"It must be cold there, in our shadow..."



Hugs to Radders!

My genuine take on this is that all of the players you name are very much toe to toe "tough guy enforcers" as you put it, and I think it's the the toe to toe aspect that gets the respect; it always has in RL.

The general impression amongst supporters is that Bailey's tough guy antics are often reserved for the smallest players on the pitch or are of a less mano-a-mano nature.

I certainly don't buy the "coward" nonsense, he's clearly not that - no RL props are.

Wilkin had a go at Bailey with his after game celebrations in the 2011.I think he had a moan in the previous 3 too

Dragons fan in peace.

I think the incident was taken a little out of context because of his first half swing. Bailey has a reputation now like it or not.

What is certain though is that it had no bearing on the outcome of the match so well played.

I didn't think the shoulder charge was all that bad, it was a fraction late but I've seen worse. The fact that it was a shoulder charge probably attracted most of the ban.

I didn't much care for the swing to the head in the first half though.

In general, I still struggle to understand people's obsession with the guy's discipline. By reputation, he's a penalty machine adn a liability. Numbers of penalties, cards and games banned usually suggest otherwise.

I'm very happy he irritates people the way he does though. I think he's vastly underrated as a player. Sometimes being underrated is no bad thing.

That's fair enought but I think it's a mis-judgment. I've said him Mano e mano with plenty of big boys. I saw him put Julian O'Neill (6 foot 7) at Widnes on his bottom in a dust up. I saw him put Luke O'Donnell on his bottom in a dust up. He came off worse with Sculthorpe but the point is, he doesn't shy away, if necessary. On the other hand he shows better self control and discipline when things break down like that than ANY other forward in the entire league. Bar none. Look at last Thursday when Scruton knocked himself out trying to level Bailey. When the ref (needlessly) spoke to Bailey afterwards he was in complete control. Look back at the famous Fasavalou incident and compare the demeanour of Bailey and Graham.

Bailey will never be liked or respected by opposition fans. Fair enough. I don't care, he doesn't care and I doubt his Leeds team mates care. I'm certain Bailey isn't liked by his opponents. Again, fair enough. Our own coach commented last year that he misunderstood Bailey until he worked with him. It's a shame that modern day rugby league players are such wall flowers. I can't recall John Holmes crying about the attention he was paid by Chris Arkwright in quite the same way as Wilkin did



However, my issue is with the unwarranted levels of vitriol and attention Ryan gets. I genuinely believe there is some deep rooted racism, conscious or not, behind it all. "[iThem boys should be playing on the wing after all[/i". I know Bullseye is right and I shouldn't generalise but I can think of no other way to rationalise the disproportionate reaction to someone who, as Bullseye also points out, has a relatively clean record for a forward playing the game as long as he has.

I don't really think it's a colour issue more than that it's a perception that "he gets away with it". I think that's mixed up in a mixture of general anti-Leeds feeling and a lack of appreciation of his genuine ability that you get with s. A player who's main attribute is to rub people up the wrong way and put them off their game is never going to be universally loved particularly when he's in a winning team.

Sonny Nickle was far dirtier than Bailey yet got none of this nonsense, but he won fewer trophies and didn't look as pleased with himself. Same applied to Fleary and Farrell at Leeds.

So you're saying they would take your head of and then say "yessir massa, very sorry massa" which made us all like them?



You don't like it when a borther sticks his chest out and has smoothing to say?

I am a fan of Ryan Baily, all teams need an enforcer and he is ours. But my main point without being flippant is he adds a bit of spice to the game. Most other teams fans dislike him but they spend enough time waffling on about him,the modern game by and large is quite bland . So the more players like Ryan the better,that's why I miss big Barry Mack never a dull moment when he played. Also Morley when he was younger,even master Tompkins over at Wigan , with some of his antics he gets people's dander up. So when he gets the ball at HQ most if not all the south stand want to see him propelled over the south stand. It all adds a bit of spice and needle to the game.
Hence I enjoyed the Catalan match, with bailey getting his marching orders and the French crowd going nuts it made the victory even more sweet.

ere if that bailey went ter to ter with another forward we would all love it

he doesnt theur

he hits small half backs late or from a blarndsarde

My honest view of Bailey is that he's a good player but it's as if he's a product of the WWF/WWE (or whatever it's called these days) rather than the RL family.
I'm sure he'd have made a great villain for Kent Walton and a legion of ringside grannies to get wound up about but is that something I pay to see on the rugby field ...... well no, I can't say that it is. Barging into people at a melee not looking to hit anyone but instead looking/hoping to get hit - is not my idea of an enforcer. There have been exceptions such as the O'Donnel incident but that's what they are - exceptions. Usually it's just an attempt to goad a response from the opponents.

As for the shoulder charge - not sure it was as Bailey's left arm is wrapped around the back of Bosc. That said it's a little late with a swinging arm and looks as if it's a bad one even if it actually isn't.

Would love to see him forget the distractions and funny business and concentrate on his rugby, could be International class as a modern type loose forward.

Would anybody be kind enough to translate this comment.

[i"Some bloke said something down the pub, and rather than form my own opinion based on actual evidence, I decided to go along with what he said."[/i

I think that's a fairly accurate summing up.

Bailey is, in my opinion, simply a thug in a rugby kit. He really is not super league quality, and every single time I see him, he does something disgusting and not in the spirit of the game, I'm not joking either with the every single time.

CC win, I forget which one, but on the last play of the game, he dropped all of his weight with a swinging arm to a prone Chris Riley on the ground. There were two incidents at Catalan, there was the instance he was about to lamp Richie Myler in the GF, during the match against Bradford the other week he came 3rd or 4th man in to a fight swinging punches, there he wasn't the only one, but he revelled in the fight and that's all he was interested in from then on. Those ones are just off the top of my head. I never actually see him make a break or lay one on. He had the chance to put Leeds in front at the 2010 CC final and rather than going for the line he decided he was going to run over Richie Mathers, a plan that failed spectacularly.

I just cannot abide the man.

I think you are an ideal candidate to undergo tests to investigate the irrational hatred for Bailey many opposition fans demonstrate. Is it mere delusion that makes you have this view of him or is it something more sinister? Would you mind if we slice you open to see what is the cause of your rage?

Classic Bailey

Re wirewirewire comment on never seeing bailey make a break: Catalan in the playoffs last yeah where he ran through Ian Henderson not once but twice

Clearly didn't see the playoff game against Catalan on our way to beating you in the GF. You would have seen a great run leading to a Leeds try. The game isn't all about flashy runs and bailey is a good defender

You have one or two thugs in your team too ,remember the unprovoked punch at Wembley?

Bailey is a good player, if he wasn't he wouldn't have been here for so long especially under experienced coaches.

Genuinely speaking I've seen worse from Ben Westwood who leads with his elbow, often lands on someone's face with his forearm and can't help but be a little late a lot of the time, but I don't think he's a dirty player (his disciplinary record is almost certainly worse than Bailey's though. Also wasn't it a Wire who planted an unprovoked punch on Kylie, and who tackled Sir Kev with his head?

You've got a very fragile glass house, I'd advise you not to throw stones...

That just about sums it up, game set and match I believe .

Seriously, did ANYBODY, let alone Bailey actually throw a meaningful punch in the melee with Bradford last week?

Bailey does no more of any of these things than half the other props in the league. He didn't invent the slightly late arrival on the opposition half back, the prop's high shot and certainly wasn't first to throw a punch on a rugby field.

There are plenty of dirtier players around.

Clueless blind T!T.