Forget refereeing decisions, forget 50/50 chances - we were beaten by the better team. Warrington were better on the day (without really having to get out of second gear), and have shown over the course of the season, they are are a better team than us.
When you look at the players, man vs man, I think we can more than match them for talent - however... For me, what today showed is that it's very dificult to coast through the season and then try turn it on for a single big game. Yes we did it last year in the run up to the GF, and that was great, but you can't do that year after year.
At the end of the day, Warrington were worthy winners, and we would have to catch them on an off day to win. We're simply not the best team anymore, and I can live with that - and even playing to our best, I don't think we could live with Wire or Wigan at their best.... Just one of those things - although I do feel that with better coaching, a few personnel changes and a change in attitude to the regular rounds, we can return to being the best team all round - and I still wouldn't write the team off for the GF.
I do have a feeling that this season could just fizzle out though - and long term, that might not be a bad thing. As a team and a club, we need to show more respect to the weekly competition.

I'm not even sure it's disrespecting the rounds. I think we clearly the 4th or 5th best side which our League position reflects. Having said that on our day we can still match the best sides if they aren't firing on all cylinders. Unfortunately these days are becoming more infrequent.

Disrespecting the rounds probably isn't the right term - but the focus and effort clearly isn't there for every game - certainly not in the first half of the season. And I can seriously see this having an affect on attendances and season ticket sales moving forward!
I do tend to agree with the rest of your post though - we can beat anyone on our day - but for the better teams, we also need them to have an off day.
We can't be the best team always - there is no shame in being second (or third) best to the current wire squad and coaches.... They are currently better in all aspects, and by quite a clear margin.

I agree. Wigan and Warrington are way in front and one of the main reasons are structures put in place by SMith & Maguire. Despite being proved wrong on more than one occasion, I'd still like to see us appoint a new coach next year.

I wouldn't say we had no game plan. In fact it worked quite well in the first half when we still well in the game. I think our game plan was to hold them early doors and then go onto the attack. The selection of Keinhorst over a forward rather backs that theory up. But the rain came down and meant different substitutions.

I do agree with you regarding our average/below average props with the exception of JP who was head and shoulders above our other 4 props and as a unit were not good enough. When Lunt came on and Burrow went to 7 we lost our shape IMO.

Had Bailey and Co. kept their discipline in a crucial period of the game the score would have been closer but without McGuire and with Sinfield a bit below par (and his effectiveness well closed down) it was always going to be an uphill task.

We have to accept that there are other sides with better players now and despite needing some new props with better go forward we are still knocking on the door for honours.

Relevance to 25th August 2012 ??

This is how to Lose badly!
We were beaten by a better team. The Delaney try if it had have gone our way may have been a different game but we will never know. At the game I thought it was a bad decision and went against us. (cracking tackle though)
Watching it back on tv think the right decision was probably made. I still don't think it was clear cut and I imagine some would have given the try, but probably right decision made.

Thought we played poor after the delaney decision but you have to say well done wire the better side on the day. Saying "come back when you win a GF" has no relivance and not needed.
You have to be a good loser as well as a good winner and admit the other team deserved the win

We lost to a better side,thought we played reasonably well in the first half,but the second half we were poor. Giving penalties away at key moments of the game and field positions cost us dearly.
At this stage seeing the huge effort the players put in I am reluctant to criticise anybody ,at the end they all looked drained both physically and mentally.
It will be a huge task to lift themselves up for the playoffs.

You could say that but he wasn't doing anything yesterday so had plenty time to waste.

Oh dear. It's 5 in 8 as it happens but the sentiment is still the same, you're a terrible loser.

Must admit I watched it back this morning and started to question that decision!

Watching from the upper tier behind the sticks really showed a stark contrast between the ball movement and speed of both teams. Leeds were one dimensional and slow for the biggest part, more concerned about ball retention while Warringtons moves were slick and direct especially near our line. It really summed up two things for me, you simply cannot concede 30 points against the top teams and expect to win a game. We've shipped points against all the big boys and have conceded between 30 and 50 against the all top 4 teams this season, our defence hasn't been good enough. Secondly, the loss of Mcguire really was as decisive as we all thought it would be. It showed in the first 15 minutes when Peacock broke the line a couple of times and ended up going down with nobody on his shoulder for the pass.......oh for Danny ! Our attack near their line was ponderous and predictable until it was too late. The game plan was to play it safe and let them make the mistakes, it sort of half worked for 50 minutes but needed changing when the momentum swung. Getting Mcguire fit is imperative for our playoff hopes.

kylie, griffin and bailey to go. a real hard nosed prop and young singleton to come in.
the second row of JJB,ablett and delaney are all much of a muchness. all good footballers but no mongrel in there. we need a hock or a westwood in there. a young anthony farrell if we can find one.
our pack is dominated most weeks. we have good backs and halves but they are always on the back foot.

As much as I love the banter around Bailey, he was awful yesterday

Bring back Amor?