Damien

Supposedly it was Burna Boy. Yes I have no idea who he is either.

It's great to have this game at the Brick Comunnity Stadium. Things have completely changed since the Mike Danson takeover.

There was no broadcast coverage in the Republic of Ireland anyway. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland was just courtesy of the BBC, just as the Challenge Cup etc is broadcast in these places. If it wasn't for the BBC being UK wide I very much doubt it would be broadcast in these places, bar maybe Wales.

Same happened with James Graham who forgot he was a prop in his later years and began to shift the ball out the back way too much.

As I said on the other transfer thread Catalans are entirely within their rights to get rid of players like this. It also no doubt makes the decision easier when they are underperforming highly paid quota players.

No idea, I suspect it may be different as French RU clubs would be getting the cream of their sport, like the NRL in, where as Catalans seem to sign players that past the NRL, often have chequered histories and at the tail end of their careers.

Wise of Arthur not to officially take charge until after last night's game.

They never seem to learn do they? Living in the south of France does seem to attract southern hemisphere players that are more interested in a jolly.

You are certainly correct in that there is no magic bullet. Some seem to expect IMG to miraculously change nigh on 130 years of failings overnight. If it was all this simple then the sport wouldn't have been in the position they were in, and where they had to call on IMG, in the first place.

Not sure exactly what's happened but it seems like a good excuse to offload some highly paid quota players who aren't offering much, which is entirely Catalans perogative if the players are in the wrong.

A bit more here:

2. They are too scared of losing their friends, access and perks. Let's face it RL is too small in this country for a journalist to leave themselves on the outer with zero sources.

We know what the World Cup funding was and what it entailed. Absolutely no mention has ever been made of Odsal. Please feel free to provide a link to backup what you say and I'll read it with interest, until then its meaningless opinion.

Aren't you meant to be the journalist? I know you always blindly defend Nigel Wood but to try and credit the purchase of Odsal for the World Cup funding is frankly laughable. The lack of failing to hold senior RL figures to account is sorely lacking in RL journalism.

That seems an awfully tenuous link. I'm sure the World Cup funding would have been got regardless.

Seemed to be inevitable the way things had been going

I'm glad Bradford are buying it anyway and won't be subject to the whim of others.

South Africa are another of those nations that have been all smoke and mirrors for around 30 years now. Now and again you may here mentions of decent numbers of club teams but its never backed up by anything.

I reckon Leeds will get that new coach boost, do well then we will see Arthur get the job for next season

What a horrendous statement. The owners have an awfully thin skin if they feel they have to address criticism on social media with a statement like that. It also reflects really poorly on the running of the club, which obviously wasn't the intention.

I doubt it, we simply copied the Aussies as always.

@John Drake Could we not merge the two transfer tracker threads into just one? Most of the time it's just the same news and people don't even realise they've posted on the wrong one