Now that the season is over, I wondered how people felt about the sometimes controversial player rotation policy we had this year. I wasn't keen on it and had doubts over how useful it would be, and in a few games when we looked dead on our feet it seemed like I might be right (like first playoff game against Saints), but nobody can deny how far we have come this season. As great as games were to watch last year, we dropped out of the cup and the playoffs too soon, and players just weren't able to put that same incredible effort into every game, especially highly contested ones.

This year we've performed well enough in almost every game, and had that extra effort to put into the games that mattered. Obviously we weren't quite good enough at Old Trafford but that was a whole new experience for most of the team. Look at the other big games we turned up for - Catalans away in the cup, Leeds at Wembley, Saints away in the playoffs - and all with more games played in a row than ever before (as many as Leeds if we count the pre-season match against South Sydney). This has been one of the toughest seasons I've seen us play in terms of number of consecutive games, and also the most successful in my lifetime (born in '86), and without the rotation I don't think we would have managed it.

Yes without doubt.
A couple of tweaks.
We lost to London a week before Wembley and that cost us the league, but that's only in hindsight. He rightly expected us to have them with the team he fielded.
So 99% success, just a tad more care and its the triple !

The fact that there was a rotation policy and we were within 9 points of doing the double means you can't say it was unsuccessful, but I do think the importance of it became a bit exaggerated. It seemed to become the accepted wisdom that the players were too tired by the end of the 2011 season, but I can't remember anyone saying that the night we beat Huddersfield in the first play-off game before a two week break before the Leeds game. And I'd be interested to see how many games each player played this season, but Riley played more or less all season without any notable tiredness IMO, and Hill and Waterhouse seemed to play more than most and also looked great at the end of the season. I'm sure it helped in some cases, but I'm not convinced it should become a template.

2 finals and a 2nd..id say a roaring success..as for winning the league id rather have 2 finals

comparitively.....for it to be deemed 100% successful, then amount of youth coming through and ready for a first team shirt should have been higher. Which ever first team we now put out should be competivive in each match, and there is no doubt we weren't at london. it definitely needs tweaking but to be even having this discussion shows how far the club has come in the last 10 years

Technically only 1 and a half games from winning the lot.

I thought it was a sign of Tony Smith disrespecting the paying supporters, and they may as well start picking and choosing what games they turn up to like he does?

Or maybe that's only the case in the 24 hours following a loss.

Try asking the ones who boo'd TS at Salford.

Yes without doubt.
It's also is helping the up and coming lads get some first team game time and thats only good news for the future.

Could we be more strategic in our rotation next year? Pick fringe players against likes of Hull FC, Hull KR, Wakefield etc so they get more points and it pushes Leeds down the league. Maybe if all the big four clubs acted together to do this Leeds might end up driven out of the top 8.

Keep it going Sal, some of us just can't get enough of it, brilliant.

I hope it works even more next season and the likes of Laithwaite, both evans, o'Brien ect get more game time so the transition old to young goes seemlessly.
He knows what he is doing !!!

Mixed feelings. Think the decision to rest players v Salford was right but the wrong players were brought in and I think the attitude of "well as long as we make the top 2" is a bit of a poke in the eye to hard-up speccies.

Leeds don't seem to operate such a policy but seem to have the knack of peaking at the business end of the season. Peacock isn't exactly in the first flush of youth and looked like a carthorse most of the season, but was pretty good post-Wembley.

On balance though yes, I'd like to see rotation again next year but not necessarily to save the older players legs but to blood the youngsters more.