north yorks trinity

Point taken. I'd argue it was a straight red on the day under any interpretation of leniency or otherwise, but no doubt the pressure from the coaches and subsequent weakness from the RFL did have an influence.

I've not been following the issue closely enough to know how likely it is that the RFL may not honour the tickets (or indeed how they would manage that) but not honouring them would be a far bigger blunder IMO than what's already happened. It seems that plenty of the discounted tickets cost at least something and the people who bought them will have been given no reason to think they were anything other than legitimate*. If someone (whether the seller or anyone else) tries to take something off me that I've already paid for, I would consider that theft, which is (obviously) a criminal offence. The RFL would be daft to both alienate people and leave themselves open to legal action. *I can't be sure there wasn't a Terms & Conditions section making everything "clear", but who reads them when making a small purchase? Although the South Park episode with the forced kidney donation almost persuaded me that I should...

Fair enough, I can understand that. I made the mistake of reading it as you'd written it.

Seriously making my blood boil that Kendall and his team didn't see the challenge clearly on the night and issue the deserved red. It can't be a problem with his eyesight as I don't think he missed any of Trinity's offsides or forward passes, even the marginal ones. I accept that it's far from a given that we'd have beaten a 12 man Leeds in the second half the way we were playing but I reckon it would have made us slight favourites.

That's a bit precious don't you think? I've taken my 8 year old daughter to Belle Vue a couple of times and she's enjoyed it and the state of the ground just wasn't on her radar. Mind you, the highlight of our first trip was the visit to Thornes Park beforehand and seeing several wild rats by the lake!!!

Even if we win at Magic we could easily still go down by losing all our other games and Toulouse winning two or more. Quite a likely scenario IMO unfortunately.

Agree entirely. I had been thinking Wakey would hit form eventually (they had been playing well and losing at the start of the season) but now I'm not sure they're capable. I went to the game last night (wished I hadn't) for old times sake as I'm not sure if/when we'll next play you in Super League. PS Hope you don't mind my edits to your post!)

So some other lucky team(s) will have the benefit of not facing him. It would have been considerably fairer though had Wakefield had the benefit of him being sent off yesterday. Unsurprisingly, the decision was bottled on the day. Awful as Wakey were (and that's an understatement) it could have changed the result (we did actually score 6 to Leeds' 0 while Bentley was off).

Unfortunately that was true of the main match too.

I'm not sure they are imploding; just not good enough individually or as a team in spite of plenty of effort.

Really struggling to understand this mentality and the number of likes the post attracted. So much for the rugby league family! I can see the positives for the game if Toulouse stay up but obviously wouldn't wish it at Wakey's expense. I guess if it were between Toulouse and any other team I'd be rooting for Toulouse, so I get that, but to refer to a rugby league club in that language is mind boggling.

I'm more concerned after last night than some of the recent debacles. For example in the cup against Wigan we were blown away by star players having good games. Against Cas we had some bad luck and certainly bad refereeing but far more importantly poor execution and an unforgivably poor attitude to the adversity. However, games like that happen to all teams occasionally (though Wakey seem more prone than most)! Last night we played a team facing plenty of their own adversity who managed to execute a really simple game plan and in spite of obvious effort on our part it was clear we had no answers. Not even hints of answers most of the time. The problem which Trin fans have known since last season, and which was more starkly exposed last night than previously, was lack of props. We have one super league quality prop who struggles with fitness and counteracts some undeniably good work with regular brain farts including one which put us right on the back foot yesterday. It's especially a shame as there is excitement and talent waiting to burst out of our back line if only they had the platform. Depressingly there is no obvious answer and it is becoming increasingly clear to other teams how to shut us out of a game. At the moment, I would make us clear favourites for relegation. I'm sure the players will fight hard and we have plenty of good players but I don't believe the team (or at least the balance of the team) is good enough. BUT...giving up is always a poor option in life; far better to look for creative answers. We have a luxury asset in Tom Johnstone who has given me more moments of magic than any other in the 30+ years I've been watching and who I'd hate to see leave, but we have a massive need for a good prop. Is it possible that there is a team with a SL quality prop (SL or NRL) who feel they could make better use of TJ's talents than we do and who would be prepared to do a swap deal now? If we think there is a realistic chance of keeping TJ next year, could this be done as a swap loan deal till the end of the season (admittedly kicking the can of the prop problem down the road but right now I'd do that)?!

I can see why you say that but I think it was OK. It was close but I think if Miller had kept moving forward after he'd passed it instead of running into the Salford man it wouldn't have looked controversial.

Also worth saying that I was really impressed with Salford in the second half. Wakey made a few daft mistakes but Salford really did look a well drilled skillful team when they got their act together.

What a crazy amazing match. I was too shell shocked at the end to fully enjoy it. It was just utter relief to hear the hooter. Only now is it fully sinking in that I was utterly privileged to be there today to see some of those tries and that complete masterclass from the wizard that is Tom Johnstone. I know the two league points could be vital but if we'd succeeded in throwing that away (and we came a lot closer to doing so than the scoreline suggests) I would have been equally disappointed that I had been robbed of the warm glow I will now feel when I watch the game back and remember from the rocking chair in the old people's home (not quite there yet BTW)!