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If anyone is going to "step up", then they have about a week or so to do it. £9,257 raised on the crowdfunder thus far and no update from "the club" on anything other than the ability to buy a Fulham style shirt on pre-order with a 50/50 chance of getting it before Christmas and a membership package that is essentially a charity donation until survival is confirmed. My hope is that the club can survive at least as an amateur set up, but I genuinely fear for The London Broncos, who I see going down the same plug-hole as The London Skolars. The RFL and member clubs can now pull up the drawbridge and hope (pray) that SKY TV remain interested. It is now nearly 30 years since the game was "revolutionised" in The UK and yet nothing has really changed. Wales, Toronto and now London have been half heartedly "tried" and if it wasn't for individual benefactors, they (and Catalan) wouldn't have lasted 15 minutes. If the game is ever to work outside the heartlands as a viable pro sport, then huge CENTRALISED investment is needed, a la Melbourne Storm. In my opinion that is.

Some credit should also go to the Try-replay sponsor, Swyftx. People don't realise what a massive achievement it is these days for a crypto exchange to get through a whole season without a spectacular bankruptcy and some fraud prosecutions.

28 728 for the Aussie/Tonga match, 17 203 in early for the Jillaroos/Ferns match. Atmosphere was quite deafening, you couldn`t hear the six-again bell going off at some stages because the singing from the Tongan fans was so loud.

Pleased to see Connor Wynne signed up for another year, cracking re-signings so far

I guess you've all noticed that this thread has been split off the Squad debate. I think it's worth its own thread.

Haven have just announced on social media that they are using that one .

Depends on your objectives. Oldham's initial objectives don't include Superleague, yet! The board has stated the the main objective is to get the Oldham populus excited about Rugby League again, to get a pathway from junior, to amateur, to pro. For the last 25 years pro RL in Oldham has been dire. It was dying a death. The board's success this year will reflect itself in the crowds, the junior pathway teams as well as success on the pitch. For years we have dreamed of being able to compete in the championship with the likes of Fev, a real tradional RL club. If we do all that this season, then that will be the payoff.

I'm not so sure that Bradford won't be as strong as last season, they might well be stronger. They've lost Doro and Fulton but they have made some really strong signings too (Donaldson, Armytage, Keyes and Waine in particular) to add to a number of big additions during during last season (Okunbor, Pele etc) . Remember, John Davies wasn't getting into their team towards the backend of the year. I actually felt they underachieved last year given the overall quality of their squad (and the money they must have spent), they kept shooting themselves in the foot with sin binnings etc, but they have the personnel to be the dominant team in the league if they don't implode. With Taufua, Okunbor and Armytage extremely powerful runners in yardage along with a strong pack they should win the physical battle every week. We kind of sneaked a win in the league game at Odsal but they dominated us physically at our place and even more so in the play-off game and we have work to do to get close to them in my opinion, of course that's before we know exactly how our squad will look. Of course whether they've got their timing right in having such a strong squad is another matter as even if they win both the Grand Fnal and the 1895 Cup it's hard to see them getting enough points to get into SL as long as they're playing at Odsal. Toulouse - I'd have to see who else they sign for next year but they always look beatable away from home and that might be their achilles heel. York are on an upward trajectory it seems, they were better than us last season and they will be looking to build on that, they should be one of the top 3 or 4 teams again, and maybe better than that. Widnes, I think a lot will depend on which version of Patton they get, if he plays to his best then with Gilmore they'll be a threat to everybody but we all know how mercurial Patton is. Widnes fans seem to think Allan Coleman is the best coach they've had in years so it will be interesting to see if his second season is as good as his first, must admit I took a bit of a dislike to him after his sour post-game interview following our win there but overall their results did improve a lot despite on paper their team not looking much stronger prior to the season starting. I'm only guessing here but I think Oldham might end up being the second-biggest spenders behind Bradford (though again we don't really know the make-up of our own squad yet). If as rumoured they are signing the likes of Josh Drinkwater, Matty Ashurst, Ian Thornley to add to the likes of our ex-players Wildie, Kopczak, Taylor, Riley Dean etc (none of whom would have been cheap) then that's some amount of cash they are laying out. They'll say all the right things about avoiding relegation being the priority but really they ought to be aiming for the play-offs if their squad ends up as strong as is rumoured. I think London will struggle, at least early on, as they will have lost a large chunk of their squad, but if they make it to the starting line we know their coach can work wonders with unpromising material. I do think they'll be starting again from almost scratch though and will do well to make the play-offs. Doncaster might progress with a season under their belt. Halifax clearly aren't in a good place financially at the moment and will do well to be competitive, whilst Sheffield will have a good team on paper but how they will cope with the Aston aftermath remains to be seen. I don't see any of the other teams being top 4 contenders, but no doubt Batley and Barrow will both cause a few upsets along the way as is their wont. It's hard to know what to predict for us until we have more of an idea of our squad. At the moment I'd say top 4 would be a very successful season given how poorly we played on multiple occasions last year. We need to show that, on a consistent basis, we can be more dominant in contact, both in attack and defence, and be more fluent with ball in hand near the opponent's line, before we can be regarded as being one of the very top teams in the division.

It's clear that the PI nations improve the more games they play. Bringing back mid season internationals is a must.

Tonga may have been knocking on the door but I felt that Australia defended reasonably comfortably. The scoreboard flattered Tonga but that is a good thing for the sport and competitive international Rugby League. The bottom line is that Tonga have a great power game but don't have the creativity to get enough points on the board, in their last 5 games against England and Australia, they have averaged 1.6 tries a game.

I do quite like the format of the PC, competitive games and a chance for the P/R game to let lower tier winners test themselves against top tier. Clearly could be better with more games, but enjoyed this years comp. If it wasn’t for us English they would have an even better comp but thankfully they seem fine to send teams up here and stick with their leagues of 3 format!

Send in the clowns.

I had to watch Oz v Tonga with the Ch9 commentary. I’d forgotten how bad it is. What a dire set up they have compared to Kayo/Fox Sports.

Good job England v Samoa had independent Referees and no sign of any forward passes from the home team that led to tries I guess.

Great match to finish the season… Although of course there is still one more match to go, New Zealand versus Papua New Guinea! But as I said last week, how good is international rugby league!

Tonga started well but for most of the game Australia were the best side and they probably had 3 or 4 tries chalked off for various reasons. But Tonga hung in really well and deserved to have a close scoreboard. It was a good game.

some very very ordinary players in this kangaroo squad who dont look as good when their Origin glitter has fallen off - Coates stolen from PNG? we can beat these and beat them well on our day - all credit to Tonga and their amazing fans - international RL the winner today

Given the time of year, I've been re-reading The Roughyeds Kit Bag by Micheal Turner. Not ashamed to say it brings a tear to my eyes. Lest We Forget.

As long as you don't go FKW, it's fine.

Dignity is overrated mate.

The RFL continue to do so by granting a press pass... Lord knows why after his drunken Rimmer/Moorhouse outburst.

We should make the opposition walk out in total deathly silence before the intro of Deuling Banjos kicks in and Gary Short screams at their players to squeal like a pig. That’ll unsettle ‘em. Apart from Whitehaven of course, who are used to that sort of thing on Greenbank.

He's not doing Helen Skelton that's for sure.

I'm going down the route of training shirts now Someone did point out to me that as a 48 year old it can be a little undignified wearing the match strip and I'm starting to agree

18 according to the articles, but I’m sure Kp will be along soon with a copy of his birth certificate, drivers licence and blood type if that’s wrong.

We've booked to stay in Wallsend, just down the road, in a hotel with non cancellable rooms which my mate booked. I asked the obvious question "What if Hull FC are sh*t next year?" I received the reply "What do you mean if?".

Competitive the wrong word as i do think the teams will be more equal in structure.But Bradford and Toulouse will not be strong as last season.Widnes and York may continue to progress to build up their IMG score.London ?who knows but not so strong as the team that achieved promotion.Hunslet will struggle but they deserve the chance.Mid table would be good for Oldham.Barrow may continue to build on their support as they chase IMG points.Sheffield without Aston not up to their last couple of seasons performances.Doncaster will consolidate or improve they are well run and work in progress.Fev improved performance expected despite the coach.Batley mid table or slightly higher probably the best run club in the Championship and always liable to pull off a shock result.On reflection you are right it should be more competitive without the top two or three teams outspending the rest.

Until other countries get more games they will always be up against it when it comes to competing with Australia. More than anything other countries need mid season matches to build continuity and to get players together. Australia just have so many advantages in terms of player depth and SOO that it makes it very difficult for other teams to compete by simply coming together once a year and playing 3 games. It feels like they are practically starting all over again each year and doesn't help when we talk about the competitiveness of international RL. If international teams were allowed to play games and have training camps during SOO it would go a long way to levelling the playing field. It would help greatly when it comes to those nations trying to turn over Australia at the end of the year.

Yes Mazey on the whole is very positive but i guess some things as uncomfortable as they are need saying. The progress made in 2024 and the general mood around the club is extremely positive, so the update provided on sales is likely designed just to gee people up and get them doing their bit as 55 ST's on the back of a good year and real positive vibes is simply not good enough if people want to talk about being a Championship club. The original club statement went out on 25th October and Andy has since commented on his X account with a more positive update stating the following. steady progress over 50% of our budgeted target now and still plenty time and Christmas etc so fingers crossed despite a slow start we can exceed targets The retention and recruitment for 2025 has been the best known at Hornets in many years. A new community facility on the back of 3 or 4. years of investment and hard work was launched in July, and creates an opportunity to grow the fanbase from a community level and grass roots upwards, and our ladies team has just been relaunched and is being invested in so it would seem our board are committed and probably just keen to drive hard and see numbers and bums on seats grow. Hopefully the town will get behind this board as you do worry where the club would be without them right now.

One of our tipsters who has been with us from the start is in Florida at the moment. He is attending Buccaneers \49ers today and next Sunday at Dolphins \ Raiders hopefully he'll post reports of his experience at the games.

Games like these will only improve Tonga for the world cup. 3 games against England last year definitely helped with the combinations. Tonga definitely needs more star power in the backs and on the spine. Lehi and Katoa will be better players after another nrl season under their belt. They also need a 6 to help Katoa. Samoa vs Tonga game next year is going to be one of the most anticipated international game next year

Sorry - couldn’t resist. On reflection, I suppose people who live in glass houses and all that …

Or a few more but still the Town anthem

Course you can. I was picking up on your whataboutery claim, not your first post. And yes, it certainly did sound like you were complaining about what happened next year.

I'm not sure you can complain about 'whataboutery' when you are referencing something that hasn't happened yet and he pointed out that the equivalent that actually has happened. Seems legitimate to me.

I'm guessing that based on beating them 3-0 in the series last year that we would be able to compete with Tonga.

True. But if that's all you can get in St. Helens, you should take it

The speed and power of this game... Wondering if England can compete with either side and all I can visualise is Chris Hill stood behind the posts with us 14 down after 10 mins, looking knackered with his hands on his hips, blowing out of his **** and it makes me feel sick.

Compared to BP it certainly is

We can't say that about last season

Tina Turner Simply the Best it was always the Town song

Paul Cullen was a poacher before he became a gamekeeper

A few years I was sat on the settee on my IPad. My wife was watching a reality program on UKTV about Paramedics based around Leeds. All of a sudden I was startled to hear a voice on TV I hadn’t heard for about 45 years. I looked up and asked the wife to rewind the program a few seconds. It showed a Paramedic talking to an elderly lady who had fallen. The voice that I recalled from my teenage years in the late 70’s belonged to an old mate, Shaun Irwin who played for Cas, Oldham and GB. Big respect to Shaun and all Paramedics.

Took until Graeme woke up for it to be denied https://x.com/G18EME/status/1854806044465058083

What about jj and matty?

Was mentioned a few weeks back on a WhatsApp chat I'm in that he has signed but its not been officially announced yet

Dance of the knights Or Adigo for strings

If you let em all in free. We wouldn't get a thousand..

I was more concerned about the comment about us being good at the back end of the season!

She's changed, I suppose that's what marrying Prince Andrew does to you.