What are you talking about?

Since someone pointed out that we were in a similar position last year (getting stuffed by Saints and Wire at this stage of the season by 40 odd points) I have thought well maybe the lads will turn it around again and win matches at the important end of the season. BUT, I still can't get away from the fact that if this is true then the club are expecting fans to pay good money to watch sub-standard performances up to July. How do Leeds expect fans to keep turning up week after week to watch a team playing 2nd rate rugby. Attendances will suffer, having a knock-on effect throughout the club.

Of course Buderus was aggressive, he was on the front foot and made strong tackles infront of the gain line (you don't have to punch people to be aggrssive in rugby). Liam Hood is in his 20's, he's physically ready. Countless players have been brought into the team at this stage and have flourished - countless others have been loaned out recently and then disapeared.

And I'm glad you appreciate my definition of a hooker, anything to help Brian

But I would also add, it you really want to play a half back at 9 then make him a [ibig[/i one like Roby or ...cough...Lowes.

Because thats the business model, it works too, people still pay money for season tickets in the belief that their world will end if they don't.

Does anyone buy a season ticket for The Vue and go to watch every film every week including the ones they don't like ?

Never underestimate the loyalty of your typical sports fan. They keep shelling out the cash, even when their brain tells them they're not getting anything close to value for money.

A season ticket failed to provide value for money when it started offering the equivalent of 2 games free. The last time I purchased a season ticket, there were 15 home games and the season ticket price was the equivalent of paying for 9 and getting 6 games free.

He's doing a pretty good job considering the squad of players he has available to him. I'm sure he'll coach the team to a position lofty enough on the SL ladder to secure a home game in week 1 of the playoffs

Leeds Rhinos are up against it all season because they’re the current Super League and World Club Champions meaning that other teams really get themselves up to play against Leeds. I’m happy as long as Leeds Rhinos play well a couple of times during the season just to give me a glimpse of what to come at the end of the season and in important games. If they win trophies then great.

Brian McDermott has certainly earned his place off the back off a great Challenge Cup run and Super League grand final win last year along the World Club Challenge this year. The current playing standards aren’t pretty at Leeds but you could say that for most of the other super league teams too. Is Brian McDermott and his like responsible for that as well?



I’m around but just keeping a low profile

Hi everyone,

Thanks again for all your replies!

Tvoc – Again, the stats don’t tell the story. Of the 10 rankings you give, 5 of those were outside the play-off places, so not as good as you would have me believe. McDermott’s first season was in 2006 (albeit not a full season), but the Club began to undergo major changes from as soon as 2007 with Ian Lenagan retaining his London shares and yet becoming owner of Wigan. This would suggest to me that Mac did not perhaps have the backing to build the team that he would have liked as no financial investment was made. Several of their key players, such as Henry Paul, were allowed to leave the Club and were never replaced, and then in addition to this they had a number of injuries to key players such as Henry Fa’afilli. With all the success we’ve had over the last 8 years, I am confident that the Club will continue to invest in our team, so the coming years do not concern me at all.

In terms of the 2011 fixtures against Warrington, Wigan and Saints that you quote, I have to admit disappointment in you. The results against Warrington at home and Saints away certainly add some drama to your statistics but we played really well against Wigan at home, losing only in the dying minutes, and we should have beaten them away when Danny McGuire scored (Stuart Cummings publicly admitted that this try should have been awarded). We were also very competitive in the Saints game at home for about 60 minutes, but again a disappointing last 20 lost it for us. We may have lost to Warrington twice in the League, but our performance in the play-offs was outstanding; we won when it mattered. I’m going to repeat myself here tvoc – the stats do not tell the story.

Nantwichexile – I’d be interested to know how many of Webb’s penalties have actually been for dissent, do you know? I thought most were through “sloppy technical offences”.

DHM - Again, thanks for the patronising definition of aggressive. Liam Hood may be 20, but that doesn’t mean he’s physically ready (to be honest, I find that logic a bit strange). You don’t hit an age and suddenly magically become physically ready to deal with older, more experienced players who are ready to batter you – it takes practise and experience which he won’t have had in the under-20s. I also mention above that you have to be mentally able to cope with the change and again, this isn’t something which magically happens overnight, it takes time and experience and I fully believe that with the promise he shows, we SHOULD give him that time. When I talk about bringing players in from the under-20s I talk about phasing them in and for all your patronising, you haven’t been able to tell me why I should change my mind on this.

Finally, some of you have talked about the fans forking out to watch sub-par rugby and whether or not we should cheer the team on. I’m going to reiterate my point that this Club has given us some fantastic memories over the last few years, and frankly I’ll be running off that for a long time to come. I know it’s disappointing to see what we’re seeing at the moment, but who wants to be the one to say “yeah, I didn’t go to the games in the back half of the season after we lost to Wigan and Warrington, but I went to the Cup Final and Old Trafford”. For me personally, I want the right to say at the Final that I WAS there for those games (I'm no early '00s Bulls fan!!) We are SUPPORTERS and we should do just that – SUPPORT. 10 years ago the fans turned up win or lose and I would like to think that most of us will do that now (as I know most of you will).

Some great points - like anything, it never seems such good value for money when we're losing games but considering the success we've had over the past few seasons it's very harsh to start throwing in the towel now on the back of a mediocre mid season slump.

As for McDermott, I remember speaking to some fans after last years Grand Final win who will still wanted him to get the boot - I'm not sure what some fans are expecting tbh



Slightly OT but some of the posts on the Rhinos Facebook page really do reek of the typical arm chair fans who rant to sack the coach but can't back it up with a valid reason nor explanation as to how it would help us for the rest of the season. I think it's just an easy option to blame the coach if i'm honest. It was nice the majority of travelling support last friday were behind the team and coaching staff, and that they recognise the best way to get out of this current slump is through support rather than needless panic and personal attacks.

You have to factor 'hope' into your reasoning. People keep shelling out the cash in the hope of getting value for money.