Leaderboard

Happy April 1st!

Could be worse! Some members of the forum might well be who they claim to be.

I think it's more likely to be their northern branch, MI62

WE can expect a call from MI5? Is there something you're not telling us Martyn. Alexander Solzhenitsyn Martyn Sadler

If Salford really do have a £5m+ loan with a 10% coupon as Gary's numbers suggest, then they're truly doomed and we should all stop wasting our time. At the same time we have a club in Huddersfield with 2,500-3,000 home supporters, and about to relocate to another town. Which is of course why today in Batley the clubs are meeting with Nigel Wood's strategic review [sic] team, and discussing the incredibly important question "Should Catalans be in Super League?" You really do have to question the mental acuity of our sport's outstanding club leadership eh?

I'm afraid that some of the members of this forum are not who they claim to be. We can all expect a knock on the door from MI5. But if you've got nothing to hide, don't worry.

Wakefield have only averaged over 6,000 just four times in the last twenty years, and never averaged over 7,000 in that period. During the whole Super League era “normal” is more like 4,500 for them. So by any stretch of the imagination, the progress this year is very significant. Any team who can increase their average attendance by over 75% versus their long-term norms deserves to be praised. If we can’t celebrate that, what can we celebrate? You can’t get to the next level without going through this one. Wakefield are attracting a large audience now for their next generation of growth, the kids coming now will be here for decades ahead of they maintain this hard work.

Problem with signing young UK based players of the quality needed is exactly what's happened with Levi Edwards, AJ Towse, Joe Batchelor, Connor Bailey etc - a SL club will just sign them as they're not quota players. We've just signed what appears to be a really good player who should excite the crowd. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do.

If it's a genuine full on financially-backed takeover then a rebranding is no bad thing. It's a fresh start and Broncos is a pretty tired brand now.

They're just clubs. They shouldn't be deciding the fate of rugby league across the northern hemisphere. This goes back to the age old problem of a small private members club controlled by 30-odd members doubling as the national governing body of an entire sport. And to your point, no, I don't think the semi-pro heartland clubs are going to be the saviours of the expansionist agenda. My guess is this coup has succeeded because those clubs - many of which are barely solvent - have been offered a few short term crumbs from short term savings from ditching IMG and the French funding, regardless of what the long term impacts of those decisions are.

Я не русский шпион.....

I'm not having a go at the clubs themselves - I wish clubs like Dewsbury and Swinton all the best in keeping going at the level they're at. I'm having a go at the structure that gives them significant influence over the development of rugby league as a whole in the northern hemisphere. The interests of a club with a thousand fans that's (rightly) only focussed on keeping the lights on week by week will inevitably conflict with how to develop the game long term, and lead to poor, short termist decision making. Decisions that, in the longer run,will only make it harder for clubs like those above to survive. There's no other major sport in the UK where the short term interest of a few small clubs can override long term decision making for the sport as a whole. This has to change.

I'm not sure anyones ridiculed you?? I don't agree with a lot of posts on here but surely a bit of debate is what it's all about? If we all thought the same it would be boring. Your opinion is as relevant as anyone else's but there are going to be people that disagree. Personally I welcome posts from older supporters as they often bring things up I wasn't aware of and it's great to hear the history of the club from someone who's been there and seen it. On the Australian signings I do have a very different view to you though and don't really understand why you're going in on Clint? I actually think the recruitment has been pretty good under him and all the overseas lads he's brought in have been excellent both on and off the field and really made a difference. If you think differently that's absolutely fine. From what ive seen and read about this new lad, he looks a cracking prospect and we've done well to get him. If that means we have to pay for flights, accommodation etc then so be it. I don't think Clints going to put the clubs finances at risk to bring him here. I agree it's frustrating when players do the dirty on the club but it's the nature of the beast and happens to all clubs. I also don't think it's the overseas lads that have been the problem for us in recent years, I think they've been superb.

Perhaps, but if you count Wigan spectators who stay til the end, your attendance is worse than Wakey's.

I disagree with this. I've been numerous times and it's worst away stand in rugby. I get that Leeds can't do anything with it. I actually believe Leeds should lose 3-4k of home supporters in north stand and house away fans there. Western terrace needs to be permanently shut.

I am an outsider looking in. I just think it is just baffling. If one Ryanair flight and accommodation for a squad is that big of a deal they have an income problem not a spending problem. Cutting will never get a business out a income problem.

I'd be minded to agree with this. Moving to Friday seems a big upheaval, however flexible KO times could help. Saying all of that, when the game is played may be a red herring. The ultimate goal is to change people's mindset from "I'll go to the rugby if I have time" to "I'll make time to go to the rugby". How we do that, I'm not sure.

Tell me a bad Aussie signing Clint has made? There isn't one, he's no mug and knows his rugby league inside out including the Aussie game under NRL. His contacts with the NRL clubs help that. Injuries are injuries, I don't know of a player who goes out to get injured. Have a chat to Bailey - he's gutted he can't play. The only one I can remember recently that wasn't fit for purpose was at the end of his career under Fordy. Lets be excited and see what he brings to an already decent squad.

Stating that they have significant influence is nonsense. Current voting is already weighted in favour of SL clubs which, in essence, pretty much allows them to pass through any motion they collectively choose. Just one additional vote from any other club, in addition to the 12, would mean a motion is passed. I think many would argue that it's the 'clubs with fans' that keep making the decisions that have led the game to exactly where we are today. Perhaps that does need to change.

A move to Friday at this stage of the club's development, would seem rather a premature one. First of all, we need to increase the fan base. This is already gradually increasing, but we still have many regular fans who have supported the club for many years and are in the 'older age' bracket. A move to Friday evening, especially for the early games of the season, could risk losing a number of those due to bad weather and dark nights. Those, combined with the number of those fans lost, due to having young children or having travel difficulties, could be a bit of a disaster. Perhaps I am being rather pessimistic, but I doubt that the number of new fans attracted by a Friday night game would compensate for the loss. Also, whilst in Championship, where the playing staff are generally part-time in their playing rolls, we have to consider their situation too and that applies to both our own players and those of the opposition. Sunday is my choice, but I can understand that the issue would have to be reconsidered when an opportunity for Super League comes along.

I was at Catalans on Saturday. I’m willing to spend my cash going there, in a way I’d never spend cash going to some shitheap on the M62. Catalans do so much right. Not just the crowd, who are younger and more mixed than you’ll see anywhere up north; not just the atmosphere, which is upbeat and exciting. They do the sponsorship so well. Before the match their big screen was showing a professional advert involving Tomkins and various local and regional businesses. They had top class sponsors advertising like Axa. They lay on transport to and from the ground from the town centre. they’re basically a professional organisation who know how to market themselves and generate income. It’s no wonder our basket case M62 clubs who think the only way of making money is to sell a few more pies to away fans, hate them. They’re an example of what all those clubs could be, but aren’t.

Remember this is just a rugby forum full of rugby geeks. Many of the people who will need to fill seats are still on Facebook saying things like 'it should be £10 adults, £5 kids so it will sell out' and 'why are we playing rugby league in London'.

Didn't you post this exact same comment, almost verbatim, last week - probably as someone else? I reminded you or whoever it was this is complete nonsense. People aren't buying the tickets after the first 2 games, they're buying them now. Or are you suggesting even if people have bought them they won't go if they're 2-0 down in the series? Crazy talk either way.

Great stats again. Agree about Ted - 46 tackles and two even more by Aldridge = 94 between them. I don't think the whole of England RU tackle count comes anywhere near that!

What does 'investment' mean? There are plenty of businesses and public sector organisations in France who sponsor Catalans and Toulouse, thus bringing money into RL and paying player wages.

Stats- PLT-one tackle. 6 tackle breaks. 22 carries=204m Dixon-5 tackles. 2 misses. 5 tackle breaks. 20 carries=106m Johnson-20 tackles. 4 misses. one offload. on tackle break. 13 carries=76m Turner-3 tackles. 5 tackle breaks. 16 carries=129m Lowe-3 tackles. 3 tackle breaks. 18 carries=73m Wildie-35 tackles. 3 misses. one offload. 1 carry=0m Drinkwater-14 tackles. one clean break. one try assist. 10 carries=65m Dudson-31 tackles. one miss. one offload. one tackle break. 9 carries=82m Aldridge-48 tackles. one miss. one tackle break. 4 carries=26m T Chapelhow-46 tackles. 12 carries=106m Ashurst-32 tackles. 2 tackle breaks. 9 carries=86m Taylor-21 tackles. one miss. one offload. one tackle break. 8 carries=27m Milner-27 tackles. 2 misses. 14 carries=84m subs Farnworth-16 tackles. 3 misses. one offload. 10 carries=92m Lawton-22 tackles. one miss. 3 tackle breaks. 2 clean breaks. 7 carries=76m J Chapelhow-12 tackles. one tackle break. 10 carries=80m Moran-24 tackles. 2 misses. one tackle break. 8 carries=59m Some immense efforts again. PLT had his best game of the season. Turner great again and all round the pack was excellent but Ted must be the most underrated player in the Champ, nearly our best every week.

Koppy taken immediate retirement. Didn’t seem to me like he was going to break into the current 17. Been a fantastic servant to rugby league as a whole and never taken a backward step for Oldham. A big signing in the pitch and also a ‘statement’ player showing that we’re seriously on the up and encouraging other top players to come to us. Very strong player. All the best in the next phase of your life, Koppy. You’ll always be welcome at the ‘Yeds.’

Well I’m happy with the signing I’m sure he will score plenty for us. It also shows that we are looking for quality players and not a quick fix (loans)to fill a match day squad. Are we due anymore signings?

Its important to ask the right questions and the survey was too vague to answer for me. But no harm in giving it a try! The Sigala game against Toulouse might have been ideal for that sort of 'event'. Light show/fireworks etc. Make it a summer night out. But still think the majority of games at this level will be better attended on a Sunday. Agree with the 1pm kick offs being a great option, this weekend being a prime example. The club are going to have to be patient with this, its going to take 3/4 years minimum to get 3k every week unless we miraculously get promoted. We have tripled/quadrupled some attendances in 18 months, they are doing well. Keep going!

The ground is actually larger now than it was back then. The only reason it can't hold more is the jobs worth H and S at the council

I'd sever the professional club game from the RFL which should be responsible for the community game. The professional tiers should each have autonomy to run their own competitions, with a ARLC type body to run the England team and represent the sport at official levels. The issue of course is that only one of these parts generates any money - Superleague. And in theory some of that needs to be spent outside of SL for the long term betterment of the whole game. But the ability of a small number of clubs to actively damage the process of growing that value with a short term knee-jerk spasm means for me they've lost any right to a formal role in administering that process.

Not sure why a person would engage on a rugby league forum proporting to be someone else creating a deception ? I'd ask why one should do this.? What profit is there in it for this person? Are we talking something serious or just base level trolling.? A few decades in the Police I've seen many things but criminality usually has the mistress of money or ill tidings for the victim Hard to say victims in this matter. I remember a few trolling on a springsteen forum I've been using for 20 years... They were ousted and left. The reason in that matter was trolling.... Regards. Bof.

Tbh, I think this is true for a lot of areas. For a huge amount of our towns, lots of people under 30 now would describe themselves as being from or living "Near Manchester" or "Near Leeds" or even "Near Liverpool" on first asking in my experience. Culturally they'll associate with both perhaps, but particularly those who have moved to satellite towns/cities will feel closer to the larger metropole. I don't think this process has developed enough however that a Salford club called Salford could represent a larger section of Greater Manchester in a way that say West Ham can with a lot of East London and beyond. In my experience too these are often the younger people in what used to be called the "yuppie" class; young professionals. We have both a generational and cultural gap to close with these people as a sport I feel given our attendances.

I would urge some caution in listening too much to journalists who regularly show bias and don't generally miss an opportunity to portray the UK game in a bad light. SM is no more than an articulate Mick Gledhill in many ways. I expect everything is being discussed, and we absolutely should be having conversations about expansion, France plus others. Not least because we do need a bought in approach that we don't keep moaning about every year or two. IMG also featured their thinking on France and expansion as part of their review.

Friday night games makes it difficult to bring the younger generation, the very generation we wish to encourage the Rugby League seed to grow with.

I'd have sicknote back in a flash , the guy was magic, and when absent just made you wait in anticipation

Local game for local people.

Back to the Wembley trail and a winnable home quarter final against London in the 1895 Cup. Given our current form though, we will be underdogs. Perhaps we will see some changes this week. Coach Cooke stated a couple of weeks back that perhaps Gadwin Springer and/or Ryan Hampshire would be available for this game. Ben Reynolds, Carlos Tuimavave and Toby Boothroyd look longer absences. Sita Akauola and Jack Arnold will have had another week to get their fitness levels up. I assume DR won't be available for this Cup competition, but I don't know if that's true. Not sure if we can use Nathan Wilde or not. Obviously there is a lot of work to be done, both in attack and defence. London are going better than some people predicted and have a good coach there. Let's hope a win on Sunday and a semi-final spot can help lift up the heads of the players and get 2025 back on track.

Are you Coolie in disguise

Yeah it's gonna be incredible! I haven't been to a game yet this year, can't wait!

What an atmosphere it will be, hopefully a good game.

It isn't a deliberate ploy to do anything. They can't do anything with the stand as you well know, and away fans can buy tickets in other stands if they wish. Its a boring comment.

Nobody else is, apparently, being asked to justify their very existence within the system.

RFL Match Centre and League Express also have it as 3pm on Sunday. It's shameful that the club's own website don't have the game listed at all in the Fixtures section although there are links on the page to buy tickets for three matches that have been and gone!

I think what you describe has always been the case when describing geographic location as larger areas are more well known. I don't think I've ever met someone from Wigan or Leigh who actually says they are from Manchester, bar someone from Atherton with delusions of grandeur thinking an M postcode makes them as Mancunian as the Gallagher brothers. The same with people from St Helens sayiny they are from Liverpool. 'Near to' of course, but not actually from there. The satellite towns are still fairly distinct for the moment. There's geographic separation. Less so with Salford as it sees more and more development to serve those working in Manchester. I don't think Salford could ever represent a larger area of Greater Manchester though. The same obviously goes for Swinton who have flirted with the idea. It's not the same as Everton being named after a small area of Liverpool or West Ham as you said. I think that only works with clubs that have already established themselves as big teams decades ago. Mancunians don't relate to Salford. It's only the other way around. West Ham can represent London because they are one of many large London football clubs. They are more well known than the area they represent. For Salford to represent Manchester from where they are now would seem pretty much impossible without the kind of success that has gained Leeds, Saints and Wigan casual fans from outside the local area. I agree about the generational and cultural gap. It's been one of the issues the sport has faced for a long time. Leeds probably struggle with this too. The university and city status attracts plenty of younger people but for a city the size of Leeds, which is pretty much the same population as Manchester in terms of the city itself, the attendances aren't that spectacular. They are lower than Wigan and even the Wigan Borough population (shared with Leigh) isn't close to that of Leeds. There could be so much potential for Leeds and Salford but I think it's the sport as a whole that isn't quite appealing enough to young professionals. It's the old fashioned and long standing working class perception problem.

I would say from observation that the increase in attendances at my club age wise that the majority are from those under 30 years of age it could even be as low as under 25.

Could say the same about any signing.

We’d still have lost had we scored all of these opportunities Disappointing performance but ultimately beaten by a better team with a bigger budget. I’m sure it will happen again this season, we can’t dwell on them

It's fair to say he has won over the Hull fans very quickly. Considering the ridicule he faced when he got the job he has barely put a foot wrong really.