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McDermott hits out as Bailey awaits his discipline
Leeds Rhinos coach Brian McDermott last night accused Super League leaders Huddersfield Giants of “cowardice” and feigning injury as he launched a staunch defence of his volatile prop Ryan Bailey.
The ex-Great Britain star appears before the RFL disciplinary this evening charged with punching Huddersfield captain Kevin Brown during an explosive fracas in their 38-6 loss.
Bailey faces a two-match ban if found guilty which would rule him out of struggling Leeds’ Easter programme starting with Thursday’s derby trip to Bradford.
But McDermott believes the fiery front-row – who was red-carded along with Giants’ Luke O’Donnell – had been purposely targeted by the opposition and was only dismissed because of his previous perception by others.
He also insisted he would not try and alter the approach of Bailey, who has courted controversy throughout his 10 year top-flight career.
In a clear reference to rivals’ tactics – and subsequent in-action from the disciplinary chiefs – McDermott said: “Study Ryan Bailey’s game and tell me where he hits people off the ball or where he head-high tackles as I can’t find any.
“Does he wind people up? Yes. Is he an aggressive forward? Yes. Does he do cheap shots? No.
“Does he put people into dangerous positions where they are going to trap limbs or come in third man trying to spear peoples’ knees where they can’t protect themselves, things I’m watching? One hundred per cent not.
“At times he gets drawn into the opposition.
“If they chelp at him, scratch this, stamp that and there’s a bit of a fracas he’s the first bloke everyone runs up to.
“I think on Friday they had a script on Ryan Bailey and he fell into that trap.
“The referee sent him off because of his perception.
“He grits his teeth, growls and waves his fists, something they don’t want to see in our game.
“I thought what the opposition did to him after the fight was cowardice – although I’m not saying he was guilt-free – and does anyone mention one of their players was faking being unconscious in the build-up?
“That irks me to death; that’s soccer – it’s never been us.”
Stand-off Brown could be suspended for one-match for his part in the incident, but O’Donnell has avoided a ban after the match review panel accepted he never actually threw a single punch.
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dougtgarden
Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 12:27 AMQuote" “I think on Friday they had a script on Ryan Bailey and he fell into that trap. “The referee sent him off because of his perception" Another excellent point! Franky I had always perceived that referees (despite it being disputed at times by player, coaches and spectators) made their decisions based on their perception of events for 80mins of every game every weekend throughout the season If the perceived unfortunate (who has been the perceived unfortunate on some 20 plus other occasions ) is the victim of previous devious plots, then perhaps we make these rugby playwrights redundant The money saved could fund a drama school ! And one final point Sparky --I perceived Mac wasnt actually PRAISING the ref either .............(or is that purely my own personal perception of the situation script and I`ve also fallen into a trap?) I perceive a twist in the plot -and a sequel in the near future!
sparky2806
Tuesday, April 19, 2011 at 09:55 AMNice point made Mac. Also I would like to know if the RFL are going to do anything about Nathan Browns comments after the game whereby he was critical of the match officials handling of the brawl. It turns out that golden boy Kevin Brown wasn't so innocent after all?
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