Likewise for Leeds



I know that's why I didn't say it.



Cas don't need to have won silverwear to prove themselves, a good winning record against the top 4 and a defence that isn't the 2nd worst in the league are thing they need to prove though.



Extremely unlikely for any team.

As long as a team scores more points in a game than they concede they will win - how many points you concede is irrelevant

At the end of the weekly rounds in 2016 they were 6th - they had conceded 64 points more than Leeds but they had scored 213 points more.

Therein lies the difference only Warrington scored more points than Cas to end of the weekly rounds.

I know which style of rugby I would prefer to watch

At last, a sensible comment during the whole of this tedious, repetitive debate.

Clearly is relevant otherwise why weren't they in the top 4 last year? Because they conceded more than they scored on too many occasions.



Good for them, did they get awarded the Super League title for finishing ahead of us?



And Warrington and three others finished ahead of them so clearly their defence cost them even if you think it's irrelevant.



And if they introduce bonus points to the league table for 'Entertainment value' then that might be relevant. They won't win games and titles because you find them more entertaining than others.

Imo, you will never win anything in any sport if you are not able to defend and are quite happy to rely on simply scoring a boatload of points. This rings especially true in playoff based sports as defence seems to ramp up towards the back end.

It comes down to how you look at the game, while I, like everyone, love watching good attacking team, I also can't ignore defence. Often times I would say a good defensive play is more exciting or crowd lifting than an offensive one. After all it is half of the game.

One thing is absolutely certain, you cannot win a game at all if you can't score.

If you can't attack then sure as $h1t you're going to have to do a lot more defending. Defence and attack are totally intertwined, stats on the two tell a poor story and are of limited value. What we saw last season was a team that was clueless with the ball, scrambled well but at times - usually critical ones - capitulated defensively.
Simple arguments are made by simple people.

Also, we forget sport is about entertainment. When we won the treble in 2015 we did it in some style. Cuthbertson was a revelation and the team played some terrific rugby for the majority of the season. Brilliant attacking play saw us steal the game from Hudds to win the LLS, and the GF was a fantastic game of rugby to watch. And not just because it was for a trophy.

I really enjoyed Cas's attacking play and some of the wins they managed last year.
BUT if it had been Leeds I reckon I'd have been entertained and frustrated in equal measure.
Way superior to us last year yet way inferior to our 2015 vintage.

I'd take that over bored and disappointed. But I understand your point and agree.

I know you can't win if you don't score, but I agree with Clearwing, that if Cas had been Leeds I'd have been entertained and frustrated in equal measure. I can just as easily flip your comment that conceding more points puts more pressure on your attack. Our defence last season was sloppy and permanently on the back foot for a variety of reasons including our poor attack.

If I wanted a team to compete, I would 100% prefer my defence to be the solid Base on which to build. That's with my coach hat on, obviously I take your point on entertainment.

I actually think the single biggest thing Leeds could do to improve both attack and defence is improve on our last tackles plays. I lost count of the amount of times last season where we chose to bypass kickers and try and go Harlem Globe Trotters, even in our own half.