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Also Eamonn McManus in September 2018 (Nigel Wood was of course CEO of the RFL 2007-2018):

Club owners deserve their input, they are a key stakeholder. However, very often they are blokes who did well in other areas and spend money on the team they support. Usually they aren't qualified in running the sport and creating the strategies etc. We see time and again the horrendous decisions and states that many owners get their clubs into. I thought we'd had a bit of a clean sweep of jobs for the boys, we had a modern progressive board that had some experts rather than people who have money and just happen to be RL fans. Sure there is plenty of talent in the sport, but we really shouldn't blindly seal-clap people just because they have money.

The game doesn't belong to whoever owns the top 6 or 7 clubs in Super League. And, in order to ensure we have a game in the future, it's important we take things away from their understandable short term myopia.

So why should we trust his - or any other Chairman's - judgement this time? The clubs have too much power. Until that changes, nothing will change.

You are saying committees don't work, yet are advocating a committee of the owners. I'm not sure any of us know what your views really are. I suppose it depends what DB has said this week.

FULL TIME: Despite injuries and having three tries chalked off, Wakeys 12-16 defeat by Hull can be softened by the fact that we dominated much of the first half and on another day would have won. Some good performance,I'm especially liking my first proper look at Rourke!

Martyn, Similar is not the same as identical. The incidents are similar. Yours, Jon

It's a little cheeky of McManus, let's be blunt here. My memory of the timeline could be out, but my recollection was that they overthrew Wood and the RFL at the peak of the TV deal. Their SLE led organisation actually delivered the huge drop in funding. But here he is, bold as brass blaming the RFL.

If McManus wants to come out and support the recent action then that's his prerogative, but to do it with that tone personal invective? Come on, what it is with people in this sport that they can't converse like adult professionals. And making jokes about misogyny? Get a grip man. Potential partners will run mile from spleen venting like that. On the content, this line was quite telling: "Super League clubs and their owners pay £5 million per year to the RFL for their services." They've never framed it quite like that before. So is the plan is to gut the RFL - DOGE style - and keep all the cash from the TV deal? We might want to look closely at what the RFL spends its money on.

That was my interpretation of you using Robinson as an example and it still is. I’ve only thought about the other implication because it has been mentioned many times by someone else who is clearly stretching to try & make an incorrect point

2018's version of Eamonn McManus disagrees with you.

I think it would be very possible to make that case. I also think that it's very likely that given the calibre of people at RFL and leading RL Comm, they won't have been doing proactive stakeholder engagement to demonstrate to the clubs that it was the case. As the clubs have identified to be fair, there's a lack of leadership. I think the RFL has provided poor leadership on governance (cf Salford), and RL Comm poor leadership on commercial (cf Las Vegas, lack of stakeholder management, etc). The solution to that is leadership change, in order to better pursue the strategy. The solution isn't "change strategy". That's what you do having already changed the leadership, if you then see negative indicators.

I think it demonstrates a deliberate bad faith argument used to downplay and muddy the issue so as to push forward an obvious political point of view. But, as you say, everything is open to interpretation.

That's really great. The only thing is I hope that Mike Eccles is not pushed aside. He's been fantastic both as a coach and for his understanding of the whole London scene and precisely what is needed there. For me he is the glue that can bind it all together.

When will you get it into your thick skull that the game doesnt belong to rich men, they dont get to decide the direction of the entire sport just because they put cash into a specific club. The fact you feel someone with a bit of money has a right to decide the future of clubs currently doing everything they can to survive says a lot about you.

If it’s just about the owners and their millions they don’t need my cash then do they?

Being taken over by the NRL becomes more attractive each day that passes

"We lose money, oust our independent regulators, fail to even run our marquee events like the World Club Challenge or Kangaroo tests and change what we want every few months ... now, why can't the game as a whole get sponsors?" The fact that the people involved can't see their role in changing that is why IMG were brought in, why IMG will fail, and why whatever this is will improve nothing.

If a club owner doesnt want to spend £2m then don’t and find your natural level in the game

Unprofessional and embarrassing - blaming the RFL for a poor attendance for an international in France? Sitting on stage when Elstone was announced? Or being 'shameful' when showing zero respect - https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/news/12196/11854236/st-helens-chairman-eamonn-mcmanus-fined-for-referee-comments Another day - even more disrepute...

McManus is entitled to throw his support behind Wood if he wants but that statement like others related to this issue is completely unprofessional and embarrassing.

Pretty sure the £5m includes the (much reduced) money from the TV deal that goes to the lower tier clubs, given the total is only 21m. They may be administered VIA the RFL I guess.

Comps aren't out there reinventing themselves all the time. I'm not sure why you think RL should be. The 'periphery' stuff is the thing. But it's sometimes subtle, and pretty much always hard work. But, it's no surprise another Leigh fans is saying the same things as the Leigh leader. Sure it's just a coincidence.

Yep... Until the sport gets independent governance this circus will continue forever

Is there a rule on how many DR players you can use in any one game? I don't know the full injury list for Oldham but we already have a large squad (31 i think off the top of my head), a lot bigger than most teams but still thought we s/b able to field a full squad of 18 for match day. Nothing against the young Wigan lads and all for players getting as much game time as possible but have always been a bit uncomfortable with these DR rules. To me not all teams are on a level playing field, each club have their squads at the start of the season then its pure luck throughout that season as to how many injuries you have, you may have loads, you may have hardly any its just the luck of the draw. Saying that I'm a bit of a hypocrite as if either score on Sunday against London I'll still cheer and clap them like a mad man LOL!!!!!!

Work?

It's taking some serious mental gymnastics to say that I implied anything of the sort. The incidents were similar in that they involved two sportsmen being reprimand for historical tweets. Had Ollie Robinson's comments been sexist, homophobic, ableist, ageist or otherwise politically questionable, the comparison would still apply. It's fine to have inferred something from my comment, but it in no way means that I implied it.

Sold out now

Only 29 seats left in new stand. 2.6k home fans. Home North stand sold out that holds 3k+. Some home fans in south boxes. West stand sold out mostly away fans with a few hundred home fan season ticket holders. South new stand - sold out. 2200 is a very good away following. 6k + home fans is also very good. Trinity may need to look at expanding capacity further for 2026. Should be a cracking atmosphere tonight.

The growth of women's, wheelchair, PDRL, LDRL and other such things are "nothing tangible" until, of course, someone can claim glory off the back of them. The RFL isn't just there to serve (men's) Super League.

The point is that if owners keep having to get rid of people, maybe the problem is a little closer to home. They offed Wood. They soon backstabbed their man, Elstone. They turned on Johnson. They are turning on IMG. All within a decade this. They are the problem here.

Many of us do Derek. In fact on some level I think all fans do, surely? People on here aren't saying they want to be in charge, they're just expressing opinions as stakeholders in the game. The owners' money will run out a lot faster when 60,000 people per week stop chipping in too.

Not just the minimum standards though. Salford scored points for a stadium that they had no agreement with for 2025. How can you score any points in that scenario?

If we played him at 13 it'd be a start. My heart sinks every time I see that he is being expected to fill in in the front row.

We agree. It should be covered in minimum standards and the grading should sit on top of that. Unfortunately, beginning with the chap who has just come in to lead a review, the minimum standards have been repeatedly diluted and enforcement of them dropped.

It's almost performative in threads on here now. These 2 have been excellent, as they usually are.

Lomax is just too slow for this level now.

Good to see Carney and Sculthorpe challenging the narrative and highlighting the clubs have been a huge part of the issue.

That statement or article or whatever it was from Mcmanus is childish and embarrassing. It reads worse than a student newsletter, you would have no idea it was put together by a chairman of one of the country's national sports.

It's a qualification tournament for emerging nations. "Viable" is not why you do it.

Like a lot of organisations that are selling the family silver, hiring staff on below market wages and making 'efficiency' savings, it has become very inefficient, remarkably bad at doing a lot of the things it needs to, and quite weak. That's not going to be fixed by finding more efficiencies or paying out more to the clubs if it takes away from the centre.

Don't get sucked into Martyn's version the Mandelbrot set which exhibits an infinitely complicated boundary that reveals progressively ever-finer recursive detail at increasing magnifications. Stick to the big picture. This whole thing is a sham. People have been beguiled, hypnotised maybe, by promises of jam tomorrow provided they throw today's jam away. The sooner the NRL takes over the whole sport, the better.

I keep seeing this oft repeated as something Nigel Wood engineered, as if he raided the cash safe on his way out the door....but this fee basically comes down to employment law. The clubs forced him out of a high paying role at the top of an organisation - he was fully entitled to financial recompense. If you don't agree then fair enough but the argument is with the law and not the actions of clubs, the RFL or Nigel Wood.

This is how the Aussie leaders do internationals. It's way down the list of priorities. You can guarantee negotiations for NRL or Origin wouldn't be allowed to go on for so long. It happened with the Denver Test, it's happening again now. The promised World Series gone. The World 9s no more than a one off. World Cup culled. It's all the same stuff on repeat. Even the stuff they supposedly care about isn't announced (Pacific Nations). Internationals are seen as third or fourth tier, no matter how they say the right things every now and again in an interview.

To play devil's advocate, if the RFL and RLCom had been able to present something to clubs showing that we are in a better position going into the next round of negotiations, then none of this would've happened.

My impression is that many clubs were happy to see this go through, but not willing to put their head above the parapet. I don't know what the RFL council proxy voting is exactly, but if it's standard proxy voting, then clubs have just let the individuals vote on their behalf. Looks that way. based on this article https://www.rugby-league.com/article/61644/council-provides-strong-support-for-img-grading-criteria-recommendation it seems like the weighting is set so 100% of SL votes = 100% of Champ / League 1 votes. So, assuming Catalans and Toulouse cannot vote, as they are not members, and we know Wigan, Wire and Hudds weren't in favour, means there were 8 SL teams voted in favour. Meaning that if it is a simple majority needed, then it needed 8 non-SL clubs to vote for, or abstain. I don't know what the actual numbers were, but I'd guess they would have to be pretty clear cut to see Johnson resign without even having the meeting. Though, I have to give the caveat, that this could be entirely inaccurate!

Exactly, he was signed as cover for Dagger, so should be the obvious replacement if Myles isn't fit. Play players in their correct positions, fill in where we have to. Remember the mudbath at Batley a couple of season ago. Myles stepped in for Marsh at the last minute and was outstanding.

There you go then, even god is putting the boot in ( other religions and deities are available) Things can only get better!!