Mr James Leahy

[Robin Evans]

Splendid fellow.I won't have anything wrong said about such a fine exponent of sporting officialdom!!

He decision making and command of the game has no equal!!!

[wings beneath my feet]

He certainly has no equal - he completely ruined the day - you could forgive a 19 year old getting it wrong but he has plenty of experience of being totally ######.

Give them the due - fev played the better rugby but it's always hard to chace the play and they should have being doing that from 1min 30 when we should have had a penalty try and a sin binning.

There were just too many decisions that he made that were wrong and fev took the chances from them - I don't know how he sleeps at night - if I knew where he lived he wouldn't sleep tonight!

[Robin Evans]

he's sheeite and always will be. We got the benefit of some of his weird decisions today.

The penalty try baffled most of us and lacked clarity. The try disallowed for forward was very harsh indeed. There were others. There always will be. Amother day we'll get reamed by him! Saying that, we were a lot better team today

[bingyp]

As pathetic as I have ever seen from an EXPERIENCED official. So much so wrong. Then did the usual trick of trying to level the penalty count after the game had ceased to be a contest.

Even tho' Fev were the better on the day, they were allowed to be. Uneven penalty count + farcical decisions will turn any game. Penalty try + the only two forward passes given in the game result in an 18 point turn round. That will change any game.

[John63]

As pathetic as I have ever seen from an EXPERIENCED official. So much so wrong. Then did the usual trick of trying to level the penalty count after the game had ceased to be a contest.

Even tho' Fev were the better on the day, they were allowed to be. Uneven penalty count + farcical decisions will turn any game. Penalty try + the only two forward passes given in the game result in an 18 point turn round. That will change any game.

You are churning out the same sort of ###### as you did last year when Fev won at the Don Valley in the play offs. Stop Sheffield from having field position in the 20 and you just simply stop their style of play. The ref made blunders on both sides and I will accept one of your so called forward passes looked ligit to me but the best team won by far and the ref had no influence at all in that quarter.

[Griff]

No doubt the better team won but the penalty try was scandalous. The RFL decreed last year that ball stealing over the line was a penaltynotapenaltytry but the news obviously escaped Mr Leahy. Not knowing the laws of the game is the one thing you can't excuse in a referee.

Can't comment on the forward passes and there was a bit of luck about the last try but we played too much of the game in our own half.

[John63]

No doubt the better team won but the penalty try was scandalous. The RFL decreed last year that ball stealing over the line was a penaltynotapenaltytry but the news obviously escaped Mr Leahy. Not knowing the laws of the game is the one thing you can't excuse in a referee.

Can't comment on the forward passes and there was a bit of luck about the last try but we played too much of the game in our own half.

You say a bit of luck with the last try in my opinion I thought the kicker actually aimed the kick at the post to cause confusion. The luckiest try was the previous one which involved the loose ball near the line. Fev have been on the wrong end of luck in the past and no doubt will again. But I do hope you make your home permanent there it was a cracking atmosphere

[Robin Evans]

leahy interpretation of the law cost us a final appearance last year. The man is a woefully inept pedant who shouldn't be refereeing in our sport. He simply isn't good enough.

Put another ref in today, fev would have won. As conceded, fev were the better team and sheff struggled against a big pack. But leahy always manages to leave a negative impact on the game.

[Griff]

You say a bit of luck with the last try in my opinion I thought the kicker actually aimed the kick at the post to cause confusion.

Of course he did. All kickers do. But, no matter how good you are, you need luck to get the perfect bounce.

[LOWFIELD]

All i can say is if we won because of the ref then Sheffield have nothing to worry about, Mark Aston doesnt need to change a thing, player wise or tacticts. Just keep on blaming that ref everything is fine

[Griff]

All i can say is if we won because of the ref then Sheffield have nothing to worry about, Mark Aston doesnt need to change a thing, player wise or tacticts. Just keep on blaming that ref everything is fine

Most sensible comment today.

[Grey Beard]

Most sensible comment today.

Definitely

[Robin Evans]

planet suggy - the thinking man's grow bag - writer of prophetic wisdom with all the subtlety of a rectal enema!

No-one's blaming the ref for the defeat numb nuts! Just debating the proposed motion that jamie leahy is abject unequivocal sheeeite as a rugby league referee!

I believe the motion is carried!

And answer your bleedin phone!

Edited April 11, 2010 by Robin Evans

[Griff]

planet suggy - the thinking man's grow bag - writer of prophetic wisdom with all the subtlety of a rectal enema!

No-one's blaming the ref for the defeat numb nuts! Just debating the proposed motion that jamie leahy is abject unequivocal sheeeite as a rugby league referee!

I believe the motion is carried!

And answer your bleedin phone!

[West Country Eagle]

There's no doubt that Leahy was infuriating, but Fev would have won either way. They're a good side. Eagles this year are limited, and make the same errors over and over again.

It's simple for teams to stop the Eagles playing. Commit loads of men to the tackle and dominate the ruck. Dominating gives you more time to hold down. If you hold down Sheffield, we can't get a roll on. Throw in a few niggly cheap shots, high tackles etc - on the ref's blindside so he doesn't see them - and the Eagles will start losing their rag. Lose our rag and we'll get penalised. On the back of these penalties you can attack near our line. Our defence in our own 20 is poor. Thus, you will score.

Repeat for 80 minutes.

The difference in the two teams yesterday was huge. Fev did the above. Sheffield, because of the defensive system Aston choses to use, rarely commit a lot of players to the tackle. This makes it much harder to slow the ruck down. Thus, teams can get a roll on and we're always on the back foot.

Another big issue is at half back. Apart from Brendan, we have no-one who can really create, attack the line and make opportunities. We have a pretty nifty back line, but if we can't put them in space quickly with fast distribution, we're never going to see the best of them.

We're operating with one playmaker. Yesterday, Fev had four in the 17. They also had more props - really, yesterday, we had two - the rest were second rowers giving it a go.

These are fundemental issues that need addressing. I'm sure Tubbs knows all this, but it would be good if he could find some answers before we end up being dragged into a relegation battle.

Oh, and get rid of Richie Barnett. He obviously isn't bothered and looks a liability.

[West Country Eagle]

Well we can't all be perfect like your players can we?

Oh you did see the forearm in the throat didn't you?

If you read what I said, I said that we lost our discipline and retaliated.

We were just as bad yesterday, and in the latter stages against Widnes we were, too.

Last year when Fev came to DVS in the play-offs and roughed us up. We retailiated, had a player sent off and lost. Afterwards Daryl Powell turned to Mark Aston and said: "I can't believe your team fell for that".

Aston needs to sort it. Our players get wound up too easily, especially if refs do nothing about it. They need to learn to keep calm.

And for the record there were two forearms/elbows from Fev earlier in yesterday's game that Mr Leahy missed.

I don't think it helps that Aston and others at the club complain about the refs publicly. It's much better to tell your players to not worry about the ref and get on with it, however ######/inconsistent they are. Everyone gets bad calls from time to time.

[Robin Evans]

It was a niggly scrappy games at times. The fluid fast rugby we might have expected on that big pitch never materialised.

Poor concentration, a lax attitude to discipline and poor completion rates, particularly in the 1st half, spoiled the spectacle. Sheffield struggled to break out from their own half the and were absolutely spent in the 2nd half leaving the Sheffield backs trying in vain to run the ball wide from their own half.

Leahy's interpretation of the rules, (and the penalty try still baffles me - as far as I am aware he could not award a penaly try for ripping - the signal he gave - and must give the penaly), his professional judgement and awareness of the game favoured Fev more than Sheff yesterday. Another day will see us getting totally hosed by him!

Until he accepts his ineptitude or the RFL actually become pro-active and relieve him of his duties (like that's ever going to happen), I'm affraid we're stuck with the clot!

Rough stuff??? It wasn't really that sort of game either. Niggly yes - most are.

Fev were the best team and even if Sheff had another ref yesteday I'm still thinking that Sheff still would not have earned a BP. I don't think that is being argued.

[West Country Eagle]

I read what you said but yet again you insinuate that the rough stuff isn't started by Sheffield and it's always the opposition who start and your players end up retaliating. Your boys aren't perfect, our boys aren't perfect, in fact no team is.

You are right about getting on with it though.I'd hate for our sport to become like football where any contact is deemed as foul play.

We do have some niggly players - Barlow for starters - but it seems a trend that teams come and try and frustrate us and we rise to the bait.

Fev aren't a particularly dirty side and weren't dirty on Sunday. You look well drilled, well organised and full of decent players. If you can keep this up you'll be nailed on for a top 3 finish.

[Eagleraider]

As pathetic as I have ever seen from an EXPERIENCED official. So much so wrong. Then did the usual trick of trying to level the penalty count after the game had ceased to be a contest.

Even tho' Fev were the better on the day, they were allowed to be. Uneven penalty count + farcical decisions will turn any game. Penalty try + the only two forward passes given in the game result in an 18 point turn round. That will change any game.

The penalty count was uneven... I agree, at the end, but in Eagles favour.

First half : Sheffield 5 Featherstone 5

End of game: Sheffield 10 Featherstone 9

Featherstone were guilty of holding down, obstruction, tackling player of the ball, off-side, swinging arm, obstruction at the play of the ball

Eagles guilty of holding down, off-side, use of elbow, high tackle, dissent, and ripping giving the penalty try.

Well those were the decisions given by Mr Leahy.

The dissent call was appalling as Mitch had had a great run, was tackled, held down and he lost the ball through interference, a call of knock on given and he was rightly furious...poor vision by Leahy.

The 2 forward pass try decisions were to say the least very close calls and I believe one was correct and the other very borderline, but did look forward.

Eagles did not deserve to win as the tackling styles are dreadful in many cases. I always thought you needed to get hold off the player AND KEEP HOLD, and also the phrase "man AND ball" is used and the number of offloads EVERY team manages against Eagles, is disgraceful and needs tightening up, and quick.

[Robin Evans]

and clarification of the penalty try???

[Eagleraider]

and clarification of the penalty try???

I agree