Human Punk

EW seems to be in a minority of one here. It was horrifying to watch, and I think the main point here is just to be thankful for Leyland's, Walters' and Nsemba's sakes that it didn't result in something catastrophic. And I'm happy to leave it at that and let the disciplinary do its job.

Very sad news. Only ever met him once, but as everyone has already said, such a nice man. Will be missed.

As it happens, I watched the 2001 Saints v Brisbane WCC game again a couple of days ago, and it was pretty much 80 minutes of mayhem. There was some great skill, some fantastic players, and it was hugely entertaining. But, if either of those sides tried playing in that fashion today, they'd get hammered. The game has moved on, and it can't go back. I think that the powers that be are trying to improve the entertainment value of the matches by the various bits of tinkering with the rules, and, by and large, it's working. This year's SL has been the most watchable for a number of years. There's still scope for SL to be hugely enjoyable - it still provides a platform for skilful players to dazzle. If every team had a Bevan French or two it would be a golden era - here's hoping there are some young players of that ilk about to come through.

Jones also seemed to agree that there's a consensus among fans that the NRL 'bid' or 'partnership' or whatever is to be welcomed. Is that the case? Anyone want to do a poll?

OK, this isn't adding anything new, but everyone else has had a go, so: 1. Marshall is indeed well known for milking penalties by holding players in the tackle, but I don't think he can have anticipated the Wakey players piling on the weight that caused the horrible looking pressure on Tevaga's knee. Not guilty. 2. It's not at all surprising that Tevaga would kick out to get the aforementioned pressure off his knee, but rules are rules and kicking has to be punished. Guilty. Ref and panel got that right. 3. Smith may not have known Tevaga was injured, but you'd have thought that Tevaga, along with kicking out, would have shouted out in pain or at least made some other indication that he was suffering that Smith would have been aware of. I think Smith's anger at seeing the kick temporarily over-rode that and caused him to act as he did, and he stopped when his more rational thought processes kicked in again. Mitigating circumstances, but again, it's all about applying the rules. Guilty. Ref messed up. Ban justified. 4. No excuses for the officials missing the headbutt.

I was wondering when he'd get a mention! Raised the standards of the whole team that year, an absolute superstar.

Good to see some appreciation for Joynt. I was watching some old games recently, and hadn't appreciated how much he contributed. The 'wide to west' try was just normal service for him, the man was a phenomenon.

Saints at home might have scraped by despite all the injuries, but over there I fancy TO.

Cas, because I like the old stadium, and Workington, probably for similar reasons (I can't think why otherwise). I suppose also because Cas hate Leeds, so that's obviously attractive.

Catalans are good in parts, but I suspect that Tomkins is a major reason for them underachieving. Sexton in particular should be showing more. Either an easy win for Catalan or a narrow victory for Leigh.

Worzel is right - it was plainly an involuntary muscle spasm (probably caused by fatigue due to the immense efforts put into sledging throughout the game) that forced poor Mikey's leg out in a kicking fashion towards his opponent. Thank goodness he wasn't badly injured, although he definitely took a sore one. Nothing to see here. I'm one of the 3%.

All this only demonstrates that the sooner V'Landys and his mates take over the better.

Nelson's main talent was being huge, and he augmented that with endless high shots on opposition players. His actual RL skills were negligible and I won't miss his presence in the game one iota. Hope he enjoys getting hit in the face as much as he enjoyed dishing it out.

I'm with that. There seems to be a wish in some quarters to see SOO diminished, as if it is somehow an enemy to international RL (which it kind of was in the past, to be fair, when the eligibility rules where stricter). We should recognise that SOO has been a major factor in the growing success of RL in Australia, the benefits of which we might hopefully see here too at some point. There's room for both SOO and an international calendar- that has to be the best way forward for the game as a whole.

This.