Unfortunately Leeds have a lot of injuries. McDermott himself said that if the season had gone on 1 game longer he'd have been struggling to find 17 fit players.

Peacock said a long time ago he wouldn't be playing in it. Understandably Yorkshire don't want Sinfield playing (hand injury my backside).

Obviously Hardaker, Watkins and Hall are unavailable. That's 5 players out. Then add in the injuries to Burrow, Ablett, Delaney (all played with injuries in the Grand Final), Jones-Buchanan, Ward, Aiton & Sutcliffe and you've got a total of 12 players out.

Considering there's 12 top players out then the team Leeds have named isn't that bad.

If Leeds keep NZ to 2-3 scores difference they'll have done very well.

I'd be surprised if that was the case. Where would these fans have come from? Highly unlikely that you're going to get Wakey/Cas/Fev fans dumping their local club to go watch Leeds, for example.

Don't forget that once you leave the centre of Leeds there isn't another pro club for 20 miles to the north (York) and probably 60 miles of you if you head dead east (the Hull clubs). There's a huge catchment area for Leeds to tap into of people who don't have other RL clubs in the vicinity to follow.

Contrast that with Bradford at the height of Bullmania for example, who were ridiculed for poaching fans from the likes of Huddersfield, Halifax and Keighley. How many of those at Bradford have stuck around in leaner times I couldn't tell you, but I'd bet the proportion of "moved" fans at Odsal was higher than at Headingley.

Not sure about Wakefield but Cas & Fev fans would consider it sacrilege to follow Leeds.




Yes but, there’s still the likes of Batley & Hunslet where years of misery would send a fair few to the dark side. Also the border lands of Morley, Garforth etc.



For sure, Bradford were the kings before their decline, it would be interesting to see how Leeds fared if a similar scenario were to occur – we can all live in hope .

Not sure you understand the history and transient populations within Leeds / Yorkshire. Wakey fans would never jump ship to Leeds, you're deluded beyond belief. As for the Hunslet issue, the old traditional area of Hunslet was demolished way back and it's inhabitants scattered amongst the new outlying sink estates of East Leeds and elsewhere. Hunslet died as a club when the Hunslet area was effectively levelled and it's inhabitants rehoused all across Leeds. You talk mostly rubbish regarding people jumping ship, the only small morsel of sense comes with mention of outlying areas like Garforth becoming more aligned to Leeds. Stop guessing and start living a bit more.

Agreed, Garforth is more Rhinos than Cas, Kippax has more Rhinos than you would think. Micki is defo more Cas.

Slightly off topic I have got to know the son of Kevin Beardmore. He's a barber in Manly, a great lad and isn't a Cas fan as you would think. He prefers the Rhinos.

So initially you label me a failure due to my steadfast resolve to carry on supporting a car crash of a club, but now I’m also delusional.

You go ahead, however I know a number of individuals who have decided to support Leeds after initially supporting Wakefield, including my own nephew whose Father & Grandfather are / were dyed in the wool Trinity supporters.

His reasons for his defection were simple, he was sick of watching cannon fodder year after year, winding up orders & the like, so now he drives the few extra miles to see more annual success than I’ve witnessed in a lifetime.

I’ve had it explained to me that no matter how many previous successes Leeds fans have witnessed, the joy of the next one is just as sweet, I don’t need to digress into some turgid debate about how fickle supporters can be.