Chris22

I think the bigger story today are Matt Dwyer's comments about Grade A teams. The criteria are explicit. They say that a side with a "grade A" score is guaranteed a place in the top flight for as long as it maintains that score. Dwyer now says that is not the case. We were told that if a club got to that grade a threshold they would be in Super League. Guaranteed. Now it looks like the goalposts have been moved. Why would you invest as a Championship club if the criteria are simply shifted to fit around what the RFL / Super League clubs want at any specific time?

Really good for TV viewers. I'm be less keen as a match going fan when you are playing in a different slot every week, which makes getting to matches harder. I'm not sure clubs who have had a regular slot for many years would be too delighted.

Nobody actually forces England or anyone else to watch the haka or similar. If our players feel opponents go too far, then we could just gather in a circle in our own half or do some passing drills. The fact we stand on half way and face it suggests the players have no issues.

Please be right! First test at St James' Park, second test at Tottenham, third at Elland Road. If Australia are here next year, this is the time to go big!

10 years ago, we would never have dreamed about having a test series against Tonga or Samoa because it would have been a no contest. On the field, we have taken massive strides forward. And had we tried, I think we would have got sub 10K crowds. Now, we have reasonably competitive matches against a wider range of teams. But playing Samoa or Tonga doesn't have the same appeal to some as a New Zealand or an Australia. Personally, test series' don't grab me as much as competition, apart from when we face Australia but that's another point. We have to face reality rather than the situation we want. In the 2000's, we played Australia at places like Wigan and that did not always sell out. If that is the case, Samoa will not sell out. If we can get bigger crowds for this series than last year, which looks likely, that is progress. Next, it's where we go from here. And my worry is nowhere because we won't play a competitive international in this country for at least 3 years.

I have bought my ticket for the match at Wigan on Sunday and went to print it this afternoon. Because tickets are off sale, the option to print the tickets is now not available either. Not great. More positively, I emailed the RFL who responded very promptly to tell me that I can access the tickets through my phone and will be allowed in. I sense I am going to end up having back and forth at the turnstiles on Sunday but let's see!

Follow up tweet offers important context too.

My favourite IMG ridiculousness so far!

To be fair, in the last round of licensing Salford, St Helens and Leigh all moved into new stadiums.

I think this season has had its positives and negatives. Things can and do change. 18 months ago Saints had just beaten Penrith and won 4 Super League titles and people on here were asking how they would be stopped. They were. People will now ask the same of Wigan but they won't win every trophy going forward. Equally, it is not on Wigan, Wakefield, Oldham or any other side to get out of the way so someone else wins. This is professional sport not a school sports day. I do get that a variety of winners would make things interesting but that's on the clubs that don't win to get better, not on the clubs who win to get worse. I thought the Super League play offs were far better this year than last year (I thought last years were pretty bad). But I didn't think any of our finals this year were that great apart from Swinton v Hunslet. Still remains to be seen, but I am struggling to summon that much enthusiasm for the test series against Samoa and hope it doesn't feel as flat at the Tonga series did last year.

Just wait until whichever club that misses out invokes the arbitration procedure provided for by the criteria. Then we'll see chaos!

On to the game, no question that Wigan deserved the win. Hull KR played ok but only stretched Wigan maybe twice at most. Wigan's defence was exceptional and choked Hull KR out of the game to the extent that after French's try, there felt like little jeapordy. As a result, I thought the game was a bit dour to watch at times. If anything, Wigan should have won by more. The Wardle chance was quite an error but forced by outstanding Hall defence and the Marshall no try was unfortunate. I thought there had to be a player waiting to catch the ball for the "inside 10" to be a thing. The video referee said three Hull KR players were in the vicinity so were waiting to receive. I don't agree. That aside, the referees were outstanding. French will steal the headlines but Wigan's in field kicking and fitness were just as good. To keep defending with such intensity and not even look tired when your props have put in huge shifts is incredible. Ultimately, if you don't concede a try, you almost always win. And that's what Wigan have done for four matches in a row and consecutive Grand Finals. Even for Hull KR, if you concede 9 points in a game, you would back yourselves to win. Just not against this version of Wigan.

I think the criticism of Mikey Lewis last night was harsh. He was expected to do all of the organising, all of the kicking (field and goal) and be the one who came up with the magic play. By comparison, Harry Smith's role was organisation and kicking only and the breaking the defence aspect was French's role. Smith was exceptional yesterday by the way and I'd argue man of the match. But Hull KR seem to load all attacking responsibility on to Lewis. They need another player capable of breaking down an attack otherwise it's too obvious and easy to defend. May and Evalds are solid but nothing more.

Part of me is really looking forward to this game. The best two teams over the course of the season, there has been a bit of a buzz with Hull KR getting to the Grand Final and the match between these two last month was fantastic. Maybe it's the naturally pessimistic rugby league fan in me that is giving me the hunch that it will not be as competitive this time. I think it will be like the Challenge Cup Final. On the scoreboard, reasonably close, but with Wigan holding Hull KR at an arm's length and never truly looking threatened. I think Wigan win 20-4.

Pleased to hear this. Manchester United are a key partner for the sport. If we move from Old Trafford out of choice, I predict that Grand Final will be played at Elland Road within 10 years.

For what it's worth, we can't complain about players talking in cliches and being robotic and then complain when they are as honest as Hall was and as light-hearted as Joe Burgess was. I enjoyed both interviews. What I took from the Hall one is how he responds to being pushed on and strive harder yet Peters may have concluded that the team more widely benefited from a more encouraging and positive approach. Must be very difficult for coaches to make team talks when different players respond better to different things.

Ask and you shall receive!

The referee was on the wrong side for seeing the Burgess grounding / non-grounding. But as he walked back into the in goal, he looks at the touchjudge and my assumption is that the on field call must have received some input from him, as he was far better placed.

Not illegal but I miss seeing a runaround!

I appreciate this might sound bitter, but I think Warrington will have to improve if they are to win here. Based on nothing more than instinct, I think Warrington will improve and get the win. Play off semi finals are different beasts. And I'm interested in how Hull KR deal with it. Hull KR 8-18 Warrington.

Suspect this will be a game too far for Leigh. They'll give it a decent go but think Wigan will win and will rarely look in danger. Wigan 24-10 Leigh.

Our performance last night was everything that this season has not been. In part, injuries haven't helped us but that isn't an excuse for us finishing 6th. Welsby really stepped up last night for us, as did Williams for Warrington. Very frustrating the number of points that came from our own avoidable errors (but Warrington could say similar for giving us a chance at the end). Delighted that Percival nailed that kick after the 2017 semi final where his miskicking harmed us. Staggered that anyone blames him for the kick out on the full in golden point, that was Lomax's responsibility and error. Our composure just vanished and you can't give chance away like that in golden point. Over the course of the season, we got we deserved so can't really have any complaints. Over the course of that match, it really could have gone either way. We saw glimpses to show that we can attack last night and hopefully that continues into next year.

Any loss of balance when playing the ball this year is given as a knock on. In that sense, it is consistent which is, as so many say, "all we want". But, often those play the balls involve contact being made between foot and ball, meanwhile stepping over the play the ball is technically wrong but never punished. Personally, I'm not bothered by it. If the ball is recycled whether touched by the foot or not, or if the player falls or loses balance, I think we should just get on with the game.

Yorkshire clubs have been outnumbered in the play offs for years now (2024 = 1, 2023 = 1, 2022 = 2, 2021 = 2). Yorkshire-based sides have only won one trophy between them since 2018. I think there's a wider point here that sides from the west of the pennines are far out-performing Yorkshire clubs over the last few years and there isn't an obvious reason why (to me at least).

If Warrington score more than 12 points they will win the game. With Warrington's defence being so good over the last few weeks, I don't see how we can break them down enough times to win. I'm feeling optimistic, so I will back us to score a try. I'm going Warrington 18-8 St Helens.