Dunbar

FC have done well so far. Pretty resilient stuff.

Tonight Matthew, I will be watching Warrington play Hull FC.

My favourite part of that article is "It was fun watching Paul Kent lecturing decent players and coaches how to play and behave because he seemed so completely obvious to his utter lack of qualifications to do so." I don't know why, but I always enjoy watching people make mistakes when deriding others.

The BBC say that the Asiata deal "to begin during the 2025 Super League season." That's a really weird sentence, surely he has been signed for the start of the 2025 campaign. Is is just poor English or is there something about the deal that starts mid-season? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/articles/cd193v5gj88o

To be fair, the original post did say "Would like to hear what others think on this subject."

This represents something of a problem for the RFL. They are seeing a reduction in head contact in tackles this year (something they need to show as they are in the middle of a law suit around protective care). That's the good news. But they are also committed to introducing laws next year that will drastically change the game while not enforcing those laws at the community level this year.

Is that true? That has properly screwed with my head. In my fantasies I am backing up a break by Hanley before sending Offiah over in the corner. You’ll be telling me next that all my old girlfriends are not as attractive as I remember them!

Look at those effective tackles by Wigan - we absolutely smashed them.

I suppose there are two factors in play - one is what the coach wants to do and two, the personnel he has at his disposal. There was certainly a trend where teams wanted to have halves play almost the same game - and split in attack. What Ricky Stuart was doing with George Williams and Jack Wighton for the Raiders was players playing an almost identical game split left and right. Whereas now he has a much more traditional pair in Jamal Fogerty and Ethan Strange. But again, did Stuart do that because that is how he wanted the Raiders to play or because he saw that neither Williams or Wighton were traditional game management half backs and so he wanted to share the responsibility. With all these things, the devil is in the detail but my general point is that when you see half backs like Reynolds, Hynes, Cherry-Evans and Cleary playing a very traditional scrum half role both sides of the ruck (and 4 of the top 5 sides) the idea that halves split left and right is nowhere near as prevalent as it was maybe even a few years ago.

Yes, I thought we were going to agree to disagree. I just felt your last line was a bit of a dig to be honest.

There is a post I wrote here 5 years ago talking about the naming of the half backs as left and right pivot. I just think we are in an era now where coaches are starting to see the value of more traditional half back pairings / strengths. The game is constantly evolving.

OK, I don't think we are getting anywhere here. Let's leave it.

I'm not talking about the other positions. I am simply saying that modern half back pairs (and in the top teams in each league) are far more similar to the old 6 and 7 roles than you described. Are you really saying that when you watch Reynolds and Mam play for the Broncos (as an example), you don't see the same style of play and scrum half / stand off roles from previous decades.

Well, we'll have to disagree on that as these pairs look exactly like the old half back pairs to me.

Looks good. I have always enjoyed the video analysis that Wells does with well spoken players and coaches, understanding the thought processes and decision making. If we can get more of that (and the trailer indicated it) I'm on board.