He should have been brought through as a stand-off. He could have been great. Bad call by McDermott to try and turn him into a battering ram forward that didn't suit either his skills or his body.

I’m not being funny with this comment, genuine question. Why do people think he should have been a 6?

I remember when Stevie broke through, sir Kev saying he’d been watching him play lose in the academy and was looking forward to seeing him play that role. So I’m assuming he wasn’t a stand off at academy?

He has a good passing game, but he isn’t a kicker and he isn’t that fast, so just wondering why people think he’d make a great stand off.

He’s a fantastic back rower with good hands. Sadly his body lets him down. But I don’t know if that means he’s been playing the wrong position.

Agree. Back row/loose all day long.

The issue for me was McDermott wrongly used him as a battering ram/tackling machine because he was willing

He was brought through as a half, and played in the first team quite a lot there, including a CC final. However, his kicking game an passing game weren't at the required level, and showed no signs of ever being so.

I must be losing my memory as i get old because i dont remember him playing at half back in the 1st team except for an odd occasion

Yes I remember him being second row pretty consistently.

I love it how people are still blaming McDermott for everything.

Rugby League is an exceptionally tough sport which is savage on the body. Luck plays a huge part in a player’s longevity. Ward is a forward because he’s not quick enough for centre and doesn’t quite have the pace or skills for half. You can’t protect a player - they can either cope with the game or not (notwithstanding the luck element).

Plenty of props have been more resilient than Stevie.

Personally as a club I think we should stand by the lad, he gives his all and if he’s to change jobs or direction, that’s a matter for him. We are sadly lacking quality and Ward is one of the few players who tick the box, as frustrating as his injuries are. Leeds is about a bit of loyalty and we should look after players as best we can.

Many players on retiring have reduced quality of life through chronic injury to knees, shoulders etc. I know they get well paid for playing and get looked after but for the vast majority of us who have never, and could never play at Super League standard, we should appreciate what players give every time they step on the field.

I can't see a day coming where Leeds make the call on Stevie leaving- at least not in the time of his current contract anyway.

Sinfield did make some interesting comments when he came in about not being able to afford to have a chunk of your salary cap sat in the stands so would be interested to hear his thoughts on another set back.

A knee injury is one of those things, often caused by overwhelming force with multiple tacklers involved. If you're held and then moved against the joint with force, there is nothing you can do about it and it's really not the player's fault, and it doesn't matter how "strong" you are, ligaments will tear or break under enough force in the right direction.

Shoulder injuries, well there might be some conditioning in there but again primarily an impact/twisting injury.

Plenty of outside backs have had bad knee injuries, including at Leeds (Mags, Watkins etc). It had nothing to do with having to cart the ball up the middle, although the general risk of injury is probably higher the more / stronger defenders you're making contact with.

I don't know with Stevie whether he is more prone to injuries because he pushes himself so hard in games, maybe he could learn to husband himself a little better, but overall I just think it's bad luck and the club should stand by him.

That's different to a chronic and repetitive injury, where the club has maybe stood by some players for too long. I suspect this was one reason why Garbutt was let go, because the club weren't confident in the player's knees over time.

Anyway, speedy recovery to Stevie and hopefully he'll be back to help shore up the side in the second half of this year. To be honest, I'm not expecting trophies out of 2019 and so having him out in a way give us more opportunity to sort out the other options which we DON'T know are first grade quality yet.

Given Wards history don't you think that he and the Club have explored every option wrt Injury management & prevention?
Also this isnt just a bad luck scenario us it?
He's done knees both shoulders calf ,arms & hamstrings.
I hope he recovers asap but there's a serious conversation to be had between him & the Club.
He also mentally hit an all time low a couple of years ago his long term health & fitness have to come first.

Absolutely it's fair to say the lad is injury prone. I am saying exactly that most of those injuries are just bad luck though, yes. It happens.

Maybe made worse by the fact he plays so hard and puts himself through it.

If Stevie decides enough is enough, of course that's a decision for him, he's free to do that. It's ironic, if you don't mind me saying, that you cite mental health issues when there are plenty calling for the poor lad to be effectively sacked because he suffered an impact-type injury again while spilling his guts for the club. That is pressure isn't it?