Bit difficult when you get ruled out for [url=http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/blow-for-souths-as-luke-burgess-out-for-six-months-20130130-2dkq0.htmlsix months with a shoulder injury[/url

Let me get this straight,Leeds are champions,playing decent rugby,but lose a game,so the world is coming to an end?
Okaaaaaay...............

There are no excuses coming from the club about last night , it was a shocker end of . Are Warrington fans calling for Smith to go after 2 losses in a week ? I doubt it . This thread is Knee-jerk of the highest order , embarrassing .

This is a proud bunch of players under a coach who has produced silverware and finals aplenty under his tenure and as such deserve a little slack after a poor performance .

To be beaten by a good side sitting top of the league and coming off a defeat where they had their pants royally pulled down by Bradford is no shame , how we react next week is what counts .

Yup. Thats how I see it.

That just leaves one more doesn't it?

I don't expect to win, I'm more than happy to lose if it's a quality game (aside from finals which should be win at all costs). But it has to be said, and I've been saying it during McDermott's tenure, that paying spectators really do have to question the value of a season ticket.

I'm not calling for players or coaches heads. If this season mirrors the last two I will be very happy overall and last night will be easily forgotten, just as the early season losses to the Giants were in 2011 and 2012. I wouldn't swap 2012 or 2011 for a season like the Giants.

However, win lose or draw the quality of rugby, the "entertainment" on offer at Headingley has been very much below par in McDermott's tenure far too many times to make a season ticket any value.

For three or so years I've reconciled my purchase with the fact that it's a social activity and I went with the lad. But he's gone off to Uni and I can be sociable at the pub whilst watching the game on Sky. Then, when it gets to October with the money I've saved I might just start paying to watch some decent rugby.

I'm not there yet and there is some distance left in the season but I am getting perilously close. Others I know have already taken the step.

With Messi you are talking about one piece of real high skill e.g. in RL 30 yards cut out pass for try - high risk, high reward. By its very nature prone to failure. Now let's compare eggs with eggs, Messi completing a simple pass to a team mate is an equivalent of McGuire's pass to Kirke or Watkins pick up from a kick through with no pressure. That is what I am talking about. Anyone who watched the warm up could see a lack of intensity/focus - when Vickery is kicking aimless bombs to no one it tells you something is wrong. I lost count of the number of dropped passes in the warm up.

Woods is 13 under par for two rounds this weekend - he is sometimes trying to hit a green 200+ yards away, he is not trying to catch a pass from two yards away. The performance of yesterday was not an off day, that is typical of the standard that Leeds have performed at over the past two season - neither Woods nor Messi have consistently delivered performances well below what is expected of an elite sportsman/men. The same cannot be said of this Rhinos side.

I keep saying this is entertainment nothing more - and in the entertainment business customers expect a certain standard of its top performers. If customers do not feel like they are getting value for money they will find other ways of spending it.

Can someone explain the criteria of McDermotts contract?

it's also hard not to miss a game while on holiday
i could have3 missed 2 if the warrington game had not been altered

Couldn't agree more Gareth, but when supporters such as yourself are seriously considering this option (and others have already taken it!) surely it's time to address the nonsensical 'only the playoffs matter' format we currently endure. Look at the Warrington board; many of their fans are saying the same thing and, as I posted there, I've no doubt that come Good Friday one set or the other of the Wigan/Saints fans will be chanting the same mantra. Long term there is only one direction this can take and it's not a healthy one for the future of rugby league.

I am not asking for McDermott to go - I just want to see the quality of performance I saw against Melbourne on a more regular basis.

I fully agree with your comments and with others regarding entertainment etc .. I was merely giving my opinion on the OP demand for the coach to be sacked on the back of last night thats all .

The balance between Success and being entertainers is an hard act to perfect , just ask ask St Helens post 2006 .

...and that's the annoying thing. We know what this team is capable of and to compare last night's performance with the WCC and they're a million miles apart.

sal all fans want quality performances and on a more regular basis,after all this is the entertainment business,but due to the way that the play off system works at present we do not need to perform to this level on a regular basis unfortunately,this has been proved without a doubt these past 2 seasons has it not?

other sl sides like wigan and warrington have recently perfected the art of producing more quality performances for their demanding fans during the weekly rounds and have been rewarded with a shiny hub cap,but in doing so they subsequently ran themselves flat in the weekly rounds and had nothing left in the tank come play off time

i personally believe that we will see plenty more of these sub standard performances this season,but probably now more widespread across the board too as surely wigan and warrington must now realise that it's not how you start but how you finish

sal i am a season ticket holder too and one that shares your frustrations,i have often discussed this subject with the rhinos players when they have been in the stanningley club house and have been regularly told to judge them when the games that matter come around

under the current play off system they clearly have a point do they not?

I agree - but the season ticket sales are down year on year and this will continue if the team continue to put in performances like this on as regular a basis. It suggests to me the depth of the squad is not what it should be, so that begs a question as to where is the money going? With the revenue from games dropping that will only mean one thing cut backs on the playing and coaching - one thing is for certain the CEO is not going to take a cut.

Well tell that to the OP who said ''the person who should have been the future of our front row, Mr Burgess, was ripping up trees for Souths on Thursday''.

I presume he meant Luke as he is the former Leeds player out of the Burgess brothers.

Yeah because guitarists have 17 other guitarists trying to stop them playing their chords correctly

.Comparing sportsmen making mistakes to musicians forgetting songs is one of the dumbest comparisons i've ever read/heard.

Sports is ALWAYS a gamble to spend money on, a boxing match could last 1 Round, a day at the cricket could be largely rained-off, the horse you've backed could fall at the 1st hurdle etc.

You would think the way some go on on here that they ALWAYS perform to a certain standard whenever they've played sports whether it be RL or something else.........I seriously doubt that though. Along will come the cry of ''but we aren't payed to perform'', but sorry, just because you're payed to play sports still doesn't mean you'll get it right everytime........but I guess in the workplace where you ARE payed you never make errors

.

If you're determined that you MUST get some certain amount of value for your ticket then I suggest that you should avoid sport events, probably best the cinema too just in case the film you've heard so much about turns out to be rubbish.

I believe he was referring to George rather than Sam or Luke as he was the only Burgess that played last week for Souths that was also at Leeds.

God, 7 days in sport is a long time for some people's memories.

Reading through some of the posters and threads they've been quick to roll out the old and very tedious ''Leeds don't care about the regular season''.

Strange considering people were full of praise last week for the professional job we did going away to Saints, likewise.....
- Hudds were poor last week, good this one
- Cas put up a good fight this week, definately not this week
- Saints disappointing last week, very good this week
- Bradford very good last week, to unable to finish off 12 men
- Hull disappointing last week, very good this week

It happens, get over it.

But it seems to be spreading all over the league that if a team lose it MUST be because they know it doesn't matter because of the Playoffs, so explain other sporting events like......

2011/12 - Man Utd 1 - 6 Man City (this ultimately cost them the title)
2008 - Manly 40 - 0 Melbourne (in a GRAND FINAL match)
2012 - Rory McIlroy doesn't make the cut at one of the 4 Majors (US Open)
2010 - England win the Ashes by winning THREE tests with an innings to spare.
2007 - Even though they win Grand Slams in '05 & '08, Wales can't even get out of the group stage at the Rugby World Cup.
2013 - In a non-playoff league, Man City (already behind Man Utd by 9 points) put in a woeful performance to lose 3-1 to relegation contenders Southampton
2010 - Leeds 6 - 30 Warrington (CC FINAL)

All of these poor results even in 'critical' occasions show that bad results/performances happen in sport regardless of the importance. Seems to be more a lazy excuse from some RL fans to dismiss a defeat as 'not important' simply because of the stick they get from rival fans in defeat and to downplay the other team's good victory.

Some people shouldn't watch sport at all, they take it all far too seriously, like it actually means something in their lives, which is sad if it does (unless you're employed in said sport, in which case you get to sit in coffee shops laughing at your own supporters opinions).

As a remote fan i used to come up for 5 or 6 games a season, but these days the hassle of the m1 on a friday evening is just not worth it if the team are on a 'down' week. I only bother for games that we are likely to be up for, like the WCC.

unfortunately i think that is unrealistic. Performances like that are not sustainable over a long period. This group of players has shown an ability to raise their game to a level that others cant hit, but that has a pay back in term of what it does to your body. Our club has been unrivalled in getting our key players available and at 100% come play off time. Question is do people want an entertaining team, or a sucessful one?

To some extent we shkuld make hay whilst the sun shines. We may have to wait a long time for another group of players a special a this one. I'd prefer to see this group continue to write they name into the history books, but then again, I'm not a season ticket holder

This is the entertainment business - too often Leeds have put in performances like Friday night in the last two years. Watkins didn't have anyone near him when he knocked on - so your 17 guys doesn't hold water. These are elite sportsmen that should be able to do the basics like correctly passing the ball - playing the ball correctly is that really asking too much?

Of course I make errors at work - mainly judgement calls - sometimes they work sometimes they don't but I don't make errors with the basics like adding spreadsheets up etc

As I said before I just want to see a level of performance close to the WCC on a more regular basis - I don't mind losing but when the team put in a performance lack Friday that is frustrating.

They should be attainable on a weekly basis - that is what a squad is for, a team of this quality should be able to compete with the likes of Huddersfield any week of the year.

What I cannot understand is why they can get up for the GF yet play so appallingly in the CC?

You need to get out more