hunsletgreenandgold

Val Holmes is ruled out of the Ashes through injury. Not entirely sure if he would've definitely made the squad but he did have a decent origin. Almist certainly means it'll be Coates and Lomax taking up the winger spots

Souths are just awful - they might just get the spoon they deserve at this rate.

I think this is a very real and fair point - the ones you mention and think Smithies and Holroyd were part of that squad in 2018, will all have the mindset the Aussies are beatable...because they did. None of us are naive enough to think it's anywhere near like for like at senior level but if half your team goes into it with true belief they can win it removes the old adage of being beaten before they even step on a pitch.

Ha I wasn't being pedantic - they do generally go hand in hand on socials (probs the same people who run them) but it's been over 24 hours since it appeared on Kangaroos account and NRL has posted plenty since,on both Insta and X, so sadly don't think they will. Ah well, I guess in terms of trying to pack out Wembley the NRL socials won't have much impact on that in truth. I was shocked to see the Wembley Stadium account has over 250k followers so that was a good plug!

I wish it had been from the NRL account - it's bigger than all the England/RFL/Super League/Kangaroos accounts combined.

Assume you don't have Instagram - the stories on there have documented/advertised the whole day. An example https://www.instagram.com/stories/englandrugbyleague/3677954182703891225?igsh=MTFoeXZmYWV4NjR5NA==

Quite a lot on socials about it and they're literally driving round London on a branded out red bus, even if not quite an open top parade.

He should be back before the final regukar season game and definitely in time for the play offs. As long as it's in his hands whether he's picked or not, rather than injury robbing him (like poor Ashton) then that's fair enough.

Luckily I don't think the length of injury will have any impact and whether his is/isn't included in the Ashes squad.

As per my last post - do you know the reason the player was prone/motionless? It could've had nothing to do with a head knock and simply being advised by the doctor not to move. That wouldn't mean a stand down protocol was applicable.

Prone can be for many reasons, especially if the player and/or doctor have any concerns about neck/back pain or loss of feeling. Head injuries, apart from when someone is obviously knocked out, can seem very innocuous which leads to confusion when you then hear they failed an HIA - that in itself is part of the complexity of head injuries.

All makes very interesting reading - but most importantly glad to see you back(?)!

Here's where I feel like i'm being unnecessarily negative - let me just say from the outset that's not my aim. The reality of ALL clubs is their attendance will increase when they're performing better on the field. We're seeing it this year with Wakey and over the past couple of seasons with KR and Leigh - before that you can point to Cas as another example. The opposite is also true - Leeds' baron years saw their attendance drop (not including stadium rebuild years) by about 12% and similar patterns for other clubs who in general average higher but see reasonably high percentage drop offs in seasons when it's not going so good. What should really be the test of if any of this grows a club's fanbase is mapping on field performance and how that correlates with attendance. You can then forecast what averages might be in an average on field season as well.

The absolute cheek of the man - one of the most dross SL signings in recent history. I hear he's tearing it up for the Bulls - glad he's found his level.

A 5 year deal at 33?! Clearly no ambition to be in SL then.