I think the fact that we retained the squad for next season points to that approach mate.

cheers matt. I agree with your asessment of bailey. I have always thought he was a valuable member of the squad.

Haven't seen the KR game yet, but as far as defence goes it was generally woeful the week before vs Sts. Even without two halfbacks they were regularly making 50 yards plus in a set with forward drives and dummy-half scoots. Leeds never looked remotely like controlling the PTB.

This is another result which again suggests to me that Leeds are generally 'up' for some games and less so for others. It may get us a CC but unless we add some steel in defence and start to play more consistently I can't see us challenging for the Championship at the end of the year.

This team should have been wiped at the end of last year. if this team wins anything this year then they are counted as lucky. Trying to carry this side over to next year is laughable at best and anyone who supports this recruitment policy is a complete fool.

This team will struggle to win anything this year never mind next year.

Step forward you puddings!

We are a year behind IMO, we should have been doing this for next year, not the year after.

It doesn't take a crystal ball, you only have to take off the tinted specs and smell the coffee to see a lot of these senior players are done.

Re-signing Senior, Donald, and Ali for next year was poor management IMO.

It's certainly a valid point of view, but I'm prepared to adopt a wait and see policy on this. A lot of people (myself included at times) thought Keith was done a couple of seasons ago, but he has proved otherwise. Hopefully, he and others can continue to do so.

It's only natural that the senior players will start slowing down at some point but to go from winning four titles in a row to not making the top six the next season is harsh.

How? we will be lucky to get 5th this year in the league. So why would it be harsh to drop a couple of spots next year?

I thought you were on the badwagon that these players had 3 or 4 years yet anyway?

I thought, Ambler, Burrow & Delaney all played well but the rest were average to poor with Sinfield, Hall & especially Smith having bad games.

Badwagon? that sounds fun

I do think McGuire, Burrow, Sinfield have another 3-4 years in them, that's just my opinion, I never said anything about Senior, Donald & Ali still doing it in 3-4 years as they are all that bit older.

I expect us to finish higher next year, this year we have had a lot more injuries than normal, we've also been very patchy with form but have beaten wire x2, hull x2, Wigan & Saints (all the teams above us) in the last few months, I don't think it's the end of an era just a very patchy year.

I think our most likely spot is 4th, with 3rd still possible. Can't see us losing more games than the teams below us TBH

I think given the talk of teamspirit and loyalty at the end of last season, it needs to work both ways. It doesn't send out a good message to say we want you to play for this club for less than you could get elsewhere for the prime of your career, then we'll bin you once you start to get old.

there's more to building a successful team than getting the most talented group of players together

It's a fair point. But the club are in the entertainment business, not a charity.

Will they therefore be honest enough to tell the fans and the sponsors that unfortunately in order to reward players for previous achievements we will have to accept a huge decline in what we will produce for a couple of years?

I don't think they need to improve as they are already good enough to win it as proved over the last few years, I think they need to get back to our "normal" form and players can suffer periods of poor form and return without it being terminal decline. I also think that it's very hard to keep up the same consistent level of performance for 4 seasons especially when the side has been so unsettled with injuries.

No doubt that many of our players have been poor this year but IMO the outlook is not as dark as some think.