EastLondonMike

SKY commentary: "A Titan-ic effort from Kallum Watkins" followed by a reference to him being part of a "Gold-en era".. mmmm.

Kevin Iro's son in the squad.. Wonder what he's like as a player.

He was. But wasn't playing with the same level of finesse from previous seasons. Not in my opinion anyway.

I do agree that Watkins has regressed over the last few seasons, partly i think as he just seemed to be used as a bit of a battering ram (bizarrely), there seemed to be less and less finesse to his game. It seemed the case to me whenever i saw him play on TV anyway.

If he does go to the NRL, the best thing for him could be to play a bit part for the remainder of the season, get a full NRL pre-season under his belt, then hopefully make an impact in 2020.

Co-sign. Clubs to avoid would be GCT and NZ Warriors. With James Roberts going to Souths maybe Brisbane might be interested? though the Bronco's generally tend to promote from within the junior ranks, of which there aways seems to be plenty of talent. Manly and Parramatta seem to have a few backs off contract at the end of the year.

Interesting. Really hope whatever move he makes (SL or NRL) it re-invigorates him and we see him finally realise his obvious potential. Even at 28 i still think theres more to come from him (injury permitting).

Truman looking a bit wobbly in that defensive line. Both Naulagos tries had him all over the place. Plenty more coming down his edge.

No way RL fans will stay in Wembley for game 2 when there's a Wetherspoons a few hundred yards away selling cheaper beer.

I'd be surprised if some of the names he mentioned did switch codes. Too much risk. Maybe when they are older and looking for that final payday, like Andy Powell at Wigan, we might see one or two, but not in their prime. Would certainly be interesting if some did though. Didn't Shaun Edwards allude to a couple of current England union internationals indicating a willingness to switch codes?.. Then again, he also said he was going to be Wigan coach next year, and we know how true that statement was!

Completely ban alcohol consumption in-season and educate the players on the perils of drink driving and the grave consequences involved (though as has been mentioned, they shouldn't need to be educated). I have zero time for anyone who drinks and drives. I'd also suggest placing a severe penalty on anyone convicted of drink driving.

Interesting article on the increased value of streaming and its continued and predicted growth against traditional Pay TV. http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/global-ott-streaming-esports-advertising-revenue-2023-pwc-report Streaming rights for the next SL deal will be extremely important IMO. Gonna be tough wrestling control of them from SKY. Hopefully we have some other parties interested. DAZN, 11, BT, Amazon, Netflix.. Would be nice to break the SKY monopoly.

What was said?

For anyone who (like me) doesn't subscribe to SKY or WatchNRL.com, NRL.com has listed 8 full match replays of classic Origin encounters. NRL.com/TV is always really good for match highlights and asscisated RL content ie player features, interviews etc. Check it out. https://www.nrl.com/tv/

i'd be stunned if that takes place.

I'd hazard a guess and say Wigan. Seeing as they are currently with Errea and ML is saying Errea no longer have a presence at club level. Assume a new kit deal is lined up with Hummel.

Jesus Christ. Clear the bloody camera and cover it!

I haven't heard the podcast mentioned in the OP, or really looked too deeply into the story around Swinton re-branding as 'Manchester'. So i don' have a great deal of knowledge on the subject, but, the only question i would have around such a move, initially, would be around what data has been produced to show this re-brand will capture a new/latent audience in Manchester and grow the club considerably more than it is currently capable of doing as Swinton. And the subsequent strategy for doing that. Without either it's just another Idea with no substance. The classic RL approach. Change the name and location and expect thousands to swarm through the turnstiles. In the Love Rugby League article about the possible rebrand it suggests Swinton Chairman Mazey "believes the Lions will gain bigger crowds and attract more sponsors by putting themselves out to the public as a Manchester club". This needs to be expanded upon.

Used to love the midweek tour games. So many teams and players you'd never normally see. Looks like a young John Lomax at 10 and Esene Faimalo in 12 for Wellington.

Quite agree. Leniency in some areas will risk leading to other areas. and obviously defeats the object of having rules in place. With Origin i think leniency tends to be around the PTB and a bit of tough stuff. For instance the Josh Ado-Carr hit on Ponga in the first half would probably have been a penalty in the NRL.

Exactly. I've mentioned it a few times on these forums, regarding players. In SL players just want the easy option of a penalty at the PTB as a piggy back downfield. In the NRL, mostly, players just want to get up after being tackled and play. It's a mental approach that needs changing. In my opinion

Comparing SL games with Origin is pretty pointless, unless you just want to identify the gulf in quality. As DKW says, Origin is reffed very differently to any other RL games. Which possibly begs the question "why don't they ref that way in NRL games? if this is the outcome" IMO, our biggest issue currently in SL is quality. Such a frantic, high paced and at times desperate game as we've seen in Origin 1, played in SL, would result in many more errors. I don't have too much of a problem with how ref's officiate SL games, in terms of flow. And it's only really around the PTB that maybe ref's in Origin are a bit more lenient. Off-sides are pinged, as are high tackles.

Don't multi-sports clubs open themselves up for greater government funding also? maybe thats just amateur level. Not sure.

The title of this thread is going to be popular with anyone wanting to avoid the score until tonight!

Great so far. Few breaks, few talking points and some early scores and near scores.