thirteenthman

I agree about the history and tradition. It certainly should still be regarded along side the SL GF in terms of importance. Just because one was started over 100 years ago and the other only started in 1998 doesn't make one more important than the other. However, there's very little romance about the cup nowadays, and it certainly doesn't 'offer all clubs the chance to succeed'. And last weekend we saw a semi-final played out between Leeds and Saints in a ground only three-quarters full. While an appearance in the final will bring out the casual fan (Warrington's full of them at the moment), the rounds that lead up to it can struggle to gain attention.

Did all the other Storm players buy a boat as well?

The world's richest man, Carlos Slim Hel

He won't be coming to SL. All he says in the article is that he'll see what happens when the 2 years at Brisbane are up. It just seems to be a few lines aimed at Melbourne fans, to give them some hope that he might head back there in 2013. Of course if he really wants to come to Warrington, I'm pretty sure we could find some room under the salary cap to accomodate him.

I never let the facts get in the way of a good post. You certainly don't.

Gareth Thomas has apparently asked for an immediate transfer to the NQ Cowboys.

Tony Rea used to do a good analysis on Boots'n'all before he went back to Oz. I've always thought they should get Brian Carney and Phil Clarke to do something along the lines of NRL Tactics. Both of them seem to know what there talking about (putting Phil's Wigan bias aside), and both seem to get quite frustrated by how things get trivialised by Eddie, Stevo and the likes. This week's B'n'A was a good example with the feature about visualisation techniques. Bill Arthur made a throw away comment about putting players in a trance, to which Carney replied, 'I think you're doing Phil's report a disservice there.' It's odd, considering the level of tactical analysis afforded other sports on Sky.

Not totally incorrect. Next year the game is in Christchurch. While I realise that financial matters are important, if the game had been staged in NZ then the Kiwis might've won the fixture more often. That in turn might've generated more interest, boosting crowds, increasing sponsorship levels etc. It might've helped the games standing in NZ as well. Not that I suppose the ARL are too bothered about that though. Instead the game has only been played in NZ once. Strangely enough it was the only time the Kiwis won. Given the reasons for keeping the game in Aus, it's odd that the game was played one year at Newcastle in front of only 20,000. Perhaps the trip to NZ is just a bit too far for the ARL.

Jesus - now he was a good player in his day. Unfortunately, he had a big fallout with his previous club. He kept on trying to put out miracle passes, but they kept going to ground. One day his coach said 'I don't care if he is the son of God. If he keeps doing that, I'll crucify him.' Last I heard he was trying to resurrect his career...

I heard he was looking forward to being on the road again.

What would be interesting is if England played NSW or Queensland. Matches like that used to take place on Lions Tours years ago, but it would be nice even just as a one off to see how we'd go. I'm pretty sure NSW V England at the SCG would pull in the crowds no problem. I think we'd stand a good chance against them as well. As for Queensland V England in Brisbane, now that would be a game to savour. Sad thing is, it'll never happen.

That's true to an extent, but you can still pretty much predict which teams will be contesting the big matches every year. Only 5 of the 14 teams have contested a GF. And not too many people would've predicted at the start of the year that Salford and Harlequins would be any higher than they are now. As for teams getting round the cap, you're joking of course. Every team plays exactly to the rules, don't they?

This is good news. For too long the NZRL have seemingly been happy to accept whatever scraps the Aussies let them have. Just look at the ANZAC test match. Next year will only be the 2nd time the Kiwis have staged it. Lets hope co-host doesn't just mean a macth against England in Auckland. The development of the game in Europe is now clearly under the control of the RLEF, but in the pacific region it's a bit less clear. I thought the Pacific Federation, or whatever it's called, was just a grouping of the likes of PNG, Fiji etc. I didn't realise this was the development body. Surely the Aussies and Kiwis should be involved in this as much of the work would surely stem from them. Mind you, we never seem to hear much about what's going on out that way anyway.

You'd almost think that Quins are actively encouraging the players to look round for other clubs for next season, pre-empting what may happen come October.

That's a disgraceful thing to say. French Rugby League isn't that bad.

I know I shouldn't say this given the reasons for Kevin Walters' absence from Perpignan, but they certainly seemed to play better with Laurent Frayssinous in charge.

Not sure about that, but Warrington's popularity might have something to do with the large numbers who travel over boosting the local economy for the weekend. That and Warrington's poor record on the field in Perpignan.

Thought Louie was going to St Helens? Now he would be a good signing for any club. Plenty of potential and plenty of spirit about him as well. Really thought he'd want to stay in London, but maybe he and Mr Sharp know something we don't.

And therein lies the problem. Will they lay down foundations, or will the current owners seek to offload the club at the first opportunity. The initial enthusiasm shown in Wrexham has levelled off quite a bit crowd-wise. And of course the big crowds early on would've helped the averages. It'll be interesting to see what player recuitment will be like for next year, not to mention whether the Noble rumours are true or not. The big question is, what would the crowds be like in Wrexham if they had a season like last year? Their run to the play-offs isn't exactly packing them in at the moment.

A good signing for Hull, if true. I thought he was nailed on to go to Huddersfield. Unfortunately, Sharp's move is just another sign of the growing problems down south.

The club was 80 minutes from the GF last year and has also made the CC Final as well, all in its first 5 years. You're spot on, they are a success. For me, their position in the league is down to one man - Kevin Walters. I really don't think he's that good a coach. As for inviting Toulouse or any other foreign team into SL, I just don't see it happenning this time round. With the difficulties at Harlequins and Crusaders the RFL will probably look to consolidate this time. Or at least, they should do...

At the moment Stade Francais can join Barcelona, Wellington, Newcastle, Glasgow and even Northampton as places where SL clubs have been talked about starting up. That's all it is - talk. Back in the 80s the list of football clubs who were considering having a RL club was huge - thankfully most thought better of it. As for Toulouse, maybe 2015, but they seem to have plenty of work to do. I'm also still not convinced that the player base exists in France. Until Catalans start producing more quality French players than they can accomodate in the squad, the game should stay with one French team.

The point being that both Leeds home and away shirts clash with Warrington. And why should Warrington wear a different shirt? I assume Warrington won the toss (or however they decide it) to wear their home kit, so it's down to Leeds to sort it out. Leeds should've designed an alternative shirt with some alternative colours in. Not the same ones in a different pattern.

And of course he did a late night show on Radio Manchester, with Edouard LaPaglie the 'frenchman' who always pronounced Wakefield as Le Wacky-field.

I remember Martin doing breakfast on Jazz FM around 10 years ago. Excellent show. He had racing tips from the lady with the pin, and Dora Dale from the potato capital of Europe - Ormskirk. Jizz in your face Martin, as Dora used to say.