Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 1:53 pm  

Sal Paradise wrote:

Would you say Leeds' form is improving or getting worse? Would you say Wigan, Warrington & Huddersfield are improving or getting worse?

The key personnel are getting older the side has been strengthen significantly so unless the quality of the league is regressing quicker than Leeds are I am unsure how logically you can be so confident of them achieving something they haven't done since 2012?

I said it is possible but there will be very few people expecting it to happen

I'd say Leeds have started to struggle without the 2 wingers, Kylie & their leader in recent weeks. That's plain for all to see but 3 of those 4 are in the squad for Saturday and we've got one of the best league run-ins we've had for years this season. Unless we really get ravaged by injury then top 2 is pretty much nailed on IMO, giving us a home tie in the semis when anything can heppen, but i'm an optimist and always have been. Unlike yourself who's done nothing but be negative all season.

Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 4:21 pm  

loiner81 wrote:

I'd say Leeds have started to struggle without the 2 wingers, Kylie & their leader in recent weeks. That's plain for all to see but 3 of those 4 are in the squad for Saturday and we've got one of the best league run-ins we've had for years this season. Unless we really get ravaged by injury then top 2 is pretty much nailed on IMO, giving us a home tie in the semis when anything can heppen, but i'm an optimist and always have been. Unlike yourself who's done nothing but be negative all season.

Struggling without Kylie?
Come on mate he's been a reasonable 10 minute spell prop for over a year ,as for Sinfield we may miss his leadership and GK but form? Not imo.
Agree we miss Hall and Briscoe but lets be honest thats only in part because the Coach use them as extra forwards because he's flogged most of ours or refuses to give the younger lads longer minutes.

Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 4:44 pm  

rhinoms wrote:

Struggling without Kylie?
Come on mate he's been a reasonable 10 minute spell prop for over a year ,as for Sinfield we may miss his leadership and GK but form? Not imo.
Agree we miss Hall and Briscoe but lets be honest thats only in part because the Coach use them as extra forwards because he's flogged most of ours or refuses to give the younger lads longer minutes.

Briscoe was the best winger in the comp before his injury and with Hall missing too it's forced us into playing the comp's best centre on the wing.
We've had Watkins on the wing, Keinhorst getting game time... And so what if they're used as extra forwards, they're more than up to the task and do an outstanding job of it.

"we may miss his leadership and goal kicking" - Indeed and it probably cost us a point v Hudds. We were a different side when he came on vs Wire too but it was too late.

Kylie hasn't been doing 10 mins for over a year either.

Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 4:50 pm  

Did you see Sinfields defence v Wire?
Kylie hasn't been doing 10 minute spells but certainly only effective for 10 minutes and virtually a passenger the rest.

Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 6:38 pm  

rhinoms wrote:

Did you see Sinfields defence v Wire?
Kylie hasn't been doing 10 minute spells but certainly only effective for 10 minutes and virtually a passenger the rest.

Some on here simply have a blank where Sinfield is concerned. I would still pick him in my 17 though

Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 6:39 pm  

Let's face it Sinfield has been pretty poor most of this season and for large parts last season.
Just because he has been left out he is Mr Fantastic again.
Like I said earlier and Rhinoms has just said his leadership and goal kicking are second to none.
And because we do not have a backup hooker until Ward is fit we stick with Burrow who has been pish poor whenever he has played.
This and only this is why Sinfield should be on the bench to give Aiton a rest.
Sutcliffe needs to take hold of the game more he has enough game time to do this now.
We should have spared Cuthbertson last week as he looks knackered.
But our coach is seemingly going for the record of using fewer players than anyone else in a season.
Whatever happens he will stick to his favourites even if they are playing badly.

Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 8:16 pm  

chapylad wrote:

Let's face it Sinfield has been pretty poor most of this season and for large parts last season.
Just because he has been left out he is Mr Fantastic again.

True about his form but that was as a starting 80 minutes HB who'd not had a decent break for a few years with International duty at the end of the seasons. A slightly reduced role of loose/hooker/sub in a game is a different matter. I think a large part of Sinfield's on field struggles came from his workload. Going by his last real showing at Saints away (vs Wire the horse had already bolted by the time he'd come on) then he did ok coming off the bench, the only sub that did that night. Nothing special but did a job.

Chapylad wrote:

Like I said earlier and Rhinoms has just said his leadership and goal kicking are second to none.
And because we do not have a backup hooker until Ward is fit we stick with Burrow who has been pish poor whenever he has played.
This and only this is why Sinfield should be on the bench to give Aiton a rest.

I believe Robbie Ward has been back playing now for the u19's for the last couple of games? Now if McDermott was picking him as the sub hooker then fair play to leave Sinfield out on the basis on moving forwards with new players. But that Burrow is making the 17 and not playing much or contributing much apart from the odd game (Catalans away) then really Sinfield should be in ahead of him.

Btw if Sinfield isn't being played because he's leaving. If Burrow is getting picked ahead of him does it mean that the club expect him to be here next year and not Cas? If those rumours were true then why's he making the bench above Sinfield and Ward?

Chapylad wrote:

But our coach is seemingly going for the record of using fewer players than anyone else in a season.
Whatever happens he will stick to his favourites even if they are playing badly.

I thought Sinfield and Burrow were his favourites I've heard that for years on here??? Now they can barely get a game stuck behind Sutcliffe and Aiton and he's reluctant to take Stevie Ward off during games which means either Delaney or Ablett may get less minutes at 2nd row when all fit.

So when he drops his favourites for the ones who had to play 2nd fiddle previously, it's really because those previously 2nd fiddle players are his favourites???

Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 9:20 pm  

ThePrinter wrote:

True about his form but that was as a starting 80 minutes HB who'd not had a decent break for a few years with International duty at the end of the seasons. A slightly reduced role of loose/hooker/sub in a game is a different matter. I think a large part of Sinfield's on field struggles came from his workload. Going by his last real showing at Saints away (vs Wire the horse had already bolted by the time he'd come on) then he did ok coming off the bench, the only sub that did that night. Nothing special but did a job.


I believe Robbie Ward has been back playing now for the u19's for the last couple of games? Now if McDermott was picking him as the sub hooker then fair play to leave Sinfield out on the basis on moving forwards with new players. But that Burrow is making the 17 and not playing much or contributing much apart from the odd game (Catalans away) then really Sinfield should be in ahead of him.

Btw if Sinfield isn't being played because he's leaving. If Burrow is getting picked ahead of him does it mean that the club expect him to be here next year and not Cas? If those rumours were true then why's he making the bench above Sinfield and Ward?

I thought Sinfield and Burrow were his favourites I've heard that for years on here??? Now they can barely get a game stuck behind Sutcliffe and Aiton and he's reluctant to take Stevie Ward off during games which means either Delaney or Ablett may get less minutes at 2nd row when all fit.

So when he drops his favourites for the ones who had to play 2nd fiddle previously, it's really because those previously 2nd fiddle players are his favourites???

Agree with the idea Sinfield should be spared and played at hooker along with Aiton Printer.
Clearly he does not rate Robbie Ward or so it seems otherwise he would have him on the bench.
With regards to his favourites it seems that once Sinfield said he was leaving at the end of the year.
McDermott acted like a jilted partner threw his teddy out of the pram and
decided not to pick him anymore.
Burrow it seems is still one of his favourites.
There is no other reason why he is getting in the 17 ahead of Sinfield.
And yes he should have taken Steve Ward off when injured against Warrington when the game was out of reach.

Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 9:30 pm  

chapylad wrote:

Agree with the idea Sinfield should be spared and played at hooker along with Aiton Printer.
Clearly he does not rate Robbie Ward or so it seems otherwise he would have him on the bench.
With regards to his favourites it seems that once Sinfield said he was leaving at the end of the year.
McDermott acted like a jilted partner threw his teddy out of the pram and
decided not to pick him anymore.
Burrow it seems is still one of his favourites.
There is no other reason why he is getting in the 17 ahead of Sinfield.
And yes he should have taken Steve Ward off when injured against Warrington when the game was out of reach.

Picked him twice to start vs Wakey and Salford when he was fit again (his departure was announced whilst he was out injured. Sutcliffe even dropped to the bench in the latter game and as I mentioned previously he played a good role in the Saints game from the bench and took over goalkicking duties. Only when the cup draw was made was Sinfield withdrawn from action.

And simply going by how often they've spoken about how much they respect each other and that Sinfield had the right to call it quits whenever providing he did so very early in the year and for what he's done for this club, I really don't think McDermott begrudges Sinfield deciding he wants to call it a day at the end of this season. He will have known it would've been this year or next anyway for a while now.

As for Burrow he's still in the 17 but quite a few times his introduction has almost been a token gesture getting quite late on in the game (also dropped for two games himself at the start of the season like Sinfield has just been). Had Robbie Ward not gotten himself injured and only just returned it would've been interesting to see if he'd have gotten a game already.

Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 10:26 pm  

Andy Gilder wrote:

Or to spin that another way:

Leeds have won 1, lost 2 and drawn 1 of their last 4 games and have no wins in their last 3.
Huddersfield have won 3 and drawn 1 of their last 4 games
Wigan have won all their last 4 games
Saints have won 2 and lost 2 of their last 4 games
Warrington have won 2 and lost 2 of their last 4 games

Now can you see how those teams are outperforming Leeds?

Factor in that over their last four games Leeds have only really looked in decent form for two spells of forty minutes (the opening halves at Huddersfield & Saints) and otherwise have been on the back foot, and can you see now how difficult it looks to see them holding on to top spot over the next 9 rounds?.

Can you see how it is possible that will could hold onto top spot.....

Matches Played so far

Leeds - 5(h)...9(a) 13 pts from 18 away
Wigan - 8(h)...6(a) 3 pts from 12 away
Saints - 7(h)...7(a) 8 pts from 14 away
Wire - 8(h)...6(a) 4 pts from 12 away
Hudds - 7(h)...7(a) 8 pts from 14 away

Played nearly all our away games already before the split and a couple more than the teams around us, and we've dropped the fewest points. They all have more away games an us and away records that aren't as impressive. Wigan have the other three teams compared there to play away (plus Catalans) over the next 6 round period. For a team with only 3 points away from home (from Wakey and being held to a draw vs Widnes even though they played with a man advantage for 60 mins and a 16 point lead) then it's going to take a massive turn around in their away performances to pick up a decent amount of points from them.

At home we've played fewer than those and the only one we haven't played at Headingley is Saints.

In a season where even the top teams are struggling to perform away from home, then to be top after having played 2/3 more away games (and having lost fewer points on our travels despite playing more) shouldn't be overlooked. Let's remember 3 of the 5 points we've lost recently have come AWAY from home. A big factor in those games was discipline, likelihood is when we're the home team we won't be penalised as much as when you play away and thus reducing one of the key areas of concern ATM.