Former Great Britain star Garry Schofield on a disappointing visit to Headingley…
I went to the Leeds-Wakefield game on Boxing Day, but no amount of positivity could convince anyone who went that it was even a half-decent game.
With such a high admission fee, fans just aren’t getting value for money at pre-season games any more. I wrote last year that we should re-introduce the County Cups, but as a pre-season competition. Teams don’t have to field strong teams if they don’t want to, but those that do have the chance of landing silverware.
It wouldn’t be too hard to get a sponsor for such a short tournament, and the TV companies televise pre-season soccer friendlies so I’m sure we could at least get the finals televised.
From what I saw on Thursday, Wakefield look to be in for a long, hard season. They had quite a few Super League players but they were poor and far too predictable against a team of Leeds kids.
Paul McShane was the best Wakefield player and totally outshone Paul Aiton, who was making his Leeds debut. Every Leeds fan I know is mystified by the decision to release McShane, and I’ll be interested to see how the two players get on this season.
You could see the quality in some of the Leeds youngsters, but the shame is that only a couple of them will get a chance at Super League this season.
Every Super League club is guilty of this, not just Leeds. In fact most are far worse than Leeds, but it still shows that the pathway to the top isn’t as clear as it should be. Finally, a Happy New Year to everybody. I hope your team does you proud in 2014!
