I highly doubt Sir Kevin Sinfield would have this wrong, of course it’s true

That's McDermott all over - consistently he has played players when they have been unfit and should have been rested.

But he hasn't been playing all year has he? He has only made the team sheet in 9 out of 27 matches playing just 422 minutes which is the equivalent of 5 and a bit games.

Peteru has only managed 135 minutes, Mullally 433 minutes so we have missed 3 big props for much of the season and one of the reasons for our poor performances.

Perhaps if they had got him fixed up properly in the first place then perhaps he would have had a more productive season. When you are siting Mulally as a contributory factor to a string of abysmal performances then you really are scraping the barrel in defending a coach who was in part the architect of his own demise

One down three to go

It sure is !

2 out of three npw

Toronto looked poor to me - a team of bottom four quality players.

Other than the venue I am unsure what they will add to the SL competition?

Halifax look so far out of the depth to be an embarrassment.

Toronto get to SL they'll sign some better players, obviously. But do they have enough to gain promotion?

Unfortun It’s does look that way, but we are in the same comp as you on a fraction of the money, so says little for the embarrassing season you’ve had.

Garbutt missed the first couple of games with a dead leg gained in pre-season he then injured his knee in his first game back. He had surgery on it which kept him out until June. He played 3 games in June and 3 games in July and now has had a second knee operation.

Knee injuries are common for rugby players and can be career ending for those carrying the sort of weight that big men like Garbutt carry. For you to imply that the club or doctors are responsible for not getting "him fixed up properly" smacks of a blame the club for anything agenda.

Mullally has been a regular in the match day 17 for a couple of seasons now, so why do you wish to dismiss his absence so lightly when it is on top of losing our other three big props for most of the season. (Galloway, Garbutt and Peteru). Playing without your big men is a huge disadvantage yet you think this has not been a contributory factor in the poor team performances this year.

At least Sinfield has had the benefit of Garbutt and Peteru being available for half his matches so far.

What I think is too much is being made out of the loss of pretty average props - Mulally would be nowhere near getting a place in any of the top 4/5 sides. His loss is not even worth considering when reviewing McDermott's performance.

Other clubs have had equal injury issues e.g. Hull and they haven't suffered anywhere near the calamatous season Leeds have had.

Galloway never started so cannot be included, he missed a big chunk of 2017 and he wasn't missed - so we are talking about Garbutt and Peteru, who let's face it has hardly pulled up a lot of trees since his return. You are simply looking for excuses to defend the indefensible.

Losing props is definitely a facvtor, but when you look at what happened, not at least signing a Crosby-esque player on loan was ridiculous. I don't care whose fault it was.

Whilst a problem, we saw Huddersfield put together wins without many big forwards, because they adapted their game to suit the players available. Leeds never showed the slightest sign of adapting. You won't beat top sides regularly lacking big forwards, but the bottom half of SL is made up of a lot of poor teams, and we should have been able to get some wins by playing better and smarter. That's poor coaching and a poor squad.

Very few on here are under an illusion as to how embarrassing this season has been for the club. Hopefully a few of the higher-up individuals will look in the mirror and makes sure the mistakes that have been made are not repeated.

After round 2, here is my latest Prediction, surprisingly 4 Wins may for the 1st time guarantee safety. Subject to points difference.
But letting 4 try's in the last 15 minutes did not help!

14 Salford Win - Toronto (H), Toulouse (H), Leeds (A), London (A), Halifax (A)
12 Hull KR Win - London (H), Widnes (H), Halifax (H), Leeds (A), Toulouse (A)
8 Leeds Win - Toronto (H) Halifazx (A) - Loss to Salford (H). HKR (H), Widnes (A)
8 Toronto Win - London (H), Widnes (H), Toulouse (H) - Loss to HKR (H), Leeds (A), Salford (A)
6 London Win - Halifax (H), Toulouse (H) - Loss HKR (A) Salford (H), Toronto (A)
6 Widnes Win - Leeds (H), Halifax (H), Toulouse (A) - Loss HKR (A), Toronto (A),
2 Toulouse Win - none - Loss - (HKR (H), Widnes (H), Toronto (A), London (A), Salford (A)
0 Halifax Win - none - Loss - Leeds (H), Salford (H), HKR (A), London (A), Widnes (A)

You seriously think we'll lose to Widnes, Salford and Hull KR?

Not sure why, but HKR haven't yet been the force in the M8s that they threatened to be. In many regards they were lucky to beat a Toronto side who were also a lot poorer than I'd expected. I'd be surprised if we didn't beat at least one of these sides at home.

Salford seem to have hit a bit of form and possibly KR too, but I think we can even turn over Widnes, pity we don’t have them at home otherwise I’d really fancy us .

Classic Sal.

We have only won once at Widnes in 6 years, and that was the cup game earlier in the season. We are not good on the plastic pitch, even with the form Widnes are going through it will be close.
We are still leaking points and both HKR matches this season have been close.
While Salford are on form and turned us over only last month.

Of course Galloway has to be included as he was a first choice experienced prop contracted at the start of the season and only retired a few games into the new season. He was not replaced so the squad had 3 first choice (17) big men missing for so much of the season plus new signing Peteru which make 4 props out! Which clubs had 4 big props out for as long? which were on top of all the other long term injuries.

It is ridiculous to ignore these facts and dismiss them out of hand when looking for reasons for our poor performance and for you to have suggested the Leeds club management and medical staff did not get Garbutt's knee injury "fixed up properly" is further evidence of you anti club agenda.

We beat them in 2014. Anyway, we may be poor but Widnes are down right awful at the minute. If we can't beat them with SL status on the line should it be when we play them then we deserve to be playing championship rugby next season.

LEEDS WILL WIN ALL 7 GAMES.

Our defence needs to significantly improve if that’s to be the case

I'm not anti the club - they are in a difficult position with the investment they have had to make in the stadium.

What I am not into is defending a coach like McDermott that should have done better than he did with the resources at his disposal. As has been said on here I get losing to the likes of Wigan, Saints, Warrington even Cas but losing to the likes of Widnes, Catalans before their form improved, Huddersfield is poor management regardless of the squad make up.

McDermott had resources he chose not to use e.g. Ormonroyd, Smith, Lilley which would have provided some breathing space for injured/over used players. That is before we get into conditioning, youth development and tactics.