we did ,but we had a bad patch straight after.So did Wigan last year

I'm looking forward to hopefully having an injury free back line because imo it's one if not the most exciting and has stacks of potential , pace and skill.
Also look forward to seeing Macca at 9 and again i hope young Singleton and Hood get some chances.

The squad is again weaker on paper and we are relying on an injury free season or the youngsters coming through to be good straight away, it was noticeable the coach would rather play players out of position than bring people in from the academy teams so that would suggest the latter is unlikely
2009 showed we are one or two injuries away from being ineffective and even last year with a good run we failed to compete in the regular season, I would expect another long hard season ahead and the first half and beyond may be best avoided



Leeds have won both only once in the same season

Aren't we still the only team to manage that?

The WCC only has an adverse effect on form when we lose it.

In 2005 and 2008 when we won it, we went on the rampage and built up a healthy lead at the top of the table by easter.

In 2008 we were 6 points clear at the top after beating saints at KR just after easter.

So we can put that rubbish in the bin right now.

After 40 years I've given up trying to guess what Leeds are likely to do at any time. For three decades it seems like they built you up to knock you down as a fan.

The last few years have been the complete opposite. I hope I'm pleasantly surprised again this year.

Having said that I don't think we'll be any weaker. Buderus will be the big miss and much will depend on how McShane goes, but, barring injuries the back line looks much faster and stronger. BJB, Kallum and Zak have all had big match experience now and will hopefully develop into top class players, and Ryan Hall has shown in the 4 nations what a quality player he is.

I'd still like to see a top quality half-back and prop added to the squad, but given the success in the face of real adversity last year, I don't see why we can't go back-to-back again.

I'll say this now, I haven't a f******g clue. In August I still won't have a f*******g clue either. These guys can do whatever they feel like doing, they're rugby gods (so when that tool Clarke talks about rugby gods he should know they all play for Leeds).

I meant we have won the SL title twice while playing in a WCC.

Who knows. I reckon the old guard of the team will still want the elusive Challenge Cup though, so after the WCC we'll probably see some kind of slump before the cup games start. I do hope we don't go OTT on the WCC. It's a nice to have but really only a friendly, and shouldn't make or break the season.

Yes I think most of us would want this group to get CCmedal this season.I cant say I would swap that at this stage for yet another SL win, but I know Kev and the old boys want a Wembley win and so do I

We only lost two out of the next 14 games after the WCC last year

quoteWe only lost two out of the next 14 games after the WCC last year But you were not as impressive as you expected to be.on your "deaths head" forum things were getting said like"ok we are not playing well ,but we have had to prepare for the WCC,the SL is won in october"Sorry I should not have mentioned Wigan as they are just "Near do wells"I.E not as good as you think you "WERE".Bluey had it summed up in 2008 after we won the SL back to back "we had to prepare early season and peak for the WCC challenge and then start again for the SL title and its damned hard to do and thats what makes this group special".I really do hope we win every competition we play in ,but after 2010 wcc I came away thinking after the effort the lads put in I think we will win SL again this year.we did suffer a lot of injuries in the season ,but I think that game took a lot out of us

I thought we coped well in the games after the WCC, we had a funny 3 game streak where we didn't win, but we did play Warrington, yourselves away and Catalan which could be considered one of our bogey teams. You are right though we weren't playing to our best but more importantly we were getting the wins which was the main thing. I think the Challenge Cup took more out of us this season than the WCC and the CC is a trophy Leeds haven't been able to win in recent years. Does this have a knock on affect? Will be interesting to see how Leeds cope this year, the CC is definitely a trophy the current team want to win and they have been unlucky with getting to the final twice over recent years.'"