I dont understand anyone who says they can only enjoy a match IF THEY WIN.

They must be myopic, one eyed, arrogant, and rather foolish. IMHO

One of my favourite ever games of rugby was Bradford 19 - 18 Leeds in 99 at odsal. Withers drop goal.

A year before my time.

The epic, brutal & highly intense 2008 playoff vs Saints will take some beating, and we lost... I think Gidley can still feel Kylies shoulder on his nose.

Saying that the 2011 Warrington playoff was in my opinion the ultimate game. One minute we're dead and buried the next we're in the lead and defending the line time after time. Immense. We would have had no shame in losing and still would have enjoyed it as much. Would love that against Cas in the final.

Win or Lose I would love to see a Leeds v Cas CC Final

Did you watch it at home on the sofa

I could enjoy a Grand Final that we lost if it was a good game. I can always enjoy a league game or a play-off match even if we lose.

I quite enjoyed some of our CC finals (2003 and 2005 in particular) as spectacles.

I think I might be out of capacity for enjoying losing CC finals now though. Novelty has worn off, and while I'd love to win a modern classic, I'd take a scruffy win, a lucky win even. I just want a win. Both sides with 2% completion rates leading to a 1-0 win from a 13th minute drop goal that went over after ricocheting off Ben Westwood's a**e? It'll do for me. 98-0 uncompeitive blow out? Sure, why not.

Of course my ideal would be to be 41-0 down with 20 minutes left after being horrendously unlucky with 15 or so terrible refereeing decisions, only to come back with 7 tries in the last 15 minutes, the last being converted on the final hooter by Sir Kev from the right touch line for a 42-41 win.

Plenty of time to be a purist later.

Agree with that Diabz. Dying for us to win it!

It's 5. Very impressive.

But change your frame of reference to 6 years (including this) and they haven't even made the final whereas Leeds have made three (fingers crossed four).

That would be one great atmosphere and a great free flowing game more than likely on what you would assume will be a dry track.

Obviously it would be a horrendous one to lose but on the flip side a superb one to win.I really hope it happens.

T'was 2007. In 2008 we got a good spanking by Saints.

Which made the Grand Final win that year so unexpected and satisfying!


I have a few favourite games for a few different reasons.

The 99 Cup run and win because it was the first time I'd seen us win anything.
The 2004 70-0 beating of Saints. It was a truly awesome performance of hugely entertaining attacking rugby.
The 2004 GF win. So tense. A feeling of entitlement due to running away with the league, turning to incredible nervousness and tension. And then utter chaos and mania when McGuire scored. I can remember shouting at Senior "keep hold of it!" as he started to turn to offload to McGuire. Then going mental, along with everyone else, as McGuire dived over.
The 2007 GF win for such a great performance in a final.
The 2009 GF win for such a magnificent achievement in another tense, tight game. Sinfield in particular was superb.

I'm not sure which is my ultimate favourite but I'd also pick out the 2007 playoff game v Wigan. I still see it as the game in which I've seen Leeds play at their very best. There was absolutely no way Wigan were going to win that game and it was such a professional and complete performance from Leeds.

The 99 cup run was really memorable. I've heard before fans from other clubs try and play that success down because we only had to face London in the final but they forget we had to get past Wigan, Saints and Bradford on route. The semi final was particularly satisfying as we'd been done twice by Bradford at that stage in 96 and 97 and there was probably as much doubt going into that semi as there is going into this weeks semi whether we could get past our recent cup bogey team. Ryan Sheridan's ball steal and try is a moment that still sticks in my memory well.

The 2009 GF is one I really like also. On the face of it, scrappy tries (Meli AGAIN) and not a load of chances and it probably wasn't the most exciting to watch for some neutrals but I thought it was a real battle. Like in 2008 Saints had been the better side for the opening 25/30 minutes but we did what has been the hallmark of this Golden Generation's when they've succeeded....and not panicked. We didn't do anything fancy or risk taking to get back into the game, just absorbed the periods we were under pressure and kept going for field position and doing basics correctly. Again like I said, probably not the most exciting to watch but perhaps when watched closely in detail the greatest single example of why Leeds have succeeded so well in playoff rugby. Not even including his two tries (as one was a present and one questionable), I thought Lee Smith was excellent that day, his work in defence rushing out and kick chase were terrific. The desire/hope I had that we won that particular one was up there on another level (along with 2004) compared to the other years as it felt unique and very special to be going for the hat-trick of titles and was the win IMO that made sure that this generation wouldn't just go down as a special side in Leeds history but a special one in RL history.

As it turns out now looking back it was also the last GF win for a few key guys for us in Senior, Donald, Diskin and Smith. By the time we won again in 2011 the side had started to take a different shape and look compared to the 'hat-trick side' and I view it now as the last hurrah for a certain chapter of the Golden generation.

ignoring finals i think central park in 98 was fantastic and the big win at home to the bulls in 99 were the two that come to mind

The 1977 semi (7-2 v saints at Central Park) and the 2003 classic rank highly for me.