2024 | Play Off Chance : Wed Jul 17, 2024 3:52 pm  

10 games left, not a long time to turn things around. Next 5 games need to win at least 4, and beat everyone directly above us in the table (wigan excluded) starting Saturday against Hull Kr, i personally think we can win the next 3, Wigan likely to be too much but honestly think Warrington are not that good and we have gifted then 2 wins this year so hopefully pick up a 4th win. Then its all to play for in last 5. But we really need to beat Salford Hull kr and Catalans on the run in or its just too big a hill to climb.

Thoughts?

Re: Play off chances : Wed Jul 17, 2024 5:34 pm  

I think it's possible.

All I've wanted all season is for us to play well and more often than not. Consistency.

If we do that ,but don't make it that's fine. The other teams deserved it more. Just domt want to flap around failing on the same issues.

If we do make it,it proves we have a better team than has been on show last 18 months or so and will make us more attractive to incoming players & coach

Re: Play off chances : Wed Jul 17, 2024 6:07 pm  

I reckon it`s between us and Salford who makes the top 6.
But we will need at least 7 wins to get there.
Not impossible but we`ve made it difficult for ourselves losing to teams we should be beating.

Re: Play off chances : Wed Jul 17, 2024 10:19 pm  

I think if we lose this weekend and the BA bubble bursts a bit, we’re going to find it difficult.

If we win and some confidence returns, and Salford lose, it’s game on.

Salford are our target; we have to get level with them and have better points diff.

[Ex-Swarcliffe Rhino]

Re: Play off chances : Thu Jul 18, 2024 10:00 am  

I think as BA mentioned in his presser - time is limited and although he wished he'd had a preseason with the squad hes confident as long as they take in what hes saying (and lets face it, it was actual common sense truths) then we may be able to squeak it.

There IS a team at Leeds its just been taking daft shortcuts to try and get results and BA wont stand for it. Having a better attitude in reality probably wont make our lack of oomph in the forwards magically disappear or our faltering attack suddenly spring into miraculous form but if we can stay in games longer and cut out the mistakes (which are killing us) then we'll have a chance against anyone. Sometimes taking a step back, simplifying the task at hand and then moving forwards doing the basics well can be enough.

Must admit, when Brad said "We need to go looking for contact and not let them come to us" I nearly keeled over in ecstasy.

Re: Play off chances : Thu Jul 18, 2024 10:15 am  

Ex-Swarcliffe Rhino wrote:

I think as BA mentioned in his presser - time is limited and although he wished he'd had a preseason with the squad hes confident as long as they take in what hes saying (and lets face it, it was actual common sense truths) then we may be able to squeak it.

There IS a team at Leeds its just been taking daft shortcuts to try and get results and BA wont stand for it. Having a better attitude in reality probably wont make our lack of oomph in the forwards magically disappear or our faltering attack suddenly spring into miraculous form but if we can stay in games longer and cut out the mistakes (which are killing us) then we'll have a chance against anyone. Sometimes taking a step back, simplifying the task at hand and then moving forwards doing the basics well can be enough.

Must admit, when Brad said "We need to go looking for contact and not let them come to us" I nearly keeled over in ecstasy.

Yep totally agree with this. I think we need to be realistic with what BA has to work with.

Leeds have the potential to play better just by cutting out errors and brain farts, but if it was as easy as just "stop dropping the ball" I think we might have figured that out by now. The problem for me fundamentally is that the squad isn't good enough yet.

I think we can carry out of yardage way more effectively, I think BA can do something quickly about that. I think he can improve our kicking game too in terms of positioning and responsibility. I hope he can get our line speed and kick pressure more consistent too.

He does have a core of good quality players in the side to work with, and a few others out of form he needs to improve confidence.

Be very interested in his selections - he can only select from what he has. There are a couple of prop options from the reserves I might be tempted to try rather than just sticking Donaldson back in the middle. For me you can afford one of O'Connor, Goudemand, Bentley or Donaldson in the matchday squad but probably not two. Maybe it's time to give Hudson a run off the bench.

Re: Play off chances : Thu Jul 18, 2024 11:09 am  

If we can pick up some form having a run in against the teams above us actually helps the playoff chances because we’d be taking points of them, every game is almost a 4 pointer for us. What we mustn’t do is lose to any teams below us as that will just put the nail in the coffin

[Ex-Swarcliffe Rhino]

Re: Play off chances : Thu Jul 18, 2024 11:20 am  

Indeed. Im hopeful that a simple game plan and a bit of confidence we can string something together.
At the very least we are going to find out just who wants it and who doesn't over the next x10 games which I suspect is the real reason weve gone for BA to really run the rule over the squad and confirm his findings with Blease.

Dare I say Im actually looking forward to a game for the first time in weeks? Im not expecting miracles but im expecting an attitude shift.

Re: Play off chances : Thu Jul 18, 2024 6:22 pm  

chapylad wrote:

I reckon it`s between us and Salford who makes the top 6.
But we will need at least 7 wins to get there.
Not impossible but we`ve made it difficult for ourselves losing to teams we should be beating.

That’s what i think, 6 wins might be enough but that might be over reliant on others losing and points difference.

Re: Play off chances : Fri Jul 19, 2024 3:52 pm  

I'm not expecting us to be night and day after BA comes in. Many of the errors/ brain farts I've seen this year are individual in nature, and Wayne Bennett wouldn't make a difference to the majority.

However if we can tighten up a percentage through better organisation and clarity, it might be enough to see us home in more games, we'll see.

We need to be realistic with what BA can bring in, with a short space of time. Said it elsewhere but I'm expecting better yardage sets and improved tactical kicking for a start, and for us to be applying more pressure to the opposition. That much should be doable. Whether we have left ourselves too much to do - we're about to find out pretty quickly!