Tonka

Have there been any?

Yeah true enough he is a bit tapped...

The thread's defo about Barrie. Although not impossible, I doubt Brian (Fielden's team mate) had a vendetta against him

Yeah, I’ve watched those highlights back a few times. Sadly Barrie does hit him late on the first tackle then elbows him straight in the face in the second So I love the dog in him but it was foul play. And I say that as a Wigan fan who was at the game wearing a “McDermott” shirt at the time!

Fielden was the more complete player but certainly wasn’t as effective post Willie Mason/joining Wigan. But McDermott brought a something a bit special in terms of aggression, line breaking and offloads. As a Wigan fan was gutted when he left. Different types of player, they’d be a great combination in their prime.

As vaccinated people can still get covid and with cases up to 200k a day, I’m not sure about this at all. And 48-0 seems high.

Thank God it’s not just me…

I’m gonna say Burgess even with Gallen’s experience

I’d say not, but either way don’t worry about it!

Am a little disappointed, I thought this thread was about the new Spanish Super League side…

He over-eggs it, but the bottom line is that until our clubs are better than theirs, and our national team can beat theirs - which we haven’t for a very long time, and we’re often very very far behind them - they’ve got bragging rights and can pretty much say what they like.

Yeah, I hear you. I think you get a lot of confirmation bias, especially online, where people interpret things in line with their expectation/agenda/whatever rather than properly thinking through the pros and cons, and their relative importance. Hope it goes well, I'm a Wigan fan but have always had a soft spot for Salford and want them to do well.

Well it depends, doesn’t it? If the numbers work, spending £x on even a 21 year lease to add 3k to the capacity might be more than viable, whether or not they extend the lease after that time or look elsewhere.

To be fair to Ray he quite deliberately said "full commercial control" in his original post. When he says "effectively, yes" on the issue of legal ownership, he's not trying to suggest that leasehold = legal ownership of the title. We all know, however, that leasehold ownership is akin to full ownership if you can treat the asset as yours, and that's all he's saying. The length of the lease will be important (21 years is different to 100, for example), as will whether Salford as leaseholder is free to develop the seating capacity or make any other changes to enhance the stadium. I just want to wish good luck to Ray, he comes across as pragmatic and on top of the issues.

Well this joke didn’t work

Let me be the first to suggest Theo Fages. Unless he’s off to Huddersfield?

As an ex front row forward if Makinson had tried that sh*t on me I’d’ve kicked him as well. Hope that clarifies.

It’s an interesting question about whether you can separate the tackler from the tackle when considering “what would have happened”. I actually lean on the side of saying you can’t assume the tackler would have made a legitimate, try-saving tackle.

I’ve never actually noticed how rubbish Castleford’s is before:

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that the combined salaries of Peet, Wane, O'Loughlin and Briers means it isn't actually a "cheap" option. I quite like the balance, if they can get the dynamic of the different roles right.

Watch out for him playing fly half / centre in next year’s 6 Nations

I’m all for a tense, low scoring affair, but not when it’s obvious Wigan in particular just had no clue in attack. But Lenegan’s been down the Pound Shop again for next year’s new additions, so it’s not a great start.

Agree. He's kind of a squad filler plus though.

On the basis that you have an injury rate of about 1/4 of your squad at any given time, plus squad rotation, he'd be a useful backline addition. He could really capitalize on their go forward. Less sure about him as a second row but it's a pretty well worn path for 30 year old ex outside backs.

Ok will if the figures are wildly off, then I take your point. What's the real local core fan base, approximately - do we have a sense?