Dave T

I don't buy that. Richards has been very good, but then so have a lot of other players. He broke records because he kicks goals, which obviously attracts more headlines and makes him seem more important that plenty of other players. There are a handful of players who could get it. One other thing to consider is that in a team that plays good dominant expansive RL, wingers (and fb's) can finish off a lot of moves - see Riley at Warrington (not in the Dream Team despite 25 tries) - and get the headlines. If Riley was a kicker then I'm sure he would have had more headlines and been in ahead of Hall. Like I say, Richards has been very good, and I would have no issue with him winning it, but statements like the above really annoy me.

I'm not sure why people would want something to fail. Surely it would be best to hope that you are wrong and it is a brilliant series. Also, this scenario didn't happen last year with exactly the same format.

Hope you are right mate, just being conservative I suppose after seeing so many below par crowds in playoff an cup games.

After I wrote that I noticed that Hull KR have already sold 3k and had a further 2k sent on. I was basing it on the fact that the game got 20k in the league where over 10k will have been in on season tickets. I would expect this would be lower, but will be very happy if I'm wrong about that.

I know people grumble about Sky, but considering the low number of teams in the league it means that we get to see our teams televised a hell of a lot. 10 of the 14 teams had at least a quartr of their games broadcast live throughout the year.

I think that's harsh tbh, Richards has had a huge impact on that Wigan team this year, and if the judges rule that he has had the biggest impact then he should get it, no matter what position he plays. In that team there are a few who I wouldn't complain if they got it. Westwood, Richards, Roby, O'Loughlin have all had great seasons.

I think that he is probably out of the running now he has missed out on the Dream Team.

In fact looking again, it seems that every game is priced differently: Wigan v Leeds North Stand

I certainly hope this year's will be better than last years, Warrington should take a load to KR, and in turn the Saints fans should respond in numbers, if you get over 12k it looks ok on TV. Wigan fans have backed their team this year, so hopefully they will get a decent amount, although I wouldn't b surprised if it was around the 12k mark. Hull v KR has a good chance of a good crowd, although I would expect 15k rather than over 20k that this game would often get. Hudds v Crusaders is the worrying one, but I can live with one looking bad on TV compared to pretty much all of them last year! I believe that Hudds have some tickets at

These suffer from exactly the same problem that the Challenge Cup does. I am surprised that all the games don't have a reduced price, it is

Sorry, can't remember that far back

That's not the case, and hasn't been for years. The first offence is always penalised.

Can't argue with much of the team, has Ryan Hall been that good again this year? Every time I've seen him he has looked average at best.

Not really. If you are ###### all season you are likely to be 7th or 8th at best, and it is very difficult from that position to win. The heavy seeding sorts this IMO, and is why I wouldn't support a straight knockout.

Forgot to reply to this after I'd been. Must say, I really enjoyed it. Very nice venue, although it was a shame that there were only around 60-70 people in a 4-500 seat venue, the cast deserved much better than that, but it was one of the most expensive shows at the festival, so wouldn't perhaps pick up the casual festival-goers who just turn up for shows on the day. Abi Titmus was actually very good I must say, and the RL scenes really were excellent, I really enjoyed how they did it, and didn't expect so many action scenes, and certainly didn't expect them to work as well as they did! It was pretty moving in parts, but overall it was a charming, witty piece of theatre, and after watching a pretty shocking (yet excellent) version of A Clockwork Orange just a couple of days earlier, this was a very welcome light-hearted 2hrs of entertainment! If you get chance to see it, I'd recommend you make the effort.

Can't argue with much of that, and wouldn't be surprised to see your scenario played out, although I would be disappointed to see Saints take the title, and would much prefer a Wigan win, as I'm sure you would (obviously providing Wire go out!). In terms of our older players, this is probably the one issue I would pick with your post. The likes of Morley and Hicks are probably our most consistent players, and Briers has been very consistent in the big games. My bigger concern is around some of the younger lads, Riley, Harrison, Atkins, Cooper, Myler and then whether Bridge will be fully fit etc. but tbh they haven't let us down so far.

Yep. As fans, all we can ever ask for is that we get full effort and we see signs of improvement. At Wigan you have seen massive improvements, as we have seen at Warrington. There is a real chance that Wigan may not take the SL Title, but to have done what they have so far is a fantastic achievement, especially when at the start of the season people couldn't see past Leeds (although I personally never understood that). I was disappointed that Wire lost that 2nd spot in the last seconds, as it would have been great to have two teams overtake Saints and Leeds in the league. Whatever happens now, Wigan have had a very good season, and only look like getting better next year, so whilst fans may be disappointed if they did lose a playoff game, I'm sure most would be pleased overall and excited about next year. I certainly know that is how I feel about Warrington.

I can't stand Bailey, however I find some people's responses on here a touch laughable. Firstly, the elbows really weren't that bad. He was using his arms to try and get away from a player who was trying to dominate him. Sure I think refs could start to penalise this offence, but we see it most matches and players don't lose their heads like Radford did. Secondly, people saying that Bailey was a coward and could have got up are talking nonsense. He was on the ground and took a good first punch, meaning the natural thing to do would have been tp ortect yourself, not try and get up and basically leave yourself open. Most times we see a player grab their opponent rather than throw punches back when a scuffle breaks out, yet they don't get branded cowardly. I think Bailey should have been done a few years ago, and he is a nasty piece of work who loves the cheap shots. I like Radford, but the fact is he lost his head, and it cost his team. I think he will get 1 match due to his good record, but if this was another player involved, we certainly wouldn't have had this thread.

I'd agree with that. I think it is one of those things which infuriates fans, but has little impact. This often happens when a player gets tackled with the ball over their own line, they usually throw the ball away. This doesn't actually slow the game down at all, as the play will stop for a good minute or so anyway while the defenders get set, and the ref will allow this. Quick taps are not allowed nowadays from penalties, so often it looks frustrating when a player keeps hold of the ball and runs away or tosses it away, but again, no imapct. The main one where people do get punished is when a team are going for a quick 20m tap, which is allowed in circumstances - if a defending player gets involved here, you often see them sinbinned. I don;t have too much of an issue with how this is policed nowadays.

If we beat you on Friday, the rematch will be at the HJ.

The big problem we have is that our main rivals in this playoff series will most likely be Saints, with potentially two games at KR.

Sporting Life says 5,137 - probably one of the biggest Crusaders home supports for a while, depending on how many KR took.

This is what the RFL had to say about that incident: Player attempting to complete tackle, uses forearm on opponent but inconclusive as to initial point of contact, worthy of penalty but not misconduct requiring referral

I absolutely love that board. The enthusiasm is brilliant to see, I really hope they win next week.

-_- Cheers!