Totally agree about Catalan, very aggressive, on the borderline and a few times over it though IMO. You were totally dominant and was no need for Moa to do what he did , it was a red card for me. From then Leeds came back but Were bullied up front in general If Catalan could keep the discipline, they will be very tough to beat in France for rest of this year.

Re Leeds agree with many feels like a change is needed, however Holbrook, wane or anyone else would have no chance with the injuries up front and can't turn the clock back 5 years in the back row.

I suspect cuthbo and ward were borderline fit to play at best and Delaney not even that. It's almost cruel.

On plus side Thought Ferres was much better, think he played full game and only one able to give some back to the likes of Bird.

McD has a brilliant record of getting sides to peak at the end of the season, if that does not happen this year, I think a change will come.

Don't think its easy as that, put our Justin Holbrook into the Leeds club with all those injuries and I don't think you will see a great amount of difference. You still need a couple of pivots and leaders but McDermott hasn't got it at the moment, very honest post match comment from him talking about some of his players taking hight shots and getting up off the floor straight away whilst a couple of Catalans stay down and milk the situation in reference to Bird faking that he had just received a crusher tackle.

Thought the comments were uncalled for, pointless and not really important to the context of the game to be honest. He's basically accusing Bird of faking injury, which is poor imo as he hasnt got a clue if he was hurt or not, His own captain was down for much longer than bird, like bird, it was from an awkward landing in the tackle, but ultimately , like Bird, Ward was fine to carry on, players get hurt in rugby league, sometimes the initial pain is worse than the actual injury. To accuse Bird of feigning but make no mention of Ward is hypercritical more than honest imo. Like Mcdermott, im not qualified to asess if either player was hurt, but im pretty confident they were both hurt, but fortunatly neither turned out to be to serious.

Im also very confident holbrook would be putting the players we'v got out there at the minute in much better situations to succeed than mcdermott is. Most coaches in superleague would love to be able to field a team containing...Hall, Myler, Walker, Briscoe, Cuthbertson, Ward, Dwyer, Delaney and Ferres, all international or good quality superleague players throughout there careers, they would also love to be able to call on Oledzki and Cam Smith two of the best young talents in the country to step up when needed. We arnt fielding an under 14's team, theres enough talent and experience in that group to be competitive or at the very least look like a professional rugby league team, Who have met each other before.

I’m pretty confident that if Ward goes down hes hurt. I don’t have that same confidence with Bird. I’ve seen him on numerous occasions fake/overplay injuries/high shots etc in an attempt to win penalties. He’s well known for it.

100% agree Him.

Part of Bird's game. If he's not trying to "earn" a penalty in attack he's faking a head injury so that his side gets a breather in defence. About time someone called him on it.

So Greg Birds never allowed to get injured? It dosnt matter if he's known for it or not, he's going to pick up genuine knocks playing the game.

Yes, Bird did it on 2 occasions when we played them at our place, one incident was when we forced a drop out and he went down like a sack of spuds with no saints player around him. Bosc last season was the worse I,ve ever seen, he should have been badged up with "Fragile Handle With Care."

But he’s known for faking it, so he loses the benefit of the doubt. I’m a supporter of McDermott however I can see legitimate areas to criticise him, his comments on Bird aren’t something I’d at all gave a go at him for though. It’s time these issues were brought forward as the game has appeared unwilling to deal with the issue of players faking injury for a while now.

Bird is a regular at it, as is Chris Hill, and I remember Connor doing it at the game at Headingley this year too.

So you dont consider it possible for Bird to ever be genuinely injured? I know he's a grubby, dislikable player and I see what your saying about not giving him the benefit of the doubt because of his reputation, but (unless your jamie acton) you cant just assume he's faking it every time, especially considering how many games he's missed throughout his career with genuine injuries sufferd in games.

Looking at this instance, its clear to see how he could of got hurt in that tackle, it wasnt a bad tackle by any stretch, but he did fall awkwardly, with i think it was goldings weight on him. He didnt once appeal for a penalty or claim it was a dirty tackle, when he had recovered and the ref said tackle 3 or whatever it was, he played the ball without saying a word, he's not shy in letting refs know what he thinks, if he's after a decision, usually everybody knows about it.

Truth is only bird knows if he was hurt or not, i dont think its right for mcdermott to say he was faking it when he dosnt know for sure. I didnt bring the matter up, and it certainly wouldnt register as one of the things id use to have a go at him with, because like i said, in the context of the game it really didnt matter either way, i was responding to a poster who thought mcdermott deserves credit for mentioning it, i dont think he does.

Often the most inoccuous incidents are the most painful ones. You never know if a player is really hurt or not. Its poor form to ever suggest that someone is feigning an injury in this sport.

All players consider conning the ref as fair game and that includes the Leeds players.

Perhaps if players were more honest on the field the standards of refereeing would have a possibility of improving

I know what you mean but I don’t agree it’s poor form. I’d say ids poor form to ignore players faking injury. It happens. Unless there is some injury-causing substance in a teams own try line that causes them to go down injured whenever a drop out is given then I think it’s safe to say that RL players sometimes fake injuries.

Cas fan here mate and you're right, saints showed too much loyalty to Cunningham. Leeds are doing the same with McD

The difference is, McDermott has come up with the goods time and again for Leeds, Cunningham hasn't. The situation at Saints last year. was more akin to Leeds agreeing to bring Smith in in 2003.

I wouldn't mind seeing a change of coach for next season, but only at the end of the season.