redjonn

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...

maybe... but for me if he had just been honest in saying he hasn't been offered a contract yet, would like to stay (which he said) and was in discussion,,,, then that would be fine,. In the various interviews on telly he went beyond that simple sentence and seemed to me invite more discussion with the media as part of his public negotiation approach. Then the recent video podcast he went beyond that in being highly critical of GH approach... all be it later he says he understands the need to make a buck as stadium income is fundamental to SL unlike NRL which has huge media monies. He nevertheless chose to highlight a discussion about GH and Martin regarding contract and being available for a NZ warm up game before the WC and Martin asking to be excused... Why bring that up and it was a bit out of the blue in context of the podcast discussion, which incidentally otherwise I found quite interesting listening to Austin. Not good for the coach immediately but ultimately probably best for the club he has gone, rather than having him here for another two years, which was probably the sticking point in the contract discussion...

not saying they don't, just responding to differentiate between the strategic marketing aspects and what the clubs should be focused on... RFL/IMG could of course be helping clubs whom may not have the expertise that other clubs may have... never-the-less their priority should be the strategic.

well yes, sort of. The strategic marketing is centralised for sure, RFL with IMG... with of course clubs contribution and being on message. The tactical is the clubs, that is attracting engaging with exiting fans and promotional work to attract new, selling the and engaging with the local commercial opportunities, advertising the individual games, etc etc....

As someone else says Leeds Rhinos for sure. They have over the years put huge focus on the commercial revenues, e.g. sponsorship and hospitality. Significantly further increasing that revenue with the new stadium and enhanced commercial facilities. Benefiting from the increased revenue and widening the attendance to an higher income demographic - particularly of benefit during a difficult economical cost of living period - maybe helping with overall income sustainability. In addition having Catalan is a great trip for fans here and although maybe not a huge revenue for Catalan certainly makes watching SL more interesting from a keen fan perspective. WE don't have like some other sports exciting away trips across Europe.

Generally agree and in particular the last part... Although may I suggest with regards to knee/leg tackling that it may be wise to stop them being done from behind... to me that is the really dangerous bit...

000000000000000000000hhhh 0's or hoe's

oky doky, thanks for responding

Agreed, but reading the snippet below from the article I would have two questions/queries: - What would he mean by full autonomy given he see's it as squarely Powell failure. - High expectations for whomever comes in as he expects not to be knocked out in the play-offs. I guess getting to the grand final is the minimum he expects having of course got their before. SM: We appointed Daryl to improve things after being knocked out at the first play-off game for the previous two seasons under Steve Price. We believed he could take us to the next level and gave him our full support with the changes he wanted to make and the personnel he wanted. Going into this season, he had the team he wanted and the expectations were high. There could be no more excuses. Should we have given him full autonomy? That’s a question that needs to be reflected upon.

Smith agrees in that he thought the game was competitive, lots of effort but not of a high standard..

For me he typifies leeds, his decision making poor and is the same for a number of Leeds players.... been a problem all season... a major reason they have a less then 50% win record. As Jonathan Davies would say they lack composure... it manifests itself too often and seems to be something they can't learn from... they must of lots of video analysis of it...

For sure getting players out and about may raise some profile. Would be interesting to know how IMG marketing are measuring if any real impact on general public or sports watching public awareness. I guess for me I'm more aware of the sport they attend through RL players speaking subsequently, which may well be the rational behind this rather than the assumption being primary for benefit of RL... but maybe both. Never-the-less unless you know the player/celebrity I guess it has no impact unless they are introduced to the watching crowd or TV audience. Anyway as someone said in another comment it's good for the individual players and may help with endorsement potential which would be a good thing. As to you underlined part, I guess if aiming at evolving generations then my query is which TV do they watch. I'm guessing some form of social media is the key. In this crazy world I guess you need some sort of "influences" to come to the aid of the party, so to speak.

well if we had a captains challenge as per RLWC then a chance for an unfortunate mistake by ref can be corrected. although ref's mostly get the decisions right... the decision by Smith to kick plus his poor execution of the intended purpose of the kick was the primary reason KR got a good chance for the DG... then Wigans inability to prevent them making straight forward yards each play in that final set, all be it tiredness would have been a factor in that

On the sending off... I noted that Lewis having been tackled actually just got on with playing the ball.... No milking it so to speak. Anyway just to give my opinion I agree it was a sending off... although the ref didn't seem to instantly stop play.

Yep but it has helped by having serperate semi stadiums... not least the great atmospheres, plus having games on TV for two days....

I do get the same sense of what you say... giving that it ain't one off's the question is why it happens so often.... it surely ain't an underlying skill answer but more to do with attitude, approach or similar...