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England being a curtain raiser for Fev would be absolutely peak rugby league.

Funny you should say that, I wandered past the ground this morning and took this photo, we're just doing a little light irrigation to promote normal grass growth.

Couple of new clubs have popped up. In the south-east, we have the Miami Shoremen, who look like they'll join the USARL competition. With the Shoremen and the South Florida Speed attempting to return, we could have 6 teams the the SE Conference (Jacksonville Axemen, Tampa Mayhem, Atlanta Rhinos & South West Florida Copperheads are the teams returning). Meanwhile in the mid-west (not sure where exactly) a new Women's club has been formed, the the Midwest Rouge Runners. The new club will play the Ontario Ospreys at York University in Toronto on April 20.

I don't think it will be surprising if that happens, though I thought that before the Cup game too. They won't have to play Doyle (who we exploited badly) as a middle again, I think Thornley might be back so they won't have to play Griffin at centre, and they have a couple of possible newcomers to add strength to the pack. Add to that the fact that they're a full-time team who have had a week off to focus solely on this game whilst we were in a bruising game at LSV and they have to be hot favourites. Still looking forward to it though, once again all we ask is that they have a dig, and it wouldn't half shake the league up if we can push them close or beat them again.

Kavan Rothwell in.

I actually fancy our cha........ Forget that, just remembered we're concentrating on a new scoreboard and seats

I know I've already picked my worst but would like to add the 3rd GB v Australia match at Elland Road late 1997. We'd all rolled up expecting a tight decider only for Wendel Sailor to round Paul Atcheson early doors opening the flood gates.

I see he's still failing to mention the hot dogs used to be quite decent in 2003. Typical.

Maybe, just maybe the (possibly) owing money thing isn't quite as straightforward as you seem to think it is.

Not really worth a new thread so just thought I'd put it here. Reece Walsh signs new 5 year deal on $1.1 million a year. Walsh is a quality player who is very marketable and locking in players like this for big money will only grow the NRL in future years and cement its status as the no 1 Rugby competiton:

Fair play.. its not even apathy its the inability to understand that the conversation you are having are being had by groups across the country and families who are all having to decide on holidays to get the longest run in to pay for them. Most summer holidays will already be booked and part paid for for families (probably months ago) so anything put on now in the holidays will be hit by that. Just a bit of forward planning and people will/can work around it, its really not that tough to understand.

Wait until you hear that it's confirmation of the 1200 game that is holding the announcement up.

Good news you have for Good Friday - no ban for B. Walker, Bulman fit, Rothwell in - here we come Whitehaven.

kavan was a solid player last season in the few games he played for us. A decent replacement IMO.

You dont know torrential rain unless you saw games at Watersheddings. What you experienced was spitting. Ernest Shackleton prepped for the Antarctic at Watersheddings.

Will fill a gap till Gillam is back.

Disgruntled fans can find fault with anything, if they are so minded. RTD has brought other characters back from the 'classic' show, not least Sarah Jane Smith from Tom Baker's era, whose return was so successful she ended up with her own spin-off show that ran for five series until the actress who played her sadly passed away. He's brought back loads of old adversaries from the past, from the Autons (in his very first episode), Daleks, Davros, Sontarans, the Master, Cybermen, and other popular elements of its history including UNIT (whose boss is even a descendant of the original Brigadier character). Since he's returned for his second stint as showrunner, he's even gone as far as bringing back the hugely popular David Tennant and Catherine Tate to appear in three special episodes, one of which featured an old adversary, the Celestial Toymaker, last seen during William Hartnell's time. How's that for mining the past? So the return of Bonnie Langford isn't a case of one swallow, it's just part of a whole flock (or whatever a group of swallows is called... a gulp?). Still, despite all that, you will find plenty of people furiously arguing online that he's somehow disrespecting or ignoring the show's past, in an effort to make it some kind of 'progressive' caricature of itself, when anyone who has truly been paying attention to its past, would recognise it has often done things that were ahead of its time, that would nowadays be dismissed as that dreaded term 'woke', well before RTD ever got his hands on it. Given that RTD watched the show obsessively as a kid, it was possibly watching Doctor Who that gave him such a progressive outlook on life in the first place! I often think myself that so much of the criticism that surrounds the show these days is fuelled by people who have entirely missed the point of Doctor Who. It's a show about an eccentric, an oddball, an outcast, travelling round the Universe righting wrongs, fighting evil, trying to do good (the ultimate 'do-gooder', in fact), seeking out knowledge, learning new things, being unafraid of the unknown, all with a reassuring smile on their face and a big dollop of often very daft humour. I might be an old fart of 57 now, but I still watch new episodes with the enthusiasm of the kid who first started watching it in 1973 and hasn't missed an episode since. I feel a bit sad for those who can't do the same. I think they are missing out on a whole load of fun.

Yeah. The thing is it is all just what was mentioned months ago anyway, Atlantisman said nothing new either

They seem to be obsessed about the weather and our " sloping bog of a pitch" on the Wakey forum. All I can say is that our players didn't do too badly on a pitch similar to their own at the weekend. Obviously being new to this league they might not know that our pitch is generally in mint condition. They just turned up on the wrong day in the cup tie and unfortunately grass tends to get a bit boggy when it rains for a considerable time.

We’ve been crying out for England to play France mid season then they treat the game like this. No wonder International RL in the NH is so far behind

I don't think they could possibly do it worse really. Even ignoring the triple header nonsense there are essentially 2 full time French teams playing at a decent standard and one of them is playing after the England match, with presumably their players unavailable. Considering France struggle for players anyway and struggle to be competitive it's just a joke.

That game never happened so this is a void post....

I do speak tongue in cheek there @Damien, whilst I enjoyed the Kangaroos allowing me to return serve for all the banter we endured pre-match from those around us, looking back, I really wish we lost that one.

Knowing the RFL they'll probably just downgrade the charge and say he was using foul and abusive language and he'll get 1-2 games. Shame to hear of injuries to both sides this early on in the season

I can remember going to Old Trafford to watch Academy Final at 11.30, Second Division Premiership Final at 1.30 and the Premiership Final at 3.30. Not possible today - games last longer and so do warm-up routines.

Without a shadow of doubt the Saints v Sale cross code game.

Pryce was always going to wait for his shot. Ponga is a first name pick for the Knights if he is fit so Pryce would be looking at 6 to get a run in the NRL. And then they have Gamble, Cogger and Hastings as halves options. Personally, I was very suprised to see Hastings dropped for Cogger last round as I felt Gamble was the one that could have made way for Cogger. Neither of the halves last week had particularly good games (they both kicked out on the full in general play for example), but Cogger was probably the better of the two. They have stuck with a winning team for the Warriors game but I don't expect them to win away at the Warriors. Ultimately, the Knights may cycle through the half combinations until they get one that works. I think Pryce and Hastings could be the best pairing and if they continue to prove that in NSW Cup then they will get a chance sooner rather than later.

There is merit in having a ground slightly too small, as people see tickets as a great thing to have and buy them early. I’d wager that if your ground was 5k bigger there’d have been fewer tickets sold for the Broncos game at this stage.

Still waiting unless anyone can point me in the right direction

Just heard Ryan Verlinden is demanding £10

Nah, we could always go round the bus station in St Helen's, plenty stuff supped around there and open 24 hrs.

Just looking up the date now gave me a touch of hypothermia! It was 1 January 1984. Cas was away at Bradford. A mild day in Cas when we set off. Got into Odsal and the sun was still out. But just before kick off the freezing fog descended. It was so cold even Sherpa Tensing said ‘F@@@ it, I’m off home!’. The pitch looked fine until you realised the grass was floating on a pond of ice water. Both teams got bogged down. It seemed, from memory, that the pitch between both 20m lines resembled my toilet after a beef vindaloo whilst both areas between the 20m and try lines were left in pristine condition. The forwards were indistinguishable and the backs were adorned with icicles. The freezing fog gave me a blinding headache. So I went to the burger van and cadged five empty long plastic bags that the breadcakes - ooops, that’ll cause some lively discussion on here - came in. Me and the mates each put one on our head. The bags stood a good two feet in the air but the warm air inside stopped the headaches. I would have said that we looked like a Marge Simpson tribute band but The Simpsons were still 5 years away from airing. The result was a 2 all draw. The crowd was 7,167.

Saturday June 29th Toulouse 15-00 France Women v England Women 18-00 France v England 21-00 Toulouse v Featherstone Rovers Stade Toulousian Paul

Great interview

After the Leigh game on Saturday, a few of us were discussing having a weekend in Cork in November. One lad questioned whether we should hang on booking until we know more about the England games. Fair to say he was significantly outvoted. I barely missed an England game 2008-2020 but the apathy is contagious. And entirely self-inflicted.

Ah gotcha. No I wasn't, I always quote when I'm replying to one post in a chain. But get you. Yes of course there is, that's inherent in any league though, and in a sense quite rightly - we want some security for clubs that are doing the right long-term things, that creates the environment within which investors spend money on the right things (rather than just 1st team squads). There's no perfect system, but in a challenger sport like ours all basing things solely on on-pitch results does is encourage short-term spending on players. That's not in the sports' interests, or even necessarily 'fairer'. David Hughes at London has invested the best part of £30m over 25 years for example, to achieve what? Weekly defeats in a rented stadium, no training ground, barely any community outreach and an empty shell of a club really. Imagine what spending £30m a different way could have created for us in London. We need to move thinking beyond "next year is our big year"... look what that did to Featherstone only last season. They're still paying bills that in reality they couldn't afford.

Where does it say that in the article? Genuinely don't see it there, neither explicitly nor implicitly. Regardless, London are about to find out that there's no occupancy bias, and Castleford are at high risk of discovering that too. So I'm not sure the case can be made. However it was the case before. Under the old model, being in Super League certainly was absolutely a good enough reason for being in Super League though. 11 of the 12 clubs were guaranteed their spot, as long as they weren't quite as bad on the pitch as the 12th one. They could do that by blowing an extra £200k on players the 12th club might not be able to afford, often pulling in some loan ringers in the back half of the season to orchestrate some great escape. No matter whether they had good community engagement, a fit-for-purpose stadium or any of the other better indicators of a club's long-term potential as a Super League club that the IMG model is attempting to add into the mix.

I’m never optimistic enough to tempt fate like that- not as a Roughyeds’ fan!!

Not sure Makin playing & getting stuffed week in week out in SL is a better choice??

GB v Australia?

I couldn't possibly comment.

i have done 204 parkruns now over 10 years. Joining the local athletic club last year gave me an incentive. I recently got my PB down to 24:00 and 64% grade. branched out into road race, Burghley 7 done and Silverstone 10k soon.

Are they planning on an appeal?

If your referring to Harry Aaronsen - he played this week for Cornwall

You can Google and find out. He felt there were three scenarios that the scoring failed to avoid which would undermine the whole system. He was supportive of the idea of grading and, in the report on TRL I’ve just read, said he would be in favour regardless of Batley’s score. Someone with better googling than me may be able to get their current view.

Agree with this, Super League is not the be all and end all of Rugby League, some club are more than happy to be a success in their local community and are, and do well off the field rather than like professional football where everything revolves around getting as high as you can to make as much money as you can. I've never in 36 years of following RL ever thought of Batley as a club who desperately want to get into Super League, i'm sure they wouldn't turn it down if they thought their club were ready for it on and off the field, but they seem to be a great club who's supporters and townspeople are bloody proud of what they are and what they continue to do for them. Batley is a proper rugby league day out these days, a great atmopshere inside and around the ground and the ground has been developed into a smashing place to watch and enjoy the great game, they seem perfectly happy up there that that's what they want to be and fair play to them. It would be wrong for the media and people to presume that IMG/SL are holding clubs like Batley back, unless of of course clubs like Batley come out and say otherwise.

That’s what was said at the fans forum last year but obviously that appears to have changed. The quality of communication seems to have dropped off a little over the last couple of months. The announcement about Emmerson was poor (no thanks for his service over the years) and Bill promised a fans forum every 3 months but the focus appears to be purely on the commercial side. Focusing on replacing a perfectly good website and not communicating that with Dave Naylor as well makes little sense and a little shoddy. The quality on the pitch is fantastic and the communication from the club last year was top drawer. I’m not sure what’s changed but it would be a real shame to let that deteriorate further at a time when everything else is going in the right direction.

He had a good season last season and the Knights finished 5th in the table. It seems like he has been made a scapegoat after 2 poor Knights games.

"SWAN!!!!" One of my favourite films of all time!