Fair enough.however, its hard to imagine mcdermott resting so many and not focusing on gaining victory over easy beats Bradford and London before the cup were it only top 4 qualify,games had we won we would still be on for top and the dinner plate.6th really is a bit of a false position but still as you know not at all bad in current format.

we will see what the new structure brings, but i expect leeds to finish top 4 no problem next year.

Grow up idiot. Read what is put properly, as it appears you have no concept of the sport. Next season onwards only the top four will have the opportunity to win the trophy. That is the context being spoken of.

And as I said, had we beaten Saints or Wigan, I would have agreed with him. The CC final wasn't the reason we lost those, nor was losses to Wakefield, an injury hit Saints away, or injury hit Wigan on magic weekend.

We are finishing where we are because that is the form over 27 rounds, not because of a challenge cup.

Eh? I know our Coach has had his moments but I doubt even he would have fielded the sides he did against Bradford and London had we not still been in the Challenge Cup.

Correct.and were the system not broken the way it currently is i highly doubt so many would have been rested over both those games.

Would Mcguire and Burrow have been left out against wigan were there no real difference to finishing 3rd/4th or 5th/6th? Again, probably not.

Easy beats Bradford and London won't be there next season to be focusing on or off either way. With the initial top division down to 12 teams, that's two less whipping boy SL rabble teams and 4 less games available to toss off the regular season.

Given that 5th, 5th and 3rd were the last 3 positions Leeds finished on the regular season SL ladder, finishing 6th doesn't appear to be quite so false a position for the club to be in under the tutelage of McDermott. Sadly, among many of the fans, it's a finishing position on the ladder which is deemed structurally acceptable to many, provided it's backed up by silverware of course.

Next season should far more interesting as fans have been ripped-off and starved of proper sport for over half a decade. They'll get to rediscover interesting and meaningful games again during the regular season, and when they do, then "5th", "6th" and "McDermott" will suddenly become regarded (and rightly so) as unacceptable pieces in the Rhinos jigsaw.

Sorry pal but what a load of b-llocks. Its been a balancing act this season, with the first target being the cup. You can't ignore it has affected our league position!!

Log off - you're embarrassing yourself.

So finishing 6th potentially ending only 4pts off first is unacceptable?

Also we're domed for next year because it's only top 4 playoffs? What rubbish. It's a new season, with a new structure. I expect Leeds will finish top 4. Remember Leeds and saints are the only teams to have featured in every last of series. No reason to doubt that continuing

Exactly

What is unacceptable is the standard of play for the second half of the season - the CC should not have impacted the league - the fact it did is amateur hour for an elite professional side!!

Many on here think after winning the CC the team can now fail dismally in the play offs and it will still have been a vintage season!!

So for those who think winning the CC is enough would it have been OK if the side had missed out on the play offs but still won the CC?

A few moaners and an increasingly laughable troll on an internet forum or the most successful coach at the most successful club in SL's history?

I'll stick my faith in the latter, cheers.

Roll on the play offs, WCC weekend and 2015.

I'm sure the troll will do his usual 6 week disappearing act at around 8pm on GF night and the perennial moaners will still be saying we're papering over the cracks despite doing the double, lol.

spot on sal. even a little bit more thought and effort would see us top of the pile and home games all the way to the grand final. as it is a monumental effort is needed and i'm not sure we either have what it takes or enough left in the tank

I agree completely!

regards,
Shaun Wane, 2013

Have you ever lost FIVE Challenge Cup finals and had to face constant questions about whether you'd ever win it? Have you had to walk up the steps at Wembley and walk past the trophy on those losing efforts? Will the next 30/40/50 years of your life when talking about how great your career was and how you were the most memorable side of your clubs history be constantly ended with a "but.....you never won the CC at Wembley."

Very easy to underestimate the psychological side of playing sports when you aren't the one competing on it.

Given some fans wanted us NOT to reach the final at season start because they couldn't bear another lost at Wembley, consider what the players mindset was regarding that competition.

If we don't rest players for the Bradford & London games I back us to win both comfortably. Remember we lost both by less than one score, and at London led comfortably before the kids crumbled in the face of a determined fightback.

Win those games and we're 2nd with a chance to win the LLS next week. That's not 'poor form over a season', that's decisions taken to rest the first team en masse in two specific games to ensure a win at Wembley. A strategy that to the seeming disappointment of some posters, worked.

The defeats you're complaining about are:

-4 point loss away at Saints
-4 point loss to Wigan at MW (following wins against Cas, Wigan & Saints on consecutive weekends)
-2 point loss to Huddersfield with half a team out, perfectly good try disallowed to let Giants win
-2 point loss away to Wakefield (9 players injured)

So the 'poor performance throughout the season' being complained about is a margin of 16 points over 4 games, three away from home, three against members of the top 5, two of which were played with significant injury burdens.

Now I'll give you the 24-6 loss away at Wire was the result of poor performance. Losing at home to Saints - we were a man down. Away at Wigan? Tough assignment played by a team who gave 150% trying to keep our LLS prospects alive at home to Saints and simply didn't have the gas in the tank to win.

A season performance will be impacted by multiple factors - ours potentially more than others - and trying to identify a trend across a run of games runs the risk of the classical logical fallacy - that big & general explanations are better than ones that look at specific examples and incidents. So let's look at them.

9 Defeats total

-2 due to massive resting of players (Bradford H, London A)
-2 due to huge injury crises (Huddersfield H, Wakefield A)
-1 due to playing 60 mins a man down (Saints H)
-1 due to having played 60 mins a man down the week after a final (Wigan A)

3 Poor performances - Wigan (MW), Warrington (A), Saints (A).

All tough games, all ones we realised defeat was a possibility.

If you want to argue about those three games and Mac's selections, tactics & motivations, feel free. but don't ignore specific factors, controllable & not, that have affected our final league position.

We'll rest the entire first team for Hull next week and lose. But the week's rest it buys us will be worth it in the playoffs.