Damien

Congratulations to Hull KR, they were far and away the better team tonight. Wigan just didn't turn up and looked out of sorts all night. We need to put a lot of things right for next week.

Wigan, Leeds and Brentford would be a pretty good spread and should get decent crowds at each.

To compare to figures just released from Queensland it really illustrates how much we are up against it when we play Australia with 67,701 registered male participants and 10,311 female: Participation across community rugby league and QRL statewide competitions grew by five per cent in 2023. Registration numbers exploded during the early months of the year, and by season’s end, there were 67, 701 registered club players. Female participation increased by 10 per cent, with numbers eclipsing 10,000 for the first time. Junior numbers climbed above 50,000, with the Central and North regions welcoming an influx of new participants. See the full breakdown: Queensland SEQ Central Northern Registered participants 67,701 27,707 23,536 15,528 Percentage growth 5.18% 3.81% 7.01% 5.92% Registered female participants 10,311 3497 3765 2866 Percentage growth 10.30% 11.40% 10.64% 10.57% Registered junior participants 51,917 22,276 17,790 11,921 Percentage year-to-date growth 5.25% 3.45% 6.89% 6.46% Registered senior participants 15,784 5431 5746 3607 Percentage year-to-date growth 4.96% 5.33% 7.36% 4.19% https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/sport/qrl-ceo-ben-ikin-has-penned-a-column-to-provide-an-update-on-the-state-of-rugby-league-in-queensland/news-story/c95618b5cfcca7b4ebb4fb5647f7818f

The most notable change is the date. Obviously there is a strong potential for people just to choose the Grand Final and not bother with the Challenge Cup at all or vice versa and we could be far worse off overall. Also an October Challenge Cup date will come with worse weather and could well be less appealing for people who still see the Challenge Cup as a day trip/weekend away to London. I can't see that working. Bigger clubs joining a round earlier is something I'd be up for but joining too early as in a couple of these proposals just has the potential for farcical mismatches and increases the workload for the bigger clubs. Limiting quota players too seems detrimental, fans want to see the top stars likes Field and French. The rest, in particular all the announcements is all a little meh and will do nothing to get more people going to the final.

Surely seeing a match is better than seeing no match at all?

Either way it was very poorly done.

You said to get competitive. Michael Maguire virtually transformed Wigan both on and off the field in a single pre-season and won the Grand Final in his first. The likes of Bradford, Saints and Leeds didn't take a decade to get to their peaks and win honours. Indeed Bradford went from a 7th place finish to SL Champions in 2 seasons under Matthew Elliot and transformed the club with the whole Bulls rebrand. It is more than possible with the right appointments and investment.

When has a full rebuild in RL took a decade? Various big clubs have done it in a fraction of that time. Obviously the money and backing has to be there, which would be the case if the investment that has been alluded to happens.

And the same applied to the Aussies.

By being part time with far less training and games at a far lower intensity.

Course you can

The Premiership essentially morphed into the Grand Final and play offs, obviously with the Champions tag elevating it. County Cups have had their day and there simply aren't enough quality teams to make them worthwhile. We are struggling enough with the Challenge Cup on that front.

You can have both, it's no different than clubs like Wigan.

I'd say he is in a strong position to make the role right for him with the autonomy that he needs.

He says the right things anyway. Good luck to him.

Fair points.

I think the Cricket comparisons are really poor. If I'm a Cricket fan in Wigan of course I'll follow Lancashire as its the cricket team that represents me and is the professional tier of competition. If I want to watch Cricket at the best domestic level it's Lancashire. In RL its far from the same. The equivalent of Lancashire for me is Wigan, we are not a profesional game based on counties or provinces. It's a club game. A Lancashire v Yorkshire game is just another match that is a worse standard than Wigan v various SL teams and will be far worse than dozens of SL games. Sure I'll watch it on TV, as I will pretty much watch any RL, but there is absolutely nothing about that game that would make me bothered about watching it live.

I think at underage level this stuff works fine generally as it is, certainly from a Lancashire and Yorkshire perspective. It gives young players a representative game at a higher level of competition and considerations like crowds and selling the game to the wider public do not matter. That does not mean it works at professional level or serves any purpose.

To what purpose? If the argument for Lancashire v Yorkshire is a higher tier of competition then something like this certainly isn't that. It would be mediocre, Championship level stuff at best and all rather pointless.

I never get that impression from listening to him speak, always seems articulate enough to me. Phil Clarke also went to University so is certainly educated.

I think it would depend on what is on offer and what changes are happening at Hull FC. Taking over a cashed up Hull FC would be an attractive gig for any coach, particularly when they've hit rock bottom and the only way is up. You'd imagine there'd be plenty of time and scope to make the necessary changes too. A bigger version of Salford with the same financial constraints less so.

France certainly can choose to be better than they are. Catalans players don't have to drop out with 'injuries', they don't need to schedule a France game on the same day as a Toulouse one, they can work much harder to develop and expand the game in France and their players pool etc. There is heaps France can do to improve themselves. Yes sure they still probably won't be good enough in the foreseeable future but it's plainly false to say there is nothing they can do. Sure Lancashire and Yorkshire players can choose to bother not trying. However there is ample evidence, going back to the first one of these games I watched in the 1980's, to say they won't.

I know what France is like, no one is sugarcoating that. The trouble for you is I also remember what low quality the Lancashire v Yorkshire matches were like.