Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Wed May 13, 2015 10:37 pm  

Andy Gilder wrote:

Thanks to the ridiculously convoluted and crowded fixture calendar, we're not even half way through the regular season yet.

Leeds still have Wigan to play three times, Saints twice, Huddersfield and Warrington once each. On current form, would you back them to win any of those?

Yeah I would, considering we drew with one of them 2 weeks ago and beat the champions very easily 4 weeks ago. In fact we've beaten all but one of them already this season.

With Briscoe, Hall, Kylie and Sinfield to come back i'm backing Leeds to go on and finish top quite easily, especially with the number of home games we've got to play. Whether we can go on and win the GF is another matter but it really wouldn't be a shock, would it?

Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 6:20 am  

loiner81 wrote:

Yeah I would, considering we drew with one of them 2 weeks ago and beat the champions very easily 4 weeks ago. In fact we've beaten all but one of them already this season.

With Briscoe, Hall, Kylie and Sinfield to come back i'm backing Leeds to go on and finish top quite easily, especially with the number of home games we've got to play. Whether we can go on and win the GF is another matter but it really wouldn't be a shock, would it?

The difference is some teams are getting stronger - Wigan, Huddersfield and Warrington whilst some appear to be weakening Leeds & Saints - there is a long way to go yet. I can't see Leeds finishing top - even before the break never mind after the split. The way the season is now configured doesn't help an ageing team like Leeds at all. Can they win the GF yes, it would be a major shock if they did.

Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 8:28 am  

Sal Paradise wrote:

The difference is some teams are getting stronger - Wigan, Huddersfield and Warrington whilst some appear to be weakening Leeds & Saints - there is a long way to go yet. I can't see Leeds finishing top - even before the break never mind after the split. The way the season is now configured doesn't help an ageing team like Leeds at all. Can they win the GF yes, it would be a major shock if they did.

Well there's no surprise in you being negative and writing Leeds off, again..... But how are Leeds weakening? We're top of the league despite losing Hall, Briscoe, Kylie and Sinfield.

Leeds have lost 2 and drawn 1 of their last 6 games.
Huddersfield have lost 3 and drawn 1 of their last 6 games.
Wire have lost 3 of their last 6 games
Saints have lost 3 of their last 6 games.
Wigan have won 5 of their last 6 games, most of which were at home against mid-lower table clubs.

Yeah they're all massively outplaying the "weakening" Leeds & Saints.

Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 9:17 am  

loiner81 wrote:

Well there's no surprise in you being negative and writing Leeds off, again..... But how are Leeds weakening? We're top of the league despite losing Hall, Briscoe, Kylie and Sinfield.

Leeds have lost 2 and drawn 1 of their last 6 games.
Huddersfield have lost 3 and drawn 1 of their last 6 games.
Wire have lost 3 of their last 6 games
Saints have lost 3 of their last 6 games.
Wigan have won 5 of their last 6 games, most of which were at home against mid-lower table clubs.

Yeah they're all massively outplaying the "weakening" Leeds & Saints.

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?

Every team in the competition have injuries. Pointing to losing your first choice wingers, an over the hill prop and a player who has been left out for non-injury related matters is grasping at straws. Saints won the Grand Final last year despite being in a much worse position injury wise.

Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 10:16 am  

Andy Gilder wrote:

Or to spin that another way:

Not spinning anything, I just went back 6 games to show recent form. But why 4, why not 1? That wouldn't work as well would it...

But whatever, if you want to write off the greatest Leeds team in the club's history after a couple of defeats whilst missing a few key players then you go for it! It's what this board does best afterall and what it's done best throughout the most successful period in the club's history.

Anyone would think we were in the bottom half of the table, like some clowns on here predicted pre-season.

Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 10:18 am  

Andy Gilder wrote:

Saints won the Grand Final last year despite being in a much worse position injury wise.

And got their arses handed to them on a plate on more than one occasion too.

Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 11:50 am  

loiner81 wrote:

Not spinning anything, I just went back 6 games to show recent form. But why 4, why not 1? That wouldn't work as well would it...

Because four is more recent than six, and one would be unrepresentative.

Going back six instead means you include scratchy wins against a depleted Salford and the worst team in the competition (who still managed to put 22 points on us at home). Something you were quick to dismiss when interpreting Wigan's recent run of wins. If you're going to attach weight to particular wins or losses, at least do it consistently across all teams.

Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 11:53 am  

loiner81 wrote:

Well there's no surprise in you being negative and writing Leeds off, again..... But how are Leeds weakening? We're top of the league despite losing Hall, Briscoe, Kylie and Sinfield.

Leeds have lost 2 and drawn 1 of their last 6 games.
Huddersfield have lost 3 and drawn 1 of their last 6 games.
Wire have lost 3 of their last 6 games
Saints have lost 3 of their last 6 games.
Wigan have won 5 of their last 6 games, most of which were at home against mid-lower table clubs.

Yeah they're all massively outplaying the "weakening" Leeds & Saints.

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

Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 1:28 pm  

I would say we have hit the predictable mid season flat spot. No team will go through a season theses days hitting top form in every match. Certain of the old guard and some of the young ones have lost a bit of early season edge. Add to that injuries to key personnel and that can make the difference. We need to struggle through the lost form and hope that the return of Hall, JJB, Kylie and eventually Briscoe will kick start the season in time for a strong finish. In a way we could do without an extended Cup run this season.

Re: For the love of God,Allah or whoever-McDermott GO!!! : Thu May 14, 2015 1:45 pm  

Andy Gilder wrote:

Because four is more recent than six, and one would be unrepresentative.

Going back six instead means you include scratchy wins against a depleted Salford and the worst team in the competition (who still managed to put 22 points on us at home). Something you were quick to dismiss when interpreting Wigan's recent run of wins. If you're going to attach weight to particular wins or losses, at least do it consistently across all teams.

Oh. So it has to be 4 then because it helps to back up your point, I get it now. What about the last 3, is that allowed? Obviously it can't be 6 because we played Wakefield and no one else (Saints & Wire) have played them in the last 6 weeks and Wigan didn't play a depleted and totally uninterested Hull KR a couple of weeks ago...

Cannot it not be 1 because we all know you're only ever as good as your last game - apparently.

What about......



Or doesn't that count because Leeds have lost 1 more game than their closest rivals recently?