Dave T

I'm all for railing against unfair outsiders I.e. Stephen Jones, but the claim is about people in the game are frightened of expressing negative views. The reason I know this is BS is because I have ears and eyes and hear and see it.

Are we seriously trying to suggest that people in RL are scared of portraying negative opinions? This really has descended into Trunp style politics trying to create victims.

Whilst I agree with the point overall - we do have quite a long history of lying about ticket sales. How many times have we been told we are getting x thousand and then it falls short. We'll get a test this weekend - he claimed we'll get 65k, I won't be surprised if it's up to 5k below that.

Wonder if Sky Sports will be interested in speaking to Keary.

Maybe, but my view on this is that this is where the small size of our sport could actually be an advantage here. We could be pretty agile and agree a meaningful plan moving forward relatively easy with the desire and right people in charge. In reality, get the ARLC, RFL and NZRL to agree and everything else falls in line as it's funded by these.

Unfortunately - it's all just wrapped up in the claims of 1. You're burying your head in the sand / you don't want to hear it followed by, 2. You just don't get it

Another lesson we can take from the other similar sport is that much of their growth and coverage is from their international game. Imagine if we had a fully engaged range of partners all delivering great international events. If we had major Tests every year in the UK like Union does, the mood would be quite different imo.

I think this line raises an important point. I do believe that there is an unrealistic view of where RL can be in this country in the short to medium term. There is another similar sport in this country who you could argue has had every advantage afforded to it over its history. A sport of the ruling classes, very many friends in high places, presence in major cities, international presence, friendly broadcasters, aggressive strategies to other sports, rich backers etc. Without going into the politics of why and where we could have done better, if you look at their top flight club game, there are very many similarities to ours. Go along to a regular club game in the Union Prem and it aint massively different to a regular club game in SL. Their club game aint getting front and back page coverage, and tbh, it is nicely tucked away on TNT or Premier. RL in this country can be far better than it is, more clubs with a swagger like yours and Wigan for example, better organisation for major events, better setup to tap into commercial income - but tbh - all this sounds rather like the IMG thinking too. I accept that the owners are struggling with commercial and central income - that is for them to tackle to be blunt, but even if SL thrives, it aint gonna look anything like football in this country or even the NRL in Oz. There needs to be an element of realistic aims here - we need to be the very best we can be, and we are some way off that, but even the very best we can be is gonna be a pretty minor niche sport.

It's gaslighting, no more no less. How anyone can possibly have any passing interest in RL (yet alone claim to be a journo in it) and think that people in RL claim everything is rosy is just absolute BS. It's keeping 'Poms' in their place as the clueless defensive effwit who doesn't know how to help itself.

He does appear to split out the product and the broadcasting as two separate things. His comments are certainly wider than aiming at Sky Sports.

I find Jones utterly uninspiring, and this interview was in his usual 'measured' style that he saw as a compliment, but I thought his responses were solid, he clearly isn't a salesman or full of charisma. He rightly focused on the positives, the fact that it is at odds with what his coach thinks, his club were disappointed, and that he will hopefully change his opinion in the coming days and weeks. I liked the fact he highlights he actually met Keary a few weeks ago despite Keary saying he doesn't know who the leaders are. The messaging is all still a bit too wishy washy and passive, but the broad theme of the response was right.

I'm not sure I'm finished with the discussion on the Denver Test.

Meh, you can't read much in written tone. If I was uppity with you I wouldn't engage in discussion. Challenging views is different. I would also add, that you came on to support a certain posters views who had posted a lot of views which you then claimed to disagree with before you posted in support. So that mix up wasn't without reason. It's probably easier to just highlight individual offending posts, because while I've not read everything here, I haven't really seen anything that looks too offensive. It should be remembered that Keary's comments are not in isolation, we've also had Richardson and Solly and more telling anyone who'll listen how bad the sport is here. Plus a new breed of fans who have started posting here on this topic driven by these high profile comments.

I suppose the challenge is that this isn't an isolated comment. Even in a discussion the other day I was just dismissed as an old man who fears change on here. Any hint of disagreement is arrogantly met with "you guys don't get it". The backlash is not out of nowhere.

People are happy to criticise the game over here and discuss it's challenges, that's pretty much what this board is all about. But when you make comments as basic, stupid, insular and arrogant as Keary did then I don't think it is unreasonable for people to react as they did. The reality is, for all its flaws, RL is very important to many people, it's a key part of some people's lives, they love it, and for somebody to disrespect it in the way Keary did is extremely offensive. If you go public and your point is that our product (of which we are all fans) is horrendous, then you deserve all the stick you get. Had he talked about challenges around exposure and leadership, he would probably have had a lot of nods, but when you describe it as horrendous and on it's knees and make harmful statements about partners etc then expect a backlash.

This was the problem when cutting costs was presented as a solution, it wasn't really, they were past that stage. The only solution was a takeover, they thought they had secured that.

It's not just based on that. We've met some too.

I've no issues in the slightest with disagreements tbh, it's one of the interesting things about this forum, even people I'm broadly aligned with here we have huge variances in opinion, all part of the fun.

In a season where we've broken the weekly records, had some brilliant crowds, seen a great event in Vegas, heading for a great Magic Weekend, sold out Two Ashes Tests in record time and enjoyed some great Rugby - it is bizarre that the only media we are getting is about people telling us that the game in the UK is horrendous.

I'll now try and calm down and add some balance to my view of our Aussie friends There are plenty of people who care about RL worldwide including in GB. Keary comes across as a tool, but I think we have some fabulous players running round the league who are contributing greatly to SL at the moment, are professional and seem to be loving and embracing this phase of their career. Similarly there are plenty of good fans - I enjoy many of the discussions here, and whilst I disagree with plenty of views of the likes of Sports Prophet, I also disagree with many views from people born just up the road from me in the next town, so it's all good. But there is little smart, intelligent, nuanced or forward thinking from some of the people with the loud voices at the moment, and it's right that their views get challenged.

Anyone coming over and being horrified by the lack of coverage is simply showing their own ignorance. It's not new news that RL in England is a minor sport in comparison to RL in Oz. Things are not the same in every country - if people don't understand that, well, it sort of says a lot about them really.

What people like Pulga and a couple of others here are blind to is their own arrogance. Basically, if you dare to disagree with the criticism that is coming from everywhere in Oz then you are a backward inward looking luddite. There is no discussion or debate - you either agree with them or you are dismissed. That is the kind of arrogance that is often referred to here that the same people then seem offended at being labelled with. This forum has a broad range of views, but I'd describe it as a progressive one compared to many other groups of RL fans - there is plenty of intelligent discussion around the issues the game face, and whilst there is often disagreement about the solutions and way forward, there is rarely a fear of change presented here. But basically - it doesn't matter whether you are an expansionist, supportive of IMG, want a revolution etc - if you disagree that UK RL is horrendous and in need of Aussie saviours then you are arrogantly dismissed.

That isn't what he says. You've added bits to make his rant credible.

In my 40 years watching Rugby League, this hate campaign from Australian experts, fans, pundits, administrators, media is worse than anything I've seen. IMO this is worse than the hatred from Rugby Union bods. This is Stephen Jones-esque but on a larger scale.

Indeed. Much of the description he uses of SL could be to describe his stint so far. Although I suspect most wouldn't even have noticed enough to have such a strong view as you suggest.