If i was a Leeds fan then yes i would be dissapointed by the result but sooner or later Saints were going to click and be dangerous.Its a long season and as you found out last year anything can happen.

Ugghh! Oh well ! Seems McDermott was right about Burrow all along: dummy half runner or sub for sure on tonight's performance. McShane still has his turnstyle defence. Shocking. McDermott right again. Smith sadly looks finished: what happened ?? Nothing left in the tank. Terrible to see. Forwards constantly back pedaling.....Hall being out jumped by Gardner. Delaney blocking early ball to Watkins.....

If anybody doubted the importance of Webb linking from FB or McGuire's creativity at scrum half then watch this match again.

Back down to earth with a substantial bump methinks. Roll on next week.

Yes they will, just like they did last year if the result at the end of the year is the same - being crowned super league champions.


Because two-thirds of the way through last season, they didn't think Leeds had a prayer of being champions and had concluded that McDermott wasn't up to the job. They now know differently, they know how the playoff system rewards mediocrity and they know that the regular rounds count for very little in the grand scheme of things. No matter how rubbish Leeds might be this season during the regular rounds, they all know Leeds are guaranteed to finish in the Top 5 or Top 6 at worst.


The people who don't care about rugby league are those who only care about the fortunes of the club they happen to support. Sadly, that would include the vast majority. I reside in the small minority camp.

Have to agree tonight's result should have had a severe impact on Leeds winning another GF......but it won't. They will still qualify easily for the competition.

There really is no logical reason for buying a season ticket or paying good money to watch regular rounds.

You can continue to think Leeds fan don't care to satisfy yourself because you see several posters on here after a defeat brushing it off with 'it doesn't matter'. But don't want to realise that several people on here after a beating is quite a small percentage of the 15,000 people who turn up to Leeds home games.

Don't talk daft!
What else do you propose?

Pick and choose, make use of the freebies available



Played three, lost two

If 15,000 rhinos supporters were given a choice of either...

1. Rhinos perform well for the vast majority of the regular rounds in SL, finish 1st on the ladder but are eliminated during the playoffs.

OR

2. Rhinos perform lousy for the vast majority of the regular rounds in SL, finish 5th on the ladder win all their playoff games and are crowned SL champions.

Which do you think the vast majority would choose?

So going by that logic, even if the playoffs do change to top 5 again or we get rid of them completely, then fans of teams such as Widnes, London, Wakey, Salford etc shouldn't bother to go watch their team because if your not playing games that could potentially be title deciding then its not worth watching.

Would the Leeds that played Manly have lost against Sts, let alone get hammered? I don't think so. Sts were up for it, Leeds weren't, and I wouldn't point fingers at the likes of Watkins, Hardaker, McShane (whose defence was fine against Manly) or Ward. The responsibility for not turning up rests entirely with the senior players.

Smith's performance is more of a worry. He must realise that he needs to stand out even in a poor team showing if he's going to have any chance of being a regular again. Based on that performance I'd put BJB to fullback and play Chisholm if Webb is out again.

BTW ks - what would a fan of any NRL team choose given the options you put up? Or any other SL side? That Leeds performance does expose a real problem in SL, but you can do better than that with your questions.

Option 3.....Play well during the season and finish top AND win the Grand Final, like we did in 2004 and 2009.

This option doesn't fit into your argument so i can see how you didn't include it.

Agreed, and it's the greatest marketing achievement of the Super League era that clubs have increased their number and percentage of season ticket holders so massively. Super League is just a consumer item after all. Would anyone be interested in a supermarket offer of Buy 12 Get 2 Free? Would anyone purchase a pack containing 14 alleged fruit items if over half of them are rotten?

Leeds last year were a one-off winning from 5th. Nobody in their right mind would actually aim to do that. Historically - and I suspect going forward - first or second is the place to be at the end of the year.

Options 1 and 2 don't fit your erroneous argument so I can see why you've chosen to ignore them.

Same reason you're ignoring my questions/points - they don't support your argument.

Option 3 - Finish top and win Grand Final......happened on 8 occasions.

Option 1 - Finish top but get knocked out in playoffs......6 occasions (4 times beaten finalists, 2 times didn't reach Old Trafford) (oh and the last 3 times teams finished top and didn't win the Grand Final it was Leeds who beat them, just thought i'd include that to keep your Leeds hatred well fueled)

Option 2 - Finish 5th and win the Grand Final.....happened on 1 occasion.

I included my option because its happened on more occasions than both of yours put together.

GAME, SET, MATCH......ME! You can keep reaching if you want but tonight you share something in common with your beloved Leeds, you've both been well beaten.

[url=http://viewtopic.php?p=16761709#p16761709Ignoring points which don't suit your argument is something you are quite adept at.[/url

Congratulations on making no distinction whatsoever between the different playoff systems that's been in operation during the super league era just because it doesn't suit your erroneous argument.

Oh dear Keith you do persist......3 seasons of 8 team playoffs.
2 times 1st place has won (Leeds 09, Wigan 10) and had Richie Myler not stepped offside it could well of been 3 for 3.

I never see you critcising the Aussies who have used an 8 team or sometimes more playoff system since the start, but in many minds the Aussies can do no wrong.

Well just to chip in, I think it's very dangerous to say the league games are meaningless. Meaningless for whom????
Fans? Well fans who go to a game want to see a team performing well.
Coaches? Royce Simmons springs to mind.
Clubs? Well clubs get the majority of their revenue from fans, the monetary value of the GF is actually limited when taken against the income stream from home games.

In the end the GF is the polish on the season and you can shine a pretty poor season really well with a good run of games. But do not underestimate the power of the £. Clubs are businesses and if clubs started to adapt to SL by underrunning their teams for 90% of the year, then you will get fans following that pattern which will lead to fans, reducing attendance until the playoffs.

At the moment it's not happened, this is mostly down to the top 2 generally winning the playoffs. But lets say Royces plan to run a underpreped team worked and Saints then got a roll on towards the end of the year and won the GF from 4th, 5th, 6th or worse. Then if other teams said hey Leeds have done it, so have another team, this is the new way to get success, fans would catch on quickly.

I actually prefered the Oz method as it gave the top 2 a better chance, now top 4 all have equal chance bar home and away. In the end if all the above did happen, then the RFL would change the playoffs as the game is the key and the quality of the game, not the ever expanding ways to be crowned champions.

The rewarding of mediocrity in Super League has indeed only been in place for 3 seasons. Richie Myler stepping offside notwithstanding, it wasn't going to be that long before some team accepted the gift and made a mockery of the current playoff system.


I've never been asked for my opinion on it but congratulations on making assumptions on what you believe my opinion to be. I don't like the Top 8 playoff system in the NRL either but teams in that competition don't finish in the Top 8 if they are garbage all season.

No one ask's for your Leeds opinions but you don't half bloody give them.

Leeds 2011 5th Place......W15 D1 L11
New Zealand Warriors 2011 6th Place......W14 L10
Sydney Roosters 2010 6th Place.......W14 L10
Paramatta Eels 2009 8th place.....W12 D1 L11
ALL TEAMS GRAND FINALISTS

Does Super League reward 'garbage' any worst than NRL?

In 2009 and 2010 in Super League it was 1st vs 2nd, last year Warrington couldn't get the job done and Wigan ran out of steam after the Cup Final (although Leeds the opponents that day grew stronger). If you want to criticise any teams in Super League why not go on their boards and get them for letting the game down and turning it into the 'mockery' its now become.

I share your concerns. But the aim should be to improve the product of the regular rounds rather that de-value the play offs.

I'm also a little curious as to when Leeds, or any other team, actually did play for an entire season as if every game mattered.

Remember having the odd thrashing under smith and it did us no harm, saints were on fire compared to recent weeks and we did not get enough ball in the right areas till game was gone, had a feeling after ten minutes it was not going to be our day but a good kick up the ass from time to time to keep your feet on the ground not a bad thing.

The Hair issue is complete Bollox no hair style influences how you perform ,are organised or how well you'll play a game of RL.
ST's were too fast ,too strong and ruthless we just couldn't get going and we didn't do ourselves any favours. Plenty of stick for Mcshane and Smith but what hapened to JP ,Ablett ,Sinfield ,Burrow ,etc etc etc ALL were guilty of poor performances i agree with those who thought Kirke went ok and i thought Moore looked far more determined than anyone in a Rhinos shirt.
When the gaps appeared the younger lads were exposed and our D was ragged all night Ward actually ran quite well and imo he should get another go next week.
As for RB at 7 what options did he have?
I do agree he AND Sinfield made some awful 5th tackle calls but the lack of options was obvious and the ST's D line speed was spot on tbf.
It grates when we get pasted but like most say it's one game and we are quite accustomed to getting hammered away at ST's for some reason.
We move onto next week and expect a reaction against a fired up Giants team.