I used to get upset about defeats like this. Then we won SL from nowhere.

Felt nothing about the Wigan game and nothing about tonight other than I can see This being Lee Smiths last season in the first team at Leeds. He's gone backwards.

Having said that though maybe not the best game to judge him in. Thought Moore did ok.

I'm a Leeds fan who also like Saints, so i have no axe to grind.
Saints were great and Leeds got overrun.
fair play to saints.
BUT .. I am a believer in the psychology of winning and Leeds, bless them for their charitable intentions, did themselves no favours with the red hair.
Look like clowns, get treated like clowns.
PS Smith was god-awful. He used to be something special.

If i was a Leeds fan then yes i would be dissapointed by the result but sooner or later Saints were going to click and be dangerous.Its a long season and as you found out last year anything can happen.

Ugghh! Oh well ! Seems McDermott was right about Burrow all along: dummy half runner or sub for sure on tonight's performance. McShane still has his turnstyle defence. Shocking. McDermott right again. Smith sadly looks finished: what happened ?? Nothing left in the tank. Terrible to see. Forwards constantly back pedaling.....Hall being out jumped by Gardner. Delaney blocking early ball to Watkins.....

If anybody doubted the importance of Webb linking from FB or McGuire's creativity at scrum half then watch this match again.

Back down to earth with a substantial bump methinks. Roll on next week.

Yes they will, just like they did last year if the result at the end of the year is the same - being crowned super league champions.


Because two-thirds of the way through last season, they didn't think Leeds had a prayer of being champions and had concluded that McDermott wasn't up to the job. They now know differently, they know how the playoff system rewards mediocrity and they know that the regular rounds count for very little in the grand scheme of things. No matter how rubbish Leeds might be this season during the regular rounds, they all know Leeds are guaranteed to finish in the Top 5 or Top 6 at worst.


The people who don't care about rugby league are those who only care about the fortunes of the club they happen to support. Sadly, that would include the vast majority. I reside in the small minority camp.

Have to agree tonight's result should have had a severe impact on Leeds winning another GF......but it won't. They will still qualify easily for the competition.

There really is no logical reason for buying a season ticket or paying good money to watch regular rounds.

You can continue to think Leeds fan don't care to satisfy yourself because you see several posters on here after a defeat brushing it off with 'it doesn't matter'. But don't want to realise that several people on here after a beating is quite a small percentage of the 15,000 people who turn up to Leeds home games.

Don't talk daft!
What else do you propose?

Pick and choose, make use of the freebies available

Played three, lost two

If 15,000 rhinos supporters were given a choice of either...

1. Rhinos perform well for the vast majority of the regular rounds in SL, finish 1st on the ladder but are eliminated during the playoffs.

OR

2. Rhinos perform lousy for the vast majority of the regular rounds in SL, finish 5th on the ladder win all their playoff games and are crowned SL champions.

Which do you think the vast majority would choose?

So going by that logic, even if the playoffs do change to top 5 again or we get rid of them completely, then fans of teams such as Widnes, London, Wakey, Salford etc shouldn't bother to go watch their team because if your not playing games that could potentially be title deciding then its not worth watching.

Would the Leeds that played Manly have lost against Sts, let alone get hammered? I don't think so. Sts were up for it, Leeds weren't, and I wouldn't point fingers at the likes of Watkins, Hardaker, McShane (whose defence was fine against Manly) or Ward. The responsibility for not turning up rests entirely with the senior players.

Smith's performance is more of a worry. He must realise that he needs to stand out even in a poor team showing if he's going to have any chance of being a regular again. Based on that performance I'd put BJB to fullback and play Chisholm if Webb is out again.

BTW ks - what would a fan of any NRL team choose given the options you put up? Or any other SL side? That Leeds performance does expose a real problem in SL, but you can do better than that with your questions.

Option 3.....Play well during the season and finish top AND win the Grand Final, like we did in 2004 and 2009.

This option doesn't fit into your argument so i can see how you didn't include it.

Agreed, and it's the greatest marketing achievement of the Super League era that clubs have increased their number and percentage of season ticket holders so massively. Super League is just a consumer item after all. Would anyone be interested in a supermarket offer of Buy 12 Get 2 Free? Would anyone purchase a pack containing 14 alleged fruit items if over half of them are rotten?

Leeds last year were a one-off winning from 5th. Nobody in their right mind would actually aim to do that. Historically - and I suspect going forward - first or second is the place to be at the end of the year.