It's interesting that people point the finger at Leeds when generally speaking I don't think we're any more or less guilty than any other team in this regard - though in Webb we do have one of the worst serial offenders, but refs keep letting him get away with it so how's he going to learn?
The back chat's just one area of the game that seems to be getting a bit out of control at the minute, I'd add the second marker practically never standing square, attacking players taking serious liberties in moving off the mark and the amount of laying on at practically every tackle is getting ridiculous - all of these offences happen way too regularly and seem to be punished at random.
Another thing that I noticed in the tonkings Leeds received against both Wigan and Warrington was referees calling held before the tackle is complete (ie everyone still standing) and the tacklers are on the wrong side of the ruck with no chance to get onside giving the attack a huge advantage. This happened several times in both games. Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding the laws, but if you're not going to give the tackler the opportunity to put the attacker to ground (as is their job) then surely you shouldn't punish them by allowing a quick PTB with no-one at marker? I'm not saying that anyone was doing anything dodgy on these plays, it was just something I noticed and as it's discretionary (and can only result in a penalty going to the attack if the tackle is then completed) I thought it was a bit unnecessary.
