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.

Irrelevant..

You still had numerous chances to score tries as you were virtually camped on our line after that decision, but you didn't and couldn't score.

But as a Rovers fan I agree going down after not finishing bottom is just plain wrong and hard to take. Huddersfield were bottom the year we went down and Widnes have finished bottom two years in a row but now get yet another chance to save themselves.

What Widnes are doing is playing the system, apart from potential benefits in the 8s coming bottom is irrelevant. What is important is strengthening and having a squad fit for the 7 games, that's what they did last year and the same again this

Same as when Wakefield announced the same half way through the 2015 (??) season

Exactly so, it does not take genious to recognise that our near neighbours in Wigan, Saints and Wire have an ongiong policy of signing as many potential future stars as possible from wherever they can, not because they need them but from fear of not having them, they cannot possibly keep all the lads that come through their junior ranks, so we hear that a lot turn and walk away from the game because of lack of opportunity, Leigh geographically sits comfortably between those big clubs, it can becone an haven for those lads rejected by those clubs.

I well recall the games in the SL v Widnes at the LSV they scored 37 points, at their place they scored 36 points, no need apparently to play the system in those games then, when they did play the system they only managed 24 points at the LSV, so 3 short of 100 in 3 games and 3 victories, are you actually criticising Widnes or congratulating them for being so astute? I wish we had been that clever!

Thanks for your post I share your views also. Being a Chairman/Owner of any sporting club has its ups and downs and, the ups always seem to coincide with the good times! Clearing out my loft the other day I came across a batch of the 'Rugby Leaguer' which was a weekly Rugby Paper which ran for many decades until its demise.
The back page of an edition in April 1975 has the headline; Harding Quits After Threat! Harding of course was the incumbent Leigh Chairman and Leigh at that time were performing badly! Harding had been the GB Tour Manager of the Ashes winning 1970 team and also, Chairman when Leigh beat Leeds to lift the Challenge Cup at Wembley in 1971 so his credentials were first class however, fans have short memories when times get tough!
Whilst Harding's situation is not exactly the same as Beaumont's, they were both Club leaders!
I feel we have been desperately unlucky these past couple of seasons, last season we were a very competitive team particularly for a club that had not been in the SL for twelve seasons! We did recruit a very strong alround squad and, we were the envy of many. Our left wing partnership of Willie Tonga and James Clare had the potential to have been amongst the best in SL however, I don't think they ever played together due to untimely injuries? This season our Marquee signing Kurt Baptiste played all of 20 minutes before asking to be released from his Contract and high tailing back to Australia! It just shows how difficult it is to put a squad together when your major signing, behaves like that


Incidentally, a lot of the Rugby League fraternity consider us to be a failure however, we have won 15 of our last 17 league matches with the only two reversals coming against Toronto! The match at the Summer Bash should never have been lost and had not, we could be lining up in the Middle Eights which, was our intention at the beginning of the season! Just shows the margins that exist in the Championship today!

But he had called it on the field as no knock on , therefore he thought it wasn't a knock on so should have given a try , but then if needed ask to double check it? Surely?

Short sighted approach.

He let the play continue then he called it “No Try” which suggested he thought there may have been a knock on.

Well if he thought there may have been a knock on, then he should have immediately blown up and awarded Leigh head and feed at the scrum. That is my point.

For he to allow play to carry on , he has obviously called it as good, hence a "TRY" should have been signaled.

His actions however could appear to some as though he thought it was a knock on, but let it go to the detriment of Leigh, not expecting Cas to break and score , then his backside fell out, knowing that SKY TV will be all over the play prior and had to change his decision to "NO TRY" due to the said knock on.

However I would never question that myself

Although I don't believe Jukes was the right man for the job I think our failing in SL was how our pack ended up at the tail end of the season. One thing we had was size, power & aggression int front row when we had the likes of Hock, Weston & Acton playing but due to injuries & suspensions we couldn't control & dominate in the middle like we did earlier int season. Losing those 3 units & replacing them with Greg Richards was always going to impact too greatly on our pack no disrespect to Richards but for SL we ended up with a powder puff front row. Losing Mortimer for the playoffs also impacted us too. We need to move on that was last year & get behind Purtill & the lads.

When we lost the first five games.

We won 3 out of the first 6 beating Stains, Hudds & wire the last 2 quite comfortably. We lost to Leeds in round 3 by 3 points & in round 7 v Wakey we had full control of that game until we lost Drinkwater to injury in the 2nd half. Our pack could control the game better earlier in the the season to how we finished it with the players available. A big factor into why we finished the season in a wimper cos our forwards available weren't up to the level required physically.

We won 3 of the 1 st 6 and were looking very comfortable going to Wakey , whereupon the truly atrocious officiating started

As pointed out above , we ended up a ' busted ' team by the 8s and lost both the players we brought in to bolster the squad , and even then a dropped pass to Matty Dawson with 2 minutes to go at Wire would have seen us safe

Very fine margins , unlike 2005

Aye, cut to the chase, carve it on a tree, it was a conspiracy by all the incompetent referees that stitched us us.

No dropped balls, no missed tackles, no boring play, no indisciple; all down to the refs ( and RFL)

No conspiracy , just perhaps subconscious bias , the point being we were competitive in all but about 5 games , 2 against Cas , who did much the same to everybody , and strangely 2 against a Danny Craven inspired Widnes , and in tight games a single decision , a single 50/50 going against you can and did cost us wins

But all history now , looking forward to Sheffield next Sunday