Congratulations to Lee Radford and the rest of the back room staff on what must be already considered a successful season. A Cup Final appearance and an almost certain GF semi final appearance far exceeds my expectations for this season. Whilst not picking up some silverware at this point would be disappointing it cannot detract from the significant improvements made by the club this year.

Lee Radford is the best young coach in SL, and he bleeds B&W.

Let's not forget motu tony's part in all of this. Without his contacts and recruiting skills I doubt we'd have the squad we do for the coach to work with. I also think that richard horne's involvement on the coaching side will have taken some of the pressure off radford. it was blatantly obvious that radford and last wasn't enough resource to coach a SL team

You only have to look on the Leeds board to see how quick it could all change back!! , This season has exceeded many expectations already , Without winning anything , Well done to all involved .

Every member of that backroom staff has had a hand in the current position of the club and deserves any plaudits.

Win or lose at Wembley, this has been the best season since 2005 and we are genuine contenders for the 3 pieces of silver. I've spoken at length with Radders and seen first-hand the work he puts in, from the end of a match to the early morning prep for training and the restructuring he has put in place. We must have the best team-spirit in the league and that will take us far - for that we have Pearson to thank for maintaining faith in Lee and giving him the funds to go about his business, from the charter planes to the cryo-chamber and the carte-blanche approach to team building with Motu.
We have a set of South Sea Islanders that can rank alongside Kemble/Leuluai/O'Hara and Ah Kuoi and the enviable youth coming through.

Radfords words at the end of his post-game interview have elevated the man to a higher status: "I want to get rid of that song."

Well pleased for the bloke. He is turning into a fantastic manager.

Always seemed a nice genuine bloke when i met him.

I have to say that I have certainly not been his biggest fan. I have though always wanted the club to succeed and would never want us to lose in order for the coach to be sacked, unlike some.

I have been at the point of despair over the past 3 years since that loss to Wigan at Wembley. I personally couldn't see what we could do other than completely change the backroom staff. Widnes away this year summed it all up perfectly for me. Shocking display followed by a dressing room lock in without the coach. The writing was clearly on the wall then, in hindsight

Radders deserves all the credit that is due to him an he is due a lot from me as I eat humble pie. But equally we must realise what we have. The spirit within the entire club appears to be amazing. It is one club. You only have to look at the pictures in the dressing room after Friday's match. The entire backroom staff and squad in the dressing room celebrating. The huddle after matches only taking place once all the players are in it.

The images we have from the players on instagram and the like. Compare that with for example Wire after Saturday's match walking round the Leigh stadium as individuals (I'm not knocking that). There is a spirit that I don't recall ever seeing at any club whatever the sport.
That comes from Lee and Adam. It was clearly what Lee wanted and it is clear that Adam bought into that and so have the players. Led by the senior guys like Ellis and Mini. It is why we sold Westy and Lineham. And probably why we no longer have the likes of Ben Crooks at the club.
Very few of us saw the reasons but seeing the club now it is plainly obvious why Lee and Adam took the decisions they did.

My only hope now is that we can build on this and not destroy it like we have with all the decent sides we've had since the 80s. There is massive potential now. The squad with few exceptions is still relatively young. a tweak here and there at the end of each season could see us developing like the Rhinos have done over the past decade.

Boy its exciting.

My thoughts on Lee's abilities when 20-nil down against Rovers after an hour this season to now could not be more contrasting.

I am glad to be eating as much humble pie as Lee and the team keep serving. long may it continue.

It sure is Mr Richards and what a great post I can really buy into all that

Well said.

Nobody was happy with what we saw going on, pretty much everyone questioned Radford's initial appointment, and questioned whether he was the right man (myself included). Every one of us is eating humble pie, just some people have a much larger portion to eat than others.

A few posters have referred to me & others as happy clappers because we didn't display the same levels of vitriol towards Radford that they did. If anyone could be arsed to look back through my posts, I was as frustrated as the next person, but maybe just a little more patient and noticed the faint glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

As you say, a lot of decisions made at the time didn't seem right, at least from the outside looking in, which with the power of hindsight can see were the right decisions. Sorting out the squad was always going to take time. Radders getting up to speed as a HC was always going to take time.

Some posters should be completely ashamed of the way they acted at the time. Criticism is fine, we've all done it at some point. Nobody will ever take exception to someone with a genuine concern / criticism with something happening on the field or at the club. Once it goes past that line into the realms of; personal abuse, accusations about his character, made up b/s, opinions on the back of made up b/s, petitions to get him sacked from his job, banners at games etc, like it did do, it's fair to expect it to be challenged. Stuff like that simply isn't on, and that's where the divide occurred on this board. Unfortunately, a couple of the main protagonists still refuse to withdraw or apologise for their actions and are currently sat there blissfully booking their Wembley trips. Such is life.

It's been a great season so far. We have a massive chance at Wembley (more so than the past 2 finals anyway), and we're realistically only a couple of wins away from cementing a top4 finish. Radders deserves huge credit, so does Motu, Pearson & the rest of the backroom staff, their patience & hard work should be a lesson to all of us.