OMEGA

Well it seems I’m not on my own in my assessment of Bennett’s inherent responsibilities as England/Great Britain Coach. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p04f9ltl https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/wayne-bennetts-astonishing-media-conference-20161110-gslv6x.html

You completely miss the point and are you really comparing the gravity of Manchester Utds media pull with that of Rugby League in the U.K.? As I quite clearly stated, it was Bennett’s truculence with the press which was disrespectful, rude and unprofessional. That’s something he has the luxury of doing without consequence in Australia but something we can I’ll afford in the U.K. The fact he either didn’t know or didn’t care fits right in with all his other ignorance about Rugby League in the U.K.

Best young up and coming in the SL is Cam Smith at Leeds. Spent most of his youth playing stand off, he is quite an accomplished ball handler and reader of the game. If he can push through and establish himself he could grow into one of the best young back rowers around.

Really! You think that the National Coach has no press responsibilities, I mean honestly? In these modern times when even Academy players undergo media training you think a high profile International Coach carries no responsibility to engage the press and media

1. 100%! Bennett knew so little about U.K. based players that he tried to recruit the Morris twins, Ben Hannant, Chris McQueen, Chris Heighington and any other has been Australians who had a grandparent from the U.K., which is only 90% of the Ausie population! He didn’t have a clue who Tommy Makinson was despite him being a star player for one of SLs top clubs for almost a decade and his first question to Tom Johnstone was “who are you” ffs! We played an Aliance style of RL that IMO robbed us of the best chance to win a World Cup since the 70s. 2. Bennett’s record in rep rugby league is not that good! He has one of the worst win % as both Queensland & Australia coach despite those teams being two of THE most dominant in World sport! 3. Totally justified criticism it was a sh*7 show and the buck stops with Wayne Bennett! 4. I know there wasn’t a 4 but I’m adding one! Bennett’s truculence with the media is a disaster for U.K. Rugby League. He can get away with it in Sydney, Brisbane or Australia and still get 8 pages of sport in the national newspapers or big features on TV. His ignorance of how we have to fight for a tiny iota of media recognition was unforgivable! The default attitude of editors is that they need no encouragement to say F’em and tell the few journalists we get not to bother, as National coach his attitude was abysmal. Great Coach for Brisbane, brilliant domestically but not a good rep coach and a disaster for us.

Great credit must go to Peter Mullholland at Canberra and Andy Kelly at Huddersfield for arranging this particular part of the partnership between these clubs Ronan won’t be the last to go over there and I suspect there could be the odd young player flying in the opposite direction too. Its another ‘pathway’ for young players in addition to Reserves, Dual Reg or early SL opportunities, that has to be beneficial and can only be seen as a good thing.

There were more games in those days with County Cups & Regal Trophy matches to add to Challenge Cup and League games. There were some seasons when we played 38 games or so and that wasn’t unusual. I played around 240 matches at 1st team level as there were times I didn’t make the team but I played around 80 to 100 A team matches in addition to 1st team. Successful teams played a lot of games considering the players were probably holding down a full time job and maybe had young families. In general I think the number of games today is about right, maybe 2 or 3 games too long for teams who progress deeper into the Cup rounds and the end of season play offs, whatever the format that takes. Bearing in mind we’re almost certainly going to ask those players to play internationals as well.

The game wasn’t full time when I played so apart from playing Rugby League I worked full time as a brick layer. Apart from Wigan’s first choice squad and a handful of overseas players everyone was playing and working in some capacity. Not every employer was happy to comply with your needs when trying to juggle work and RL, I risked losing my job a few times in order to get to training sessions or matches on a couple of occasions I lost that gamble and was let go from my employment. That was the nature of the beast in those days, in some ways it bred tougher men than your average SL player today.

I played Rugby League as a professional for over 10 years from the mid 80s to mid/late 90s in the 1st division (now SL) and finished my career in what is now the Championship. I had one major injury which in fact was multiple fractures around the same area otherwise I always thought I’d been lucky to get away with only dislocated fingers during my career. Some years later I had problems with my neck which necessitated an MRI scan which revealed damage to two vertebrae which was attributed to wear & tear from my RL career. On a couple of years later and as part of a full medical I underwent a full body MRI scan which revealed I had suffered a number of bone fractures and breaks I never knew I’d had. Broken jaw in 2 places Fractured left cheekbone Fractured upper right arm Fractures to both collarbones probably sustained at different times fractures to 3 ribs on my right and 2 on my left I stress again that I never knew until that MRI that I’d sustained any of those injuries. in addition I have arthritis in my left knee and I’m probably looking at a hip replacement within the next 3 to 5 years due to wear & tear. Like Barry Mac, who's a friend of mine, I take daily pain meds. My last word on this is to reiterate again, I always thought of myself as a player who was relatively injury free or lucky with injuries! its a very tough game!

Not sure who it is but Wakefield Trinity will Be one of the contenders having been formed in 1873

On what basis did someone declare Grace the fastest SL player, when we’re they all tested, was the test fair, was it repeatable and has it been verified? Whatever, apparently the fastest player is actually Darryl Clarke https://www.thesportsman.com/features/the-super-league-player-faster-than-any-premier-league-footballer

Troll or not, he makes a few good points about the make up of the Trinity squad for 2020. If Broughs age catches up with him his decline could be dynamic and rapid which would leave us with Miller & Hampshire neither of which is an organiser or possesses a more than average kicking game. Tupou, Ashurst, Fifita, Johnstone & Arona are all returning from injuries ranging from fairly serious to career threatening, no one knows if they’ll recapture their best form. At the very least it’ll take time for each of them to find their stride and get up to speed again. Recruitment has been at bargain basement level and while I know Trinity have resurrected a few careers in the past I’m not sure these recruits are going to frighten anyone’s defences. Tangata & Green are similar standard to the players they replaced in Hirst & England while Atkins is way past his best and we don’t even know where he’s going to play. Westerman is another whose best is well behind him and he comes with an injury cloud over him. Lets hope that all goes well and everyone hits their straps because I think this season more than any in recent years the poor recruitment means we are gambling big style with SL survival.

Best full back on show was Max Jowitt but he still won’t get a fair crack from Chester

Tough day for Trinity at Leeds, lost King with a broken ankle and Crowther with multiple fractures to his face. Apart from that Wakefield were awful, even allowing for this being a pre season, festive friendly, Trinity were a shambles! Agar outcoached Chester as well which doesn’t say much for Chester’s nouse. Granted Wakefield weren’t at full strength and have some players to come in, namely Fifita, Tupou & Johnstone. Leeds weren’t at full strength either but looked like a team from 3 Divisions higher than Wakey. It was shades of last year for Wakefield which doesn’t bode well, we seem to have fallen for our own spin that it was just injuries that caused our horrible form last season and we’ve learned nothing.

Does it? Walker seems to have plateaued, still young enough to improve some but I think it’ll be a small amount, what we see now is what he’s going to be. Lui, individually dangerous but not really an organiser Gale hasn’t played for nearly 2 years, is coming back from a very serious injury and is reaching the tail end of his career Dwyer is a great impact player but he’s no Roby! They may well combine to become greater than the sum of their parts but as it stands they wouldn’t be near my choice of best spine.