Back Looking Forward to New Season
Leeds coach, Neil Back, says his side is preparing well and looking forward to a shot at the title when the new Premiership season starts.
Leeds have been quietly going about their business during the close season by bringing in one or two additional players and working extensively on their tactics and style of play. Back believes this will help the team although they remain huge outsiders to break the dominance of the big clubs in English rugby.
Back is a very positive and passionate coach and this will help his side next year. He is a former player and will know all of the familiar feelings that will be surfacing within his team at the moment. He will be hoping to use these to his advantage as the start of the season draws closer.
Leeds have struggled over recent seasons through consistency and although they have never really been troubled by the prospect of relegation, it has come close enough to kick the club into gear.
Close Season
Back says the club has done very well during the close season in preparation for the new campaign. Leeds have a very tough start and will play some big clubs in their first few games. This will test all of the things that the side have been training on and working towards.
Leeds have a bigger and wider squad than they had last year. This will help them cope during various parts of the season when the side pick up one or two injuries. They will be able to bring in a quality replacement, who should be able to step into the side and have a similar role to the person he is replacing.
This should increase the consistency of the side, which was a problem last year. When Leeds play as well as they can, they are capable of beating anyone. However, on other days they make a number of basic errors, which means the side get punished and beaten into a heavy loss.
Problems
There are many potential problems with Leeds' desire to push for the title next year. There are four or five clubs ahead of them in the pecking order who will not be worried about Leeds as a threat. This will let the club go about their business but these sides will be competing against the strength of each other more than anything else.
Although Leeds have done well to bulk up their squad it is still nothing compared to the calibre of other squads in the division. These clubs like to account for two or three players being suspended or injured and not being able to play in a particular role. If this happens to Leeds then they should be able to cope but they will be stretched thin.
As already stated Leeds do have a very tough start to the season. This can put them on the back foot before they have even started to get going and it means that the club may be forced into rethinking its ambitions for the season after only a couple of games.
Advice
Leeds will be nothing more than a completely romantic punt to win the title next year. The more realistic option is to take it game by game and see how the club start the season. If they play well during tougher games then you can bet on their likely league position because they just aren't good enough at the moment to win the league. Other sides just won't let it happen.
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