First thing to clear up about the Whitehead spear is that you can't be sinned binned for it, like other non-professional fouls such as head high tackles, it is penalty or Red card a yellow is not an option... surely we all know this by now? As for Whitehead, then I am afraid that Bentham bottled what should have been a straight Red card for me. We often see spear tackles occur when two or more players are in a tackle and one of the players picks up the legs to try and bring a player down to the deck to complete the tackle, usually without any clear or deliberate intention to do anything other than complete the tackle, but with the momentum of the other players trying to effect the tackle the legs end up the air & the tackle goes wrong. A penalty is generally the correct decision in this type of incident & is usually corectly given as such. However, when it is a one on one tackle & the players legs end up in the air, even if he doesn't follow through completely, then I am sorry but it almost always should be a red card because it is a strictly illegal tacking technique & is outlawed because it is dangerous. Whitehead got this very wrong & very poor tacking technque that is potentially dangerous should be punished severely irrespective of the outcome. We will see what the video review panel & then the disciplinary panel have to say but I feel it should have been dealt with by getting out a red card on the night & as such I think Whitehead should be getting a one match suspension.

Actually, yes I think he is serious,and he is spot on

Great game tonight.

On the refs decisions, i don't think the Whitehead tackle is a red card at all. Penalty sufficient and get on with it. If your going to start giving reds for that then Bailey can follow for running in from 15m smashing Diskin then going after Whitehead. Neither deserved red card, just get on with the game.

The Sinfield knock-on Bentham got wrong, thats not the reason you didn't win though. We got just as harsh a call when he said Sammut had knocked on when he caught the ball again (Think it was in the 2nd half where it hit Burrows leg, popped out of Sammuts hands then he caught it again)

There were callls both sides could/should have got and calls that were harsh. Thats the nature of the game. Bentham is not the reason we stole a point. Anyway i though it was a fantastic game, end to end and both teams served up a treat!

What about the decsion to call the handover when Sinfield re-gathered a kick 10 meteres from the Bulls line that was clearly touched by Kearney? As for the spear tackle, well I thought it was as bad as Scruton's on Cunningham at Headingley which resulted in a red card.

Re sammut, if the ball touches another player and the carrier doesnt have control it's a knock on

Indeed, that was another one on one tackle & was rightly punished at the time with a red.

The tackle where Scruton upended Cunningham also involved Bailey up top (and to an even lesser extent Tansey) but it's fair to say it was Scruton that did the heavy lifting.

The three officials on duty that night IIRC were Ganson, Child and Hicks. Ganson loves a red card.

The Whitehead tackle on Jones-Buchanan didn't look anything near as bad and Jones-Buchanan appeared unaffected as he jumped up and carried on running as opposed to Cunningham's reaction.

Leeds conceded seven of the last eight penalties (after having earned four straight at the start of the half) and only have themselves to blame for snatching a draw from the jaws of victory.

Peacock and Ablett's indiscipline should earn themselves a rest for Monday on that showing but they probably won't given the lack of trusted options available.

A final ten minutes to forget from Leeds that started with Peacock conceding the penalty while in possession and for the second game running. Remind me which team was supposed to be fresher coming into this game?

i thought hall having his try disallowed was also wrong, yes JJB was offside but thought that only counted once a bradford player touched the ball but they all missed it

Not sure what difference it makes to the offside ruling whether a Bradford player touched the ball or not - he clearly didn't - so presumably it makes no difference unless the video referee has made a monumental mistake.

Jones-Buchanan (and possibly McGuire) was in front of the kick through from Moon and stayed within ten meters of the ball at the point the Bradford players could have made contact. Moon could have chased forward and played Jones-Buchanan onside but was knocked out of his stride after the kick through.

I don't think Kearney was affected by Jones-Buchanan's chase as he appeared to be concentrating on the Leeds player closest to the ball (Hall) so one of those annoying technical rulings where common sense is trumped by the letter of the law - assuming Ian Smith got the call correct.

You mean this one? Don't quite think Whitehead's was this bad

Bailey been Bailey did nothing wrong but barge Diskin in the hand bags that followed Whiteheads sh##-house effort no elbows or forearms were raised at all so you are talking sh##.
As for him being a tool why ? Because Scruton tried to smash him and came off worse again Bailey did nothing wrong!!!
Peacock was stupid but we saw plenty of pushing by Bulls players after tackles that went unpunished so surely if that's not punished at other times why then decide to start blowing the whistle??
Either penalise the offences for 80 minutes or dont bother its about consistency across the board for both teams.
I've no problems with a draw both sides got stuck in and earned the right to a point each but certain calls deserve to be highlighted whether they went for or against anyones team.

Bailey appears to push the young touch judge in the back during the skirmish that follows the Whitehead tackle on Jones-Buchanan. IIRC the last time he pulled a similar stunt he received a three match ban.

I know it's Ryan Bailey and he does what he wants but there should be absolutely no place in the game for man-handling the officials.

What action will the RFL take this time?



Peacock's was pretty blatant though wouldn't you say?

Perhaps Bradford were just a bit smarter about it.

I've already said JP was stupid TVOC but there were others that were easily seen and ignored and that's my point ignore them all or penalise them all its straight forward the players will eventually get the message.
If Bailey has been seen to be man handling officials then no doubts it will be reported.

Peacock played the ball and then went after Bateman. I don't think he left Bentham much option in the circumstance. It was an incredibly dumb thing for him to do especially in that game situation and field position. He got precisely what he deserved at that point, likewise with his eventual sin-binning for dissent. Sarcastically applauding the referee's decision may curry favour with his coach but they're as daft as each other if they think any official worth his salt is going to put up with that.

If you've got any specific examples of Bradford player's doing likewise we can discuss those as well.

A great game and no complaints from me on the ref apart from the Sinfield no knock on decision but that wasnt what cost us the point.

Good to see a bit of needle in these games again,long may it continue.