Re: Gareth Ellis. : Mon Apr 29, 2019 10:42 am  

Mr. Zucchini Head wrote:

Ellis has always played hard, and when you play like that it's inevitable that you will cross the line every now and then. Especially now that he is older and the speed and reflexes perhaps aren't what they were. But he isn't and never has been a cheap shot merchant. Take that tackle yesterday, quicker man trying to get on the outside of him, so he goes diving in to make a tackle and catches him high. Yes it's a penalty, and the yellow card is fair, but there isn't a bit of malice in it. The one on Bird the other week doesn't even deserve a mention, he fell head long into him, very little Ellis could have done to avoid it.

As a player Ellis is now average imo. If you were just picking him based on playing ability then he wouldn't be in the team, in fact he would probably still be retired. However, he has a presence about him, he just seems to lift everyone around him and make them believe, and in a team that can sometimes be a bit mentally weak, he is very important. One of the best leaders the game has seen, and that's why he is still playing.

This is fair I think.
Gareth was a great player for us when he first broke into SL, and a very young Captain at Trinity.
He is not a dirty player but as others have said he hits hard, but probably not with the same precision as he used to have.

Re: Gareth Ellis. : Mon Apr 29, 2019 4:10 pm  

Dirty, cheap shot merchant Gareth Ellis.....

Player makes contact over the shoulder of opponent, footage does not demonstrate contact to head or neck.
Player is reasonable in approach to contact.


Oops.

Re: Gareth Ellis. : Tue Apr 30, 2019 8:23 am  

What a silly thread.

Gareth Ellis is a RL player to be respected and admired for his professionalism and integrity; he plays the game hard and is undoubtedly a tough competitor - but to badge him as a cheap shot merchant is bonkers and disrespectful.

Re: Gareth Ellis. : Tue Apr 30, 2019 8:49 am  

bren2k wrote:

What a silly thread.

Gareth Ellis is a RL player to be respected and admired for his professionalism and integrity; he plays the game hard and is undoubtedly a tough competitor - but to badge him as a cheap shot merchant is bonkers and disrespectful.

I hate to say this but as a set of fans we are getting very snowflake. This and the constant bagging of refs isn’t good. It’s a tough game and we have been unlucky with injuries but that’s just life.

I wonder if anyone has bothered to view it the other way around. The reason teams are playing it tough with us is because we are good and we to are tough which is something we haven’t always been. The refs are just bad but not selective.

Ellis did what he had to do, that’s what he’s paid for.

Re: Gareth Ellis. : Tue Apr 30, 2019 11:33 am  

Fishermanscap wrote:

I hate to say this but as a set of fans we are getting very snowflake. This and the constant bagging of refs isn’t good. It’s a tough game and we have been unlucky with injuries but that’s just life.

I wonder if anyone has bothered to view it the other way around. The reason teams are playing it tough with us is because we are good and we to are tough which is something we haven’t always been. The refs are just bad but not selective.

Ellis did what he had to do, that’s what he’s paid for.

I have no doubt that some players are shithouses and that some injuries are deliberately inflicted - I really didn't like the look of the one on Ashurst for example, when angry young man Aston bent his arm back over his body in a tackle; but I can't see any justification for putting Ellis in that category.

As for referees - I don't think that's snowflake behaviour - just frustration at the amazingly low standard of the current crop of officials; and their lack of consistency in applying the basic rules of the game. That said - I don't think they're helped by the RFL or their own boss, who both seem to have adopted a policy of ignoring or reinterpreting some rules for the sake of speeding up the game.

Re: Gareth Ellis. : Tue Apr 30, 2019 12:14 pm  

bren2k wrote:

I have no doubt that some players are shithouses and that some injuries are deliberately inflicted - I really didn't like the look of the one on Ashurst for example, when angry young man Aston bent his arm back over his body in a tackle; but I can't see any justification for putting Ellis in that category.

As for referees - I don't think that's snowflake behaviour - just frustration at the amazingly low standard of the current crop of officials; and their lack of consistency in applying the basic rules of the game. That said - I don't think they're helped by the RFL or their own boss, who both seem to have adopted a policy of ignoring or reinterpreting some rules for the sake of speeding up the game.

That was my point. The reffing is bad but it’s the idea that we get it worse than others, I’m not convinced we do. Ditto dirty players but I wear Trinity blinkers and maybe some of our players are viewed the same way by other fans. I’m struggling to think of one tbh but maybe we are a bit precious at times.

Re: Gareth Ellis. : Tue Apr 30, 2019 1:57 pm  

Fishermanscap wrote:

That was my point. The reffing is bad but it’s the idea that we get it worse than others, I’m not convinced we do. Ditto dirty players but I wear Trinity blinkers and maybe some of our players are viewed the same way by other fans. I’m struggling to think of one tbh but maybe we are a bit precious at times.

I don't disagree - perhaps that goes back to the point I made in a different thread; we see our own players in a particularly favourable way, but hold players of other teams to very different standards. The club blinkers are especially strong in RL.

For example, Hull FC fans seem to think that PP was a dirty barsteward during that game; I'm sure WT fans would disagree - unless he suddenly signed for Hull FC, in which case he would become a fat, useless, cheap-shot merchant overnight.