redjonn

Just to even up... don't forget the big cheer from hudds fans when bentley first hit the ground... ok their was good reaction when it became clear it may be serious... so yep many fans of all clubs can be crass... Oh and talking about crass behaviour, who was the Huddersfield player trying to antagonise the Leeds fans with his two fingers waving at them... Anyway Huddersfield better team on the day...some head scratching decision either way which adds for discussion... Leeds very poor except brief spells, Huddersfield a little better...but both seem poor teams currently. Though Connor had a big influence good game management kicks too to enable to relieve pressure and regroup when under the cosh... turned the momentum.

time will tell but Leeds sure needed more cover at full back and hopefully someone with speed... Myler I like and for sure is always on someone's shoulder but even though as a result he goes through the line, he certainly is easy to catch, so to speak...

We all know that the NRL is a higher performing league than our SL, we know that any player (or coach) would rather have a starting place or regular game place in the NRL on a higher salary,. That is they would not be coming to the SL otherwise. So yeah this player may not be a top NRL talent at the peak of his game so yeah every NRL player here is of course rubbish and should have on his shirt not good enough for the NRL whenever he plays. Hopefully that rubbish NRL player turns out to be a good SL player worthy of whatever his salary as many have been and many have not. Time will tell. Anyway we further reinforce that our game is of poor quality compared to NRL, that any player that come here is not good enough for NRL and that most of our home grown players that have not been offered a contract by an NRL club have been deemed not good enough for the NRL. So lets just suck it that we know we ain't as good as the NRL and try and enjoy our less than super SL anyway - I do.

will ULEZ be impacting, that is is it within the charging scheme.

A good comparison may be now tv... 11.99 per 24 hours, which I pay to watch a SL game. I don't watch anything else but managed two games this weekend for that 11.99. Or.... 33.something, I think 33.99 for a month access. I,m sure I ain't the only one using a 24hour access of 11.99 for just one game I want to watch.

yep its certainly in vogue... but in some cases its dreadful... maybe start a vogue to be back in the studio for some parts when doing the anaiysis. Although to be fair you dont tend to get much analysis except from the Wells section and Wilkins. Incidentally the Wells bit with Tomkins was excellent, a pity it couldn't continue as it was getting to be really interesting and had great explanations by Tomkins - hopefully he keeps in the game upon his retirement.

I would agree... it came out of his hands. It seemed to me that the V/R was looking for reasons to give the try... as in his first replay view it showed it more clearly and I thought its a No Try... but then the second viewing angle made it more uncertain and no reason to over rule ref... he should have kept to the first view angle. As a matter of interest the wakey No Try...The V/R seemed more to be looking why not to give a Try... his first views gave him no reason to overrule ref... but then he said something like ... just caught glimpse player to the side, can we replay again. Anyway I thought the major difference was Cas were better in their attacking plus I thought got away somewhat with their slowing the ruck/PTB, should have been plenty more six again's... another ref I think may have been more strict...

yep, but to add I will never understand why in context of game and expectation of close result they as in Wakey did not take the 2 points on the early penalty - not only for the points but as a earlier settler the team.

what do you think caused that decline. I would assume for Leeds poor performance/lack of success over recent years, Leeds Utd being in premiership taking media and potential fan interest away from Leeds. Plus recovering from stadium rebuild limits not recovering. Wigan, again I assume being so close to top Premier League soccer clubs is slowly impacting. anyway I have no idea but just pondering...

chuckle... that going to be fun for a while... especially broadcasters fitting the games into their schedules.

As a sport surely we want a set of rules/laws that simplify the game to the watching audience, plus for sure in attracting newcomers. Yet we forever introduce rules to further complicate. Whether that is to improve an existing rule/law to apply differently depending upon what area of the field the infringement is or what we deem to apply subjectively through changing the interpretations. We seem to be more and more a niche sport over here and the rules/laws fiddling suggests we like it being a niche sport to us anoraks. The six again and if the application changed depending on field position is just a manifest of this underlying approach.

I've never believed variety of finalists or winners mattered in the bigger scheme for the sport to make a break through Look at the bigger sports here and although soccer isn't always one to compare with but in this instance the fact you have had first a top 2, top 4, now say top 6 it hasn't impacted on its attraction. If anything its attracted a bigger profile through those few top clubs. Especially when a lower team is playing one of the top say 4 it attracts great interest from the lower team fans, etc. Personally and maybe I'm not a good one to look at... we attend a rugby league game most weeks but we didn't watch the final as we had a family day... we switched on to see the cup presented and happened coincided with the golden point start and watched till the winning drop goal and switched off. Yet none of us bothered to watch the game sadly. Having said that my missus is currently watching the game on iplayer. So a question is what would have got us to have set it as a priority to watch over our other arrangements.... I'm pleased for Leigh and also would have been for Hull KR. I guess we are the type of regular fan of watching the sport but not passionate enthusiasts that the sport would find easier to excite and attract as a not to be missed event/occasion, even harder for a attracting a fan of interested in other sports. I don't attend football games nowadays and only take a media interest in the top clubs, whether here or across Europe. Otherwise it passes me by. So nope I don't think variety is a big help.

Yeah, we'll be the ruddy first, there'd love the game, but then where sit back in HQ in Mars, assume we don't need to bother to promote anymore or adapt the sport to local needs and them there aliens will play and follow soccer instead... especial those thin ones with multiple legs...

In general I agree and in particular I'm am sick of players forever questioning ref decisions, the dummy half wafting his arms in the air at almost every PTB and not least coaches beefing about decisions. Having said that some of your examples are down to skill or others or Yes/No clear decisions, but some are as a result of a ref interpretations.and adjudication. Particular around the ruck/PTB or consistency of application. It is here that coaches probably coach the team to how the ref is implementing the law as it is very subjective. I don't expect all refs be absolutely consistent, they are human. Never-the-less many games I watch are spoiled by the messing at the ruck, the six again doesn't help here. Of course the other issue is us fans who would moan too many penalties spoiling the game but that is part of the issue affecting application of the rules/laws. Gosh we mustn't spoil the flow of the game... yet that is part of the inconsistency and ignoring of rules that lead to the way a coach may coach... Yes for sure in a game players should be penalised for questioning and after the game coaches should be very careful with respect to comments and punished accordingly. Plus I wish the ref would not coach the players in the game either... warning them of being off side or don't be so slow getting up... as next time I will penalise you... just penalise them...

or maybe they have to ref a couple of community games...

Fair enough, I guess my comment was about were you draw the line. One could say Wellens was concerned about player safety and whether the type of tackle should be allowed.

Maybe, but then if can't have good enough VR at all games then shouldn't have them at any game and leave it purely to ref. e.g. Leeds would have been happy to have had the try awarded last game except the VR had to review it a number of times to overrule ref... evne then it was debatable.

depends on context. For sure if being particularly critical of the ref, particularly immediately after the game. Never-the-less depending upon context they should be able to voice issues they see across the game on how rhe rules are applied. For instance if one was to say they believed that player safety needed to be taken much more seriously as in a number of games head shots have not been penalised as harshly as they should be.... or Take Rohan Smith at Leeds, he often comments about the ruck/PTB area as being an area that needs cleaning up as it slows and spoils the game plus takes away the attritional nature of the sport. in his opinion its much better in the NRL and should be applied similar in SL Given Rohan has raised in a number of times via official channels it would seem to me to be OK he voices in press discussion on his view of a game. I don't think he has ever specifically called out a ref's specific decision.

was listening to a NRL review type programme and consensus was that their was a shortage of top class half backs/5 8ths in the NRL, that is behind the first choice. or to come off the bench. I have no idea but they all seemed adamant... That is not say the reserve type wouldn't be top performers in SL. On the assumption that Leeds will have two marquee spots next season they would have the monies to bring a couple over... whether they are available or they make the right choices will have to wait and see. Monies shouldn't be a problem.

maybe but if you offer a higher salary to one, you need to adjust someone else's offer down... of course a spreadsheet will enable you to keep track that is the simple part. Players and especially younger will be looking for salary increases to renew, the juggling part is keeping everyone happy within a very limited budget. The marquee rules of course help take a couple out of the equation. In my opinion I think Leeds tend to over estimate the quality of many of their youngsters over recent years. That for me is a bigger reason for Leeds having a relatively poor squad. Leeds could afford a lot more if no CAP restrictions or a bigger CAP and hence I am always surprised that they support such a low salary cap as otherwise they could sign higher calibre players than most other teams. They obviously support the CAP one assumes in the interests of the sport as a whole.

oky doky... at least saved a high salary. Managing the salary cap, particular when players are deciding whether to stay or move on their career must be difficult...

I am assuming Austin was a marquee player... in addition to his relative high salary another factor in any decision if hoping to attract a couple of higher profile players...

Not sure what the other contributor meant by forward thinking and innovative.... For me the Rhinos club have in addition to the SL team, the womens team, LDSL & PDRL teams, plus a Netball SL team... I am assuming GH as CEO is a key component of having the Club build that wider sporting Club as well a part in building the new stadium. Plus building a substantial commercial revenue stream, that is its biggest revenue stream, unlike other SL clubs for which the Sky/central funding is the biggest revenue source. Not least a large Rhinos foundation that does substantial community work and is maybe the leading SL foundation in comparison to many other RL clubs. I would have thought their was some forward thinking and innovative thought in achieving that. Maybe its time for renewal, maybe not but he has to-date been a excellent CEO over the years. I would assume his achievements at the club allow him to chose the time and place for retirement. Not a group of fickle fans many of whom wouldn't have a clue about being a CEO and hence unable to fully measure whther successful in such a role. That not to disagree that the men's SL team is falling well short of justified expectations.

Yep for sure Leeds were very lackluster, question is why. They seemed to lack a collective awareness of whom was to do what and where. Lost count of number of times at a ptb the dummy half was not immediately in position... plus when is Connor going to improve his speed and accuracy of passing.. Plus does Nene ever pass the ball...yep he did a lot of work but never passing, sometimes getting in to play dummy half or should say getting in the way - maybe his way of trying to show leadership... Anyway the better team won... but most around me just thought Leeds were very poor...

Williams was certainly too be seen, unfortunately most of the time he was being being tackled after running sideways one way, then coming back the other way back from whence he came, then being heavily tackled... not saying that just down to him as I assume he didn't have anyone to pass too. Never-the-less he was receiving the ball with no space to run or time to execute...