RSN

I wouldnt panic too much. It was a blow out, if you look at pre season results for the past few years it gives little indication for league. To come back in we have for the season we have: 3 PNG lads, Nathan Mossop, Dan Toal, Martin Aspinwall, Jarrad Stack, Gareth Hock, Shane Toal, Luke Cresswell, Brett Carter, Tom Loxam. That's nearly half the squad unavailable which is quite a bit with some likely to be out best players for next season. I appreciate some are coming back at different times. Most important thing was the crowd which at 1119 is extremely promising. I wouldnt get worried about performances till Batley away on the 1st game. Maybe need 1 or 2 more players but the season is still very optimistic with such quality to come in. If you compare the squad to last year player by player it's much improved which no doubt Cresta will get the best out of.

Pre season is the best time. If you had it in the season even if someone picks up a minor knock they could mis games, it's just unfortunate due to the length of time.

I've read it 6 times and I'm still none the wiser.

I don't think the RFL have any prejudice against Cumbria they'll just be fully aware that it can't sustain an SL club. Cumbria just can't sustain a pro RL club. There's a reason why there isn't a Cumbria side in the top 3 divisions of the football league.

Not densly populated enough in any area to sustain a club. The geography and infrastructure in the county don't make it feasible for people to travel from one end of the county to the other. Just give enough funding to sustain the semi pro clubs which will mean the amateur game thrives which produces super league and championship players.

Top class signing for this division.

Just copy the website link into the post then copy and paste the content. I doubt the evening mail would be bothered about that.

Could this thread not just be where the weekly column gets posted and debated on the forum if necessary?

Aspinwall is championship at barrow (and doing well) but I think he made his debut in 2001. He's 37 right now but pretty sure he made his debut at 19. Someone may correct me though.

I honestly don't think it's a bad thing young lads going from amateur to super league scholarship at a young age. It shows that if you take rugby league seriously and you're good enough there is a pathway to the top of the game, which will encourage more people to take up the game. Even if Barrow put hundreds of thousands of pounds into their academy program I still think they'd struggle to compete with the top end of super league, even with players based in Cumbria. We are making the best of what we can with the furness raiders which is providing a pathway for players in the area to get into the 1st team. I'd be a bit concerned if a teenager said he didn't want a scholarship at Warrington to stay and develop at his amateur club even if his amateur club had put a lot of time and effort developing him. I think the fact we are still producing players who are getting into SL academies is a testament to how much hard work goes on in the local amateur game.

He will do well in your league and is the type of signing to get you out of the division. Can be a bit suspect in defence at times but a decent attacking threat., Our wing and full back spots will be covered by Amean, Ritson, Deon Cross, Luke Creswell and Shane Toal when he comes back from injury. It's going to be a selection head ache when all fit.

Merrin is a ridiculous signing considering the gap in wealth between SL and NRL. Even the most pro NRL would admit when on form he's considered for Aus test selection. It's a shame we have got the point where if you seen a couple of top level NRL players salary cap suspicions come into it straight away but we are where we are.

I'll be surprised if we don't finish above at least 3 of Sheffield, York, Bradford and Batley based on the signings we have made. Unsure based on signings how you can say Sheffield will finish above us. We managed to finish above them last year with one of the worst injury crisis' I've ever seen. We were playing lots of teams with 15 players. We've signed 2 PNG internationals, Jake Spedding (one of Sheffields best players last year) Gareth Hock, Deon Cross and Tee Ritson and signed all our best players from last year. A couple of good signings are also meant to be inbound aswell.

If we had a rule which stated 'Any tackle on a kicker after the ball has gone is a penalty' then it would ruin the game. You literally see it happen all the time. How often do you see someone do a grubber kick and someone tackles his legs half a second after he has kicked the ball? No one bat's an eye lid. People are getting annoyed due to the force of the tackle. The force of the tackle is only relevant when it's late. If the tackle isn't late then the force doesn't matter.

The weight of the player is completely irrelevant. It's the force of the tackle and if he has time to pull out. The New Zealand players did not have time to pull out, they were aggressive hits but if you watch the footage they quite clearly went to tackle Tomkins before he began kicking the ball. Late tackles where the player starts the tackle after the ball has been passed and can see it has been passed (usually by this point the player is relaxed hence more damage to the attacker) should be an instant sin bin. This wasn't the case.