Chris22

Have I made up that Craig Huby occasionally kicked goals for Castleford?

It's a relevant poll IMO. We have a relatively old fanbase and many may not return having either got out of the habit or due to health concerns. This could pose a big problem for the sport and cashflow, especially with lower league clubs.

Hard for me to say who the greatest player of all time is having watched the sport since around the start of the Super League era and only having seen highlights of the likes of Hanley etc. It's an interesting debate about what makes a great. There are some who may not have the most flash highlight reels but are incredibly dependent and influential, even if they didn't score the match winning try. Others who always pull it out of the bag. Does personality come into it? I'll caveat this next sentence, I am not saying he is the greatest of all time or even close, but Paul Sculthorpe in 2001 and 2002 was unbelievable. He was as close to a complete player that I have personally seen. He had everything; skill, toughness, a kicking game, a passing game, a hard tackler. If he hadn't suffered so many injuries, then I do wonder what if.

Not strictly on topic, but that Australia performance in the 2004 Tri Nations Final is the greatest team performance I have ever seen in rugby league. Britain had a good team that year, played a good series and were absolutely destroyed.

Fiji for me. Better start practicing my singing voice!

I remember the incident, but had no idea he ended up in Court. Holding ended up back at Saints doing half times year later. Didn't last long as he encouraged the pop to sing a derogatory song about Bradford. Unfortunately, for those who remember Knowsley Road, the Sky gantry was right above our fans and the song could be heard clearly. Which was Holding's aim of course. For some reason, the bosses at Sky didn't appreciate the words "f.. off, you're a c..." being broadcast.

I don't believe anyone has mentioned the community game yet. If you haven't already, I would take a look at Dave Woods' article for the BBC, which is a stark reminder of the issues at hand. Rugby league's community clubs face fight for survival in lockdown - BBC Sport We do not know what society will look like going forward. Are these restrictions going to be repeated annually, especially in winter? If so, that would be devastating for the sport. Will the restrictions lead to a society or generation who who have less interest in playing or watching sport in the flesh, and more satisfied consuming at home? Will people who watched out of habit stop? All of these things impact on finance and the sport generally. This question goes hand in hand with what will the UK look like in 5 years? I think we will follow that. If the country has a post-covid boom, we'll improve. If things return to how they were, so will we. If we are hamstrung for years, the sport will suffer.

I noticed last year that Super League's official channels started referring to clubs as "Warriors" "Rhinos" "Giants" etc. and seemed to avoid using the town or city names of the clubs at all. Whilst I understand why they do it, our clubs are at the hearts of our communities and the fact that they are in northern towns are not something to hide in my view.

Does anyone really think that I am now going to support a club or go to the match because of a club's badge? I get that a more slick logo can lead to better merchandise sales, but I think too much emphasis is placed on it. A new logo can only be effective as part of a wider strategy.

If I had a pound for every time Terry O'Connor said "he's a quality player"... Once I heard him say "he's a good player", I took that to mean he must be quite a poor player!

Logic answer is a 22 game season, with Challenge Cup to allow the World Cup to proceed as normal. All rests on whether Sky accept that or demand a rebate for it. If they do, then we will probably have to go the full season and delay the World Cup to 2022. That would be bad, but not as bad as losing a significant chunk of Sky funding.

Very much appreciate that the clip cuts off that the Australians score on the next tackle!

I think we also underestimate the pull of internationals. A more knowledgeable crowd in Leigh are not too interested in a blow out win for England over France. A less knowledgeable crowd, say in Sheffield, watching England hammer Greece would enjoy it more. The public love to see England succeed in any sport, even in a blow out.

Just for comparison purposes (yes, it is slightly out of date)

Tonight's news of no end date being placed on lockdown measures does impact us significantly. We may be tempted to delay the season further to maximise the prospects of fans in stadiums / clubs being able to make money. Even if that means delaying RLWC until 2022. These are incredibly tough times for rugby league clubs. Let's hope we can get through.

Very interesting read. In some respects, rugby union individuals gets more honours that you would expect due to class and rugby league gets less for the same reason. But there is also profile. Like it or not, rugby union has a far greater reach and profile than us which in turn leads to greater recognition. Some of the individuals referred to in the piece though, some trailblazers such as the first black man to captain a national sporting team should be recognised regardless of class or sport.

FFS! I'd like to blame a new year hangover but can't, now edited

It's a big year for the sport this year, especially with a new TV deal coming up and a home World Cup. I've put together a few key questions facing the sport in 2021! 1. Can St Helens go three in a row? 2. How will Leigh cope in Super League? 3. Will we see a new Super League winner? 4. How will Super League's new coaches go? (Watson at Huddersfield, Hodgson at Hull FC and Marshall at Salford)? 5. Will a non-heartland team get promoted to Super League this year? 6. How will Newcastle go in the Championship? 7. What does the year hold for rugby league in Cumbria, with two sides in League 1 and Whitehaven struggling in the Championship when games were played last year? 8. Will England finally win the World Cup? 9. When do we think fans will return to stadiums, if at all this year? 10. Will we get a new TV deal? What impact will it have on the sport? 11. Will Ottawa join the sport next year? 12. What impact will the World Cup have on the sport going forward? I've answered some of these questions in my blogpost (here if anyone's interested!). What do you think? Or are there any other key questions I've missed?

Shaun Ainscough's start to his Wigan career was unbelievable! He's gone on to have a decent lower league career but never seemed to live up to the initial hype.

An interesting thread, but academic qualifications aren't for everyone and good on the players too who achieve non-academic qualifications in readiness for their retirements.

Best of luck to him. Thought he was unlucky not to get a shot at the Hull FC job. I don't see what credentials Hodgson possesses that Last did not, apart from an Aussie accent.

Huddersfield only need to go up 1 place to make the play offs, so that is a realistic expectation with their recruitment. Once / if they are in the play offs, they are only one game from a semi final. The current structure suits a side like Huddersfield to have a decent run at the play offs. I can't see them challenging, but would expect improvement.

A step in the right direction. I have no questions of bias from referees, but having neutral officials in international games is a necessity to give a professional image.

Not read the thread so apologies for any repetition. Understand the disappointment in the decision. But any anger at Leigh is misplaced. If you want to criticise their presence in Super League, then you must also question Huddersfield's, Salford's, Wakefield's, Castleford's and Hull KR's (i.e. almost half of the current cohort). I haven't seen the applications so can't say whether the decision was right. But teams should not be discounted on the basis that they are in the heartlands. Especially when other heartland clubs 'offer' little or no more than them but happen to be in a Super League chair when the music stops. I would love to see London or Toulouse in. But the door isn't closed. A year to build, maybe for London to sort a good stadium arrangement, and to enter on full funding and a full pre season in 2022 may be better in the long run.

A lot to take in here. I like the video ref changes and the auto-sub for when a trainer calls for the game to be stopped to is a good change. I do like the set restarts, but I think teams should have the option to call for a penalty stoppage too, for example by making a crossed arms gesture or something similar. This would give a chance to consider a penalty kick, if that would be of greater benefit. Do not like a two point drop goal idea at all. The scoring / points structure of the game should not be altered lightly or vary across different competitions. I've almost given up on an international rules committee setting the standard rather than the NRL though!