This is by no means a hyper-critical post but I have noticed that Eliott Whitehead is recently losing control of his frustration by giving away stupid penalties and chatting a lot back to the referee.

I really hate it when players take this attitude and i wonder if Potter or one of the senior players at the Bulls will take this up with him.

He's a cracking prospect and just needs some more confidence in a team with very little at the moment, but i would hate to see him get a reputation for spitting the dummy in the same way Sam Tomkins has.

I have been calling for Potter to rest him for the last few games. He needs a match off. He's only young and has started to become a liability. As I said in the match thread....error and penalty machine at the minute. Not what we need

Agree, needs a rest and gives away too many penalties.

At the mo Olbsion is in a lot better form that EW. Tom should have played, Whitehead shouldnt have.

Unfortunately agree with you. He is only young and he needs protecting.

On the other hand whats the options? Sibbit???

We desperately need Langers and Addy back so we can rotate the young lads (Donaldson, Whitehead and Olbison)

His penalties are a massive issue, it's also typical that when things are going against you as a player you seem to get pulled up for petty things like that incorrect play of the ball tonight.

When we get some players back a week or two off would do him good.

Yeah I wish it wasn't the case either but I do think it is.

There aren't many options and I think thats probably why he hasn't been rested

He's out of form but we're struggling a bit in the backrow and are lacking a bit of quality so he's staying in the side. Needs to work on his loose carry as well as the tackling and technical penalties at the ruck.

That aside I thought he showed admirable restraint in not smashing in Baitieri's face when he took the pi55 after that dropped ball.

agreed.

. . . and anything that Ganson could ping him for, he did . . . even things he didn't do

Catalans might have won the game if theyd concentrating packing the scrum and getting the ball out in quick time instead of wakner Baltieri going on the wind up.

Yea far too many errors (highest of any other superleague player) too many penalties also
I would drop him abnd play olby or donno, even sibbit is a better option than whitehead who has got stars in his eyes and thinks he is too big for the bulls team since millennium magic.
as for Langley.. Can anyone really see him completing a dew games without getting injured again? 3 shoulder ops in the space of 8 months doesn't bode well

Did he spill your pint or summat?

A little too far?

Given his performance this evening it is unlikely that he would have held on to it.

i think its tough for whitehead at the moment hes still very young to be playing the amount of games he is doing at superleague level especially with so many other young players around him, there isnt much doubt that he will come good again and go on to be a very good player, also the second season for a new player is the hardest as teams now know what your about and can play abit more to your weaknesses id guess? he'll just have adapt his game and of he can do that then hell be ok ..... and learn to keep his mouth shut and keep hold of the chuffing ball ha

Whitehead was a total liability tonight. I would go as far as saying he cost us the game pretty much. When you look back on his performance in the first game too - what has happened to him?

He's at that age where you feel unstoppable, less likely to listen to advice and more likely to back chat officials. Most grow out of it, some don't.

He needs a dose of reality and a bit more maturity. One of the reasons players generally get better with age is that they channel their energies into improving rather than trying to set the world on fire every time they hit the field.

When you look back on your early 20s are there things you did in work or life that you think "what a tool I was".

To be honest, I thought he fully deserved to be penalised for that. He was trying to win a penalty by making out that he'd been interfered with when getting up, when he quite clearly wasn't. It was essentially a dive, and if it was Sam Tomkins doing it, people would have gone ape. I'd like to see that penalised every time someone does it, as diving has ruined football and I don't want it to become a regular thing in RL too.

That being said, I agree with the general consensus. He's out of form at the moment (although I thought he played well at Hull), but it's the penalties that are the problem. The incorrect PTB and the mouthing off yesterday were two penalties that never should have happened.

I'm not going to sit here and slate him as he's shown what a top quality player he can be, but I do think he needs to work on the discipline part of his game.

Agreed! He is a future England back row forward. I think one of the senior members of the team need to pull him to one side and just have a word with him. Mentor him as such

menzies would have been perfect

That would have been really good for him.

Maybe he's been listening to Sibbit

He needs a rest and a chat with Potter, but i'm confident he will continue to develop into a great player.

He's still a young lad with a hell of a lot to learn, probably still has a little bit of maturing to do but I believe he will turn out into a excellent player

Totally disagree, Bosc still had his hand on him whilst trying to get into position as Elliot was playing the ball, Ganson had given penalties for less in the game. The ball went backwards from his hand, the only reason he gave the penalty was because he didn't play the ball with his foot, which would obviously rule 99% of ball plays as illegal. Ganson clearly says 'that's not good enough, get your foot on the ball', as I say the decision was a joke, totally inconsistent.

Then there was the high shot that never was, Ganson was the only one who saw it.

My favourite was the lying on penalty against Elliot which I've just watched again. He is holding the player whilst looking at Ganson, Ganson shouts the tackle number and then shouts move, Elliot moves immediately and I do mean IMMEDIATELY, a split second later he blows his whistle.

Whitehead was unlucky last night, three rediculous decisions which all happened to go against him, without them he would never have got a mention.