Neither have Wigan, Saints, Warrington, or Cas either played their full strength for weeks.

And whilst we might have shown we can beat those teams earlier in year, we have also not beaten them since in other games.

They might have played the same team. But I doubt Bradford played as bad against them as they did us. They were absolutely woeful last night. That is why people are getting some realism about us.

Some people have really short memories, probably the same ones who were calling for the coach's head and half the team to be dropped in 2011 & 2012.
And probably the same ones who argued for almost a full season, saying that Jamie Peacock will never be a prop.

Considering we are 2014, and you missed out 2013, wouldn't that make it, some people have long memories?

Not really. Remembering 10-20 years ago would probably require a longer memory.
Less than 2 years ago really shouldn't, should it?

I'd say probably also selective memory.

Most would forget Warrington getting battered 62-18 by London the week before the 2012 CC final. I've seen enough sport in my life and plenty of poor performances the week before big important games not to hold much weight to what happened last night. Whilst bad last night it doesn't tell us anything really about ourselves moving forward. I was more concerned when we went to Odsal in 2012 and lost 12-4 with no distractions and a stronger line-up.

You get the sense some wouldn't mind if we got knocked out the CC next week and we slip out of the top 4 and fail in the playoffs as it'll give them their "I told you" moment.

Before anyone can come out and predictably say "how can you defend last night".....I'm not. It was rubbish. It disappoints me whenever Leeds lose as I've always stated I wanted Leeds to finish as high as possible in the table.......it just seems strange that so many who had relaxed attitudes towards the regular season previously and wanted players rested for big games as a high league placing wasn't really important are now getting really upset because we've rested players and it might cost us the LLS which suddenly people are now craving.

Printer-The resting/rotation debate always had a context to it and NO-ONE ever mentioned making as many changes as last night.
As for LLS I'm not that concerned or bothered about it and I'm fully aware of "previous losses" before big games.
The fact still remains last night was in no way good enough too many "senior" players never showed up and irrespective of the relegated opponents they wanted it more which should never be acceptable in any derby game.

Given you can't remember anything from last night due to your vodka consumption how can you say it was rubbish?

Just another stark reminder of how much we will miss JP and sinfield when they finish, and a clear indicator that certain other players just cant be trusted, or just simply dont have the ability to raise their game when passed the burden of responsibility.

I guess that anything is possible until events prove otherwise but when did Leeds last show they could beat Huddersfield?

Even the point they took off them this season appeared to be grand larceny

If you look at the PD for everyone, we have scored the least total points out of the top 6. Ok, I accept Leeds have still conceded the least too, but that is more down to the first third of the season. The defence has been more porous recently - which would be more ok if we were scoring loads. Unfortunately we have not been. Even when we played well earlier on, we weren't wracking up loads 40/50 point scores (as many teams - even those lower down have done at times).

We very rarely seem to get more than about 28 points, even when dominating. Take away the 'domination' then you are probably looking at maybe 20 point scores at best. Add the dodgy defence and whereas before we were conceding no more than 12 a game, we are now probably averaging around 18-20 points a game at best.

Unfortunately the attack has gone limp so we have lost our best early-season weapon (defence) and therefore having to rely on our attack to win games for us. Unfortunately, our attack hasn't been as explosive / picked up as many points as the rest of the top 6 and even lower down individual teams further down the league have scored more heavily in individual games than we have. We have scored 30+ 11 times this season in league and cup, but only 2 of those have been since the start of May (the last game v Saints in the CC at the end of April was when I think we properly played well).

We conceded more than 20 points a game zero times by the start of May, but 5 times since. The two together are not a good mix - the previously strong defence has gone frail and the previously ok attack has gone down a bit too. It leaves a small margain from which to grind out victories - more recently we are seeing that it is too fine and keep coming up short.

All good points. I'm no statto but my perception is that low-scoring teams - over the course of a season - are rarely those that walk away with the trophies, regardless of how few they concede.