And some people are (mis)reading the comment. It was about the younger players not getting the game time they would have maybe got in previous seasons. Not an analysis or critique of the first team.

Might be worth popping into the Delorean and changing your original post...

To be honest I get what Doc Brown and others have said about the lack of injuries or the fact we kept our best 17 going all season as you look at Taylor in the last few games of the season he definitely looked jaded and wasn't making the metres he had been. The flip side of that is would we have achieved as much had Radford rotated the squad? Who knows. Then there is the what I assume would have been the goal set of a CC win and top 4 place. This would have been what was focused on an then as the season unfolded the goals will have shifted slightly.

I don't think we can underestimate the impact of actually winning the CC on the team afterwards and this I think was a factor also. I do think had we lost the CC Final we would have won the LLS &/or the GF as the drive and desire would have burnt even more fromthe sting of losing the CC.

Thats said, however we all look at it, 2016 eclipsed our wildest dreams and was in the cold light of day the best season we have had in the SL era. The disppointed that is around is natural as we were so close to more. The big ask now is to back this season up in 2017 and go one better.

Mr Fusion's on the blink...

Ref the resting/rotation, there was only taylor in the forwards who didn't miss games through being injured or dropped/rested. The fall off at the season's end was 90% down to winning at wembley

Having a fit first 17 for most of the season changes your mental approach, there was also a heck of a lot of pressure on LR to perform this year.
Due to that even though rotating players more than he did could have actually benefitted us MORE during the regular 23 games and definitely in the S8s without having an effect on the CC run he didn't, he couldn't risk it in his eyes.

Those back up squad players are able to give more than a fatigued first 13/17 player, this was apparent a few times in certain games BEFORE the S8s There was also a lack of actual minutes for some of those even when they were selected, especially the forwards which is were we were effected most in the final third of the season.
This is inexerience combined with fear factor, fear because if you lose, it's because you rested too many, there is no sure fire way of knowing, however the end result showed that the forwards were very fatigued and a once dominant pack tailed off (by comparison to our earlier performances) quite considerably.
Trying to say it was all down to Wembley is really not accurate, it will have had an effect, it's an extra game, it's the celebration afterwards, however Warrington played vastly better in the 8s than we did and come the decider even without some of their better players we were run ragged. If having a few shandies was that big a difference maybe the coach should be saying no celebrations until after season end, then get blotto'd.

Now that LR has a win in the bank there is a huge amount less pressure on him so maybe he will trust more to the youth and balance things out for next season. By his own words he must realise that continually playing your best 13/17 players all the time isn't always the best solution to get the best end results.

Indeed. A few on here advocating best 17 week in week out regardless, ultimately that may have cost us. And the player most in need of a break is our only England player also.

Up the Cream are reporting that Michaels has now signed his new contract so hopefully an official announcement on that from the club soon.

Used to make me laugh when people on here say always play your best players barring injury. They can't have realised players burn out, until it finally showed towards the end of this season. Players need resting, it's just figuring out when to test certain players to keep the teams momentum going and not shake the team up to much. Need to find the correct balance.

Hindsight engineering...