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Just spoke to Mark Aston and he says he is totally fine to play in the next game.

Actually scrap that, Id say they add more than many English clubs. They spend up to the salary cap, buy marquee players and play in front of good crowds. That enhances the quality and appeal of the competition.

Well done to Hull KR's medical staff for doing their job and making the right call. It's not an easy job and medical staff are often under immense pressure to get players back out on the field. Good stuff and the way it should be.

They’re a competitive (usually) team fulfilling SL fixtures, who offer a great Saturday evening tv slot and away fans love going to Perpignan, what more do you want? I can’t think of any championship club who’d improve SL by replacing Catalan.

Here are the numbers of League matches for each team which got lower attendances than when they played Catalans at home in the 2024 season (and who they were against in order of fixtures). Where loop fixtures have been involved I have picked the highest to compare with and given a second rating for the second home match - these clubs were London and Leeds. You can make your own conclusions... Castleford: 4/12 (HUD/LON/WIG/SAL) Huddersfield: 0/12 Hull KR: 2/12 (WAR/HUD) Hull FC: 2/12 (WIG/SAL) Leeds: 7/12 (WAR/HUD/LON/LON/WIG/CAT/HULL) Loop fixture higher than 3 (WAR/LON/WIG) . Leigh: 2/12 (HUD/LON) London: 12/12 and 0/12 Salford: 7/12 (CAS/WIG/LON/HULL/CAS/LEE/HUD) St Helens: 4/12 (HULL/HUD/CAS/SAL) Warrington: 9/12 (HULL/CAS/STH/HULL/HKR/SAL/HUD/LEE/LON) Wigan: 5/12 (CAS/LON/HUD/LEI/HULL)

What absolutely rubbish. Until this season Catalans have been attractive to watch, as shown by SKY picking their games more than other teams.

Toulouse should be first one as there by far the best run club outside of sl. The argument of not bringing away fans is pathetic and from very small minded people I say this as a Salford fan who they would likely take the place off

If there's enough money and junior development in the game for a 14 team Super League, then great. There's nowhere near enough, but they're doing it anyway. I've heard that Toulouse actually declined an invitation on the basis of not getting any funding. If that's true, then fair play to them. If it was all above board, they should absolutely be in before anyone else in the Championship.

Good luck against the Bulls .

We have bye months in League 1.

Everyone here loves it. Nothing else to say really...

I think a lot can be taken from the Josh Drinkwater interview when he signed a 12 month extension, I'll bet he knows exactly what is going on behind the scenes and the probably make up of the Oldham side next season. To this extent probably most of the rest of the squad do also so now's the time a lot of players are trying to get themselves sorted for next year. Those Oldham players who already have a contract for next season are obviously sorted, those who's contracts run out this year must by now have an idea if they are in SL's plans for next year, if they are then happy days but as it looks like Oldham may be splashing the cash on some big names a few players (Lawton / Craven for example) may be thinking if they've not had the seal of approval for next year already then best to seek pastures new and get sorted now instead of faffing about seeing what comes up at the end of the season. Oldham have a big squad, they are also linked with every other player out there for next season so the next couple of months are bound to see some transition of the current squad. Oldham are aiming to move up another level and as good as I think all current Oldham players are maybe in MF / SL's eyes they may not be up to the task for where they envisage Oldham aspiring to and its better for them to move on instead of being unhappy. I don't see any of this as any massive conspiracy, for me its good forward planning. Trust the coaching staff, they know what they are doing and I see exciting times for Oldham in the coming rest of the season!!!! COME ON OLDHAM!!!

Looking forward to Lewis having his head sewn back on, hope he comes back strong, the poor lad.

Jeez, how many times do we need to explain that Sky don't buy rugby league to sell subs? It's nonsense. Only the #1 sport in a market sells meaningful numbers of subs. In the UK, that's football. In Australia, that's AFL and NFL split geographically. Every other sport is bought merely to pad out that content. What the rights buyer wants is high quality content... ie more close games than big spreads. Catalans deliver more of these than many English clubs, so are more valubale to Sky. We can see this by the fact they choose more Catalans games for prime coverage than numerous English clubs. One day this very simple fact will enter people's brains. I hope.

These things can't be left up to the players to decide.

I have been sharing the Sport England participation data for the last few years so I thought I would pop up from my Elba Island Napoleon style exile to post this year’s data. The survey is the best picture we have of participation rates for adults in various sports and is released every year (starting in 2015-16). It shows the participation rates for the previous 12 months and participation is defined as any person aged 16+ who took part in a sporting activity at least twice in any 28 day period. Background and context There is data for individual sports and other leisure activities but I think for Rugby League, the overall team sports is the relevant benchmark. For the 12 months to November 2024, participation in team sports overall increased by 5% with male participation increasing by 2% and women by 14%. Rugby League For the 12 months to November 2024, participation in Rugby League for men grew by 51% (61,300 from 40,600) while participation for women increased by just 26% (15,400 from 12,200). Overall this means a 38% increase and a participant number of 76,800 compared to 55,800 last year. Comparative sports Rugby Union is probably the most relevant comparison and men’s participation in Union increased by 14% (from 183,700 to 210,100) but fell for women for the second year in a row – a 14% fall 34,500 to 29,700. This meant an overall increase in participation of 7%. Some other comparisons but less detail Football – overall +4% Hockey – overall -3% Netball – women +21% Cricket – overall +5% Thoughts Unlike last year where the Rugby League numbers were very disappointing, these levels of growth are very good news. An overall participation growth of 38% is really excellent. Link to the data for anyone interested in looking at it: https://www.sportengland.org/research-and-data/data/active-lives/active-lives-data-tables#november-2023-24-38806

Gets interesting at 5 min 30.

I don't think that's true, the academies we have now pick up every rugby league playing kid with genuine promise, and even most of those don't make it as pros. The key to increasing the pool is to get more kids playing rugby league in the first place, particularly the athletic ones who end up choosing other sports It's ultimately a numbers game, if we get more in, then we can increase the number of academies to cater for them.

I made a similar point earlier in the thread, but to expect to be able to provide enough world class athletes to fill 10-14 teams within the narrow confines of the North of England is flawed, and that's why we end up where we are. I dont just go with the opinion that clubs can just make more effort and we can have full teams of English lads. Accepting that we can always do more. In the past we had player pathways from Union, bringing players in from all over the UK. We've never replaced that, we've just kept talking about the Northern heartlands. Robust pathways in London, Wales etc are a must for the future of the game - expansionist agendas are not just for a laugh.

5 years ago Hull KR and Leigh wouldn’t have dreamed of 10k+ crowds, what those two clubs have done is phenomenal.

For the second time this season I don't think Fev saw the best version of Barrow, the inconsistency of most teams in the Championship this year is crazy (which is why I think York are probably the best team at the moment, they seem to be at least 7 or 8 out of 10 every week). Barrow were pretty moderate and after a shakey first 20 minutes Fev were not bad. From looking dead and buried in terms of the play-offs a few weeks ago, Fev have gained crucial wins against Widnes, Barrow (x2), and Halifax in the last couple of months that have enabled them to claw their way back into the top 6, having been one from the bottom after losing 6 of the first 8 games. Looks like the 5 teams in the current 5 to 9 slots are competing for the last 2 play-off spots. My gut feeling is that Fev and Doncaster are the two favourites for those last 2 spots on recent form, which makes the game at the Eco-Power Stadium on 17th August a big one.

So a bad day at the Office in Wales and not what we wanted but lets draw a line under that game and move on to the Midlands game which should be a cracker and hopefully we get Guy and Levi back for this one. These are the games where the team really need our support and lets not forget this is our Charity game so lets raise plenty of money for Wasdale Mountain Rescue and with early bird tickets at just £14 not sure what more the Club can do to try and get supporters through the gate. Get down early and have a few Pints and lets get the show back on the Road.

It took Leigh 3 tries to add anything to SL and realise any potential. Let's give Toulouse the same leeway instead of 1 SL spell post Covid and with Covid restrictions still in place

Yes, I am seriously suggesting that is not how the Pay TV business model works. The tier 1 sports in a territory are what drive subscriptions, tier 2 sports exist to provide those subscribers with enough content to stay. It is the quality of our content that Sky values, or doesn't. All of the research shows that perceived "quality" of sports content most strongly correlates with consistency of competitiveness. Close games. Rugby league is more valuable when it delivers more close matches, i.e. when more teams in the competition are competitive with all the others. So the most valuable clubs are those who can do that, not those that are located in X place. Catalans is one of those... we don't have enough clubs like that to be able to throw away one of the few that is. You think Sky will pay more money in the hope of picking up an extra 500 subscribers in York? They have 6 million subscribers in the UK. Anyway, most people who live in York who like rugby leage and have a willingness to buy Sky will already be buying it.

You're on the wind up, right? What Sky are buying is competive games. They would prefer Leeds, Warrington, Saints, Hull KR and Hull FC because they are more likely to deliver competitive games (in the research a "competitive game" is defined as one where the result is still uncertain with 25% of the time remaining). Those sides would be far more likely to do that than Hunslet, Keighley, North Wales, Goole and whatever Coventry are called now. Got it yet? Yes, some clubs do also have an inherent brand value. But, guess what? That brand value is based on their recent ability to deliver more competitive games. Catalans are a well-resourced club, one of the few that is profitable. They have large crowds, good youth pathways, and a recent history of winning things from Challenge Cups, being in Grand Finals or just play off qualifying. The idea that Sky would prefer Bradford, York or London scarbbling around for results instead of that club is embarrassingly comical. Or indeed Hunslet, Keighley, North Wales or Goole. Seriously, what is it with a certain section of British society and their allergy to "foreign" things? It's really, really weird behaviour.

• A train station, and a major one at that.

This is precisely what we're going to get, it's what those "thinkers" have always focused upon. As with the absurd "middle eights" concept, it is all about enabling clubs in the bottom half of the table and the top quartile of the championship to be more competitive in the very short term. It is no way to run a sport. We need to focus upon 1) what creates the best elite clubs, and providing a roadmap to more clubs becoming like elite clubs and 2) expanding pathways and enabling talent from those pathways to get reasonable opportunities to develop. We need to level up, not level down. Nigel Wood has always been about levelling down. I don't particularly agree with the NRL idea of 10 clubs, but at least it shows they think about the right things: The quality of the product, and using that quality to increase the elite comp's media revenues in order to spend elsewhere and build the sport for the long term.

But the whole point of IMG and the twelve-year-plan is that is about doing the basics over the longer term in order to (a) take power away from the clubs who are understandably short sighted, and (b) open up more income generating opportunities. That has now been wrecked and there is nothing to replace it with anything like that ambition. This takeover is all about making rugby league in England the next speedway or stock car racing.

So, here is the funny part, and probably part of the reason why I am back. I saw the new Sports England survey was out and thought I should post about it. So, rather than trying to find my last post on search here, I Googled 'Dunbar TotalRL Sports England'. Anyway, as well as the search, a whole AI description came up of Dunbar and his views, his contributions and thoughts on Rugby League. I thought, that's cool, I wonder what it says about the real me... so I googled my name and business and £#%& all came up. It was at that point that I realised that my life's work was on here!

Hopefully a good lesson for him. He seems the last player who'd want to miss games and he's missed a game and a half or so because he decided to play dead, in the hope of getting an opposition player in to trouble.

I love his passion when he speaks about RL! Would be great if we as a sport could start laying some foundations for the 2034 RLWC to be held in France. That will be the 100 year anniversary of the sport in France, what better way to mark the occasion!

At least the BBC recognise the reality of the situation in Oz. From the BBC Sport RU article: "Now it's the Brumbies' turn to have a crack at them. Given rugby league's State of Origin decider is on at the same time, the match will exist in a parallel Australian universe."

For me I'd quite happily take a couple more seasons in the Championship battling at the top end, securing the base for the club regarding its foundation, pathways, junior & girls teams, increasing crowd numbers, sponsorship and so on. Mixed in their a couple more signing of the Josh Drinkwater ilk. Really get the club on a stable footing but still mixing it with the big boys with the continued support of BQ's finances in a sensible fashion. What I'd hate for us to do is for BQ as passionate as he is (thank god we've got him at Oldham!!!!) to blow his lot on an ill fated attempt to get us into Super League when we are not ready and the foundations are not there. Leigh tried it a few years ago and were just not prepared hence for a few season's they were a yoyo club between SL and the Championship. What has been achieved by the current ownership has been nothing short of miraculous and I cannot thank them enough for putting Oldham RL back on the map big style and the pride back in the fans. The caveat to this is I do not want us to run before we can walk. BQ is a smart businessman and has not got where he is without being savvy. I'd just hope emotion and wanting the best for Oldham does not cloud the practicalities of turning a dying Oldham RL (which it was) into a successful sustainable club ready to compete in Super League for many years to come. I'm happy to go along for the ride as it is as the only way forward at the moment is up but lets do it in a measured and sensible way. If BQ spaffs all his money straight away is there someone else to replace him? I'm not sure there may be but i dont know. I'd hate for things to go that way so the not so slowly approach to building the club up from its foundations works for me. Its a great time to be an Oldham fan but lets not rush things too much!!!!

We've all supported them for decades mate and the fact that we're still here shows we dont throw the towel in like some, but you shouldn't applaud or forgive shoddy performances. Yes nobody goes on the field to lose but when you've spent big and the directors have built a club to be proud of they deserve better. To be honest it'll be a miracle if any league 1 club gets promoted but we are in serious danger of not making the top 4 and you can call it chucking the towel but in the current form and with the upcoming fixtures I'd say it's being realistic. Our second row was our strength but we've struggled since they've been injured.

Was at the match and didn't expect that to be honest, we pulled it back to 20-16 and I thought we were back in it but not to be ,but what I will say I will continue to support the lads as I have I done for the last 50 odd years and not throw the towel in like some on here have already, some of the comments from so called Townies down there today was beyond belief and some need to give their heads a shake, players make mistakes it happens, we where up against a big fast team who have spent heavily, some won't like my comments that's fine I can take it , let's back the lads and the club and get back on the horse and go again next week. UTT

14 Clubs, with all Clubs being treated the same - simples ! Clubs who claim they cant afford it, make way for others. - Simples. And please sort out the fixture farce. Clubs playing each other 2 / 3 times, before others havent even faced each other. Farcical. A student, a calendar and AI, could sort it in 2 mins. I try to defend RL admin most of the time but frankly they are undefendable much of the time. p.s. stop lying about ticket sales.

As some of us speculated at the time...

All I'm saying is that in the years since Leigh have been back in SL the TV contract value has gone down *ducks*

Go on then, let's be bold. If it's a 14 team league*, mine would be: - The current 12 minus Salford. - York - Toulouse - London With an offer to Bradford to come in as soon as they can offer Super League level facilities. I think all of the risks of moving to a 14-team league have been set out. There isn't enough money and the teams who come in will be facing a Mount Pleasant-style uphill battle to get a competitive team on the field. But at least those three bring geographical spread, city clubs, and good facilities to the competition and represent a bold statement about what we want to be as a competition.

Clubs putting out promotions and getting more "home" fans in would go against the rhetoric that home fans don't want to watch Catalans as if they don't want to see them, they wouldn't attend even if it was free. Catalans bring a whole lot more to SL than quite a few other clubs, especially in providing a pathway for more players to enter the game. Catalans would be hugely missed if they were no longer in SL.

Some very tasty matches this week, apart from Hunslet v Fev all the others could go either way, I think Fev will be just that bit more experienced than Hunslet. The London game is quite intriguing, they have been putting in a few good performances of late but Donny can’t be under estimated as they showed last week. Barrow should be too strong for Batley especially at home, same could be said of Oldham. Now, what for most onlookers will be the game of the week if not the season, I honestly think it is too close to call, the Bulls will want revenge for the loss at home and the cup, the Knights are riding high on confidence, the heat might be a factor with the bigger Bulls pack , it has the makings of an absolute cracker, a healthy crowd should be in attendance which will make for a fantastic atmosphere as it usually is when these two meet. what fantastic entertainment the championship is this season.

This situation is not comparable to any of the other situations that anyone cares to mention. When we are in Rd 10 and a team has a cup final the week later, rotating your squad is a perfectly valid approach and is very easy to defend. Probably the worst example last year was also by Salford who gave Wigan the game to take the LLS, giving a taster of Rowley's mentality, but despite being damaging for the game in what should have been a blockbuster finish to the season, it stays just on the right side of the rules. When a club actively brings the game into disrepute and sticks their fingers up to the sport in this country in a high profile game because the coach wants to act like a stroppy teenager, then it doesn't work. Defences like injuries and squad rotation are not relevant here. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up with a 2/4 pt deduction and a suspended fine which feels proportionate, we should remember that the process hasn't finished yet, its being reported halfway through as far as I understand. What Salford did is not the same as others though. They made a political move and brought the game into disrepute at a time when the RFL were doing everything they could to help them.

I'd also suggest that there's at least an equal body of evidence to suggest that rugby league hasn't really tried to engage these audiences in a particularly meaningful or effective way. Much like we don't seem particularly good at engaging various other audience segments that we could potentially reach (with enough people seeming to be more than willing to decry efforts by IMG to correct that). For a sport that prides itself on being a community sport, it seems particularly bad at reflecting those communities.

Bad IMO. There is no incentive for clubs to work hard to get participation numbers up in their areas or to invest more in to their academies. Instead, they can just take more of the short cuts they've been taking for the last X amount of years and hope it translates in to (short term) on field success. The game as a whole needs to stop looking for quick fixes and put some long term planning in place.

Well someone had to say it so may as well be me. I firmly believe that Cas threw all available monies into the IMG grading criteria last season instead of team building, McGuire as any coach who would have been appointed was on a hiding to nothing.

The problem at Cas is not the coach.

It was a bit bizarre I thought, it came in the immediate moments after Leeds' last try which was absolutely faultless as regards any possible rule infringements. The Lewis incident is in the following video with the replay around 1 minute 24 of the actual video time. I've watched it several times and, at the risk of incurring Worzel's wrath, I'm trying to work out what caused the HIA failure. Yes, Newman caught him high but it wasn't much more than a grab. He didn't make a direct hit on his jaw that normally is the reason a concussion occurs and his head didn't hit the ground either. It was a high tackle, that is obvious, and more than worthy of the penalty, but Lewis was losing the ball before any contact was made. I must admit, along with Jon Wells, I thought he was milking it a bit and was amazed when he failed his HIA. Perhaps the RFL Disciplinary will have a look and then we'll get their insight. Whatever, it was a high shot and Newman can probably consider himself fortunate that he didn't also have a sit down for at least ten minutes.

God i've missed that sound, for only the 2nd time this year we have a rousing rendition of 'The Referee's a W****r' from the East stand, Yep, Rovers lost! I wonder what these ref's do in their bedrooms between Rovers defeats as we never hear anything about them? Lewis off and the champions of the universe collapse in big style, 1 man team? not far off. Well done Leeds though it was obviously the Ref's fault!!.....BOOOOOOOOOOO

Felt a bit sorry for Connor being put on the spot, fair play to him for not biting