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If you talk to anyone in the know, it's very apparent that we have a squad of players who care. I think there was a worry that with Hendo inheriting Fordy's squad that some of the players might not make the transition and apply themselves and that has very much not been the case and the coaching staff deserve mountains of credit for that as well as the lads themselves. We might not make the playoffs but the lads are trying like hell to get us there, despite the injury hoodoo.

Gone completely. Hemel already existed, Oxford were specifically a semi-pro side whose (sensible, experienced, wealthy) backers eventually threw the towel in because - AIUI amongst other things - the perpetually moving goal posts at the RFL made building a sustainable semi-pro club a nightmare.

On a slightly different note, it is about time we paid tribute to the guys who look after the pitch, it looked superb today.️

Tail wagging the dog. Expand SL to 14 if its the right thing to do for SL, a subject we've discussed at length elsewhere. But don't do it just because it makes it easier to juggle the numbers elsewhere. Short term solutions to fix individual problems, that then create unintended knock on problems down the line, is the rugby league way, but we've got to get out of that habit. We need to take a view of the whole system rather than short term tinkering.

Basically the only way is to merge League 1 into Champ. 1) expand SL to 14, and put the top 2 clubs based on results on the pitch into SL (assuming they have facilites), so they would be Fev and Tolouse. 2) The you would have 21 teams left, so how do you then structure this. You could do something like have the first half of the season, everybody plays each other once, that would be 20 games. Then 3 groups of 7 where everybody plays everybody else in there group, so that would be 6 games == 26 games in the season. Of course the SL will not expand, and club self interest will always prevail. Soon we will be a M62 league only (plus Cats and Tolouse)

Well, the sport has previous for doing exactly that.

Great performance yesterday but not sure what we have left in the tank, several players clearly not 100% yesterday which made the win even more special. Whatever happens from now, would have to say this season has been a huge success given where we came from at the end of last season. The club has improved the coaching regime, player recruitment, potential comercial opportunities and as said earlier the pitch is now looking superb. Would like to see us win a couple in play offs, but speaking as a long time fan, I am more than happy with this season, yes there are areas where we need to improve but I am confident the current administration will be totally aware and have plans in place. As always, Just needs everyone to get down to show their support.

The comparison between Pacific ans European nations is not at all a fair one. 1. The rugby codes are already by far and away the top sports of the Pacific islands. They all grow up playing it and are perfectly built for it too. 2. Most these days are born in Aus, identified by scouts froma young age and going through the NRL systems their whole lives. Now compare that to say Czech Republic. Where now there are approx 200 registered RL players. None of them existed or knew even what the sport was 20 years ago. So in terms of progress and actual development, I would argue that a place like Czech is actually achieving more than say, Tonga.

A momentous moment for Cornwall:

I listen to a couple of non league football podcasts and stumbled across this. It's a podcast from a volunteer at Nairn County in Scotland explaining how he markets the club. It starts from scratch and explains things step by step. He had no budget and most was done remotely as he lives in Glasgow. He's managed to grow attendances and increase sales etc. For context, Nairn have an average attendance of about 300 I thought If anyone here is involved at any level with their club, or knows someone who is, then this may be an interesting listen and a helpful resource.

It does not add games it replaces loops, but that's not what SL teams are bothered about - its all about having to share the money!!!!

The lack of a finals day is a real shame. Was a much better event for the fans of play off clubs and there could be two cracking games in the two divisions.

Then I will most probably never buy a season ticket again, I will break a habit that is to long to remember. They can keep the games that have no consequence DP, I would sooner play in games that could mean my team gets relegated at least I know it would be an honest contest.

Simply because it's football and 'going to the footy' is a trendy pastime these days even for non fans, young uns take their mates, neighbours take their neighbours, families take other families, that simply does not happen where RL is concerned and even less so in a commuter town like Huddersfield where the majority of the population have got absolutey zero affiliiation in the town.

Maybe this attitude is the problem.

It is the right thing for SL - it cancels out the loop fixtures But as we all know it will never happen because Central Funding dived by 12 is more than Central Funding divided by 14

What a great intro to RL for me that was - games slow enough and intimate enough to really learn what was going on, and a crash course in RFL ineptitude, short termism, self serving, and utter inability to make a plan and stick to it for more than a season. But like the Murphys….

See my avatar.

Well there's absolutely nothing to stop them doing so seeing as teams like St Helens have put out virtually second-string teams for certain SL games in recent years and more recently Hull KR before the Challenge Cup final. But in Fev's case, it's not going to happen because we don't have a reserve team and we have a squad of about 26-27 of whom 5 or 6 are currently injured. There's precious little between the starters and the fringe players at Fev anyway. Whether they will be playing at full, play-off intensity in those 4 games is another matter of course.

The boys played well, Ryan Johnston looked a class act. No bad performances, good luck for the remaining games.

P**s off

Most of the games will become meaningless once P & R is stopped.

Good thread up till 11 really good and happy, took the 11 plus and went from a school with 60 pupils where I was the brightest to a grammar school with 120 pupils in the first year, all of whom were at least as bright and in many cases brighter. The school had a problem with bullying which was never addressed, my Catholicism and irish background were held against me by staff and pupils. I was sexually abused by one teacher which blighted my life for years. My late teens and early twenties coincided with punk, I made lots of friends and found a social “home” went to college and began working as an accounts assistant. Thirties were still around the same social circle, qualified as an accountant. Met my wife who’s been my rock, had a beautiful daughter. I’d have to say twenties onwards, I’m 66 now, semiretired and loving life

The Midlands game, although we would have loved an overwhelming win, was one of keeping your army in reserve ready for the bigger battles to come. Yes a stronger team would have beaten them, but at what cost. As it turned out , it was the right call. Now we bring out our big guns for Donny. I'm assuming they played their full team and battled hard for the win. Could work in their favour or, hopefully, it could work against them. We'll find out on Sunday.

Given there doesn’t seem to be any conclusive evidence to say otherwise, maybe the officials got the calls correct and we should respect their opinion of the incidents more than the opinion of a player or coach?

Exactly we have a history of short term tinkering. Remember looking at a feature in RLW probably 5 years or so ago about structure etc. I tallied up and there were 23 changes, no matter how small, to the structure or P&R, in 30 years. How on earth can a sport progress with this "planning". We allow clubs into our structure without hardly any assistance and expect them to swim. Back on topic and fir a man who doesn't like to tinker. 12 in the Championship and 11 in League 1 makes sense. Why was the Championship increased to 14 in the first place.

They don't, officially they average around 12,000 core home support, the rest of the average crowd figure is made up of roughly 2,500 away fans and tickets issued, whether they're used or not. But football is the most popular sport in the country by absolute miles, people don't need to be diehard football fans or followers to go to football, RL tends to attract RL fans as opposed to the wider public. Huddersfield Town draw a large percentage of their support from outside Huddersfield, from wider Kirklees area, Holmfirth, Dewsbury, Batley, Mirfield, 'Cleck-heckmond-sedge', from the wider West Yorkshire area, Wakefield, Ossett, even as far as Barnsley, Oldham etc. Different demographics, different social standings etc, generally football games are Saturday afternoons, far more accessible than Thursday or Friday night's for the vast majority I'd say? Comparing football and RL is fruitless and pointless.

RFL dont believe in good foundations in the pro/semi pro set up. At the last Sky deal - SL teams took around 13% cut in CF from 1.8Million down to 1.5Million each L1 teams took around 66% cut in CF from 75k down to 25K each Should protect foundations not chip away at them. Would have been better to have a equal percentage cut across the board

I just want to add a few thoughts. The problem is not how you slice and dice the leagues. It is very simple - MONEY. (Or lack of it) This is what IMG should have addressed, but have failed to do so. A nine-team league can be successful. The Canadian Football League has nine teams and works quite well. The difference is obvious - MONEY. It also copes with some truly massive journeys. You can whore yourself as a high-end escort and retain some control, or you can put yourself in the hands of a pimp and lose all control and dignity. We chose Sky. You can make up your own minds where I stand on the matter.

Even with the extra cameras that a sky production brings, I don’t think VR will solve much while we have a system of sending an on field decision up and the only technology available is a slow motion replay with low quality close ups.

Good to know the end of the world has been averted

Bit rich saying "We need to take a view of the whole system" When 12 teams are given 1.5Million each and 9 are given 20K each Its all about the SL - that's all the RFL and IMG etc are concerned about

Do we have to rehearse again the incredible psychological barriers to league as a spectator sport for ‘expansion’ clubs? Basically, gates go up when you’re playing ‘proper’ teams from the north, and through the floor when you’re playing other expansion clubs. Putting the semi pro sides into a regional southern league is not shooting them in the foot, it’s shooting them in the head.

Cornwall, London and Toulouse are going to do more travel than anyone else, that can't be avoided. If we had 2 divisions 1: Fev, Bradford, Sheffield, Batley, Halifax, York, Keighley, Dewsbury, Hunslet, Doncaster 2 Swinton, Widnes, Oldham, Rochdale, Crusaders, Midlands, Workington, Whitehaven, Barrow, Newcastle And then invite London, Toulouse and Cornwall to play in whichever one they would find easier. Winners of 1 play winners of 2 to go into SL (if they meet criteria etc) Again, loads probably wrong with it, but surely better than trying to keep a 9 team League 1 going

Easily best performance of the season , we deserved to win far more easily if we hadn`t had tries chalked off for no good reason .We had no ball for the first 20 mins but Hunslet never looked like scoring , we tackled them out of it .Their one plan was to bash it for 5 tackles , put a kick up , and hope to get lucky , We never looked like dropping the high balls all day .The pack and bench worked tirelessly all day and our runners caused Hunslet trouble out wide ......As for the ref he blew his whistle to start and end the game , i had no problem with that , it was just the way he handled the 80 minutes in between that was his downfall . UTT .

Not really they have a few injuries such as Hardcastle, Day, Bussey and Yei plus Briscoe limped off yesterday and Hau was carried off on a stretcher before going to hospital. From my estimation from yesterday that only leaves Hall, Lacans, Wilde, Longstaff and Springer to come into the side none of whom particularly weaken the team.

When Cornwall played at Dewsbury, they were a very well-drilled, well organised side.

No thats artists impression of the new one

Attended game. Neither team really dominated. So Donny deserved the win. Dewsbury put in a credible performance considering league already won. Donny desperate to progress hence their two super duper league signings who can’t have come cheap.

Yes blimey indeed….the end of our worst season. Won 4 games (midlands twice, london and cornwall). 33rd out of 36 teams in RFL with only points difference keeping us out of 38th. Many no shows for the long trip …always a banana skin on the cards. Points difference keeps us off next to bottom. Only one way to go from here….hopefully. Good luck next week over the hills.

Going down to 10 teams was terrible for league 1. Added to that the huge funding cuts leaves little hope that the division can be sustainable. While I think the guys that were going to buy Skolars appeared to be chancers a lot of what they said holds true. The value of clubs with little in the way of assets and no funding is next to nothing. League 1 needs more support than ever, but will it happen. Unlikely

Top two are beatable george1 as already proven. I think the matter is that teams three to nine are all of the same quality and constantly knock each other off. Leigh were too dominant for the league last season but clubs will fancy their chances at Fev and even Toulouse in the play offs. Batley caused a shock last season by winning at Post Office Road and it can be done by whoever this season. Fev and Toulouse need to be on their mettle when the play offs come around.

I've been to Whitebanks so many times with Coventry Bears and now Midlands Hurricanes. Despite watching my team getting spanked every time and usually getting drenched at the same time, I've developed a soft spot for the Oldham club and its fans. Things have changed at my club since Mark Dunning was appointed as coach. Today was the proof of that. We are no longer one of the teams making up the numbers in the processional game. I've shed some tears today because 20 odd years of hurt never stopped me dreaming and this result completely changes the way I see my team's position in the rugby league world. Good luck to you in the play offs. I'll be rooting for you. BTW Whitebank is currently a cracking place for League 1 games.

Just back from Halifax, admit I travelled more in hope than expectation. Thought we might roll over for them after last week but had a very pleasant journey home. Got a little anxious in the last ten minutes, especially with the penalties given against us but all in all a good day. Special shout out to Ryan Ince who was outstanding, scored a hat trick, kept Walmsley quiet and was a handful every time he ran the ball.

Crusaders finally back at Colwyn Bay after months of playing anywhere we could. A routine win over Skolars who, I think, are better than their results have shown this year. With a couple of big lads in the pack they’ll be a different team.

It depends on what perspective we look at International RL. In the UK we have lost the 4 nations and the bi-annual Ashes, both of which I absolutely loved. That's due to the multitude of reasons we all know about. If you are from elsewhere it's more positive - Australia, Tonga, Samoa and NZ are powerful internationally and about to hold a very exciting looking pan-pacific tournament. Below tier 1 there are lots of internationals being played - back in the 90's I would never have dreamed that Czech Republic would play Serbia, as happened yesterday, or that Greece will play Ukraine, which is scheduled for in October. As for the Ashes, well they are back in 2026, and I'm already excited about it. In the mean time we have a cracking looking series v Tonga this autumn which is a window of opportunity. Lets all buy tickets, go to the games and make them a big financial success - that will get the likes of Samoa here next year and start to build a brighter international future.

What exactly has she done to spread international RL.

Hi Harry, the book is a compilation of interviews I’ve done over the years: roughly a third have previously been published exactly as they are in the book, about a third have been updated and a third (16 to be precise) are brand new. These tend to be the longest ones. Terry Newton’s is from 2005. I’ve updated it with his story from that point onwards, which includes me quoting his biographer, Phil Wilkinson, who told me some great stories about him. Bill Ashurst is the other interviewee who is no longer with us. His interview was from 2018 and was part of the Rugby League Heroes series in League Express. Interviews with those overseas were done on the phone (or video call with Graeme West). I had the idea of putting them into a book about a year ago. LPL agreed to publish it at the end of the 2022, and that’s when I started to track down the 16 new players.

Giants weren't very good but didn't need to be,. Leeds were dismal and only kept in the game by a couple of brain farts from Masters dropping the ball clean over the line and Hewitt delaying a restart They got 2 tries back and made it a bit of a contest after half time but Fartown had enough about them to see it out in the end. Some poor sportsmanship from Leeds fans regarding Halsall's injury, the doctor was on the field almost immediately meaning the ref had to stop play , Leeds fans clearly don't understand this, the ref has to stop play in that instance regardless of where the ball is. Yes it might have been unlucky on Leeds but to suggest a player got knocked out on purpose to prevent try is just crass and embarrassing. Giants deserved that, had Leeds not shipped Austin off, they probably would have won it.

I asked this on another thread, but what is causing the general boom (beyond having a better team)? Asking for a friend (the RFL/Super League PR dept).