Leeds' young side took a not undeserved lead early in the 2nd half. The turning point then was when NZ brought on a fresh Adam Blair and Sam Moa (plus the other hooker who looked like another Issac Luke) as Leeds kept interchanging a tiring Morley, Lauititi, Leuluai etc. Leeds' Ashton Golding looked an international full-back in the making & Jordan Lilley will be a star quality half-back. (Throw Sam Burgess into this new Leeds mix and they could be on for a few more trebles).


NZ will benefit from this but if England get their act together a 3-0 series win is very possible.

For Harris to keep saying that England will have failed if they don't win the series 3 - 0 is naïve.
Yes NZ have some players missing but, they certainly won roll over and surrender.
How many times have Aussie or NZ come over here lacking some first choice players and kicked our backsides.

England will be favourites but, the Kiwi's are no mugs.

Last night was just a glorified training session and although Leeds 2nd string did well, especially in the first half,
Test rugby is a whole different proposition.

Write them off at your peril.

Then again, after Wales' performance in the last WC he is well-qualified to speak on the subject.

I was most impressed with Singleton, very aggressive but in a controlled manner. Golding was excellent, deceptively strong, he should a star when he fills out. Although Lilley was very involved & controlling I didn't see anything special I'm afraid. He wasn't creative & lacks the speed to make up for that. I hope I'm wrong but nothing more than Matty Smith or Deacon showed.

This was - supposedly - as close to the first Test side that New Zealand had available, against a Leeds side missing 12 players, and giving farewell run-outs to two old men in Lauitiiti and Morley. Barring a spell in the second half, Leeds gave as good as they got for large parts of the game.

New Zealand have a huge forward pack, but match that and they don't have the halves to get their outside backs into space. Everything comes off the back of offloads, or Luke jumping out of dummy half. Slow that up, and they are there for the taking.

A lot of young lads in that Leeds side - Golding, Handley, Lilley, Baldwinson, Mulhern - stood up against supposedly some of the best players in the world in their respective positions and will come out a lot better for the experience. Would have been interesting to see what the Leeds grand final line-up could have done.

It's hard to escape the conclusion that a Leeds side with Sinfield, Hall, and the rest would/could have turned them over. On the night, anyway. Agree about the Kiwis' strengths and weaknesses; they were crying out for a Benji Marshall to get them going. But what a player Issac Luke is! You just have to stop him, or at least, reduce his effectiveness, to beat NZ.

A full strength Rhinos would have beaten the out of sorts Kiwi's on Friday IMO

So the fairy tale would have been complete

.

No that happened 2 weeks ago

For many I’m sure, but some just want a little more.

I worry for the Leeds fans though, I mean, where do you go from here to surpass what you’ve witnessed this year?

Maybe the W.C.C followed by the other three, but anything less will feel a little disappointing , do you think it’s all become a tad repetitive?

It certainly has for the majority of clubs supporters, with the exception of Wigan & St’s & those of decent memories of Bradford.

But if (heaven forbid) I supported a highly successful club, I think continuous success would dim my elation at seeing the club captain hold a trophy aloft.

Oh dear, nice try



I'm over the moon in the knowledge that I have (probably) seen the single greatest season my club will ever have. And at my age that's saying something because I could (hopefully) have another 50 years left in me.

Does it make me sad that Peacock and Sinfield are retiring? I thought it would, but actually I'm delighted that they've retired. They all have to call it quits eventually and they did so in the best possible way.

Majority of RL fans.....no, actually any sports fans won't enjoy a year like we have at Leeds. Every trophy we could get in the last year of our 2 greatest ever players.

Sad or disappointed in the knowledge that I'll never experience a year like this again?......No.

Appreciative and delighted that I got to live and experience it. I'm going to be the one in 30/40 years time telling young Leeds fans who weren't even born about the efforts of Sinfield and Peacock and that makes me happy as hell.

This year is a once in a lifetime thing as a Leeds fan, I won't be sad because it won't happen again. I'll be forever delighted that I witnessed it

^ This.

Leeds should use some of the money they've made this year inc from Challenge Cup run/Old Trafford win/£500k from NZ match to do everyone a favour and throw Sam Burgess into what they already have as the new talisman to replace Sinfield/Peacock. Should then be 20k at every Leeds home match, that alone paying for the enterprise.

I’m not sure what you think I’m trying to do.

Whilst this season will rightfully go down in the annals of Loiner folk law, will the witnessing of further final victories ever give you the same buzz?

As someone who has never witnessed my club win a major trophy in forty odd years I’m sure I would feel more elated than someone who sees it on a regular basis.

The only analogy I can use for Leeds fans after the season they’ve had is to that of a heroin addict constantly trying to replicate that first hit.

Obviously I would love to follow a successful team, you don’t know how lucky you are. How would you like it if your wife said “There’s more chance of me riding down the street on a unicorn, than the team you’ve supported man & boy ever winning anything”

More like a heroin addict having to wait a year for their next hit


It might not be 40 years but it's long enough.

Actually the elation get's better every time. In 2008 no one gave them a chance and they'd never won back to back. In 2009 it was 3 on the trot against the same team, totally unheard of. No one has won 3 grand finals on the trot in super league and only one other team has won 3 titles on the trot in the history of the game over here. In 2011 they came from the dead and were the first ever team to win from 5th when the game was gone, in the 2012....they did it again! and then 2015 for obvious reasons with the treble.

There's never a routine title win, they are always very special in their own way, or they have been for leeds over the last decade and you never get tired of it. It's an unquenchable thirst.

^^^^^

What Flex says.

Although, i agree topping this season isn't going to happen, but then again, winning the treble how we did it this year is unlikely to ever happen again in my lifetime i'm just truly greatful it happened once.

The slate is wiped clean next year though.New era, new challenges with several sides hungry to knock us off our perch. I'm actually looking forward to it.

I guess us non-Leeds fans will have to look forward to the time in 20 years when you are only the fourth or fifth most successful club of that era yet harp on in a bitter & twisted in-bred way about how great you used to be, appoint an ape for a coach & bleat on about how the world is against you. Can't wait.

This has been a great year to be a Rhinos fan and it is hard to see it being topped, not least because this was a special year due to the departing legends. It was great to see players Rhinos fans hold in the highest regard leave at the very top. We should all be so lucky. But I think most of us know that taking the long view, the good times come and they go. We hope the next season will be a good or even a great one, but we don't know how it will end. For those of us that try to live in the now, that makes every game we win, every final we get to and every trophy we see the lads lift special. At the end of the day it could all go Pete Tong and we could win nothing, but then there will always be next season and the one after that. So I'm already looking forward to next season, not in expectation but in hope, the same as most fans of most teams.

We call that the 90's.

Will we be also blaming it on our inability to spend far more than anyone else? Will our players from this era be recruiting for RU as well?

Thanks for the concern but you don't need to worry about me, I will be fine thanks.

I've been very lucky to see my team be successful in the last 11 years, never once has winning a trophy been less enjoyable than any that came before it, if you think it should then you are doing it wrong.

I was trying to get into the psyche of being a supporter of a hugely successful team, & thanks to a number of posters, I now realise that witnessing numerous trophy successes doesn’t take the gloss of future triumphs.

As for doing something wrong, what do you suggest I do, how can I envision it, if I've never experienced it?

Should I turn my back on the team I have supported for forty odd years & maybe follow Leeds for instance?

Nah, I think I’ll just carry on dreaming that maybe one day I will be lucky enough to see my club pick up a major trophy. I’ll be dammed if I join a fair percentage of Southstander’s who have forsaken their original club, or even sport, to ride the trophy gravy train.