As an advocate for expansion, after seeing the way that Crusaders seem to want to play the game, I sometimes wonder why we bother ...

- Persistant lying on

- Cheap shots

- Slowing down of the PTB

- Constant whinge to the officials

The bottom line is, we all expect those sort of antics off the likes of minor teams like Cas and Wakefield who come to HQ depleated and severly out-gunned. I reckon with some of their players, Crusaders are actually a better footballing side than they seem to think they are. Why persist with the dirty, unattractive to watch tactics ?

They are actually a better team than their current attempt to be the Poor Man's Widnes.

Are they doing the game any favours in Wales for development by playing the way they do ?

Blame the coach.
Wait till he's in charge of the Rhinos.....it'll happen!!!

Didn't other clubs complain about us playing like that with our last coach?

I don't think we were ever that 'cheap' ...

Whatever I may think of Iestyns latter playing days, i always thought of him as a flair player, sometimes exciting and sometimes off the cuff. I do however find his team boring to watch..very simple sets of 6 and kick. Its disappointing that a once exciting player now coaches a conservative team. I would expect more.

I thought the referee interpretations allowed the game to be a contest that it wouldn't have been otherwise, poor show from the RFL, Halifax could have used that kind of help but they aren't an expansion team are they

I think that's a bit harsh, but Harris's comments before and after the game give you insight into a coach who is concentrating on being realistic. Complete sets and then they will be in with a chance of beating teams with more "star" players.
But this isn't football, there is no relegation and we have a salary cap. I think what you are really hinting at is that SL teams should have ambition other than to complete as many sets as they can. In that I agree.

With Smith in your team you have no right to comment on anything-he is copying Tomkins with holding in tacklers, gobbing of at Ganson, kicking the ball away to add to biting Randall at Quins(Randall showed me the marks)

As this is a Leeds forum discussing all things Rhinos and their latest opponents the OP has EVERY RIGHT to comment dips#*t.
This is the same Smith that had a fecking Elbow in his face only for the spineless to$$er with the whistle to award just a penalty and ignore every instance when he tried to get a quick ptb.
If Smithy had bitten randall why no charge??
When did he show you the marks was it after he'd removed your head from his arris?

It's the Aussie style of play messing around at the ruck. Even though they think their game is superior to ours i think ours is faster due to refs not allowing this and penalising for such offences. Because crusaders have a majority of imports in their team they are probably prone to this type of play. Some games they may actually get away with a quite a lot but if the ref is having none of it this can be a killer.

Shame JC wasn't the ref for the game . He would have been worth about 30 point for us .
St G let them do whatever they wanted . He made some bad decisions and lots of no decisions .
What is the ruling regarding a potentially badly injured player being ragged up by his shirt collar ?

ask Kevin Brown.

Quote ="BaldRick"Shame JC wasn't the ref for the game . He would have been worth about 30 point for us . St G let them do whatever they wanted . He made some bad decisions and lots of no decisions . What is the ruling regarding a potentially badly injured player being ragged up by his shirt collar ?'" There is no rule to prevent a player grabbing hold of the oppositions shirt. Get rid your players baggy shirts. Try one of these "skin tight" shirts instead yfrog.com/hsoudhmj

Quote ="BaldRick"Shame JC wasn't the ref for the game . He would have been worth about 30 point for us . St G let them do whatever they wanted . He made some bad decisions and lots of no decisions . What is the ruling regarding a potentially badly injured player being ragged up by his shirt collar ?'" There is no rule to prevent a player grabbing hold of the oppositions shirt. Get rid your players baggy shirts. Try one of these "skin tight" shirts instead yfrog.com/hsoudhmj

He is a very inexperienced coach - he has a big side that aren't that mobile or skillful in the forwards. Harris has spent one year as an assistant under Noble - hardly the best to learn from when it comes to attacking structure.

I would have Hanbury at Leeds - for me he is the most under rated player in SL

I think crusaders play this way because they don't have the players to play any other way. Think they have been vastly overated by the op and are simply playing to their skill level, trying to compete

I think you are spot on, they would struggle against some of the top teams in the Championship like Leigh & Featherstone. They are still bottom in the 'real' SL table and when you think of the teams directly above them in the adjusted table, Hull KR, Bradford & Quins then they don't come close to matching even those sides on the field IMO.

Yet they made the "playoffs" last year. Surely they should be looking to take that success and build? Or are they just a pointless franchise stuffed full of crap Australians to give the impression that League is more than a sport played entirely along a corridor between Hull and St Helens?

He said potentially injured, not just players who are having a lie down.

For me probably the latter but we are stuck with them now, will get a licence probably. When it was in south Wales at least a argument could be made for expanding the game but not now they are right next to Warrington

And finished in the bottom half of the table, where they will fester.

Crusaders may well have tried to slow the game down in defence, but their attacking game was a pleasure to watch at times. Don't know what the problem is.

Put it this way, for the neutrals I am sure they were a lot better quality to watch than the pile of turd just down the road who were on the box on Sunday.

I genuinely hope we are not stuck with them and the RFL have the balls to realise that, unfortunately in many ways, they need to admit this has not worked as planned and it is time to focus back on the original plan of a viable team in South Wales with a longer term aim of Super League status.

If things go as everyone is thinking they will, then we are going to look a right set of chumps and a laughing stock sport if we kick out a side in a current 'effective' 10th spot in the league, with a home crowd average of just under 7k, a good youth set up and probably the leagues best community programme just because they currently have a crap ground and for what... a team in town that would be probably be at the bottom of a list of desirable future franchise towns and 'owned' by two guys that have let this company go under once and are about to possibly do the same with a football club!

You couldn't make this up... and further than that, they look like they are going to do just this!

What can not be made up is your clear and obvious bias towards Wakey been in super league because you have got so attached to them.

There may well be a valid argument to what you are saying, but it didn't really matter where Crusaders were in progression it would still be all about Wakey surviving. Come on just admit it, had it been Cas in Wakey's position you wouldn't have really given your argument a seconds thought.

Crusaders for me in the long term will be far more beneficial for Super League than Wakefield on their own will ever be.

Only an idiot would compare Wakefield after 12 years in SL and over 100 years of existence to Crusaders in their 3rd year of SL and and 6th year of existance.

For their short time, Crusaders have done pretty well, it would be a travesty if, after all this good work, we gave up on them.