another example of club coaching and having to hold the attention of and motivate players for 40-odd weeks of the year being differenent from short hits in representative tournaments?

Perhaps McLennan has truly run out of ideas?

Why can't people just see it for what it is, a low on confidence team in a bad run of form.

There's always got to be some ''big reason''.

- blueys run out of ideas
- his influence has worn off
- teams have us figured out
- our squad is too weak

Blah blah blah.

The reality is that we can't get it together at the moment, but it will come back, sure enough.

How can you be so sure? Is it a given that Leeds will be up there at the end of the season?

I personally have little faith in McClennan and haven't since last season when I was saying the same thing.

The reason why we're playing so badly in his opinion? We're not contolling the ruck.

So, because we aren't controlling the ruck our defence is poor, our kicking game is non-existent, we're dropping the ball, we aren't backing up and we aren't offloading.

Right, ok Bluey, whatever you say.

So if you're Brian McLennan, you shrug your shoulders sure in the knowledge that it will all come right eventually?

The truth is you can never be sure, it isn't a given that leeds will be up there at the end.

But this team has been there and done it before. 3 titles in 5 years and 4 grand finals in 5 years. So those facts alone should give us some faith.

We've hardly played well all season, yet we are what, 3rd on points difference?

If our form picks up abit we should be able to nail 2nd place and thus once again be in a good position for a grand final appearence.

Controlling the ruck helps the game to flow your way. You find gaps easier because the defence is on the backfoot and when defending, your line has chance to set and smother the opposition. Controlling the ruck is a big part of the game.

The kicking game is a mystery. It has been very poor but we've all seen how good it can be, look at the grand finals. But when you are on the backfoot in a game it's much harder to get a decent kick in and that's what we are finiding.

It certainly is in Rugby Union

Are you on the right Forum?

Its just as important in rugby league.

I've been critical of the Leeds performances on here since the Warrington away game (was Eastwood's visa turned down back then?) and I've seen nothing much since to convince me it's time to lighten up.

Maybe I'm just naturally a pessimist and maybe supporting Leeds for over forty years there's a reason for that.