THE RED ROOSTER

Come on Swinton - You loyal fans who I have met at intertnationals are top drawer.

Loving the reverse psychology from posters on this thread. Warrington fans who claim they have no chance and Wiganers who are making this game out as Wigan v The civilized world. In truth this game will be decided by whoever can maintain the intensity level from last week. Northern Hemisphere teams find it difficult to back up and I have the feeling this will be more of a points fest than last week. Fans should note : Metrolink is free for match ticket holders https://tfgm.com/travel-updates/super-league-2018 Coming up for the game and getting the last train back to London for the NFL on Sunday so will arrive at Chez Rooster about 2.00am Sunday morning thanks to engineering work😢

At the risk of being banned for mentioning a competitor to LPL on this board. Gavin Willacy, who is a rugby league journalist of note, made this cryptic comment in the September edition of Forty-20 magazine ; My bold and italics " London has the potential; to be a league powerhouse but it will take a huge investment in facilities, staff development ,structures and players. There are seriously rich people interested in making that happen" So now we will see if Mr Willacy was well sourced or not....

Excellent result - London wanted it more and defended superbly with Alex Walker a deserved man of the match. Paul Rowley generous in defeat. This season whilst being a revelation, has I suspect also taken the club by surprise it's one thing aspiring to super league it's another actually getting there. The hard work starts now. As for those numpties already on this thread decrying a British Super League side outside the M62 my message is simple.

Actually there is a discount available if you are a member of OUR LEAGUE . Type in the code and you will get £ 5 off the value of a match ticket for Anfield.

I thought a game Wigan won rather than Castleford losing. Remember in modern Rugby League keepimg a full time side scoreless is a rare event. Wigan's defence being the best outside the NRL. No matter how many posters say Castleford were off their game, their effort tonight would have been enough against the majority of Super League clubs. Again a compelling contest without a basketball style scoreline. Though the two ball steals off Lockers were reminiscent of Gavin Clinch in his heyday.😉

Actually London's red away kit was the official club colours back in the early naughties pre-QuinsRL days or at least that's what Nick Cartwright told me when CEO. The current away kit being a sort of retro kit for us old timers.

Saints v Warrington, a game that always delivers, this game an absolute stonka and proof that you do have to have a points-fest to have a classic RL match. Credit to Warrington who did not panic in the second half when going 7 points behind early on. Is it just me or did they target Barba 's defence ?. The gulf between the first placed club and the fourth placed club with the fourth placed club winning is not an injustice but a reflection that as in all sport it's not winning the majority of games that counts but winning the games that matter.

Castleford to win this one for me - Nailed on. A sad end for Wane, Bateman, Tomkins etc but then there are no fairy tale endings in sport.

I believe I should have the copyright on reverse psychology on this forum as any reader of the championship / qualifiers match threads should attest... Looking forward to a good game as clashes between these two clubs tend to be. Question though for Warrington fans - who do you really consider to be your great rivals - Next dor neighbours Widnes, Wigan or St Helens ?

Always good to be written off beforehand. What you have to understand is the enormity of this game in the sense that as Bill Parcells put it when quitting as Dallas Cowboys coach after a playoff loss. You can easily say theres always next season but then consider having to go through pre-season, the regular season and the playoffs just to get back to where you are before kick off this Sunday. So London need to aim up. London have already beaten Toronto in the regular season and in the game where we were towelled for 60 minutes in the Qualifiers we owned the last 20 minutes - Garbage time or not, Toronto gave me the impression of wanting to get off the field and had London played with that intensity earlier who knows. "The mancumian candidates" of Toronto are massive favourites and the weight of expectation is firmly on their shoulders.They will try to kill of London early with a blitz in the first 20 minutes. For London making their third trip to Canada this season. This season has been a success before a tackle has been made. Therefore all Danny Ward really has to say is go out and give it a crack. Games between the Championship top six and in the Qualifiers have surprised and entertained many this season and if the score remains with a 6-8 point gap coming into the final quarter It will be all to play for. There is a definate case for London to be in the Super League and there is also a definate case for Toronto to be in Super League but making the case for both would derail this thread. Prediction - Toronto by 12 for me to tip the Broncos is fatal to the club and its too serious for the curse of the Rooster. One final point for those who opposed the end of the middle eights to ponder If Toronto win the best team in the Championship over the regular season, will go up and the worst team in the Super League during the regular season Widnes goes down. The same result as would have been the case with one up one down and IMO the way it should be after all is it not on the field that counts....

Linky on what must be a black armband day down under https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/nine-axes-nrl-footy-show-20181002-p507a9.html Always thought The Footy show was a form of low brow variety show with very little focus on its core topic - Footy. Eclipsed by Matty Johns new show on FOX for NRL content . The irony being had Matthew Johns kept his kit on while on a pre-season tour to NZ that took seven years to become an issue Trent the Flight attendant would have had a job for life with Nine and maybe the Footy show would have made it over the line to 2019.

First off fair play to Halifax who did not come to roll over, yes they wer missing players but so was London. You play what's in front of you. Scooting across London from Mill Hill to see this game, I got there approx 20 mins prior to the start and whilst heading over to the shop run by the coach's wife and kids and thought I overheard the players coming out with "we can score of every set" . Now to my mind London wwere frantic and to a degree chasing the game from the kick off because they appear to have fallen into the trap of we must hammer Halifax and increase our points difference. It did not turn out like that and When Halifax went 12-0 up, I had visions of London losing by the 24 points to miss out on the MPG very London and in line with the way the championship has gone this year. My nerves wer calmed by a Sammut solo effort then another try in quick succession but after then a lot of blown chances and stupid penalties conceded. Inevitably 12-16 down at the break and a fair scoreine. Much better in the second half with London looking in control for the last 20 mins and Halifax kept scoreless. Finished off by a Sammut drop goal on the final hooter. Standouts for London Sammut obviously, Alex Walker, Jay Pitts, Rhys Williams and even The London Phantom - Keiran Dixon made an appearance after a shaky start. The key to this game is you could count the number of Halifax handling errors on one hand wheras London too numerous to mention. Will need a 100% better effort to give Toronto a game next week. I got a free GA Ticket for this game - Three results in one day....😁

I did tip Toronto to win in a thread a week ago on the last weekend so I am not surprised. Like it or not and whatever you think about the Wolfpack they have been the best side in the Championship and deserve to go up.

As a London fan I certainly do give you a chance as you can down to Trailfinders and play your footy with the pressure off and if London simply assume they can beat Halifax and fail to prepare correctly and to respect their opponent then we have a problem. Mind you the same should apply to todays game and if Halifax were to turn Leeds over at the Shay then the cat really would be amongst the pidgeons so to speak. The beauty of this years qualifiers series is that although their are clear favourites going into each game. if the favouiries fail to bring their "A" game to the match then they get turned over and this has not been the case in the past to anything like the same extent. I do not favour the Super 8's and maybe this reflects a growing level of mediocrity in northern hemisphere league but its sure entertaining.. As for next week I'm not calling London v Halifax as my endorsement is the kiss of death fr the Broncos but for the others. Salford should beat Toulouse with Jackson Hastings back and at home but if they play as they did yesterday and Toulouse produce a bt of gallic flair then they have a punchers chance here. KR to beat Widnes with ease - No one likes going to the city of Hull and the chemics are busted. That's my Lock. My Shock is Toronto beating Leeds at Headingley. If Toronto play the name they will lose if on the other hand they play Leeds starting XIII then as Hull KR have proved Leeds are nothing to write home about these days