Dave T

Yeah, I share some of these concerns, but this could just be a reflection on how positive the initial sales were for the Ashes. I suppose it shouldn't be out of the question to sell 30k from now, and if we are genuinely over that 30k mark then mid-60k would be a record breaking crowd for this.

Still looks pretty sluggish tbh (with the caveat that we are still 3m away). There are huge blocks in the lower tier with barely a ticket sold. And some of those marked as sold out in the lower tier are sitting with companies like SportsBreaks etc. It's noticeable that they used the 30k figure (which I expect to be PR guff) and have never released another number above that, despite apparently hitting that mark over 2 months ago and sales being so strong that they had to release more tickets (at cheaper prices).

I do fear we are looking at this the wrong way if we believe the solution is to focus on getting in schools in Runcorn and the likes. Of course we should be doing more and more where we currently are and broadening our activity there, but I worry that we are just playing round the edges with this. The amount of players we get from many smallish towns across the North of England is pretty staggering as it is, but we can't just keep bleeding this dry. I think the reality of the situation is that to fix and widen our talent pool in the UK, we are going to need to invest in growth/expansion and it's gonna be hard and expensive. And RL as a sport just doesn't do very well when things are hard and expensive.

Where is this from?

Yes, I do think it is hard not to be cynical of these reports. I'm a firm believer in "if something sounds too good to be true...". It just feels odd that we have interest from all over the world in investing in RL. We struggled to get investment when we touted for PE, certainly at any kind of decent level, I'm not sure why we would suddenly have a load of interest. It's all the same tactic as claiming that Netflix/Prime/DAZN/BT Sports etc have been interested in our tv rights before we then re-sign with Sky Sports for half the price.

This situation is not comparable to any of the other situations that anyone cares to mention. When we are in Rd 10 and a team has a cup final the week later, rotating your squad is a perfectly valid approach and is very easy to defend. Probably the worst example last year was also by Salford who gave Wigan the game to take the LLS, giving a taster of Rowley's mentality, but despite being damaging for the game in what should have been a blockbuster finish to the season, it stays just on the right side of the rules. When a club actively brings the game into disrepute and sticks their fingers up to the sport in this country in a high profile game because the coach wants to act like a stroppy teenager, then it doesn't work. Defences like injuries and squad rotation are not relevant here. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up with a 2/4 pt deduction and a suspended fine which feels proportionate, we should remember that the process hasn't finished yet, its being reported halfway through as far as I understand. What Salford did is not the same as others though. They made a political move and brought the game into disrepute at a time when the RFL were doing everything they could to help them.

Yep, agreed. I'd also be happy if they took this further and it was all part of a strategic announcement which explained that we are i creasing in the short term but we will be investing £x in player pathways across the UK that will support the long term reduction. An unsavoury short term fix is always more palatable with a proper plan behind it.

Good luck getting answers to any of that.

I made a similar point earlier in the thread, but to expect to be able to provide enough world class athletes to fill 10-14 teams within the narrow confines of the North of England is flawed, and that's why we end up where we are. I dont just go with the opinion that clubs can just make more effort and we can have full teams of English lads. Accepting that we can always do more. In the past we had player pathways from Union, bringing players in from all over the UK. We've never replaced that, we've just kept talking about the Northern heartlands. Robust pathways in London, Wales etc are a must for the future of the game - expansionist agendas are not just for a laugh.

One of the challenges around time wasting is that you struggle to get much sympathy when as a tackler youve spent all the rest of the match making the play the ball as slow as possible.

Isn't it something vague like 'without delay' or something?

I do think people just need to chill. We dont need to kneejerk just because some people don't like a ptb taking 10 seconds instead of 3.

Indeed. Its almost like its the perfect t argument as to why the clubs shouldn't be the ones deciding stuff like this.

Great stuff. But jeez, that's an ugly graphic in that post.

Well, the last person who had proper control was Wood. There was an owners coup when he ousted them.