Adelaide Tiger

Is there another sport apart from RL that experiences such an financial impact across the game if their final, or finals, are not filled to capacity?

I remember not long after McNamara took charge of Catalans one frequent poster on here at the time wrote a comment that appeared at the bottom of every post they made. The comment was something along the lines of ‘ ……Catalans will not win another game with McNamara in charge … ‘. Anyone remember who the poster was? I have tried to find the poster but without any success.

I have no issue with Carcassonne joining the English competition but I have an issue with how teams in the past - both UK based and abroad - have joined in a non-planned manner. IMG have openly stated that the new concept will have 2 non UK teams. But there is no reason as to why a third French team or from another country cannot be welcomed in future years if they achieve Grade A criteria. Therefore I would outline a time scale to say that, for example, 2027 an opportunity may arise for a European Team - subject to increased income into the game - to enter SL. This gives time for all prospective teams to plan ahead and have everything in place to be sustainable.

You mentioning Pirates brought back great memories. At the end of each school term in High School we were allowed to play ‘Pirates’ in our final indoor PE lesson. We would get all the PE equipment out, split into two teams then proceed to the knock hell out each other. The biggest laugh would be reserved to the only lad who could climb one of those thick ropes and then be bombarded with anything we could throw at him ….. including a couple of cricket balls and bats!! A PE teacher would now be immediately sectioned if they even thought of letting their pupils do this.

……… and Leeds Rhinos nil!

Wikipedia highlights 49 players that have done so. But, Wikipedia have missed off at least one English player from their list as Lloyd Owusu - ex Sheffield Wednesday and about 15 other clubs - played for one season at Adelaide United. I saw his first appearance. We got a penalty, just before he took it my phone rang. It was the wife. I said to her ‘I cannot hear you as Owusu is just about to take a penalty’ and ended the call. Obviously my wife couldn’t hear me either over the crowd noise as when I got home she said ‘Did one-shoe score the penalty’ …. He didn’t. So in our house he was christened One-shoe for the rest of the season.

I am also a 59 year old Luddite but I have a wife who knows how to sort it out

Foxtel usually show all the England internationals. If not use a VPN and watch the game either live or on delay the following day.

On Tuesday night, the topic of clubs playing at home during week 1 of the Finals was discussed on the Foxtel sports magazine show, The Back Page. The NRL commentator, Dan Ginnane, fumed about how the Finals series is portrayed by having the Panthers and Sharks clubs playing in front of sold out but small capacity stadiums, adding many supporters could not get tickets therefore the games should be played at larger stadiums in Sydney. He stated that the reason that first week Finals games have home advantage is that the NRL are frightened of having a potential first week play off games such as Manly v Titans played in a neutral large stadium and be two-thirds empty. In response to other panellists saying that the Panthers and Sharks earned the right to have home advantage, Ginnane responded by saying that if the games were moved to a larger stadium, let the team finishing higher offer tickets to their supporters first, giving a home advantage feel, and if there are any tickets left then let their opponents have those tickets to sell.

WOW ….. just WOW!!!!

Was watching the HKR v Leigh game this morning and saw that Cas was losing 0-30 to Saints. An updated score hadn’t been on for a while when the daughter walked in and said ‘just got a text from Adam - cousin from Cas - and he said the score finished forty thirty four!’. I couldn’t contain myself thinking Cas might have achieved the biggest comeback since Lazarus. So I said ‘did we win’. Daughter looked puzzled and said slowly ‘four to thirty four!’. Need to have the old hearing checked.

Father-in-law who is 82 arrived from the UK two weeks ago. Last Friday he, me and youngest daughter, tested positive to Covid. Yesterday although he felt well he still had a cough so the wife rang our Doctors to see if she could make an appointment for him for a check-up. One hour later he was being seen by a Doctor and was told everything was OK but was given some anti-biotics. It cost $40 - about £20 - for the consultation and $11 - £5 - for the anti-biotics Father-in-law said that he would be happy to pay £20 if he could get an appointment the same day back in Cas.

A quick question about the disallowed try. If the Wakey player HAD RUN over the dead ball line before the ball was touched down, but was within 10m of the touchdown, would a try have been awarded?

So are you saying that there are around 80,000 pubs offering jobs in greater London? As the Pub Landlord states ‘They are bred for it!

Ayup GeordieSaint, I spent the first 42 years of my life in Cas so I fully understand how RL is perceived and portrayed in the UK. However, in Oz the Politicians are very wary about the increasing sphere of influence of the Chinese in the region and supporting RL in PNG is a shrewd move. Many on here, including myself, have made suggestions about how to create and grow an annual NH tournament but it will need time to establish itself, and time is something that RL never appreciates.

…… and England v France with a begging bowl!

Farmduck, looking back my post wasn’t very clear. I was after the names of the squad that represented the under 19’s British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA) tour to New Zealand in 1983.

Out of interest does anyone have the names of the under 19’s squad that toured New Zealand in 1983?

Yes, SL clubs have been to Florida for pre season games and I think the Rabbitohs played against SL opposition. The big difference is that the NRL double-header in Vegas is for competition points in the NRL opening round. The investment - and I don’t know who is paying for this - is apparently $200 million for games to be held in Vegas up to 2028. The double-header is to be played in the 65,000 capacity home of the NFL Las Vegas Raiders so you will be able to see how many people turn up to watch.

Just watched it as well. A well put together piece. Best of luck to both teams tomorrow.

Simple. If it was to start again in 1895 I would send the RL officials down to South Wales with a bigger stash of money than what the RU lot took to persuade them to stay playing Union.

It’s really funny watching some of the bench press brigade wander into a pump or HIIT class that I attend with the wife. They pose in front of the mirrors, preen themselves, then after a few minutes they are absolutely cream crackered

Well I am sat patiently by the phone hoping to get the call to coach my home town team. If I do get the nod, it will take me an around a week to book a flight and get over there. But don’t fear. My wife is in Cas at the moment visiting her Father so she could take training until I get there. The only problem is that she does 2 Zumba classes a week, along with 2 Pump sessions and a HIIT session. So she might bu$$er them out before I get there!

It depends on how you look at international squads for such a tournament. Certainly Catalans - along with Toulouse - would provide the majority of the French squad. But, how many of the Catalans regular game day 17 are eligible for France? 8 or 9? Therefore other Catalans players called up to represent France are not playing week in and week out. In addition, of the other players, there is probably only McMeekan that would make another nations squad. But you could argue that Saints and Wigan could each have a similar number of players of their regular game day 17 across the England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales run on teams if there was 2 or 3 Groups in a summer based NH international window.

It must have been an article in an RL paper where I remember a suggestion that a South African team might be possible for SL as I distinctly remember a comment about South Africa being on the same timeline as the UK so games would be easy to show live in the UK.