Wendall

Spanish soccer club Barcelona wants to host a French rugby league match at the Camp Nou next year. Barcelona says president Sandro Rosell and Perpignan counterpart Paul Goze have agreed to a collaborative agreement between the Catalan clubs, which would include Perpignan playing a match in the Catalan capital. http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianp...x__ob3N3KEnUGOQ

I think Wilkin was trying to say players who have been overlooked by other sports yet are fantastic atheletes and would be more suited to RL. In the USA their must be many 1000s of atheletes who miss out on the NFL who could play RL.

Prince and Cronk are great but they would not come anywhere near the likes of Lockyer and Thurston in terms of quality. Just depends who gets injured for England, I cant see Eastmond being fully fit.

Cant see a cricket score being posted here by Wire as people have siad the Wembley win will have took it out of us and rested players will be missed.

Just listening to Jon Wilkin on GMR and he is talking sense for once. Rhys Evans the young South Welsh lad who moved up to Warrington as a teenager and is due to make his debut at Quins for the first team tommorrow. Wilkin was saying RL need to do more of this and scout young athletes from other sports like soccer and other parts of the UK like Scotland who are fed up with that sport and would have a body shape more suited to RL. I agree, at the moment we pick up talent from a very small geographical area and there are arguebly potentially better RL players who never pick up an oval ball that we are missing out on. Think of all the coloured minorities in london who could be the next Hanley or Offiah but have never heard of RL. Its all about our scouts finding them and our clubs reaching out and giving them an opportunity to play RL.

Would have to be Wigan.

Good to see you supporting your fellow lancastrians!!! Obviously beating Saints is something Wire need to get off their backs, for mental reasons. But how many clubs/people in sport have bogey teams? Wire can still win trophies and not face Saints it don't matter at the end of the day in the history books it will be remembered that in 2009 Wire won a trophy Saints didn't and possibly in 2010!!! Smith may have failed badly with England but as have Noble, Waite and every other coach in the last decade or so. But his domestic record is what I would judge him on, he has done fantastic with every club he has been at in SL and has that 'special' knack of turning teams that have been underachievers around. Thats what an NRL club will be looking at, for god's sake if McRae can get a job in the NRL then Smith should stroll in when his contract ends in 2013.

I agree and a lot of these larger louts are in their late 30's and 40's, but fortunately they are a small (but sadly growing) minority. A lot of them are using RL as an excuse to get away from the wife and kids for an afternoon/evening and a day to go on the lash and also participate in other chemicals. Their interest in RL seems to be for their own team only and in big games like derbys and GF and CC finals, if that and not for the game in general. Many are ex soccer fans who have been banned from grounds for various offences and see RL as a good day out with booze available on tap throughout the match and able to drink on the terraces.

I think it may well take a SL Grand Final win to finally wake up the RL media and the wider sporting media who have always championed RL sides who have had success, and winning twice at Wembley is up there. I just feel that the club has come a long way in a short space of time and we dont yet have the plaudits we deserve. In the dark days under Cullen we were often ridculed as big time flops who promised everything but failed and rightly so. Now we have turned the corner I think more praise is needed.

Buying this for deffo!!!

Now before you all start this is not a dig at anyone on here but the RL media in general. Having watched the replay of the final and read various articles in the press I feel that there is not enough praise for what Wire have achieved in beating Leeds in the final and doing a double of challenege cup wins. To come from near the foot of SL when Smith took over from Lowes at Wire in 2009 is a remarkable achievement to be winning back to back at Wembley and sitting joint 2nd in SL. I just feel that there is an anti Wire bias in the RL media, only Eddie Hemmings in general seems to big us up, the likes of Clarke, Stevo and Woods (on BBC) seem to think Leeds blew it more than Wire won it! If it was Saints or Wigan that had won two Wembley's on the trot people would be shouting for them to be BBC team of the year!! And Tony Smith, this guy has done a remarkable job and should be coach of the year over McGuire. I am so glad he's at Wire till 2013. But after that I expect an NRL club to pick him up, he deserves the biggest jobs and a chance to prove his worth.

Hmm not sure about this signing but at least he's French! The big names from the NRL they have had recently like Ryles, Walker and Johnson have turned out to be duffers so maybe some lesser names will be keener to impress.

Quins need a top coach and Kear would be the answer. He could tempt some names down from the North instead of journeymen that have come down and never made it.

Catalans need some fresh blood and its good to see some coming in. Elima will be a big loss, he had a top season in 2009 but failed to back up in 2010.

Kevin Penny looks like he has played his last game at Wire as he cant get a look in. He did a good job at Quins this season and they were wanting to keep him. But heard he is off to Wakey next year?

Exactly the stuff we saw at Wembley was not organised in any way, anyone in the know saw it was a case of a few idiot Leeds fans having too much ale, peeved with a stuffing and taking it out on those around them and some idiots from Wazza having enough battling back! Compared to the stuff that went on in the 80's this was tame stuff. I only hope the RFL and Wembley don't go down the road of banning booze and making fans sit in seperate stands because of a few minor incidents.

Wales would beat France if they had Briers, Cunningham and Carvell. Out of the French team only Bosc and Greenshields are truely world class players, they have a handy pack but apart from that Wales could beat them.

As Johns said a few years ago, Briers is one truly world class player we have in this country. He could well be the difference between Wales and France as he is by miles the best British British half back we have. Imagine we had a choice of Briers and Tomkins and Eastmond for the 4 Nations! Bring back GB!!!

Okay heres the picture of the brawling for all to see, courtesy of a mate of mines excellent camera work.

Okay got a picture of the events from above, will post on here for you to see in the next week or so.

Wigan have consistency but just think the big match thing is something they have yet to master and have bottled on numerous times this season. Wire have overcome that now.

You can tell Wire have arrived as a big club because rival fans actually want us to lose. Years ago that would not be the case. Aside from the result what else did you like/dislike about Wembley?

After yesterday I think Wire can do it and pull off a cup and SL double! Before yesterday I didn't think we were quite ready for beating a big club like Leeds in such a convincing manner. I thought we may pip it and have a few iffy decisions to help us along the way, but to destroy Leeds and totally blow them off the park like Wire did makes me confident of winning the double. Next week may well be the turning point. Can Briers and co backup after a weekend on the lash?? We need a big score against Quins to ensure 2nd place because Saints will want to hammer Cas in their final game at Knowsley Rd. But if Wire play like the level they did yesterday they can beat anyone, even Saints! Thoughts?

Good Wire's performance - Best of any team I have seen in SL in 2010, even tops Wigan on Good Friday. Atmosphere - A lot beter than in 2009, this really felt like a major sports event with two big teams. Steve Prescott - Thought it was a bit of a low key appointment but you could tell to him and the players the mutual respect was great. A masterstroke from RFL HQ. BBC Presentation - Good saw it on playback just and was a vast improvement on last few years and in HD was even better. Bad The match as a contest - As a Wire fan I wanted us to win but the game, but not so easy! The kit clash - I warned the RFL this was a mistake and was hard to tell the yellow of leeds from the p&b of Wire! Leeds fans - The lot we met were sound and yet the vast majority left 15 mins before the end! Worse than Wiganer's!!!! Club Wembley - The Red Ring was an embarrasement again, needs sorting for future RL finals. Food and Drink at Wembley - Rip off, 4.30 a pint and they ran out just at half time!!! What was your good and bad things about the 2010 Challenge Cup Final?

Okay so do you wanna know what happened? Well basically it was Leeds fans who started the kick off by gouding the Wire fans who's end they were sat in! I am sorry but they had no right to be in that end behaving like that. The final straw came when the Leeds lot started throwing beer at kids and then it all kicked off. Think the RFL need to better look into the ticketing policy, okay have neutral areas and mixed sections but the cheaper seats where you get a lot of cavemen should be one teams end only with no small groups mixed in.