I wouldn't blame playing at Fev. We are a much better team away from home over the past few years.

FWIW I do think some of the calls were harsh on Leigh.. Over the 80 Fev were the best team, but only by one score.

just watched the game in full and used the pause button to great effect.
The try that was disallowed for obstruction should have stood, played it back several times and can't see an issue.
The forward pass was forward but the camera angle might not have helped and in SL it would have been allowed to stand probably
Henderson wasn't going to dislodge the ball he was clearly going for the head and should get a hefty ban.
The stamp on our player was also deliberate and should be looked at in addition to our players who are on report.
Overall a niggly game but both teams can point to incidents that went against them. I think the standard of referees needs serious attention. Perhaps when the Bulls find their feet they should pay the RFL back and the money can be invested in the officials.
I really hope you can get to the final as it was a good atmosphere and you have built a decent team this season in difficult circumstances. Oh and finally Littler crossing his arms asking the referee to put a player on report is like a footballer waving an imaginary yellow or red card at a referee,not something we want to see in our game. Having a word with a ref is one thing but that isn't what rugby players should do

That's the one aspect of the game I found disappointing Phil. Absolutely no need for that carry on in our game regardless of what colour shirt a player is wearing.
Everyone knows I'm fev daft but I rckon I'm old enough and savvy enough to try and be as objective and balanced as I possibly can be when posting.
I acknowledge the ref was sheeeite - tho not bent.
I accept Leigh were hard done by on crucial decisions at critical points in the game. I've said so on here these last couple of days.
The game was a tough one and sh it happens.

But especially after what looked in real time and in slo mo to be a vicious and dangerous tackle with intent - only Hendo will know if he really intended that to flatten Briggsy as he did - there was an ensuing bout of handbags. Littler's attempt to draw a 'report' from the ref has no place for me in the game - even tho again I accept the decision to report it was correct!
Poor do. If it was Andy Kain doing the same thing, I'd say exactly the same.

Hendo's season is now over I would've thought. I just hope neither Leigh or Fev lose any more players throiugh suspension and that we both meet again in the final.

I think you have the measure of Fax. Not sure about Sheffield. The dilema is that I want SHeffield to win by about 80 points this aft!!!

I too think Henderson will be banned for the high tackle but the ensuing bust up will result in no further action.

The Fev player put on report is clearly seen on the TV kicking Ostick in the head. Think it was Dickens so he won't be in the Final either.

Re Fax and Sheff I will be there today to assist PR on tactical for next Thursday and of course to have a proper pint of real ale in the 3 Pigs.

I think it speaks volumes that virtually not one single Leigh fan has said Hendo did not deserve to go. They know it was fair enough. People are not stupid. He did it and was immediately punished. Equally, ten or eleven pages criticising the officials, speaks volumes too. I have also read and heard dozens of neutrals saying Leigh were robbed too. It was one of those occasions were it was so blatant, everyone is bound to comment. They were the main reason we lost the match and I will not change my mind on that one. I appreciate that Phil Stone and Ovo were the first two Fev fans to come on here and try to be objective. It is not an easy thing to do. However, I genuinely do not believe the pass was forward from Ridyard and I am not a big enough nutter to still be saying this three days later if I did ( I don't think ha!)In addition, to say it would have been let go in SL is true. However many many passes that are miles forward are let go week in week out in our league. Let's not pretend otherwise.

Fev fans are bound to focus on the Hendo incident. Fair enough. I would if I was a Fev fan.The difference is the officials punished him and handled it correctly, so there is really nowt to moan about. I could understand their anger, if he had stayed on the field, as Dickens did after kicking an opponent, literally when he was down. They are also focussing on Littler. That's up to them, but I tend to think even the most one eyed ardent Fev fan must know deep down, that the huge penalty count in Fev's favour and two or three tries (whichever way you choose to look at it) ruled out, were far bigger talking points and ultimately cost Leigh the match. It was such a tight game, they WERE CRUCIAL. To make the Littler or Hendo incidents your focus, I think does deflect from what was for about 80% of that match, a totally one eyed performance from Stokes and the poisonous Smithy.

Best post on this game so far..

To be fair, I can't really recall any post on here that has made the Hendo incident a 'primary focus'. I would call the game largely as you have - and more or less said so quite a few times on this thread.
It's got to page 10 before the incident regards little crossing hands came to the table. It's something I felt like posting Thursday evening but pulled back from it due to the nature of how the game went. Phil brought it up this morning and I added my two penneth. I agree with your post amost in it's entirity. But the attempt by Littler to draw the ref I found distasteful, given the accepted nature of Hendo's tackle.

Are we in RL really about that kind of carry on??

Crack on. See you at Warrington.

By that stage I would suggest the players actions were influenced by the bent git in the middle, the reaction to earlier events was different.

I could have got the wrong end of the stick RFF, but I got the impression that Fev fans were coming onto our forum and hinting or stating that the ref was basically inept and had been equally poor for both teams. Something I thought was utter garbage. If I could have reffing as bad as your team got the other night, I'd be ecstatic. You come across as a good bloke with common sense and in your last two posts, you seem to be on a similar wavelength to us. I really hope we get to Warrington, but unfortunately, the garbage served up from the officials the other night could have cost us hugely financially, if we come unstuck next Thurs. A repeat of what we got from the officials the other night and we will DEFINITELY lose. No team in this league is good enough to counter that.

I'll now stop being such a negative git and hope we can pull it off. I respect Fev as a very good team RFF. However, trying to play them and two of the officials on their own patch, just aint fair. (BTW I know you agree with this) Let's see what happens this aft and next Thurs. Let's hope the players and not the officials decide the outcomes of both and let's hope the best teams on the day, win ( and I mean that sincerely) Even in neutral matches, I turn them off when one team is being totally stuffed. It's cheap and I cannot stand it.

Watched the game again since thursday and the must annoying part of the ref`s display was when Lttler was pulled back for offside.He was away and would have scored making it 16 nil to us,Fev went and scored a few plays later making it 10-6.Fev fans have come on here saying,Stokes favoured us in the 1st half and them in the 2nd,they must have been watching a different game to the one i watched.What made me laugh,when watching it again,was when the Fev fans started chanting" cheat,cheat,cheat and you dont know what your doing" at the ref after only 8 minutes.
God knows what they would have done if they had 2 tries disallowed, a interception pulled back and been on the wrong end of a 16 to 8 penalty count.
Just hope we dont get another refereeing display like that,this thursday.

We do have a few refs and linesman come on here, it would be interesting to read their view of the officials

Collectively they were poor but that is it, no bias, no conspiracies and no hidden agendas.

One thing i think we all have overlooked is Rowls interchanges! Not to have a pop, as tactically, i don't think he was far away. But when you have as much ball as we had early on, particularly round about the 25 min mark, why not bring brierley on? And equally, with 15-20 mins to go, when we were still in the game and getting a fair amount of possession? Top player ball in hand, would like to see him used to try and pile on the points rather than thrown on to try and drag us out of the proverbial.

During the 2nd half Fev were hammering us in the middle and we were under the cosh defending.

I dont think it was right to bring Ryan on at that time. If we'd started to look like getting the lions share of the ball for a period of time in their half fair enough but we needed strength in the middle and to build our own pressure, bit hard when you've not got the ball and the ref is marching your opponents down the hill every other 6.