I don't think anyone is saying its easy to win it from 5th. But its easier now than in a top 6 playoff. If all results went to the highest placed team then Leeds would have to beat



Catalan away

Saints away

Wire away

Wigan at OT to be champions.



4 top notch teams to win it. Under a top 8 you only play 3 top notch teams with the first of those teams coming off a loss and likely to have been in a bruiser.

No, I'm not saying we should aspire to be like Leeds.



I am saying that they have been playing knockout football pretty well in the last few years, because a side which is on paper poorer than ours are the SL champions and has just knocked us out of the cup.



We need to learn how to perform at our peak in the big matches. If we do then no side in the league, including the Wolfs, will be able to live with a full strength Wigan.

Is it not player power thats Leeds' problem? They can beat anybody on their day but its on the players terms, IMO McDermmot has no say in their results. The Leeds team are uncoachable for a lot of games and the leeds fans can choose not to pay their well earned and stay at home. How can they meet a salary cap if they decide not to play at their best?

If the wires destroy leeds at wembley do you think their fans will attend the remaining home matches? ?

I don't think anyone was saying at any point that 5th is better than 1st or 2nd, or even top four, but I do think at the moment, Brian Mcdermott has weighted up his squad and decided that given the current league placings Leeds have more chance of winning silverware by not going flat out between now and the Challenge cup final and settling for 5th spot to give them the best possible chance of winning one or both competitions.

By the same token, I doubt Tony Smith would be too fussed about whether his team catches Wigan or not. It's certainly not beyond the realms of possibility that they will but they could also decide to rest half a team before the challenge cup final if they thought second place was a certainty.

The recurring theme here is that with the current system there just isn't enough incentive to battle away to the end to get as high as place as possible because the rewards of finishing higher in the table don't really justify the effort involved. Under the top 5 system it did in that every league placing had significant advantages over the one below it.

i love to read the wigan fan's perception of all things rl,however some fans can't resist having a pop at the most successful sl side saying that they are finished or have been battered

upto date we have played 2 big games that count this season and have subsequently beaten both Manly and wigan when it mattered

how many big games of those that have mattered have wigan won so far?

as a rhinos fan i fear the wolves more than i do wigan should we meet in the play offs

simple ,1st and 2nd go straight to old trafford.

I think you have put the situation into a nutshell, perfectly. To go all out for every round, with the inevitable back-end fatigue appears to be counter productive. The seemingly best approach is to ramp up to the playoffs, with a relatively fresh, season-long rotated squad.

manly didnt turn up and manly are a poor NRL side this year. You got lucky on every level agaisnt wigan in the semi, THAT wont happen again my rhino friend., to say you aren't scared of ANOTHER Wigan good hiding is a blatant lie.

Wigan beat an all time great side in Brisbane in Australia, you will NEVER do that

I haven't seen much resting up this NRL season.

Because the NRL is that competitive and there isnt much between the teams, its a psychological advantage to keep winning. Look at Melbourne Storm - they have nose dived and dont look likely to win a game in the playoffs, whereas the Souths & Bulldogs look likely to go all the way on the back og solid momentum. But on 't quote me on that,,

Anyway the Ozzie game is the best league in any sport in the world, its a privelage to watch it on dodgy websites.

Also the comementating is also the best in any sport in the world, a total joy and something to aspire to

Manly aren't a poor side this year when they've had everybody fit - they're capable of beating any side in the competition.



My view is that Leeds' regular weekly performances are all down to player power and very little to do with McDermott. There is no way on earth that he would have wanted the start to the season Leeds had last year (he must have been VERY close to getting the chop) or aimed to finish 5th, or overseen a number of absolutely dire performances this year (including an embarrassingly woeful defensive effort against you lot at home). He simply doesn't have the money in the bank to do that. His predecessor - having won the GF 2 years running - got the chop for being smashed at Wembley. There's no way McDermott could survive a similar result this year IMO.



OTOH Leeds' senior players DO have that credit, both with fans and - more importantly - Gary Hetherington. It should surprise nobody that they are perfectly happy to have a coach they can pretty much ignore (hence if Hetherington asks them about McDermott, I'll bet they are full of praise for him). The alternative would be a coach with some authority and clout who could and would drop them after games such as Wigan at home. Far better for them to focus on what they want - the CC and making sure they qualify for the play-offs and wind it up from there.



I suspect a loss at Wembley and poor play-off showing would see McDermott gone before next season, or as soon as Hetherington could sort a decent replacement, because the quality of 'entertainment' offered by Leeds this year has been dreadful at times. Unless they win something - at least the CC - I'd bet Hetherington would have real trouble shifting season tickets for next season without making major changes on the coaching and playing front.



I also think BTW that everybody is overplaying the so-called benefits of finishing 5th or similar. Leeds won it from there last year which is good in the sense that it shows its possible - lets face it, even with a top 5 system only 2/3 teams generally have a dig. It doesn't at all suggest its somehow 'better' to finish 5th than 1st.

As for finishing 5th being the new 1st, I'm waiting until the end of the season to reserve judgement. Lets face it took a good few years for a team outside the top 2 to contest a GF (Bradford 2005 I think) and since then only a couple of GF since have been contested by a team outside the top 2 and I think Leeds were the first team to compete from it from outside the top 3.



I also think a lot of it will also come down to how much Wire want the CC or not compared to Leeds. You only have to look at ourselves and Leeds from last year, winning almost hindered us (yet also if we did win the GF it would have been a major achievement). Also will Wire want the CC or GF more? Either way whoever wins the CC I cant see them winning the GF.