I've had enough with some of the negativity on this board, from some posters who seem to think that losing the CC final means our season's over. Here's some facts about our season so far:

-for 68 minutes of the CCF, we went toe to toe with wire. The problem lay in the 12 minutes after Leuluai's disallowed try, where they scored 17 points. That is a 12 minutes we can fix. The performance was not shambolic or ridiculous as some seem to think.

-we are well placed where we are. Two games we turned in stinkers (Wakefield and Bradford away) cost us 4 points. If we were sitting 3rd, a point behind wire, I doubt many would be complaining

-we have matched all the top sides. We have beaten Wigan, Warrington and Catalans so far this year. It is within this squad's ability (even with their zimmer frames) to beat the pretenders to their throne.


So quit whining, and get behind the boys for these next five games.

Beat Huddersfield away
beat Bradford at home
beat Catalans away
Beat Wigan away
Beat St Helens at Old Trafford

and let the classless Pies and Wires know that it is THEY who will be FOREVER IN OUR SHADOW.

You have a game missing there...

It's not the only thing he's got missing

Leeds have been rubbish all season. Even against Wigan in the semi our defence was awful. We can't win 4 play off games with the defence shown this season. Add this to our inability to score near the line without Webb's input and it really does reduce our chances! Leeds have the ability to beat any team on their day, but to do this 4 weeks in a row will not happen as we are too inconsistent.

I fully understand that Gary owns the rl but surely we can't expect a bye in the gf qualifying semi final can we?
You've done your brain no good at all banging that drum

I agree with the OP re we havent been as bad as what some think this season, but re the CCF i thought we were ordinary all game even in the first half i could tell we werent going to win win, wire were gaining yardage easily and we severely missed mags, as there was no link between the back and the forwards.

IMO this year start positively with winning the WCC, beating wire and playing some good entertaing rugby, but at other times saints away, wigan at home, hull away, wakey home and away especially we have been pretty awful.

Im not to disheartened though because we have had a very successful period over the last decade and we're now entering transiiton with the likes of hardaker, bishop, watkins, keinhorst, hall, ward, hood, singleton, and some smarter recruitment from mc and GH we can continue to compete for trophies

For 68 minutes of the CC we went toe to toe with Wire?


You are Pete Doherty and I claim my £5

It's a close run race between you and Gotcha as to who is the most deluded on this forum at the minute

deluded? Really?

In 12 mintues, Wire scored 3 tries, 2 conversions and a drop goal. Total=17points.

Final gap in the scores? 17 points.

The 12 minutes cost us the game, that's just a fact.

it's a sign that, despite doing that, we managed to keep with them for that 68 minutes. For 12 minutes we went to and conceded the game.

I think most of the views after the CCF were quite reasonable. On the way back from London i was expecting meltdown on this board but barring the odd one here and there most people have just described it as it was, we were outplayed by Warrington (granted not as much as some have made it out to be) and some of the flaws in our performance were ones that have been a common theme in Leeds games (forwards getting beaten, dealing with dummy runners in defence, not getting Watkins the ball enough etc.) that we do need to fix before catching up to Warrington and Wigan in the league.

I think we're about 3rd/4th best ATM with Saints even though the table has us at 5th. We have had to play 3 extra massive games than both the 2 teams just above us (WCC, CC semi & final) as well as not getting a weekend off after the first Exiles game. We also have played some of our toughest fixtures at awkward times,
- Wigan away a week before the WCC.
- Catalans away a week before the CC Final.
- Saints away the 1st game after they replaced their coach.
- Bradford away with all the stuff about it possibly being their last game.

Who knows with the present Rhinos team,could well be some twists and turns before the seasons over. To win another grand final is a massive task,never the less there will be several teams who will not relish the thought of playing us in a sudden death match. Even if we dont get to old trafford I can see us turning over a top side.

The 17 points in 12 minutes referred to was in large part caused by the fact we were struggling to keep up until that point - and exactly the sort of thing we have seen do to 'lesser' teams through the years when we finally crack them and the floodgates open. The truth is Wire were miles ahead of us for almost the whole game. I'm sure we can do better in the Play offs, but dressing up the CC as anything other than a poor performance is taking rose tinted perspectives to extremes IMO.

Have you ever watched RL before the CC final? I seem to remember a Graham Murray interview once where he said (and I don't recall the exact words) that you win big matches in the first 60 minutes and score your points in the last 20.

The most you could say about the match before that 12 minute period was that we had somehow clung on on the scoreboard, so we had a puncher's chance if we could somehow lift oursleves. That was the period at which our ruck defence, over-stretched all afternoon, finally reached breaking point. Penalties, field position and points followed. We were second best throughout, possibly apart form a short spell during the rain.

You want perspective on this season: We haven't been great, but we have a bit of silverware, we've reached Wembley again, the league, while a big ask, isn't over yet, and we have some very encouraging signs of future life in our back division. Lots of clubs would swap places with us right now. Wire aren't one of them and we need to correct far more than that 12 minutes to compete with them.