Wellsy4HullFC

I just hope Salford don't drop out before then because that'll ruin the event.

It's about taking smart and calculated risks. This is neither of those. This is throwing Smarties at a hole in the wall and seeing which goes through. We don't have enough Smarties to risk like that.

As for Derek's 9s idea, he's free to fund one as a proof of concept if he's so sure it would be successful. Try a one-day tournament on the Sunday after the CCF somewhere in London whilst all the fans are there.

Magic Weekend should be this round of the Challenge Cup anyway (but in May, not March). Same for quarters at one venue. Main reason being TV content. You can provide 8 games (and 4 for QFs) for relatively low cost. The combined attendance at the Last 16 is usually around 30k, and quarters about 24k. Could easily double that.

So why not start by providing a completely different product?... 9s is a completely different game to watch. It would not sell as well as Magic Weekend.

Correct, and scraped past both of them by 1 and 2 points respectively. It was Halifax that knocked out then-SL side London, who then knocked out Bradford 2 rounds later to make the semis. Bradford achieved the highest attendance of the round in both the last 16 and the quarter finals too (the quarters being against Halifax, and that all-Championship game outdrew the other 3 all-SL games). Says a lot about the cup as a draw though. IIRC, when the semis were double-headers, the venue was announced ahead of time to help ticket sales. I liked the semis as double headers for that reason, although ticket sales remained fairly consistent with that of 2 single games.

You come across as a very bitter person.

+42 points in Sky Bet. Every result on Sky Bet was 2 points out from the handicap. Leeds had +10 and Bradford +8. I naturally was the wrong side of all 3

Not to mention how it affects Magic Weekend.

Why have they gone with a circus tent theme? Is that why it says "the greatest show"?

Has anyone suggested cheap tickets yet?...

It's the equivalent of being forced to use a 1-17 system, then changing your line up so your 1-4 are on the bench and then moving the line up on the field. It was really petty and only made the international game look small fry.

What if the wingrrer gets injured and they move their 1 to the wing and 6 to full back? Won't that confuse them?

Less than 7k for an NRL game?

Second season syndrome for Sam?

What kind of boxing scoring are you using here? I've never seen it.

Saints look like a team with some great individual players that can make amazing plays. They do not look like a team. That's the difference between Saints 2018-2023 and Saints 2024-5.

I don't think that's practical, as much as it seems common sense for this incident. You can't just go again because you're not sure what happened. You need to know what happened as an official! I get it for play the balls if the player can't hear the official call held.

Ironically, the game finished at exactly 22:22.

That was one of the most disgusting cop outs I've ever seen from officials. It was a yes or no decision. He was either on it or he wasn't. Saying inconclusive there just means they have no bottle to overturn the referee. It clearly wasn't taken over the line, so either it's play on or our penalty. Awful awful officiating all night. The only conclusive decision that can be made.

Yeah I've no issue with Rapana yellow. Feared it would have been red compared to the other "yellow".

That was my fear. Well, the game's gonna blow out a bit now. Great.

In fairness, half of ours are out too. Already shifting players around.

Don't even know what to think. Still not used to us winning any games! Could be close, could get hammered. I'd be ecstatic if we won, but again would be happy with another committed performance where they put in their all rather than roll over.