It certainly won't have the fairy tale end to the season of last year

You never know.
Maybe they are going to try and win from even lower than 5th

Rush said exactly the same last week and so did Brown the week before. All have seemed numb so god knows whats has been said to the players after the game.

Poisoned challis. There's a reason Bluey left a season early.

Had you given the man a gun, then suicide was on the cards. Thankfully no weapon was supplied and he's free to carry on his excellent work for the rest of the season.

Leeds are not paying the full salary cap, they never have and they never will, this year they will be 3/400k below the cap.

Never liked mac as a coach. Was really poor down here at London, talking the team up way beyond realistic expectations then slating the players after they lost. Not the right man for the Rhinoscerouses job.

I assume you have evidence of this.

The guy won the grand final. How many other super league coaches can say the same thing?

John Kear won the CC at Hull after beating 5 SL teams, including that year's top 3. He was sacked about 8 months later.

Moral of the story: one swallow doesn't make a summer.

Brought in Moore, Griffin, Harauki. Signs Ablett on a 5 year deal.

He just loves a slow steady Eddie- mastered it at the Quins. Got rid of all the skill and speed and sent out a team of second rowers. The blokes useless.

Moral of the story ? Hull were run by a bunch of idiots.

Whereas you now have a coach that has moved the club forwards to bigger and better things.

Yes and it's rather personal, but I'm sure you knew that.

Or a coach who is young and still learning much like his team?

Mac knows where the door is if he wants out its just a case of will they are him out of it in a straight jacket, a coffin or will he just walk?

he can't go much longer.
dammit i like the man. he comes over as a really decent guy who is a deep thinker about the game.

sadly as a coach he isn't good enough. no structure, no shape, no sense even in his decisions.
the squad needs three or four top class players but a top coach would have them in the top 5

Whereas now we have someone even more out of his depth. But that's not really the discussion here.

Your club is probably coming into a phase that Saints where in and still are around 3 years ago . Your main pivotal players at 1, 6, 7, 9 and 13 are less effective, mainly coming to the end of their careers. Your props are also losing there consistency of high performance. Brian Mac has a much harder job than previous coaches to create a dominance in superleague, his purple patch being the grand final last season. Top coaches availability is thin on the ground, Brian Noble perhaps but he only has a Plan A and a Plan A and a Plan A.

He cannot. Leeds generally run a little below full cap. This year they started off, no doubt, miles below it as no replacement for Senior could be found. There has been a rash of renegotiated deals which, I understand, include re-signing fees which will be made to count under the 2012 cap - but which will leave plenty of space going forward.

[quote="tad rhino"he can't go much longer.
dammit i like the man. he comes over as a really decent guy who is a deep thinker about the game.

sadly as a coach he isn't good enough. no structure, no shape, no sense even in his decisions.
the squad needs three or four top class players but a top coach would have them in the top 5[
/quote

I think more than three or four players.We are struggling but I can't see many of the Leeds pack getting a game for the Bulls

what's his plan a? winning rugby league matches?

'No plan b' is such a simplistic over used cliche for coaches and managers.

Seriously? He's worse than I thought

Leeds have never breached the salary cap unlike Wigan, Bradford, Saints etc.

From last year's squad Buderus, Senior, Pitts, Ali, Cross and Burgess have gone and Griffin and Moore have come in.

They weren't over the salary cap last year - it doesn't take much of a leap of faith to see the cost of the outs is significantly bigger than the ins. Contract extensions were given to Sinfield, Peacock and Webb all of whom will have been on reduced monies especially the first two given the length of the contracts offered. There has been some increases to younger players but that is unlikely to be huge and we still had plenty of cap space to take Lunt.

Hetherington has always allowed cap space incase another Ali comes along and they don't come cheap.

Winning the GF last year probably set you back at least one or two years in terms of facing the reality of regenerating the team. (That said, you could argue its a fair swap.) Guys like Macguire are way past their best - he's a great example of a player that doesn't 'age' well, because his game relies so much on pace. Tomkins will tail off rapidly as he nears and passes 30.

A lot of people are now saying 'it doesn't matter where you finish as long as you're in the top 8'. This is daft - last year was a freak result, and will happen every decade or so, that's the point of the playoffs - to give outsiders a hope. I'd still much rather enter the playoffs from #1 or #2 spots.

the problem is the pack. they are battered week in week out. put mcguire behind wigans pack and he would be fine.