Dave T

You were enjoying it?

Not even a penalty

Let's be honest, the ref having as much of a mare as the two teams.

Nah. That's nonsense.

Some decent fixtures there. Some shuffling of times and channels, so will be interesting to see impact that has.

I think my main issue with the Lisone one is that I just don't see any mitigating factors at play. It's one on one, no step or anything, literally it was a high tackle because he chose to tackle high to prevent a try. And tge reverse shows a clean hit to the head. I do have an issue with yellows leading to bans, I think this is something we must address. With VR's at every game now, I don't think that's something we should now accept tbh. But, it's early days, there will be some sync issues here, and ultimately there will always be incidebts where people disagree. It's just sport.

Two screens again for me tonight, but starting on time, so no spoiler issues for me. Knock yourself out Woodsy!

I genuinely think there is a case for both to be red, and I do think they will/should both be bans. The first one has a couple of bad things going for it, clean hit to the head, and the tackler raised from the floor, rising into the tackle. It's dangerous and exactly what we should be weeding out of the game. The second one slightly less bad than the first, but for me it's reckless, as there is literally no attempt to tackle low, he aims over the shoulder, and surprise surprise he hits his head. It's one on one, no step, no substantial ducking, and tbh, the reverse angle shows forceful contact. It has been claimed he came off the shoulder, I don't agree. I do think the forefulness point will be used to downgrade many of these tackles as we move forward, and tbh, we'll end up back where we always were. Both tackles imo were high dangerous tackles where the tackler made no legitimate attempt to tackle low.

An NRL takeover would be worse than Private Equity. At least PE investors would want to make the game as big as possible to make as much money as possible from it. The NRL would want to keep the comp in it's place and use it as a feeder. As we've seen in recent years, the way the international game was progressing without the NRL controlling it was soon halted.

I thought that was already in, trying to touch with the foot was in for a couple of years wasn't it?

No.

Has anything changed with the PTB? As in, a change in rules or interpretation?

And tbh, it's something that we first saw here in the 2013 World Cup. It was noticeable then. A problem is, when players stay down, they have generally been hit in the face, and I'm not gonna tell someone they are faking it when a 16stone player has hit them at pace.

As an aside, how good is it that it i so easy to find high quality highlights in multiple places for these discussions!

If anyone can watch that tackle reverse angle replay (4m28s) and not see quite a bad high tackle then I'm baffled tbh. There is no attempt to make a legal tackle, and contact is pretty direct. The only mitigation the refs offer is that it wasn't too much force, but I think that is being generous too. For Smith to claim he dove is absolutely pathetic, and I'd be furious if I was th Hull KR player.

I know it will calm down, but I think things have looked very good on tv. The grounds have been broadly full, even the likes of Hull KR on a miserable night looks a vibrant fun place to go, with fans mingling i the fan village and pyro etc as the players enter. The commentators continuously described the crowd as huge, and they were noisy - in reality, there iwll be far bigger crowds, even this weekend, but it looked and sounded great. Not unlike a Catalans game really. Hull looked great last week, and we saw record crowds across the board. We have a full WCC tomorrow to look forward to as well. It'd be great if we can keep the momentum going, as we do inevitably see some real dips throughout the year.

I do also think this kind of things demonstrates the attitudes that the game of RL has, that are real challenges. We have a negative fanbase in the UK who will blindly call for anything as long as it is critical of what the RFL/SLE are doing. Even the Cas stuff around their player being banned is a small example of that. And then Down Under we have a level of arrogance from many that they believe that they know everything about everything. A pro league taking over another on the other side of the world shouldn't even be a discussion it's embarrassing.

Thank you!

Nah. I'm OK with VR involvement, they are qualified to do it, and are part of the ref team.

That's what frustrates me most. Appealing hihh tackles etc. I can see the point of.

The reality is that as much as people think otherwise, people invved in the game in the UK are not stupid. They dismissed private equity, and I'd expect them to dismiss any move like this if it was ever more than fantasy. I'm not sure that the NRL can offer the sport here anythibg positive that can't be delivered in the current model. Sure, cash, but as with private equity, these things come with conditions, and tbh, I think the NRL would likely be worse partners than any PE.

Good spot, it won't let you sort the columns on my phone so just eyeballed it. But if we removed his 70m from his try, then Hall is top

It doesn't bother me tbh. The one that bothers me on a similar theme is players approachibg the ref as he is already calling for the VR. He has to tell them off like naughty school kids every time when they are already sending it upstairs.

I disagree, I thought it was a bad tackle, "try-saver" shouldn't be mentioned. In fact, you can argue a try saving foul tackle should be a penalty try. But it is interesting that Smith was philosophical last week, yet critical this week. The difference appears to be that his team won last week and lost this.

@MattSantos Stats are on the SL site now. Hall was top metre maker with 160m. Click on the match panel and you get detailed stats.