Odsal Outlaw

I think it’s definitely one of the more competitive seasons and so many teams can beat each other. Not sure on quality though. In fact the Leeds v Hull game yesterday maybe sums it up … a good entertaining game that either team could have won - but the actually quality of rugby I found a bit poor at times. For me the glory years and real quality were the early / mid 2000’s. But that’s probably because I’m a Bulls fan

It is. And we can blame the IRL and NRL all we like, and there is some merit in that. But some of it is completely within our own hands. We could have a mid season game against France locked in every year as an annual event and sell that. We had a wheelchair WC which had great impact and actually the best two teams are in Europe. I attended one of the games in London (with the brand in question from the WC) and it was a great event. We did nothing to capitalise on it.

I work for a company who were involved with England RL in the World Cup, the coverage was great with plenty of shots of the logo on socials and TV for men’s, women’s and wheelchair and some good use of players with the brands. At the end of the WC there was no future plans to be involved in, no fixtures and so nothing to sign up to. Companies budget and plan ahead so the brand in question moved on to RU.

I think a 2 game series is fine if the venues are right and they get it announced! Then add a French game for a bit of variety if they have availability around WC qualifying.

Just finished watching the game, huge congratulations to Wigan. What a performance. The territory was so heavily in Penrith’s favour they should really have been out of sight but Wigan were fantastic in defence and so resilient. And the high shot in the first half where the referee said to Wigan ‘it’s under international rules’ when not giving a card. Great. Could that be the last great game of rugby league on these shores as we now revert to uk interpretations for the SL? Maybe.

I think the point here is that the RFL need to come out and overtly state that this decision was wrong and that is not the right application of the laws. If they do that then as a fan you have to accept that human error can always happen. If they don’t and they double down on this being the right decision then we have issues as a sport.

I’ve said many times about rugby league, it’s not the fact we shoot ourselves in the foot that’s the issue, it’s the speed at which we reload the gun.

Fans have realised after one round the state of the game they'll be watching with the new application of the rules. Highly likely to see a send off and yellow cards resulting in a lack of contest which this was after half time.

Hull red card. This is RL blowing its future if this is the norm. Absolutely agree with Wilkin and Carney here.

Fair point, and yes if we applied NRL rules I’d be frustrated. Agree it’s correct to apply international rules. The one caveat here is that it’s not about whether we like / dislike a 2pt drop goal or whether we like / dislike the way a video ref is used (remember England vs Aus in Melbourne where the NRL video ref approach was used in an international match). This is about the RFL taking a stance on safety which they seem able to remove in certain fixtures. Now maybe this is also the solution for 2026 RLWC or 2025 Tours and maybe we accept that. Over time though this will also put us at a disadvantage in these fixtures playing teams who are used to using ‘stronger’ defensive techniques.

These are great, they have similar units at cricket. Work really well.

RFL getting strict on head contact … until NRL tell them otherwise. Absolute waste of space of an organisation. Albeit I’m happy with the rules for this weekend. Great job NRL!

Yes good point. That maybe would be the right balance to find for 2024. But 2025 could be something else all together. Interested for that Kangaroo series and how it will be reffed!

I honestly don’t think this is moaning. The point in my OP was that coverage wise this is as good as we’ve ever had it in SL. IMG seem to be making a positive difference and fans are excited, engaged and coming thru the turnstiles. This good! We therefore need to capitalise on this and make sure that in a few weeks they don’t switch off. I’ve watched 3 games this weekend and overall they’ve all been a bit average to be honest. But, cards will settle down, standard will no doubt improve from RD1 rustiness. My fear is that the product post rule changes won’t be as watchable and post 2025 rule changes will be even less so. Now, if the exposure we have recruits double the fans we lose then that’s a win. If I look online on X/Facebook/Insta there seems to be a general sentiment of positivity on the refreshing coverage but dismay at the product on the field. So, this isn’t about being a moaner.

Quite like that idea. Would at least mitigate some of the issues the new rules cause and avoid games being mis-matches or ruined as a spectacle (like when Watts was sent off for Cas)