Leeds Rhinos: YEP Jury give their Magic verdicts

ANDREW SUTCLIFFE

After an un-magical Magic Weekend we find ourselves adrift at the bottom of the table now.

We again faced Wigan and no one gave us much hope.

When the team was announced, even the most positive of fans will have feared the worst with more first-team players out injured, who had been named in the mid-week squad to play.

I feel the club are letting fans down in this way by not being open about injured players who are named mid-week but realistically have no hope playing at the weekend.

Our injured players appear no closer to coming back week after week, leaving us hopelessly vulnerable by being forced to play youngsters far too often.

I actually thought we played fairly well in patches throughout the game, but it’s clearly showing they are trying to overplay to get themselves out of the rut they are in.

Unfortunately the most consistent part of our season is indiscipline and weak defence. This was apparent again on Saturday when a Wigan team who hadn’t scored more than 30 points in a game this season took their chances and racked up a comfortable victory.

On to tomorrow and the clash with Warrington. How long does the narrow defeat at home to them on week one seem now?

Warrington have been either brilliant this season or pretty ordinary, letting leads slip as they did at Newcastle against Castleford.

I don’t expect us to win, but I would like to see us be competitive for 80 minutes and make teams work to beat us.

If we can stay in a game till the end we might actually get some luck that has deserted us this year.

KATIE BURROWS

There’s not much I can say about last Saturday’s performance that hasn’t been said in previous weeks.

Yet again we were the first team to score, only to let a good first-half performance result in another embarrassing defeat. Our discipline is simply not good enough and we are making costly errors week in week out.

Last week I wrote that Brian McDermott had my backing and I stand by that, but that doesn’t mean I don’t sometimes question his decisions or approach. I’m not inspired by McDermott in his post-match press conferences, and I often find myself seriously disagreeing with his analysis of our performance, but I don’t believe there is another coach that can help us out of our current situation.

I understand the fans’ frustration, and I personally wouldn’t be surprised if Leeds and McDermott part ways in the weeks to come, but for me he’s done enough to retain his position at least until the end of the season, if not longer.

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s game, and we travel to Warrington who have definitely earned the title of being our bogey side in recent years. Warrington will be looking to leapfrog Hull and reclaim top spot after their loss last week so, despite us putting up a fight when we played them back in round one, I fear that we’re heading towards another defeat.

ELIZABETH HAWKHEAD

The underdogs seem to have had their day at Magic weekend – with the exception of Hull KR and Leeds Rhinos!

It was another poor performance from Leeds against a Wigan side that looked ‘ordinary’.

Despite nine days since they last played, many of the Rhinos players looked tired. With more casualties added to the injury list, each week players are switching positions to fill the gaps and this must impact as partnerships cannot be developed and confidence cannot grow. Looking at the up-and-coming fixtures I am not sure where our next points will come from. My only hope is that some of the more experienced players will return to bring some stability and confidence and we can gain a win or two.

THOMAS LAWRENCE

For three weeks in a row Leeds have started a game better than the opposition and gone on to capitulate. Traditionally, things go wrong for Leeds in May and with a Friday night trip to Warrington ahead, it looks like we’re getting a winless May. Though maybe I should know better than to write Leeds off…

LUKE CROSSFIELD

At the moment I can’t see where our next victory is coming from. Poor team selection and schoolboy errors all over the park were what we got treated to on Saturday. A marquee match at one of the biggest events in the rugby league calendar and we got treated to Mexican waves in second half.

Brian McDermott said after the match that we could do something special and win the Grand Final.

At this moment we are going to do something special and that is get relegated.

If we went unbeaten now until the end of the season based on last season standings we would not get into the top four. Let that sink in, face reality and target Super League survival starting tomorrow night.

ANDREW richardson

In an all too familiar display by Leeds, they were once again crushed at the Magic Weekend by Wigan. In the first half Leeds hung on but they tired in the second and Wigan piled on the points. This week Leeds face Warrington. All signs point to another miserable week to be a Rhinos fan.