Who had the final decision to pick 3 injured players in the game last night
Watkins, McGuire, JJB.

We had an uphill task from the 1st minute with 10 -v- 13 players.

Is it time for some players to step aside for the good of the team, or time for a new approach.
We now have an aged pack, never mind aging.

Sorry to say it but McGuire is not getting any faster and someone younger will have the pace to break the line.

Discuss

It's easy to forgot that Brian Mcdermott lost his assistant coach earlier in the year and that must of had some impact. A good assistant coach recruited in the off season to replace Jimmy Lowes will hopefully go some way to remedy this.

One game Danny McGuire win's it for Leeds and the next game a fan is asking for him to be replaced. It's sad to see the loss of pace but we have plenty of that in the back line and Danny still has at least three to four years left in him at this level IMO. He's a match winner and will get his fitness back in the off season.

i agree R.E. an assistant coach.
with regards to mcguire both him and sinfield are slow and ponderous. both have the skills but imo you can't play both. you need a bit of pace in there

Never go on one match alone. Tony Smith made the same mistake in the 2005 challenge cup final, which ultimately impacted on the GF also that year. Powell made the mistake in the 2003 challenge cup final, which ultimately cot him the opportunity to fulfill his hard work.

However, what I can't accept is that McDermott has been doing these mistakes all year, which impacted on yesterday's result. That is where I have a problem, when he has consistently shown he is making wrong decisions.

The decision to start those players will have been made together with the clubs physios/doctors. What was ridiculous was to leave it so late before putting someone on to cover for a clearly labouring Watkins. Everyone in the stadium apart from B Mc had spotted halfway through the 1st half that he couldn't run or turn properly, yet Clarkson & Sutcliffe were left on the bench until less than 20 minutes left .... more importantly, Wigan had spotted it, and peppered that side time and time again.

As a neutral, you got to the Semi Final with bad injuries throughout the season. It's tough and I tell my kids before the start of each season that there are only 3 bits of silver to play for and we can't win all the time. I would rather you got to OT than that shower buts that's for another thread.
McDermott has been good for Leeds and I for one wouldn't mind him when The Lord Tony Smith departs in the future.

No.

I dont think we would have faired much better had we not played the players carrying knocks.ive said it before recently that eventualy we will go to the well and come up empty,and so it proved to be last night.its not our year this year but the lads will be back for another shot next year.there is a bit of tweaking needs doing to the side but nothing major.no need for knee jerking in the mean time.

I think both McD and the squad deserve another season at least. Mags clearly needs the off season, I won't be writing him off just yet. We do need a top quality hooker, but who fits the bill?

last night tells me the coach doesn't have the balls to make big decisions and drop big players.
for me he is not the man to oversee the big changes that are needed

I have to agree.... This very special core of players deserve some special treatment, but surely not at the expense of the club moving forward.

As others have stated we can no longer afford to have both Sinfield and McGuire playing in the halves; Burrow is least suited to the starting hooker role of all three. Could McGuire start there ? Problem is he too could not defend up the middle. Of the three he - sad to say - is the least important now and maybe it is time to let him go in favour of a decent bluddy hooker.

Singleton and Sutcliffe need to be promoted to starting roles along with Ward. Bailey is now just a huge liability.

If Sutcliffe is not the answer at SO then try him at centre with Moon at SO ( it's not as though his centre partnership with Hall is that effective ) .... Or even Watkins.? Hardaker should be kept at FB....he is developing nicely there and one of the highlights of the season for me.

I don't think we will have to ''axe'' mcguire, i think nature will take it's course with him. I suspect he will suffer with more and more injures over the next year which will see one of the youngsters step up into his place. Eventually not renewing his contract or retiring will just be the natural course of action. How many years does he have left on his contract?

I think the next steps in the evolution of the squad should be to get in a first choice decent hooker, use burrow from the bench and have ward, sinfield and sutcliffe as the pivots.

We lack a real impact player from the bench since lauititi left and burrow can be lethal when he comes on fresh around the half hour mark. The suddenly, you are getting by with only 1 of the 'holy trinity' in the starting 13 and the transition is under way.

I must admit to not being BMc's biggest fan. I don't think we play particularly good rugby (hard to think of games we've come away from thinking we were on fire). Maybe he's a better motivator than tactician. If so the signing of a top assistant could be the most important of the off season.

Not keen on his use of the bench. It's a weekly thing that someone is left waiting. Fair enough when things are ticking along on the pitch, but not when players are blowing out every hole. And there seems to be a complete lack if competition for places in the squad. If someone's out injured or suspended, they never face a battle to get back in. One week they're out, the next they've passed a late fitness test and are playing.

Guess we'll see what the off season brings. But credit to the lads, they've done well considering the injuries we've had.

On a final note, Bailey did himself no favours last night. Trying to start on Tomkins and Charnley, and then being nowhere to be seen to take the ball in after. Could do without him

You can't argue that the team continues to show guts, determination and a tremendous will to win. The skill levels in attack and out and out point scoring capability have been in steady decline. Do you blame McDermott or a squad that has lost some of it's legendary attacking edge - Senior gone, Webb gone, Ali gone, McGuire a shadow of his former self, all issues the coach has had to live with and beyond his control. I think not. But our poor attacking structure has been the defining characteristic of McDermott's time in charge.

I think it's time to freshen things up - I'd like to see the guys playing with a bit more joy than they have. Get a proper hooker, play with width and shift Hall outside Watkins and attack on the right more. Watkins gives his winger space - he makes BJB look a good finisher, Moon takes all Halls space, Ablett was a far better centre for Hall. Not sure I'd replace McDermott though, I genuinely like the guy.

I am generally a fan of Bailey's but I have to agree his conduct after it was clear the game was gone was poor and something of an embarrassment.

I don't think it is time for McDermott to go though his use of the Bench is confusing. I also don't think it is the end of Maguire yet either though do agree we need an injection of pace in the halves.

Singleton must play more next season - he looks a real player now and ready for week in week out action. If Delaney moves prop we should have some decent go forward in addition to our regular starting props

I also think there is potential in Achurch to become a decent impact player off the bench - certainly not of Lauitiiti's class (then again, who is?) but good enough for the present Super League standard

Time to go? Not in my opinion.

The standards at the club are very high now, which I love. By those standards, this season has been disappointing. It needs putting right and the transition after arguably the greatest team in the club's history needs to move forward.

I think the current coach's achievements in the first two years of his employment merit giving him at least another year to address those challenges.

Opinions are ten a penny. The one that matters will be Gary Hethrington's.