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Chris22

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Posts posted by Chris22

  1. On 08/07/2025 at 17:01, Dunbar said:

    I have been sharing the Sport England participation data for the last few years so I thought I would pop up from my Elba Island Napoleon style exile to post this year’s data.

    The survey is the best picture we have of participation rates for adults in various sports and is released every year (starting in 2015-16).  It shows the participation rates for the previous 12 months and participation is defined as any person aged 16+ who took part in a sporting activity at least twice in any 28 day period.

    Background and context

    There is data for individual sports and other leisure activities but I think for Rugby League, the overall team sports is the relevant benchmark.

    For the 12 months to November 2024, participation in team sports overall increased by 5% with male participation increasing by 2% and women by 14%.

    Rugby League

    For the 12 months to November 2024, participation in Rugby League for men grew by 51% (61,300 from 40,600) while participation for women increased by just 26% (15,400 from 12,200).  Overall this means a 38% increase and a participant number of 76,800 compared to 55,800 last year.

    Comparative sports

    Rugby Union is probably the most relevant comparison and men’s participation in Union increased by 14% (from 183,700 to 210,100) but fell for women for the second year in a row – a 14% fall 34,500 to 29,700.  This meant an overall increase in participation of 7%.

    Some other comparisons but less detail

    Football – overall +4%

    Hockey – overall -3%

    Netball – women +21%

    Cricket – overall +5%

    Thoughts

    Unlike last year where the Rugby League numbers were very disappointing, these levels of growth are very good news. An overall participation growth of 38% is really excellent.

    Link to the data for anyone interested in looking at it: https://www.sportengland.org/research-and-data/data/active-lives/active-lives-data-tables#november-2023-24-38806

    This is almost certainly me being really dim but which table did you get the figures from, I'm struggling to see this?

  2. 1 hour ago, Harry Stottle said:

    I have asked Chris but can't find Wane's training squad, have you got a link.

    I only heard this mentioned in commentary of the Catalans v Leigh game last week so took it at face value.

    Looking a bit deeper, I've seen this article saying Trout will be in the next squad. And then there's this on the RFL website but not sure how up to date it is.

    • Thanks 1
  3. 5 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

    Having watched Trout all season and mostly at prop before Ofahengaue arrived and seen Walters perform, those would be my choice just as big, faster, more  agile, play more minuets and both can play second row if need be during the game.

    Walters is a fair shout. Haven't seen enough of Trout to make a judgement but Wane did call him up to the training squad, so he must be in consideration.

  4. Assuming all are fit, I'd be tempted by this.

    Welsby
    Marshall
    Farnworth
    Wardle
    Burgess
    Lewis
    Smith
    McMeeken
    Litten
    Thompson
    Pearce-Paul
    Nsemba
    Radley

    Havard
    Lees
    Knowles
    O' Neill

    I know Wiliams is captain and Wane won't leave him out but I couldn't do anything that put Lewis at 6 (I hope Lewis isn't on the bench as that is a waste of a spot. He starts at 6 or nothing for me). We have good options on the wing, centre and backrow.

    Hooker and prop are problem position. I don't think Havard and Lees are up to it against the Aussies.

  5. 2 hours ago, FearTheVee said:

    Some key injuries at the wrong time for Saints but Salford this week is as close to a gimme as you can get. Then four big games out of five coming up in terms of the playoffs: Hull FC (H), Leeds (A), Leigh (H) and Wakey (A).

    Think we need to beat Hull and Wakey as a minimum out of those games to be confident of making the 6, and there is absolutely no guarantee we will beat either.

    This is the first year I've genuinely thought we might miss the play-offs but I take some comfort from the fact that despite how bad we've been against the better teams for some time now, I do think the team is still playing for Wellens and isn't a lost cause just yet.

    Our win on Friday was very significant.

    If we beat Salford, Castleford (x2) and Huddersfield as you would expect, I think we only need 2 or 3 more wins from the other 8 to guarantee a play off spot (from Leeds, Hull FC twice, Leigh twice, Wakefield, Wigan and Hull KR).

    • Like 1
  6. 4 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

    If you just dropped the ball at the play the ball it would still be a knock on. The only way that would turn in to a penalty if it were hands in that caused the knock on. There would be some discretion but the ref would need to think that the offending player somehow caused the knock on.

    I'm sure I've seen the opposite. Will try and find an example.

    • Like 1
  7. 3 hours ago, bobbruce said:

    If you knock after a set restart it’s a knock on. You wouldn’t get a penalty. 

    If you do it at the play the ball the referee would say no advantage and award a penalty. Agreed if the ball is clear of the ruck though.

    • Confused 1
  8. I did see the incident and it was as described. Walmsley took the ball up and lost it, Salford picked it up.

    We (Saints) held the Salford player down and a set restart was given. We continued to hold down and a penalty was awarded. We then challenged the call of a knock on against Walmsley, successfully, and were awarded a penalty.

    Effectively, Saints gamed the system. James Vella said if the challenge was unsuccessful, then it was a professional foul, implying a Saints player would have been sin binned.

    We must have been very sure if it was a ball steal to take such a chance. I'm surprised more teams don't knock on after being given a set restart to give them the option of kicking a penalty.

    • Confused 1
  9. The idea in theory sounds ok. But in practice, you can just see a situation where arm waving would be penalised on some occasions but not others, leading to cries of inconsistency. I'm more in favour of letting referees use their discretion, which should make the sport easier to officiate.

  10. A tough choice but I'd say Sean Long for Saints. So many clutch moments. The kicks to win the 1999 and 2002 Grand Finals, three Lance Todd trophies - a proper big game player.

    Agree with other mentions of Sculthorpe, Newlove and Coote. I wouldn't put Lyon in there. As incredible as he was, the fact he was only here for 2 years and I think 2006 would have happened even if he wasn't here means I wouldn't class him as our greatest signing.

    There's a very strong argument for Coote too. In the years before he arrived, we were nearly men. When he arrived, he brought that defensive steel, killer cut out ball and kicking option that, in my view, was central to our 2019-2022 dominance. Not as flashy as others but without Coote, I don't think that dominance happens.

    I've only been watching in Super League era so just based on what I have seen.

  11. Another point to remember is that in sport not everyone can succeed. All of the points mentioned in this thread are valid but as one club rises up a league, another one will fall. It's the nature of sport

    All of the community engagement and off field investment is great but there is always a ceiling without a successful team on the field (or at least relatively successful).

    Now the hope would be all clubs raise their standards and we get a better product but the reality is out financial instability means as some clubs rise, others face financial hardship and fall down.

    • Like 1
  12. The aim of sport is to score more points than your opponents. If you don't do that, you cannot claim to be the better team. The better team is the one who scores the most points in my view. It's black and white.

    Even as a Saints fan who wanted HKR to win, I feel sorry for Lindop. A young player who made an error at a crucial time. But a lot more experienced players would have done the same as him and tried to knock it dead.

    The torso point is an interesting one that I never recall seeing in action. It doesn't feel right to say that try should be disallowed for a torso grounding, but I appreciate the role of referees is to apply the laws. I genuinely don't know what the law is in these circumstances.

    Big credit to Mikey Lewis. A massive kick under the greatest of pressure, and he's not a natural kicker. Well done to him.

    And congratulations to Hull KR. Pleased for their fans who have waited a long time for this.

    • Like 6
  13. There is no advantage to a referee not going to the video ref if there is even the slightest amount of uncertainty. Very few will praise a ref if they make a judgement call on a close decision and get it right. Everyone will criticise if they did the same and got it wrong.

    Same for video refs. What do they gain by being quicker? If they are quicker, they won't get any praise for it but are more likely to get decisions wrong.

    I wouldn't mind getting rid of video referees apart from 1 captain's challenge per game but accept that means more decisions will be incorrect as a result. For me, a less stop start product is more important that a correct decision but I think the majority feel the opposite, hence our current system.

  14. We were pretty awful again and deserved to lose. Wellens is increasingly coming across as trying something and hoping it works rather than there being any method behind it.

    Though Wellens made a good point about the Murphy yellow card. A few weeks ago, I think George Williams knocked Jake Wingfield out and put him out of action for 3 weeks and we were told it wasn't a penalty as it was accidental. Now, Murphy's is a penalty and a yellow card.

    We had a consistent approach last year but this year it feels messy. The incidents in Leeds v Hull KR last week being perfect examples.

    • Like 3
  15. I dread to think what Wigan are going to do to whichever poor ###### we choose to play at left centre this week!

    The big call for Wellens is what he does with the spine. Whitby is very young but on last week's evidence is the best kicker at the club. We cannot go into this match without a kicking game as we have for most of this year.

    Saying that, I don't think Wellens drops Lomax, so Whitby will be on the bench at best. Ultimately, I can't see us being good enough to touch Wigan so maybe it's a moot point anyway!

    • Like 2
  16. It's nice to have depth in the half backs, something we haven't had for a while. If we can get a full strength side out, our 1-7 looks as good as it has done for ages.

    Interestingly, I am more worried about the pack, particularly at hooker. A bit of a role reversal from recent years where the pack has been our strength.

     

    • Like 3
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