All the players who played in the 2009 GF were at the club for the 2007 & 2008 GF, I'm sure there will be some who still don't think the squad is good enough.

It seems to me that the temptation which most fans fall into is to compare the weakest player of their own team with the best of all the rest of the league. On that basis it is easy to say that the team could be stronger.

Under a salary cap it is virtually impossible to assemble a team where each of the squad is also the best player in their position in the entire competion.

The last couple of coaches have done a good job at getting the entire team to play together and to improve the level of the "weaker" players whilst keeping up the high standards of the "star" players.

I completely agree. I still feel a lot of posters don't fully understand the implications of the salary cap - particularly the "hard cap" that has been in place the last couple of years.
The 2010 squad we have been able to put together must be a remarkable piece of financial work.

Fair enough, if you so wish.

Will take me a while as I go away for a week or so tonight but I'll get round to it, including the bile you posting during the 2007 season.

Yep, keeping the vast majority of the squad together while adding some quality in Eastwood and strength in depth with Coady, Pitts, Ambler, Amor etc is impressive. Hetherington deserves a lot of praise, something he doesn't usually get from a lot of fans who often just complain about the price of tickets/replica shirts.

I did question the way the team were coached during points of the season yes.

Was it really a poor standard of rugby, or was it more likely that the increased standards of our opponents made it appear we were playing worse than we had in past years?

Agree with all of that pal

May I be the first to acknowledge the debt we owe to Bluey and the lads, who despite the obvious lack of a forward and right centre, produced an an epic winning season. Have a good Christmas lads, next season is looking good!

you dared to question the coach? expect that post to be dragged up at some point and remember, you shouldn't have an opinion.

Go get 'em Tad.
Did anyone ever tell you that you shouldn't have an opinion?

there is no way of proving either, though i would say for long parts of the season we werent pushed at all,

If you think back 5 years ago, Bradford, Saints, Hull, Wigan, Warrington were all more than capable sides, the past three years its been Leeds and Saints then daylight

im not sure we could have won the 2004 GF without a recognised centre or with the pack we had.

And if this club is truly one of champions the question we need to ask is not is the squad good enough, but is the squad as good as it could be, last season i dont think it was

however next year i think man for man, our squad is the best it has been since 04, and if we can deal with the (very very very difficult) issue of keeping three times winners fully fit, motivated and psychologically at the top of their game we should win this league at a canter

See my post a few posts up the thread about the implications of a hard salary cap finally being in place.

No

I started supporting Leeds in 01/02 so i was around for a little part of the 'underarchiving' years. When Leeds got to the 2003 CC Final, it was like a dream, which was then shattered. The year later we got to the 04 GF, when the final whistle went i was just stunned. I was thinking to myself 'this just doesnt happen to Leeds, its not meant to happen'.

Yesterday i watched the 2008 GF on Dvd and when the final whistle went and the camera showed Gaz Ellis going balistic, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and i had a massive grin on my face. Just after that 08 victory i remember walking out of the stadium thinking Wow were only the 2nd team to win back to back titles, it was a huge sense of pride to be up there in a little bit of history. I felt the same mind set as what i had in 2004 - "stuff like this is not meant to happen to Leeds - were meant to be the losers of finals, get so near but yet so far". To be up there with Saints and to do something Bulls havnt done before was a great feeling. And now to think to went on to make it 3 in a row - well i dont think that has sunk in yet.

So just to taste a little bit of the 'bad times' is enough for me to savour every single minute of this golden era we are in.