usain bolt
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Posts posted by usain bolt
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On 15/01/2024 at 00:07, del capo said:
Had a great weekend to kick off 2024.
Saturday at the Queens Hotel in Leeds featured the RFL President's Ball. Warrington fanatic Sir Lindsay Hoyle entertained with a lively and inspiring introduction castigating the authorities on their lack of true recognition for our own 'Sir Kev ' when they can happily give out a second knighthood to the other lot , before moving on to help presenter Tanya Arnold in the charity auction . where he auctioned a bottle of his own privately supplied single malt ' Speaker Hoyle's Select ' for £700 ! All proceeds as always helped boost the coffers of Rugby League Cares.
Before that shindig though I managed to squeeze in the first round CC game between Leeds outfit Oulton Raiders and Bradford's West Bowling. This clash between two NCL sides did not fail to entertain.
The Raiders pressed early and often but the Bradford defence was up to the task and by half time they had broken out themselves several times and amassed a seemingly unassailable lead.
A different story in the second half though as the home side rallied and rattled up their own points before eventually being beaten to the finishing post.
A decent crowd of at least a couple of hundred braved bright but cold weather. Both sides produced excellent attacking football . This was my first visit to Raider Park. Thoroughly enjoyable - great setting with warm friendly clubhouse overlooking expansive wicket and playing fields and more importantly serving excellent Guinness. Will be a good afternoon out for anyone seeking quality community rugby this season.
After saturday night cobwebs needed to be blown away so sunday took me home back down the M62 to Wigan where Orrell St James took on on their rivals from the other side of Billinge Hill in St Helens club Haresfinch.
A massive crowd of well over a 1000 trooped down to the venue and were in fine spirits through an absorbing , occasionally tasty encounter. Another exhibition of skills and endeavour but the home side always had the better of it. I'm told a wide audience enjoyed the TV coverage and there are fine comments on other threads here.
The clubhouse again rammed. Good to see plenty of community and Odd Balls apparel on show. Some of our older stalwarts sometimes moan that the game is only supported by an ageing following of dyed in the wool males.
Not on yesterdays showing in Leeds and Wigan.
Thriving crowds of mixed aged sexes, families , mums and dads and surprising numbers of older teenagers to add to old buggers like me.
As even the Blockheads might say, plenty of ' Reasons to be Cheerful '. Bring on 2024......
Plenty of reasons to be cheerful in 2024, until the new rules are in place and the games are ruined by a multitude of penalties that would have probably spoiled the enjoyment of those 2 fixtures you attended. The orrell v haresfinch fixture, having watched it on the sportsmans channel would have attracted a mass of penalties for high tackles, which simply under the pro rules this year wouldn't be, but will be under the community rules, and most of the tackles weren't dangerous but ball and all which were being applauded by the commentators.
My concern is, coaches and players study, copy and learn from the pro game, however there'll be nothing to compare to, and if the current rules are so damaging to the players and game, then why are the new rules not being rolled out across the board. The game will be a lottery week to week, dependent on interpretation from refs, some will be strict I'd guess and some more lenient, and some for part of a game and some for the full 80.
Yep, role on 2024, and the continued demise of rugby league, from within
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25 minutes ago, Cumbria1 said:
Sorry but Egremont would been in round 1 as they were NCL Div 1 this year, that’s why West Bowling and Heworth are in round 1, All teams in round 2 are NCL Prem from last year so it’s Kells & St Pats who are missing.
if am honest unless you get home draws or a tasty derby game your not gonna make much money. Most NCL teams are already paying for buses for the NCL season so playing in this adds extra costs that most teams could do without
Meant only 2 from this years ncl prem that are missing from the draw overall, nothing to do with round 1 or 2
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Kells and Egremont must have decided not to enter as they're the only 2 from 12 ncl prem teams not entered
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Just now, JM2010 said:
I was just going to say the same thing. Obviously Wardle and Farnworth are unavailable. Are Newman, King, Wardle and Farnworth our only centres?
Percival and Connor too, but pretty limited after that
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3 minutes ago, JM2010 said:
I think Thewlis has played some FB at Warrington. Another option could be to put Ashton to FB and Thewlis on the wing
I'd predict welsby stays at 1, and currie or Bateman fill the centre hole.
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3 minutes ago, Northern Eel said:
The problem with Welsby at centre is that it cuts out lots of the opportunities he creates in midfield as a full back or half back.
Agree, don't think welsby be moved either
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4 hours ago, JM2010 said:
Maybe Thewlis to FB and Welsby to centre?
Surely a specialist centre should have been brought in, but I guess who, shows how light in that department we are. Is Thewlis a recognised 1, can't see welsby being shifted from 1, but probably able to fill the centre as good as anyone. Lewis could maybe have slotted in at 1 also, with welsby centre
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Light at centre, who be the 2 to play there. Fill in with Bateman or currie out of position or 1 of the 3 wingers in the 19?
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12 hours ago, rugbylad09 said:
3- Zac Olstrum from Ellenbrough
6- Josh Wood from west hull
7- If I remember rightly he plays in the halves but can also play FB, it’s Lewis Hoisty from Siddal. Also like Gainford from Kells
8- I’m actually unsure on this one, Pearce from wath brow, kamano from Hunslet, samme from Dewsbury Moor all credible shouts, probably even field from west gate in YML
12- Ben Arbon from west hull, closely followed by MacCallum from Siddal
13- Ryan Steen from west hull
out of interest who would you say the league/England lions best 13 is?
for me it’s Craig mcshane mclelland/weatherill (wath brow winger- was top scorer in ncl this year, though may count himself lucky that olstrum played a game less and dargan played 5 games less) tough to separate, olstrum, dearden, dargan, wood, hoisty, field, Jack McShane, kamano (providing Jamie fields retires), shulver, arbon, steen
Agree with wood from west hull, cracking player, think holgate at brow is a top 9 too. Wilson at west hull, usually prop and kicker always seems to go well also. The Aussie centre at Mayfield looked good and Tracey, back rower at Thatto always seems to be a threat with ball in hand. Think hosty is a better centre than a half also. Lock Lane prop always leads from the front, he carries well too.
Would have to have a good think for a 1 -13 although mcshane at 1 and dargan wing are big threats and top players at hunslet along with shulver but arbon at west hull is better I think. Siddal back rower is strong too, can't think of his name, think he's ginger though, and likes a carry in the attacking 20 area
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On 09/10/2023 at 23:58, rugbylad09 said:
I have to agree. Can think of 9/10 of them who should definitely be getting paid at a higher level.
I think the scary thing for opposition is how many of them are under 25 years old too. Wouldn’t be surprised, and it would be well deserved, if future England lions sides are littered with 5+ players from Hunslet.
IMO you have the best 1,2,4,5,9,10,11 in the country at amateur level.Watched hunslet and agree with most of those positions you've mentioned as being their best players, and as you say probably up there as the best in the league in those positions. Picking an England community lions side now, they'd probably dominate the squad, if they fancy playing that is, sure mcshane at 1 declined the last tour, and maybe the big back rower.
Who'd be your best 3, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13 from the rest of the community game to fill out the community lions team, there certainly are some great candidates to choose from.
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I think Bateman will be captain, Whitehead vice
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On 01/02/2023 at 18:55, del capo said:
The Barla National cup is probably fixtured in the right slot but has never been aligned to the rest of the community game { Pennine apart } and over the years has sometimes suffered from seemingly poor off the cuff organisation , last minute walk overs et al - nightmare for club secretaries organising facility usage transport food etc.
NCL delivers week in week out fixtures with severe consequences for miscreants. League fixtures take priority over all but the CC. a stand welcomed by it's members. But it provides back up dates and rarely trespasses into Bank Holiday weekends.
IF Barla could get down to say it's last 8 by early March each year and then use those NCL spare dates to complete the event. with much better publicised format and liaison with NCL then more clubs might well show an interest....
I totally agree, the ncl is the premier competition and has more stability, and looking at this year's draw, very few winter based teams have entered the barla cup, more ncl clubs have entered, probably more as a pre season requisite than anything else, although the blanks in the ncl season seem to allow progress to the semis and final this time around without a problem of having 2 fixtures on the same day if there's progress to those latter rounds by an ncl team.
Maybe more teams would enter the barla cup if they knew prior that there wouldn't be a clash of fixtures, league ncl fixture/barla semi or final on the same day, but that dialogue doesn't seem to happen. A knockout tournament whether it be the barla cup or not was always a nice change to the week to week league campaign but nowadays it seems more of a hindrance, I just don't know why that is, players I guess just seem to want the most minimal of formats maybe
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On 30/01/2023 at 12:58, Spidey said:
Keeping it a winter cup when the vast majority played summer killed it off
Would it have been a success moving it to a summer cup, there are no summer cups now as the ncl got rid of theirs, so there's no saying the barla cup would be any better off being played in summer as there seems to be no appetite for any summer cups now. The ncl don't have any leeway in the season it seems, a few blank weekend's for catch up fixtures if needed looking at the fixture list
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On 11/01/2023 at 22:02, Keep The Faith said:
Could then be put into the national cup if knocked out before round 2
The barla national cup is open invite to all, think there was 19 this year who entered, and blackbrook pulled out in the preliminary round v Siddal leaving 18. Not many teams want to play in it anymore, sad but true
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Are the BBC showing a game a round this year, hope so
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7 hours ago, Davo5 said:
For a change ?
Last year was the first year they haven’t entered in god knows how long & that was simply down to the early start.
Ah, thought it was 2019, last time brow entered, apologise if it's a mistake, just remember them missing
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15 hours ago, Spidey said:
As it’s out of season the NCL won’t compel teams to compete. Invite the top ranked then move down if any of them decline
Looks like Kells and egremont this year who haven't entered, Wath Brow have entered for a change
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Thanks spidey and del capo, thought all ncl prem teams were required to enter but looks like that's untrue. Looks like a pretty much who wants to regarding ncl teams, until there's enough entrants
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What's the criteria for entry, and which teams have entered
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Just now, Dunbar said:
McMeeken may have been used in the middle but his experience on the edge is valuable. We haven't had to reshuffle our backline in the bigger games but McMeeken offers us that option without losing experience on the edge.
People saying Radley or Knowles could slot into the edge are underestimating the value of having a player who defends there every week... especially if that is to get Lees and Thompson onto the bench together.
My view is that McMeeken keeps his bench spot due to his versatility and its Lees or Thompson.
I would have no problems with Wane keeping a winning 17 together though.
I agree, Mcmeeken gives added flexibility being able to play edge, but he's still there as a middle in wanes eyes, he'll be in the middles rotation unless injury strikes elsewhere.
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He'll go 4 middles like he did v png and Samoa, Mcmeeken was used as a middle even though he's an edge for Catalans. Knowles, Lees, Cooper, Thompson, Mcmeeken, 4 from those 5. Wouldn't be surprised if the team stays the same, but Thompson in for either Lees or Mcmeeken would be my pick.
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7 minutes ago, Saint Toppy said:
Sneyd & KPP to miss out for me of that 19
Tomkins, Makinson, Watkins, Farnworth, Young, Welsby, Williams, Hill, McIlorum, Burgess, Whitehead, Bateman, Radley - Knowles, McMeeken, Cooper, Lees.
PNG's game is based around getting dominance with their forwards so i suspect Wane will go with 4 forwards on the bench, particularly as its going to be a wet weather game.
Same 17 for me I think, 4 forwards with Bateman able to fill a backs role if necessary and Radley back up 9.
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On 31/10/2022 at 11:46, usain bolt said:
I think wane will go
1 Tomkins
2 Makinson 3 Watkins 4 Farnworth 5 Young
6 Welsby 7 Williams
8 Hill 9 Mcillorum 10 Burgess
11 Whitehead 12 Bateman
13 Radley
14 Lees 15 Knowles 16 Thompson 17 Cooper
18 Ackers 19 Mcmeeken
Pearce Paul for Thompson
Sneyd for Ackers
Wasn't far off on the 19 selection, no surprises for me other than Thompson not in the 19 at all. Think he'll go mcmeeken bench for Thompson, the rest as above
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When's the England squad due to be announced?
England Community Lions Open Age
in The National Conference League Forum
Posted
There's more staff than players from what I've saw on some of the pictures, assistants of assistants by the looks of it. £5000 a head, rediculous amount of money that some players and clubs, especially those with a few players selected will struggle to afford.