Leaderboard

Already a whole cast of haters giving them **** on social media about signing players. Apparently it’s becuase they’re trying to “buy” success. How dare they? What is this, professional sport or something?

From the 'What's on' BBC page for Saturday. Clashes with the England/Kiwi test, but should be available on catch-up. Saturday, 27 October 14:00-16:00, Rugby league - France v Wales, European Championships, Connected TV and online

The problem is the Kiwis don’t bring any away fans 🤭

I think we're making progress in some areas but causing problems in others, particularly with the added preasures we put on ourselves on social media. I haven't told anyone about this, and I suspect a certain amount of internet anonymity is the only reason I'm talking about this now, but this time last year I was suicidal, my wife knows I was suffering severe depression but even she doesn't really know how bad I was. I'd gone as far as drafting my suicide note to my wife. What saved me in the end was google. There are certain things that if you google come up something like "Perhaps you should call the Samaritans on this number, or click here and we'll put you through". That shook me enough get out of it, but honestly I'm scared witless that I get like that again. I think for me some of it is seasonal, and I did notice some improvement when I started on a vit D3 supplement shortly after that (obviously I'm not suggesting that's everyones issue), but more so were family issues, particularly around my brother who I haven't got on with for some time. A big benefit for me was, while not cutting him out of my life (my mum would never let me regardless of what effect he's having on me) I don't engage or take what he says seriously anymore. It's been a tough 12 months as just as I'd recovered from that I ended up being hospitalised for the abscess in May (which I did post about at the time) but I'm still scared about ever getting in that state again. If it does happen again I will recognise it and seek help earlier. The strange bit is that somehow I didn't realise what was happening, and I hope that I can recognise that earlier next time. I just thought I'd edit this to add that if anyone reading this is struggling and doesn't know what to do, trying ringing the Samaritans and saying "I think I need some help". You're not wasting their time.

It's been a while since I posted on here, so I should probably thank you all for your honest response to my commentary this evening I do remember saying 5 pointer, but I may have been talking about tackles. Chances are nerves were kicking in as it was my first commentary tonight, but duly noted. Same with Gigot and it was pointed out to me after the different ways I pronounced it I've been around this sport 24 years and tonight was my first commentary, so it could have been better, but I can listen back and do better next time, so thanks

Some people have disrespected the city of Kingston upon Hull in this thread and I think this is undeserved and downright prejudicial. I have to admit I am a bit angry about this. In WW2 half of the population of Hull were made homeless due to the Nazi bombings. My late grandma told me about the sirens, the terror night after night after night and being evacuated to the N Yorks town of Norton..it was just too dangerous for children to remain in Hull. Hull was a strategic target due to it's status as a major port but no matter where in the north of England the nazis bombed they always navigated back down the Humber and dumped any remaining bombs on Hull. That is why most northern cities were bombed some nights but Hull was bombed every night. The newsreels for (supposedly) security reasons only ever referred to Hull as 'A North East town' so the city never even got recognition. A church in Coventry getting bombed on one night was far more newsworthy. From wikipedia... Hull was the most severely damaged British city or town during the Second World War, with 95 percent of houses damaged. It was under air raid alert for 1,000 hours. Hull was the target of the first daylight raid of the war and the last piloted air raid on Britain. Of a population of approximately 320,000 at the beginning of the war, approximately 152,000 were made homeless as a result of bomb destruction or damage. Overall almost 1,200 people were killed and 3,000 injured by air raids. At the end of the war the nation was bankrupt and the homeless of Hull were housed in prefabs (pre- fabricated huts) which remained until the 1980's. Hull has a huge amount of council houses simply because of the need to house the homeless of WW2. The nation owes a huge debt to Kingston upon Hull especially considering the also largely ignored WW1 bombing and destruction of Hull by zeppelin If Hull KR or indeed Hull FC wish to.commemorate the sacrifices made by the people of our city in the world wars I hope that ill informed people will be more respectful in future.

North Wales Crusaders home shirt for 2019 And the away shirt

Guess what - O'Loughlin and Ellis were/are both brilliant players

If he was coming into a game in a healthy state then you could offer the guy a honeymoon period. However, he is an insider and some things are starting to look more than a little alarming. Does he actually posses the innate ability and skills to re-position the UK game and address this? We have no date for the 2019 Challenge Cup. The Plan B talk for Catalans getting there was laughable. Wembley crowds sliding. Sluggish sales and interest for the England series. France hidden away on a Wednesday and behind a glitchy app. No more home tests planned for 2 years. GB looking like an afterthought. Sides not even fielding full teams of 17 - without addressing it or punishing it No clear policy on League 1 and the professional structure Declining participation etc. Forget the separation with SL - he is still responsible for massive parts of our sport in the UK. Normally when someone comes into a high profile role like this you feel the rumbles of change as they stamp themselves on the job. I see absolutely nothing. In fact I hear nothing. What does he actually stand for?

15 of us travelling to Liverpool from York on Sunday and just paid for tickets to the Leeds test. Doing our bit. Be proactive people.

Chris Thair (departing chairman of Wales RL) has announced on twitter that 12,000 euros was raised for the flood relief fund last night at the game. well done all - the power of sport and rugby league in particular

Well, I had a great day. Getting the crowd out of the way first, for 60 minutes ish, it was the quietest RL game I've been to in yonks. Can't explain why but at least it finished fairly noisily. And I think the size of the crowd to a certain extent was as a result of ticket prices. I eventually got round to buying our tickets about three weeks ago. I wanted seats down the side so had a look at both the East and West stand allocations. E6 is the central block in the East Stand and tickets there were £55. E4/5 and E7/8 were obviously the next best option and tickets there were £45. When I looked there were around 1,500 seats still available in these sections. E2/3 and E9/10 seats were priced at £32.50 and in those four sections there were a total of 3 seats left. Perhaps if there hadn't been such a disparity they'd have sold a lot better. Onto the game and I felt privileged to have been there, is the best way to put it, I think. Alright, perhaps it wasn't the best of games but it was very tense and to see some of these players in the flesh giving their all was a great experience. Shaun Johnson is some player, the game almost holds it's breath every time he gets the ball. I think England got it right against him defensively, commit yourself and he can make you look foolish, stand off him a bit and make him play his hand. Overall, I think we nullified his talents. Some great performances in the home jerseys, Luke Thompson was magnificent, James Graham and Chris Hill also and I reckon Elliot Whitehead is just about the best forward in the World right now. Don't watch the NRL but can't quite make out how Hodgson is regarded so highly over there, maybe he just has an off game whenever I see him. George Burgess was a huge presence on the field, the man is colossal, when he was substituted he walked past us and it went dark, even though we were in row Y. Samkins is still class but his kicking was bloody awful yesterday. Williams is getting there, almost made a break a few times, Kiwis just managing to hold on to his shirt tails. Had he made it into the clear on half of those occasions we would be talking about a MOM performance. Gildart's try was wonderful, was chuffed Bateman put him away, given his passing criticisms and the centre's finish was fantastic. Makinson and Connor might have well been in some of those £55 seats for the number of times the ball went their way. The winger's break out of defence was a terrific play and we simply have to get the ball into his and Connor's hands more often. As for the officials, well, it was Robert Hicks, Ben Thaler and co. After realising they were in charge, I don't know what some of you lot expected. There was no bias, of that I'm certain, just the usual level of head scratching decisions from them. Well, my good self and plenty of others from Hull are off to Liverpool next Saturday Sunday, I can't wait, massively looking forward to it. And when us proud Yerkshire folk boost the crowd to a decent number, all you lot west of the Pennines can pat yourselves on the back and say how much better supported the game is over there. And for all those who have put a negative slant on the opening test match, get yourselves there next week, you miserable lot of moaners.

The Luftwaffe probably flew over and thought they had already blanket bombed it.

Wigan want Hardaker to play full back for them. They have decided to keep him on and they know they may get a bit of stick for it. So they have pulled out the old 'duty of care' line to look like the good guys.

My personal view is that in some ways we are a lot more informed about it but in others there's a really long way to go. It's an easy win for people to say things like, "Reach out to your friends" and/or "Talk about your mental health". The thing is, in a practical sense, there's less support out there for people than ever. Little Ginger really needs mental health support but because he's not suicidal or violent *right now* there's no way he'd get onto the local list for it ... and if he was then he'd get an appointment about three months off. When I had anxiety so severe I was signed off work (and eventually was made redundant) the NHS could offer me an unqualified advisor who had no remit to talk about my issues but could offer only templates of what cognitive behavioural therapy looks like. A year later I was able to access better support via an employer's support scheme - but even that was only phone based and was limited to six hours. Another side is that mental health problems often look really unpleasant. Depression leads to bad choices. Bad choices like drinking too much. But nobody is going to be sympathetic to the drunk in the corner shouting abuse at the pub. He's just a bumhole. But he knows he's a bumhole. So he drinks more. And becomes less sympathetic. But, for all the above, yes we are making progress. Suicide rates for men are still ridiculously high but (I believe) they are falling, albeit gradually. The snowflake generation have grown up with much less rigid definitions of masculinity and I think that will help. Tiny Ginger certainly talks about emotions in a way that I don't remember any boy doing when I was his age. But then he's down here in the mollycoddled south in a public school - it was a bit different in a Bury primary school. But - ignore all the above - I'm really sorry to hear about your friend. You say you're feeling a bit sick so I hope you're okay. I know his family will have it worse but don't compare yourself to them. If it's hit you hard, it's more than okay to acknowledge that.

I'd rather London looked after London. I want us to be a sustainable club bringing young players through and being competitive in whatever division we're in. We've had visionaries, initiatives and all manner of great ideas in the past couple of decades and yet we are where we are: at a rugby union ground in Ealing. It's not our job to save rugby league. It's our job to get out on the pitch and perform. If we can do things to raise our gates and sponsorship - organically and with a decent foundation - then brilliant. But I do not want to see us engaging with any pipe dream idea of hiring random grounds with the thought that 5,000 in Loftus Road to watch us not beat Wigan is 'better' than 1,500 at Ealing.

I think clubs and coaches have a bit of a responsibility here and need to remember that this is a form of entertainment. Winning negatively doesn't draw the crowds in. Interestingly, looking at last weekends tries, we had some great variety. 5 tries. 1 from a bomb with a great take and offloads. 1 from a beautiful inside pass. 1 from a scrum. 1 penalty try after a 7-pass move from one side of the pitch to the other. 1 lovely 60m try after a great offload with three tacklers. I think that first test was a cracker and should be celebrated more.

Why would they? The Blue Jays have 3 Canadians on their 40 man roster. They sold 2.3 million tickets this year without making the playoffs (and that's down from 3.3 million 2 years ago). The Raptors have zero. They sold 813,000 tickets last season. That's 100.2% of capacity. The CFL, which has a mandated 50% Canadian players (not counting QBs) is the least popular of the major sports in Toronto. Torontonians don't care about their teams being Canadian. They care that they entertain and bring championships to the city.

McNamara inherited a shambolic English team and setup which he brought into the 21st century. He put into place structures and processes that the English team are still benefiting from now. He was very good at his job.

Knowing RL and it’s organisation we’ll go to Oz at the same time as they come here and we’ll both wonder where the other is

Yes, it's a bloody joke before anyone gets on their high horse!!

I have thought for a long time that the play-the-ball should be enforced much more strictly in Super League. You can count on one hand the number of times it's played properly in most games and it's damaging the spectacle, overall, I think. Of course I want fast play and for the ball to be in play as long as possible but there are numerous reasons why I believe playing the ball properly would benefit the game. My main issue with players rolling the ball backwards is that it is, in fact, slowing the game down and not speeding it up. I know that sounds counter intuitive but I, really, believe that the refs. need to enforce the rule, which says: Play with foot (e) When the ball touches the ground it must be heeled (i.e. backwards) by the tackled player. The ball must not be kicked or heeled by the player marking him. The ball is in play when it has been played backward. I appreciate that using your foot (or heel!) to play the ball does take a little bit more time than rolling it backwards, hence it, momentarily, slows the game but this in my view is a necessary event because: 1. It's the rule! 2. With the best will in the world the defending team has to retreat 10 metres and that takes a little bit of time, teams should be given a reasonable opportunity to re-set the defence. 3. Bearing in mind 2. if the referee does not blow up for offside, which is often the case, the defensive line can look a mess; it's visually unattractive. 4. I believe that the play the ball has become so quick that it's, actually, impeding the attacking team in getting its act together in terms of strategy. Hookers, in particular, are having to act so quickly that they don't have time to strategise, they just have to clear the ruck because the ball is on them so quickly. I think that this may be one reason why half-backs have become a little less penetrative, they don't have time to look and think. So, I say, slow the game down, just a little bit at the play-the-ball by enforcing the rule and I believe that we'll have a better outcome with fewer penalties for offside, thoughtful half backs doing their business and a more visually attractive game. Bring back the play-the-ball!

Every UK based series or tournament should always have at least one game in London IMO.

In part: There's been an "explosion" in the number of women and children playing rugby league, New Zealand Rugby League says. "We've almost doubled numbers in the last two or three years in the women's game," chief executive Greg Peters said. The full article: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/10/rugby-league-player-numbers-up-after-world-cup.html Women and children it seems. As it says keeping them now is the challenge. In a few years time the NRL talent scouts will have another batch of players to cherry pick from. Perhaps it's time for a second NRL side in NZ. Long overdue IMO.

LEAVER: I want an omelette. REMAINER: Right. It’s just we haven’t got any eggs. LEAVER: Yes, we have. There they are. [HE POINTS AT A CAKE] REMAINER: They’re in the cake. LEAVER: Yes, get them out of the cake, please. REMAINER: But we voted in 1974 to put them into a cake. LEAVER: Yes, but that cake has got icing on it. Nobody said there was going to be icing on it. REMAINER: Icing is good. LEAVER: And there are raisins in it. I don’t like raisins. Nobody mentioned raisins. I demand another vote. DAVID CAMERON ENTERS. DAVID CAMERON: OK. DAVID CAMERON SCARPERS. LEAVER: Right, where’s my omelette? REMAINER: I told you, the eggs are in the cake. LEAVER: Well, get them out. EU: It’s our cake. JEREMY CORBYN: Yes, get them out now. REMAINER: I have absolutely no idea how to get them out. Don’t you know how to get them out? LEAVER: Yes! You just get them out and then you make an omelette. REMAINER: But how?! Didn’t you give this any thought? LEAVER: Saboteur! You’re talking eggs down. We could make omelettes before the eggs went into the cake, so there’s no reason why we can’t make them now. THERESA MAY: It’s OK, I can do it. REMAINER: How? THERESA MAY: There was a vote to remove the eggs from the cake, and so the eggs will be removed from the cake. REMAINER: Yeah, but… LEAVER: Hang on, if we take the eggs out of the cake, does that mean we don’t have any cake? I didn’t say I didn’t want the cake, just the bits I don’t like. EU: It’s our cake. REMAINER: But you can’t take the eggs out of the cake and then still have a cake. LEAVER: You can. I saw the latest Bake Off and you can definitely make cakes without eggs in them. It’s just that they’re horrible. REMAINER: Fine. Take the eggs out. See what happens. LEAVER: It’s not my responsibility to take the eggs out. Get on with it. REMAINER: Why should I have to come up with some long-winded incredibly difficult chemical process to extract eggs that have bonded at the molecular level to the cake, while somehow still having the cake? LEAVER: You lost, get over it. THERESA MAY: By the way, I’ve started the clock on this. REMAINER: So I assume you have a plan? THERESA MAY: Actually, back in a bit. Just having another election. REMAINER: Jeremy, are you going to sort this out? JEREMY CORBYN: Yes. No. Maybe. EU: It’s our cake. LEAVER: Where’s my omelette? I voted for an omelette. REMAINER: This is ridiculous. This is never going to work. We should have another vote, or at least stop what we’re doing until we know how to get the eggs out of the cake while keeping the bits of the cake that we all like. LEAVER/MAY/CORBYN: WE HAD A VOTE. STOP SABOTAGING THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE. EGGSIT MEANS EGGSIT. REMAINER: Fine, I’m moving to France. The cakes are nicer there. LEAVER: You can’t. We’ve taken your freedom of movement.