Dunbar

I know that some people don't mind the shambolic play the balls in the UK game but I do. The scrum is a mess but it is not such an integral part of the game as the play the ball which is literally at the heart of the sport. I have tried to train myself not to notice.... looking at the attacking and defensive shapes rather than the ruck but I have to say it infuriates me as it has no structure and just looks terrible. I accept that this is personal opinion and many will not notice or not care if they do notice but I find myself preferring to watch the NRL matches on every week rather than the UK games which is a bit of shame.

Wow, the speed of that half was incredible. In my heyday I estimate I would have lasted about 3 minutes before looking for the touchline.

Hall is a professional. If his coach tells him he needs to chase back faster then he will chase back faster. I can't see this being the tipping point to his success or failure.

Hall is only 30 years old. He comes across as a very good professional who takes care of himself and so he has a good few years left yet (Billy Slater has just won the Wally Lewis medal as best in Origin and he is 5 years older than Hall). His game is very well suited to the NRL and I am very much looking forward to see how he goes.

Live Rugby League used to be on SKY 401, 402, 403 or 404. On the day of the change, I had to go to my SKY channel list and found live Super League on 408. Those 2.384 seconds were very worrying though as I thought I would never be able to see live Rugby League on Sky again.

Some people would rather a Rugby League initiative fail and they be proved right than Rugby League to succeed and they be proved wrong. It happens in every sport but it does appear to be a little more prevalent in ours. But maybe we see it more often in Rugby League because we care more about it.

Yes, we will need to wait for the full report to see the details but a stated £670k investment intended to boost participation looks encouraging.

The remit of the RFL is not to make a profit. It generates income and (hopefully) uses that income wisely to grow and suppprt the game. Clearly an annual loss of £2M is not sustainable but the RFL have a track record of returning a small profit on operating activities and the 2016 report showed cash balances at £3.4M so I would expect this to be a one off that is reversed in 2018 due to the extra income from the New Zealand test series.

I've seen a fair bit of Austin over the last few years. What you get with him is a dynamic running game with a huge step and a decent support play. He will score more than his share of tries. What you don't get is game management. Canberra have underperformed in the last couple of seasons giving away some big leads and invariably coming out on the losing side of close games. They have a lot of talent and exciting to watch but Aidan Sezer is just below the best half backs in the competition and Austin as mentioned is not a game manager. I think this has been their key failing as they probably should have been in the top 8 based on their overall squad. Austin for Tyrone Roberts leaves Warrington in danger of missing that game management so they still have some work to do for 2019 to be the complete team. He will be fun to watch though so I am not dissing the signing.

Exactly right. I said on the thread about Ben Hunt that I don't understand why NRL clubs are happy risking players (particularly those battling injury) to an Origin match that doesn't matter. Of course when the fixtures are announced it is not possible to predict whether the third match will be a titanic decider or a dead rubber but if it is the latter and players are lost to NRL clubs through playing in it why do we not hear one single negative view.

I agree with the above but I feel compelled to point out that Cleary is still only 20 and by this age Cooper Cronk hadn't even made his NRL debut and so it is a little early to be too judgemental on him. Throughout his junior career Cleary was the stand out player and he has already played 48 times for Penrith and is quickly becoming their key player. Everything about him shows that he capable of becoming the next champion half back for Australia.

If Origin dominance requires a great half back then NSW could be set for a good run. In Nathan Cleary they have the next great Australian half, I can't see anybody else coming through the ranks in the NRL to match him. There are some outstanding outside backs (Latrell Mitchel and Nick Cotric in particular) but the half back talent does look a little thin on the ground.

I don't know about scapegoat but I don't think Hunt should have any complaints about dropping out of the half backs as he hasn't had a great series so far. To be honest, I think Daly Cherry-Evans is the better player anyway and probably should have been in the team despite the relatively poor form of Manly this year. While we are on the subject of State of Origin, it looks like Boyd Cordner has both a concussion and a calf strain to worry about before Origin 3... https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/07/02/state-of-origin-iii-nsw-blues-captain-boyd-cordner-says-his-calf-muscle-is-all-good/ What I don't understand is why the Roosters are happy for Cordner to play in the dead rubber Origin 3 rather than take some rest and be good for their next game. When a fully fit Shaun Johnson and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck said they were not going to Denver the match commentators said that this was probably the right decision as the club comes first and yet now Cordner is rushing to be fit for a game that has no bearing in the series outcome. Doesn't make sense.

The two Chairmen stand back to back with muskets drawn, walk 10 paces then turn and fire. The winner takes the player for the 8's.

Very entertaining game that one. Feel for Wakefield with two clear try decisions going against them with the penalty try that wasn't and the double movement. But well done Saints