OMEGA

We’ve got one for sure but I think the Australians have disbanded theirs

Tom Burgess has really kicked on in the absence of his brothers. He’s now playing at a level that I believe is above that of which George was playing when he was at his best. In Walmsley and Tom Burgess we have two of the best Prop forwards in the world complimented further by Thompson and quite possibly joined by Matty Lees or Mikalai Oledski. Thats not a bad front row rotation for an international team!

I think he’s a great signing for Huddersfield, he brings exactly what the Giants have been missing all season. I don’t understand this decision from Powell but then I don’t understand his decision on Minikin or Matautia either. Both are primarily centres and Warrington aren’t bad off in that department even with the departure of Mamo. Back to Chris Hill, my own club Wakefield keeps bemoaning the lack of available Prop Forwards yet it seems they weren’t even in the mix for Hill which is very disappointing

Willies on the rise

So you’re advocating a split between the two! Why do the current top clubs get to control the major decisions, they’re there due to a quirk of fate and timing! Had SKY pumped their money in a few decades earlier many of today’s top clubs would have been left out in favour of Swinton, Halifax & Featherstone!

OK 36 months then!

Not sure I agree with you on that! Certainly there are sell outs and there are those that struggle but that’s the nature of events because they’re subject to many exterior influences. What I do see on Matchrooms calendar are multiple sports, some of them unfashionable, that have hours of TV broadcasting and huge prize fund pots.

I’d certainly consider Eddie Hearn and his team in some capacity but absolutely not full control and ownership of the sport. Like him or loathe him he is very successful at what he does and makes money for the sports he’s involved in. One thing that impresses me about Eddie Hearn is his relationships with the sportsmen he has in the Matchroom stable and equally their regard for him. I’m not talking about the Joshua’s, Whytes and Benns, Im talking about the young up and coming sports men and women. He knows them, their backgrounds, family, Coaches, trainers, their ambitions their strengths/weaknesses and he also knows where they’re going, who their competition is. In short he actually goes beyond being a thorough professional businessman and takes the time to know everything he needs to in order to create success. Id give him the task of creating a new event for the sport along similar lines to crickets The100. That may be a 9s or some other shortened version of the game that’s even more dynamic than the actual sport of Rugby League itself. If he does that and creates success then allow him more latitude by giving him control of Magic Weekend or maybe task him with finding a way to make The Championship more relevant to the wider public and maybe TV. Im not in the Rugby League is dead brigade but the direction of travel is alarming and it’s been heading in the wrong direction since around 2005. something needs to change

I said he deserves his chance, not just because he’s been there for a long time but because of his record of achievements doing the various roles he’s been employed in.

Sean Wane will take over as Director of Rugby and Matty Peet will become the Head Coach. Matty has served a long and comprehensive apprenticeship at the club and deserves his chance.

I think it’s only fair to tell you that Tom is a friend of mine, I’ve known him since he was 14 years old. I’m not suggesting that Tom announces his retirement tomorrow morning, I merely said that I fear he’s on a similar track to Stevie Ward. I hope to God not but I’d rather see him healthy than suffer problems throughout the rest of his life due to pressing on with his Rugby career. I think he’s one serious concussion away from considering this himself. Im sorry if you think concern for someone I’ve known for over 10 years is ‘virtue signaling, whatever that actually is

There’s no doubting he hit the ground hard, the point is it’s ANOTHER concussion for a player who’s just had a major issue recovering from the same injury. How many do you want him to have before you start thinking of him and his health and not the tries he scores!

I’m beginning to think that Tom Johnstone is on a similar path as Stevie Ward. It might be time for him to consider what’s best for himself in later life.

3 wins from 4 games for Willie Poching with exactly the same players who couldn’t buy a win previously Well done Willie

FT WT 20 Vs 13 LR

Fifita Great offload To Arundel for a try to wrap it up, kick to come Wakefield Trinity 18 Vs 13 Leeds Rhinos

Hampshire DG Wt 14 v 13 LR 6 minutes left

DG Leeds 13 all

Miller dg WT 13 v 12 LR

Green also in the bin with Prior 12 v 12

No they haven’t!

What he’s saying is the RFLs own rules contributed heavily to Huddersfield being unable to field a team. Youth players are not allowed to play 2 games inside of 72 hours, The Giants Academy had played 48 hours earlier which prevented Huddersfield from drawing on those players. The RFL took 5 players from Huddersfield’s 1st team to play in the England v All Stars game The RFL states 7 Covid-19 cases warrant the postponement of a match, an arbitrary number chosen as a one size fits all circumstances amount. Huddersfield had 5 cases but their player shortage was far from normal and had been contributed to by the RFL itself Added into that were 11 players who’s injury status was not in question as all 11 had undergone surgery for their individual injury. 2 of those were ruled out for the season. So due to the RFLs own welfare rules, the RFLs one size fits all arbitrary number of Covid cases and the RFL taking 5 Giants players the Huddersfield club were left unable to field a team. IMO it’s a bit rich for the RFL to place all the blame on the Giants when they were partly, possibly largely responsible for the situation the Giants were in.

Harsh on Huddersfield in my opinion, they had 11 senior players out through injury (not Covid) all of whom had surgery for the injury. They had 5 players pulled from their remaining squad to play in the Mid Season England v All Stars match and then had 5 Covid isolations. They tried to cancel their match due to being unable to field a squad of sufficient quality and yet are fined for breaching the integrity of the competition! The very thing they were trying to preserve by not fielding a substantially weakened team. With the one exception of Wigan, no one has played more games than Huddersfield!

The short answer is no! I’d love to say yes but while some clubs are marginally better than others they pay lip service to the player to help ease the disappointment. The club might offer advice about areas of the players game for him to work on and they might even promise to monitor a player back at his community club. The truth is that they don’t, their interest in the player ended when they made the decision to release him and as he walks out of the door their eyes turn back to the players still in the system. Some clubs will work harder for the player, they may circulate his details to the other Clubs Youth Systems or if he’s Academy age they may notify Championship 1 & 2 Clubs in an effort to help the player into the pro game. The clubs that do this are the ones who run a genuine Youth System which, while primarily is for their club, also feel a duty to serve the wider game. You can probably guess which clubs I’m talking about as they’re generally the ‘Outstanding’ rated ones. Its another good reason to run a proper Reserve competition!

The only change is from the ages of 14 to 16 where we currently create a number of cliff edges over which many of our juniors fall. We currently select Scholarship players during their U13 season, the focus of most players during that year is to be selected for a Scholarship at the end of it! For those who are selected it’s great but for many of those that aren’t it’s devastating, so much so that Rugby League ends for them! Unfortunately at the end of the U13 season match days move from Saturday to Sunday forcing many players to choose between Rugby League and the Community Football team they’ve played with since they were toddlers. Which sport do you think the non Scholarship players choose? We create another precipice after 1 year in Scholarship where many are not offered their 2nd year and over the cliff they go! Then there’s a 3rd cliff edge at the end of Scholarship when the lads are still playing in an U16s League. If they’re not offered an Academy contract many walk away from the game, go to College, take a job and find other things to do like girlfriends etc. The rose tinted view from the RFL is that they’ll go back to their Community Club and continue to play but take a look at how many U17s teams there are in our game to see the reality. Just for completeness, at age 18 we currently release the majority of Academy players because they’re not offered a Super League deal. Once again, the vast majority exit the game, take a job, go out with their mates etc... The current system is not designed to keep players in the game, it’s not geared in a way that caters for late maturation or late developers in terms of a mature mentality and uptake of core skills. I see no reason why, under the system I’m proposing that video analysis can’t be part of a players development. Access to nutritional advice can be obtained via Community clubs, IF the RFL supports the new pathways in the right way. Regional training camps would still give young players access to Professional Coaches including Strength & Conditioning professionals. By providing Representative opportunities from age 14, players would also have access to a higher level of coaching, a higher level of competition and would begin the process of adapting to ELITE team training camps. That experience would be essential to the players who progress through the pathway all the way to Internationals at U18. As things stand in our England Academy for example, for many of the players it’s the first time they’ve ever been in a Representative training camp. Under my system they will have had experience of camps at City Rep level at 14 years old, City and County Rep levels at 16 years old before being asked to attend Rep camps leading to Test matches against the Kiwis and Aussies at 18 years old. Their familiarity with Elite Rep training camps and they’re ability to adapt to a different coach with a different game plan will stand them in good stead. Unlike Scholarships and Academies, If a player misses out at age 14 he is not cast adrift by the game and there is a pathway still to follow. Beyond the age of 18 and at the end of Academy, players not offered a Super League deal can still have a chance to progress and develop via the U23s competition. Even players who have never been part of any Rep teams from 14 years old onward can be brought in to play U23s. The key is to engage players when they are young! When I was 12 I attended a trial to play for Wakefield Schools and at the time in my mind it was massive! I was selected and went on to play against Rep sides from Wigan, Hull, Leeds, Bradford, Warrington & St Helens. I was captivated by the sport from that point forward! Another facet of those City Rep games was playing against lads I’d never played against before either for school or my Community Club. I’m still friends with a number of lads that I played with for Yorkshire at age 13 We don’t offer that to our young players anymore! You say the standard of player would fall, I could not disagree more! The standard of the players coming through a similar system to that which I propose was far higher than that of today’s players, sorry it’s true! I believe we would broaden the base of the pyramid and what’s more we would retain more players within the system! Couple that with a lighter touch from the Pro game till the players are 16 years old and better support for the Community Game in terms of Elite Regional Camps offering S&C, nutrition and skilled coaches and we might just begin to regrow the quantity and quality of players.