LeytherRob

Yeah, imagine a question being asked to provoke debate on social media, then people actually engage in debating that topic? Wild that.

In what way am I being selective? I'm not the one trying to say only certain players count because they weren't signed by an arbitrary deadline 1 month before the start of the season. I'm including the strongest players in each squad. There's also absolutely nothing to back up the league being considerably easier between the 2 seasons. In both years there were only 2 full time clubs and such was the lack in quality of 2019, a newly promoted York Knights were 3rd with a very modest squad. The 2020 season(and 2021 for that matter) is relevant because it's important to see how players measured up in the respected time periods. There was only 1 real star player in the Toronto squad - Ricky Leutele who would go on to make the SL dream team and be one of the best centres in the comp. There were 6 or 7 genuine stars in that Leigh 2022 side, the subsequent dream team inclusions are a pretty easy measurement - not sure what's rose tinted about that? Feel free to tell me which players in those 13's I compared I'm wrong about due to bias - the only one that is even up for a close debate is Bodene Thompson vs Sam Stone as far as I'm concerned and I opted for the Toronto player.

Firstly, it's 'moot point', secondly it's anything but a settled debate that a moot point would imply. It's just as valid to say that Toronto only had to beat Toulouse and that's it - there were only 2 full time teams(same as 2022) and Leigh/Fev along with much of the league had stripped back their spending in 2019 so that Toronto would be out the way as soon as possible. Leigh 2022 statistically outperformed them in attack and defence and when you look at what the respective squads would go on to the following season, it isn't even in the same league. Toronto were embarrassed in 2020 before covid put them out their misery, Leigh won a major trophy. This is my honest comparison of the 2 best 13's, and I think picking Bodene Thompson over Sam Stone is being quite generous to be honest. Toronto 2019/ Leigh 2022 Gaz O'Brien/ Caleb Aekins Matty Russell/ Josh Charnley Ricky Leutele/ Krisnan Inu Chase Stanley/ Nene Macdonald Liam Kay/ Blake Ferguson Joe Mellor/ Joe Mellor Josh McCrone/ Lachlan Lam Adam Sidlow/ Adam Sidlow Andy Ackers/ Edwin Ipape Ashton Sims/ Tom Amone Andrew Dixon/ Kai O'Donnell Bodene Thompson/ Sam Stone Jon Wilkin/ John Asiata

It says 'is this the greatest championship squad ever assembled', not 'is this the greatest championship squad registered on or before 22nd December'. Leigh assembled theirs over the course of the year and started with a lean squad, London have front loaded their recruitment. Trying to say certain players don't count doesn't make any sense

IMG monitoring total RL posts now? Someone best get the thread resurrected

That list doesn't include Josh Charnley, Blake Ferguson, Krisnan Inu, Kai O'Donnell or Lachlan Lam. Toronto 2019 - W26/L1, PF1010/PA356, Points diff +654 Leigh 2022 - W26/L1, PF1306/PA208, Points diff +1098 Leigh had a better attack and defence than Toronto. Toronto went up with the main core of that squad intact and didn't win a game, Leigh took their main core and won the CC and finished in the playoffs. 5 of the 2022 Leigh squad were in the 2023 dream team, a 6th made it in 2024 and it's not even particularly fanciful to suggest there should have been a 7th in Kai O'Donnell in 2024.

Bold move London suggesting themselves it’s the best Championship squad ever assembled. Its not though, it isn’t even close to the Leigh 2022 squad currently.

Especially in Summer/dry weather, when there was no rain to 'flush' the toilets the stink would be right across the terracing on a hot day when the beer was flowing.

Not sure how much of that design can really be attributed to Liam Marshall.

If it was as simple as sticking a Manchester name on there, London would be the biggest club in the UK.

Yes I think there was a great deal of revisionism when recounting the CBS drive then selling Dupree and subsequently Croft and Ackers. Fans didn’t backlash just because they’d been sold, they were upset because Dupree got sold less than 1 month after he told everyone to get loans to buy meaningless shares so that they’d never have to sell players again.

That's a remarkable piece on Paul King and I do have a lot of sympathy for the position he finds himself in. It really does shine a light on how recklessly unfit he was to be a CEO of an RL club though - from gambling his house multiple times, getting himself cut out of key meetings, to basically letting himself get swayed by Paul Rowley against balancing the books to chase the dream. There was just a catalogue of opportunities in that interview where he could've saved his house and the club, that he accelerated past with increasing abandon.

Same home shirt design with different sponsors, each team with a unique away design. It's an interesting choice..

Why wouldn't they be invested? The more successful DB's business ventures are, the better Leigh's future looks. It's a win-win.

I think they're quite nice, seem to have gone down well with the Widnes fans too