That may be true but it doesn't alter the fact that that was a truly awful decision and we had a lot of those go against us last year and not just from referees. The disciplinary decision to allow Greg Bird to play in the million pound game was a joke.

I agree with the Bird situation but every team could claim to be at the wrong end of decisions.

Reffy , the very 1 st tackle of the 2017 SL season should have seen Paul McShane red carded for his spear tackle on Gareth Hock , he wasn't and that set the tone for the rest of the year , countless times we got the smelly end of the stick

So my point being to the OP is that Derek showed true loyalty to the coach who got us promoted and barring some atrocious bad luck and timid riffing would have kept us there

It is always easier after the event to say this or that should/shouldn't have happened

I think McShane received a three game ban the following week for that tackle

Imagine had the tacklers been reversed? Hock would have been sent straight off and the Sky Boys would have been saying; there goes Hock again




As people have said there was a catalogue of errors that seriously affected the outcomes in our Matches!
An incident missed/ignored was Cas player McMeekin's 'swinging arm' that poleaxed Glen Stewart who had to leave the field and subsequently missed a couple of weeks thereafter! that was Kendall's nightmare match when DB was fined for criticising him


Jamie and Bird was the worst though, I see Bird picked up another four game Ban for dangerous play, that can complement his Oscar for braking Reynolds Nose! before he was unconscious mind

But that is exactly what people are doing quoting instances where decisions, luck etc were against us. I am sure most if not all teams could say the same. It is no use using “what ifs” as excuses, we weren’t good enough.
Doesn’t anyone think that we were ever fortunate in getting a dodgy decision in our favour?

The tone of your comments suggests that the team were not to blame for not making the 8s, it was those pesky refs and the RFL that had it in for us.A theme that ran on here all season.
You should have added that no other team had dodgy decisions given against them to confirm the whitewash.

Setting up your academy is really worth it. Done properly it could save your club in future crises. If we hadn’t had an academy we wouldn’t have been able to put a side out at the beginning of 2017 and that could’ve meant the end of the club. Players that come through the academy are usually more loyal to the club and liable to stick around. Look at the long serving players Leeds have had through their academy. At ours we lost some to big clubs (Trueman) but kept others (Ryan) simply because of that loyalty. We’ve got 12 academy products in our squad.

As for competition from other clubs there is plenty of talent out there that is passed over. We’re far from the biggest club in Yorkshire yet our academy is 4th in the league table. It’s about the quality of coaching and a genuine pathway to 1st team as much as it is down to club prestige and money. God knows prestige and money is in short supply in Bradford. Also if Newcastle can run a very decent academy up there in football land then Leigh certainly can.

I’d also recommend a reserves team too as it can net plenty of 19 year olds and over that have been put on the scrapheap by other clubs. If us, Fax and Keighley can afford it you can, even on a tighter budget.

I understand referee's will make a wrong decision and you do not see me on the back of referee's on here but a decision from one referee still irks me, who I will not name but people will recognise from the details.

It involved a Leigh v Castleford Super League game at LSV mid season. Castleford were attacking and dropped the ball. The Ref waved play on, claiming the ball had gone back (fair enough). Play continued through a few more pair of hands and Cas then broke through the Leigh line and scored. The referee signalled for the video ref, and crossed his arms, stating.

"I am giving no Try, just double check it was a knock on"

Interesting. If I was the controller of referees I would have had him in the office asking why he did not send it up as try. If he was saying it was a Castleford knock on further back, so no try, why did he not stop play and blow for it ?? Why did he allow play to continue when he thought it was a knock on?

I do not like to see this man officiating Leigh games. I will be open and honest about that.

Because he wasn’t sure and wanted to check, he gave the VR the correct ‘No Try ‘ call because there was a possible knock on. By the same reasoning, he wasn’t sure so he didn’t blow for it.
If they hadn’t scored it would just have been a decision in play that the ref either got right or not.

You can't blame NJ. He knew he wasn't good enough in SL and tried to fall on his sword but was obviously talked out of it. He knew he was out of his depth with SL & NRL players. He tried his best. That's all you can ask of anyone. DB wouldn't get a more experienced coach and have NJ as assistant because DB wouldn't have been allowed to interfere with a top coach in charge. No blame on NJ at all. We will come back stronger. We've been here before and survived.

If you have any good 19 year olds on account, they'll be off to pastures new. You build em the elite will take them.