Exiled Wiganer
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Posts posted by Exiled Wiganer
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1 hour ago, ELBOWSEYE said:
I like watching him(not against Warrington)
But the general consensus is that ours is an inferior competition and some players will thrive better in SL because it's not a week by week intensive competition, there are to many easy games. Lewis Dodd was a young half at the time playing well with an impressive Saints side, since signing he has lost form and is nowhere near a start in the NRL and will follow lots of backs who went over and return within two years.
This being a thread about Ashes squad predictions, my take is not that the NRL does not have great strength in depth, as I don’t think anyone is arguing against that. Nor is it that even with 12 teams, SL’s standard is such that there are too many easy games. These 2 points may flow directly from the respective salary caps. Like you, I am unstinting in my admiration for how the NRL and our game has conquered the entire region. My point is a different one: SL has many superb players, world class players, and the cream of them are every bit as good as the vast majority of the best NRL players. We see this not just in WCC games - which you can well dismiss with contempt, but which I believe are competitive and a clear demonstration that the top SL clubs hold their own (even when games are played in Oz), and in every international where SL combinations come up against NRLers.
I have seen a lot of league in my time, and have seen more than enough to appreciate that French is by any measure, world class. He is better than many of the players who will run the Kangaroos close this autumn, and who have beaten Tonga and Samoa over the last 2 years. You might argue that the style of British play, and that we tend to have smaller players, means that a player like Field thrives over here when he would be picked up and thrown over the stand in the NRL. I would agree with that, but I would counter it by saying we have a very exciting style of play over here, with a better balance than many defence defined NRL clubs. And French would thrive if he went back to the right environment and good enough coaching in the NRL.
As to absolute quality, I fear there remains a huge gap between my view that our top players are among the best in the world and yours. But an opinion is just an opinion when all is said and done.
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12 hours ago, OMEGA said:
What’s that got to do with the price of cabbages?
You were calling out sold out crowds as if Trinity are bringing us Bullmania mark 2. When you only need 8k - considerably less than the SL average - to do so. If your point is that they are trending upwards then that is of course a good thing. It struck me as worth highlighting coming as it did so close to a discussion around 10k being a “disappointment” for a Cup game.
It might be that the direction of travel is now to shrink capacities so that full house signs go up, but Wire getting stick for having a crowd which would have too big for Wilderspool back in the day seems crazy to me.
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18 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:
Cleary raving about French at the Grand Final calling him a freak says a lot about the respect one elite player has for another.
Going over the last few years, I think it is almost impossible to argue that Bevan French isn't in the very top bracket of players in the world.
Many Aussies share that view. I am told that the consensus is that he was too high maintenance a character when he was younger, and that there is a genuine feeling of awe at his development. He is testimony to the brilliance of Peet’s coaching, turning him into a stand off so good he was man of the match in the 3 “finals” we played last year. Elbow has the worst case of NRL=Goditis I have read on here for a long time. The cure is to watch every England game in the last 5 years against teams with wall to wall NRLers.
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2 hours ago, OMEGA said:
Wakefield have increased their crowds significantly over the years since SL and of course over the last 2 years under the new owner. It’s not just based on winning Championship games or even because the stadium is starting to offer a better experience. The major reason is the authenticity of the new ownerships plans for the club and the belief of those latent, apathetic fans in the city that this time Wakefield are genuinely on the rise in a sustainable way.
Toulouse GF was a sell out.
Hull KR sold out.
Sts 7,000 Sat pm & live on TV.
Hull FC sold out.
Leigh sold out
I’ve just been told that Cas at home is heading for a sell out both ticket wise and for hospitality.
Bearing in mind that we haven’t won a meaningful home game yet!Err, ok. But you couldn’t fit the crowd Wire had for the quarter final in your ground.
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1 hour ago, ELBOWSEYE said:
He could earn a lot more in the NRL on a basic contract, he basically gets more freedom to use his strengths in SL. Any Aussie who believes they would be a regular in the nrl does not play SL ( except players at the later stages of their career)
I disagree.
French is world class. We have moulded him into the player that he is over here. He has a different position and has developed exponentially since leaving the NRL. We have made him at home and supported him through some dark days. He thrives in our environment. As we see every time an SL team plays an NRL based selection the top players in our competition are among the top players in the world.
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4 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:
What was it you said about me and producing a list on the kitchen table when I referenced what a completely different team Wigan were without French and Field and their results dropped away alarmingly, then I posted the report and the facts and you just clammed up.
Not surprised with that though, I know a lot of Wigginers who do exactly the same, Exiled eh, you can take the boy out of the town, I think you will know the rest.
I very rarely bother to read your responses, but feel free to file me under “clammy”.
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3 minutes ago, Eddie said:
I do t think it’s reasonable to compare with Yawnion’s growth in attendances as they didn’t have a professional game or even a league back then. Undoubtedly though they do market themselves better, which is much easier when they have the media love in that they do.
If only there was a cross code forum…
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The 17 I would pick today - it’ll change tomorrow:
Welsby - Ashton - Farnworth - Wardle - Johnstone - Williams - Smith - Thompson - Clark - Havard - Nsemba - Nicholson - Radley: Subs: McMeeken - Knowles - Lewis - JPP…
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I am trying to work out whether a response from Harry S with the phrase “they have an opinion far above their station…” is a multi level piece of Leigh joke cutting wit or a staggering display of a lack of self awareness. I am going for the former as the sun is shining! Hats off Mr S! Oscar Wilde has company.
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I thought the crowd looked fine at Warrington, and the atmosphere came across well. That crowd would have course have been at or near a sell out at a number of SL Clubs, and praised to the heavens accordingly. I simply can’t see any reason to complain about it. The day Warrington getting 11k for a cup game televised on BBC is the biggest issue we face will be a happy one for the game.
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4 hours ago, AB90 said:
You are overestimating how many born and bred, Australian passport holders/citizens actually elect to play for Australia though.
You are correct in saying that likley 90% of the best players are technically ‘Australian’ however the overwhelming majority of those Australians that are of Polynesian/Pacific Island descent elect to play for their country of heritage (not Australia). 50% of the all NRL players are of pacific island descent.
If you look at the clear ‘Big 5’ nations (OZ, NZ, Eng, Tonga, Samoa) 22 man squads, the NRL would provide +85% of these players. Shows a bit of a discrepancy in the two leagues playing levels.
I think your conclusion isn’t right - those figures show a discrepancy in the countries for which they are eligible to play. As to the quality of the respective players, the games between actual SL players and actual NRL players are all the evidence we need. SL players can compete and often win every time they play against teams of mostly NRL players.
If you mean that there are more NRL players, and more NRL players play for strong international sides, then I agree with that. As to absolute quality, time and time again we can see for ourselves that SL produces many top class players.
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1 hour ago, Just Browny said:
Good grief. I thought that was the most impact he has had all season when he came back on too, really put Saints on the back foot.
Vaughan v JWH at Wembley. That would be a must see…
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8 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:
Take a break. You don’t need to be one all the time.
Feel free to start a new thread either on NRL are all Gods, AFL’s top 10 international crowds and/or why spending time on a forum for a code you can take or leave focusing on a country 12 thousand miles away is a great use of the time you have left. You are welcome.
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Just caught up with this, and:
- someone pretty much started a thread earlier to make a point about Williams not being good enough - I hope they had ketchup with those words;
- Ashton is world class: now he has added line breaking through the heart of high class defences to his repertoire, he has locked down an Ashes wing spot;
- 20 points will always be enough for a good team to beat this Saints side. They have such a limited spine it is hard to fathom who does their recruitnent; and
- I was thinking of betting on 3 of the games ending 20 12: if only I had a Time Machine.
Well done to Wire. I was doubtful that Burgess would make a good coach, but they looked like a team that really knew what they were trying to do, and with the skill to pull it off.
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3 hours ago, Wilderspoolmemories said:
According to a saints fan on another forum Asatia should have been sent off today for wire
When did we sign him?
Tbf with that danger to life and limb he deserves to walk in pretty much any match, whether or not he takes part.
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Another factor is that they know Williams’ game better than they know Lewis’, as their default position is NRLers = Gods, so won’t respect or bother to study how Lewis plays. Until it’s too late!!
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Happy with any combination of the 3. Williams will always do at least one game breaking thing each match, Lewis is the sort of style of player that the Aussies traditionally find hard to snuff out and Smith brings control and discipline and an excellent kicking game which we will need to stand any chance.
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18 hours ago, binosh said:
Honestly it’s a shambles, it isn’t IMG’s fault but this has been on the cards for years and the RFL will have known about it, if the debt is historic as keeps being stated and upto £5M then Salford should NOT have been given a choice in November. Financial losses in pro sports clubs isnt new, if Someone is picking up the tab it’s immaterial, we don’t need Martin Lewis to explain that Salford don’t have that so where are all the losses going. The RFL should have been all over this looking at Balance sheets for grading and accounts.
A condition of the £500k advance should have been to reduce the wage bill to 1.2M with immediate effect and offer all players out for a nominal transfer fee with the RFL taking control of the remaining players wages centrally until the end of the season. Each of the remaining 11 clubs to offer 1 loan player to pad the squad out.
Failure to lead on this situation is why we are still dealing with the fallout now and players and fans don’t know what’s going on.
Very poor from a well paid experienced team at Head Office who went silent on the matter.
I am intrigued by your starting point. How do you know whose fault it was and wasn’t? We had an assessment mechanism which rated the clubs and concluded that Salford were one of the top 12 teams. If I were a club, I might consider it reasonable to rely on that assessment process and assume that it would not lead to a club unable to pay players being awarded a licence. It should go without saying.
Have you seen the information provided to the clubs? I would love to see it one day, because everything we are seeing now flows directly from that recommendation and that decision.
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9 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:
I will start with saying I think SL is great. Enjoyed the derby last night. The quality is definitely good enough to be deserving of a great following. I also hope England win the series 3-0.
To your post and question. The Kangaroos are not the best of the NRL. They are the best Australians of the NRL.
The overwhelming majority of the next World Cup will be played by NRL players. I think that can help identify the stronger league.
A fumble baller comes onto a thread about UK ticket sales going superbly, and “contributes” “in your place peasants NRL = Gods”. Such a loser.
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Nice plugs on BBC today.
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The skill levels are dire so far. The atmosphere comes over well and it is competitive, so we can hope for better.
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Looking at those attendances - many thanks, Goose - drives home that London is the best place in the world to put on a major league international event. We southern based folk never let the game down.
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13 minutes ago, sam4731 said:
Surely that's more of a Melbourne view rather than an Australian view. Surely most from NSW and QLD living in London would absolutely relish seeing the Kangaroos playing at Wembley. We've really got to play on it big time because it's a huge opportunity.
I think there are plenty of Aussies and Kiwis who know that the Kangaroos are a sight worth seeing. They are a somewhat transient and disparate population, though, and London is basically dozens of towns stuck together. We should aim to ensure that every passing through Aussie and Kiwi is aware that the Kangaroos are coming. If only we had Simon Moran running the operation, we would stand a chance of getting the word out there. It won’t turn 50k into 80k, but we could turn 60k plus into 70k plus that way.
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34 minutes ago, lemmy xaan said:
I remember GB winning at Wembley in Oct 1990, with a 50k+ crowd. I think that was the first time in the modern era since Odsal '78 when we won a test at home. The day after, Old Trafford (2nd test) had a massive surge and sold out all at once.
The psychology of ticket purchases, especially amongst the RL "passive" audience, is a strange phenomenon. But like any event, you just have to have something that triggers the cultural spark and a ground will surge-sell. It's quite possible to see a near 100k stadium sell out for an event in a very short period of time (NFL, Taylor Swift...). Something that we in RL very rarely manage. Yet sometime do....We often talk about "marketing" or "the event" - which I support. But there is a cultural trigger at play that means that occasionally, we get a surge. And that is, I wonder, what's happening here.
Why it's happening here is the question. I'm guessing Everton will surge now. Then, what will be interesting is whether and why Wembley will surge - or will remain guest to Mr Alternate Row and Mr Grey Upper Deck.
I have been to every international held in the south since my exile started in 1990. It has never been particularly difficult to find non leaguies who would go. There are hundreds of thousands of sports fans who would love to watch a high class sports event. I am sure many other leaguies down here are in the same boat. What tips the balance is the point at which they mention it to me. It has happened a few times over the decades but not often enough. Early 90s and the World Cup semi spring to mind. In contrast, some games - the England NZ one at the Olympic stadium springs to mind - have felt like an afterthought, with no general awareness among sports mad people down here.
It looks entirely feasible that Everton will be pretty much done by Easter, and 10s of thousands at Wembley already in the bag, which leaves the team 5 months to sell it. I have no doubt that if they put their mind to it we can get over 70k, and could go far higher. The potential audience is absolutely vast.
Once they are on their way, I think the best way to turn it into an event is to use Wembley Way properly. There is no equivalent at the Emirates, or even the Olympic Stadium where everyone comes from all directions. Then put some music on before and at half time, get some proper community singing down our necks and the game will look after itself.
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Ashes Squad Predictions
in The General Rugby League Forum
Posted · Edited by Exiled Wiganer
If they are a marquee player it wouldn’t make a difference either way. Err, missed that HGAG got there ahead of me…