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Let’s find out ......

Spot on ! build from the foundations, get RL back in schools, support the amateurs and the heartland ...... Pearson's suggestion is a 'sugar hit' to be burned on player wages and marketing consultants.

Take the emotion of the WC decision away for a moment , because as in most cases it's six of one and half a dozen of the other , the fact is that the NRL have been very successful in running the game down under and they're certainly no amateurs , the way V'landys has managed the competition through the pandemic has been very impressive. The game in England has been on the decline for the past twenty years with the RFL chasing an expensive, uncordinated expansion strategy while watching the foundations of the game crumble. I'm not against expansion but it needs to be strategic and sucessful like the Melbourne Storm. Not sure if the NRL and the English game are compatible though, with our culture and for me the necessity of promotion and relegation. If the NRL could accomodate the best of our traditions and not turn the Championship into feeder clubs then I'd be prepared to give them a go and let them run the game. Or we can continue the way we are going ?

On skimming the thread I feel like a bit of an outlier on this one but I understand why the Aussies aren't coming, the covid situation is far different over there with very low vaccination rates to what we have here , the clubs are relocating on mass to SE Queensland and with quarantine rules any touring party on return would have any hardly any time before the start of the next season. And it's not just the Aussies all the Kiwis and Pacific Islanders play NRL. Covid's exploding here and trying to shoe horn a WC in amongst all that doesn't make sense especially when a lot of the touring players and staff may not be vaccinated. Listened to the IRLB CEO on Dave Woods BBC podcast last week and he sounded like a man way out of his depth (reminded me of Rimmer!) , spouting a load of rhetoric , lacking leadership and with no real answers.

Very surprising and welcome appointment, it's a win win for both parties with McDermott keeping a role in the game until an opening appears for him in SL or a top Championship side and Oldham get a very good temporary coach. Hope he has some budget to bring in a couple of play makers though as he's no magician !!

Hamilton sacking a coach mid season is unprecedented for him ( I think ?) and I guess he sounded out a few of the senior players before he made his decision. I think part of his motivation might be the uncertainity over the League structure next season given the 30% cut in Sky money and as a result the possibilty that there might not be a League 1 to drop into next year !

Watching the highlights of Whitehaven's game against Bradford it looked like most of Bradford's tries were scored down the middle with Haven's tries scored outwide, they look like a team who move the ball well with some dangerous strike players out wide. If we can boss the middle as we might be able to do with our pack and have some good edge defence there could be the chance of another two points against one of our 'mini league' rivals. Come on Oldham !

Impressive win and it looks like the team has bonded really well. Only seen the highlights but Green also looked good at fullback and competition for places will help lift the levels.

Good confidence boosting win but still with room for improvement and nice to see the ball getting a bit more width compared to the Naylor years. Can see how Diskin is trying to bring Abram more into the line and I thought he had one of his best games. Still need to improve our last tackle plays and kicking though and thought Fieldhouse made a good point about how we could have cross field to target Lepori. 2 points in our mini league is a great start !

Hope it's gone forever ......... one of Ralph Rimmer's ideas !! ........just wish he'd go the same way !

He always 'reached for the skies' when he played so good luck to him, great to see a legend get back involved with the club

Given we’ve had no rugby league to watch or listen to I like many have found myself really enjoying the NRL. and came across some fascinating podcasts , I recommend you give the Matty Johns podcast a go especially the one about the Super League war when the game down there was split in two by Murdoch and the ARL with Kerry Packer , the money flying around was crazy ! The follow up one about the Kangaroo tests with Steve ‘Blocker’ Roach is good too, Oldham even get a mention .... by mistake ! https://www.foxsports.com.au/podcasts/the-matty-johns

The Wigan side Oldham beat in that famous 4th Feb 1987 CC tie on a never to be forgotten night at Watersheddings is below , probably one of the great all time teams looking at the line up that went on to beat Manly in the World Club challenge at Central Park . Paddy Kirwan's last minute try made him a legend ! ......... just hope we can turn the corner and build again one day ! WiganlBacks:l 1. Steve Hampson, 2. Joe Lydon, 3. Ellery Hanley, 4. Dean Bell, 5. Henderson Gill, 6. Shaun Edwards, 7. Andy Gregory WiganlForwards:l 8. Graeme West, 9. Martin Dermott, 10. Brian Case, 11. Ian Roberts, 12. Ian Potter, 13. Andy Goodway WiganlSubs Used:l 14. David Stephenson (replaced Steve Hampson -70th Minute)

Barrow Chairman’s initiatives have to be applauded like giving out free season tickets to all school kids in the area and family deals but when we play out of town in somebody else’s stadium we’re at a huge disadvantage....... Euromillions still looks like our best bet !!

From hero to zero for Abram , I like him and think he'll be a real asset when the conditions start to improve but one thing we need to do immediately is move him away from the ruck when defending on our line. Kear had obviously watched the Workington game and marked him as as a weak link and Bradford ran over him to put the game of sight after ten minutes. We really looked like an average League One side in the first half, agree Owen's not offering enough now on either attack or defence and Charnock has disappointed especially with his kicking. On a bright note I think we now have a couple of really good wingers and Ince had a promising debut just wish we'd given him more of the ball , a couple of times we could have gone on the blind side and given him a 1 v 1. Dewsbury looked good and Batley are getting results so it's rapidly looking like to 2 down from 3

Great effort , too many pens gifted them a way back into the game but held on for a deserved win

That’s good looking forward to watching the stream later ?