Agree.

He comes across as a really nice guy and has a lot of passion and determination, however any professional sportsman with this many injuries must seriously consider retiring for the sake of the physical well-being. Would like to see him find a job in rugby that doesn’t destroy him every game!

It has to be the end of him for me, shame for him but 14 weeks out and even if he playes all the remaining games thats like 50% of the season out injured thats 2 years in a row and 3 of the last 4 thats just not acceptable.
Pay him up untill end of season and say sorry bye.

He’s 25 he could have 10 more years in the game, if Ward wants to call it a day then its up to him but calls for getting rid of a contracted player because of an injury is pretty harsh IMO

It’s more than harsh, it’s disrespectful. Ward has had lots of issues, but so did JJB and Ablett in their younger years. With a more appropriate role to his skills and size there’s no reason to think he wouldn’t be a great asset.

Stevie Ward is exactly the kind of person we need in and around this squad.

Come on guys - he deserves the chance to come back from this - there will come a point when there is nothing left to operate on.

An outstanding talent that doesn't ever get an elongated opportunity to show what a class player he is - its such a shame

FFS this is so disrespectful,were you sober when you posted?

I rate Ward I really do. His attitude is first class and a top player but I'm afraid the harsh harsh reality is that his body cannot cope with the rigours of playing. He is always injured. This offseason was his first injury free for many a year which is alarming and tragic. The club have to make a decision this season on how likely he is going to be able to stay in the main injury free. He is out for the best part of 3 months this season.. we simply cannot keep having this happen given the salary cap. He will then take another month to get match sharp... it's such a shame it really is but the club have a difficult decision to make...

Agree...for his own sake not least

He should have been brought through as a stand-off. He could have been great. Bad call by McDermott to try and turn him into a battering ram forward that didn't suit either his skills or his body.

I’m not being funny with this comment, genuine question. Why do people think he should have been a 6?

I remember when Stevie broke through, sir Kev saying he’d been watching him play lose in the academy and was looking forward to seeing him play that role. So I’m assuming he wasn’t a stand off at academy?

He has a good passing game, but he isn’t a kicker and he isn’t that fast, so just wondering why people think he’d make a great stand off.

He’s a fantastic back rower with good hands. Sadly his body lets him down. But I don’t know if that means he’s been playing the wrong position.

Agree. Back row/loose all day long.

The issue for me was McDermott wrongly used him as a battering ram/tackling machine because he was willing

He was brought through as a half, and played in the first team quite a lot there, including a CC final. However, his kicking game an passing game weren't at the required level, and showed no signs of ever being so.

I must be losing my memory as i get old because i dont remember him playing at half back in the 1st team except for an odd occasion

Yes I remember him being second row pretty consistently.

I love it how people are still blaming McDermott for everything.

Rugby League is an exceptionally tough sport which is savage on the body. Luck plays a huge part in a player’s longevity. Ward is a forward because he’s not quick enough for centre and doesn’t quite have the pace or skills for half. You can’t protect a player - they can either cope with the game or not (notwithstanding the luck element).

Plenty of props have been more resilient than Stevie.

Personally as a club I think we should stand by the lad, he gives his all and if he’s to change jobs or direction, that’s a matter for him. We are sadly lacking quality and Ward is one of the few players who tick the box, as frustrating as his injuries are. Leeds is about a bit of loyalty and we should look after players as best we can.

Many players on retiring have reduced quality of life through chronic injury to knees, shoulders etc. I know they get well paid for playing and get looked after but for the vast majority of us who have never, and could never play at Super League standard, we should appreciate what players give every time they step on the field.

I can't see a day coming where Leeds make the call on Stevie leaving- at least not in the time of his current contract anyway.

Sinfield did make some interesting comments when he came in about not being able to afford to have a chunk of your salary cap sat in the stands so would be interested to hear his thoughts on another set back.

A knee injury is one of those things, often caused by overwhelming force with multiple tacklers involved. If you're held and then moved against the joint with force, there is nothing you can do about it and it's really not the player's fault, and it doesn't matter how "strong" you are, ligaments will tear or break under enough force in the right direction.

Shoulder injuries, well there might be some conditioning in there but again primarily an impact/twisting injury.

Plenty of outside backs have had bad knee injuries, including at Leeds (Mags, Watkins etc). It had nothing to do with having to cart the ball up the middle, although the general risk of injury is probably higher the more / stronger defenders you're making contact with.

I don't know with Stevie whether he is more prone to injuries because he pushes himself so hard in games, maybe he could learn to husband himself a little better, but overall I just think it's bad luck and the club should stand by him.

That's different to a chronic and repetitive injury, where the club has maybe stood by some players for too long. I suspect this was one reason why Garbutt was let go, because the club weren't confident in the player's knees over time.

Anyway, speedy recovery to Stevie and hopefully he'll be back to help shore up the side in the second half of this year. To be honest, I'm not expecting trophies out of 2019 and so having him out in a way give us more opportunity to sort out the other options which we DON'T know are first grade quality yet.

Given Wards history don't you think that he and the Club have explored every option wrt Injury management & prevention?
Also this isnt just a bad luck scenario us it?
He's done knees both shoulders calf ,arms & hamstrings.
I hope he recovers asap but there's a serious conversation to be had between him & the Club.
He also mentally hit an all time low a couple of years ago his long term health & fitness have to come first.

Absolutely it's fair to say the lad is injury prone. I am saying exactly that most of those injuries are just bad luck though, yes. It happens.

Maybe made worse by the fact he plays so hard and puts himself through it.

If Stevie decides enough is enough, of course that's a decision for him, he's free to do that. It's ironic, if you don't mind me saying, that you cite mental health issues when there are plenty calling for the poor lad to be effectively sacked because he suffered an impact-type injury again while spilling his guts for the club. That is pressure isn't it?

The whole problem is unfortunate, the player doesn't want to be injured, he wants to be playing, does the club have a duty of care to the player do they have loyalty to the player the answer is yes they should, however there are two sides to every story and while I would hope Leeds do support Ward, they also have to realise that the club is a business, and that the business only succeeds when they are playing well. It was Sinfield who said last season that there was a lot of the salary cap sat in the stand, its the same again with the same players including Ward. Are the demands of SL too much for him, not everyone can choose to retire when they want to, they all cant make it to age 35, and what is the best for SW, on the other side of the coin the club needs to be successful we owe a load of money to the bank, in effect the bank owns us, they need a packed stadium they need a successful team what they cannot afford it to serve up dross like on Friday and expect the stadium to be full every week. What will happen to SW will be made as a financial decision for the club. They will support him but decisions will have to be made for the long term future for Ward and the short term future of the club.
Does anyone know if the club insure the payers income against long term injury.

If we do we lost our no claims bonus on this one some time ago!

I do understand that players need to be playing, I’m sure the club and the players themselves feel the same. I don’t think we win the 2017 GF without Ward’s superhuman efforts - unless the lad physically can’t go on he’d have a place in the team for me.

Winning cultures for me are hard-earned and long-term, not transactional. Wire have tried buying success and it hasn’t really worked yet. Ward is home-grown, and is one of the few genuine quality players we have. Sport shouldn’t just be about the dollars and the results alone; controversial I know.

I wouldn’t like to be an employee of some you hard geezers!

On the subject of Ward being a 6.I have said before he should have been and had some good games there at first team level.I don't remember Harris,Kemp,Holmes,Schofield(in his stand off days)Sinfield being blessed with blinding pace

If moving Ward to 6 is the answer, I'm not sure what the question is. He is more of a defensive rock for mine, with some punch in attack and good hands. Backrower all day long IMO.

That's not to say he wouldn't do a job there but moving him is creating other problems to try to solve another (and I don't think it would solve it anyway)…

I hope Ward can come back strong and fit for the second half of the season and have a good run-in.