The Blues Ox

Sheffield by 22 Struggling to call the Widnes game so will go for Widnes by 4 Wakefield by 10 Fax by 70

Off top of my head I think it was sub 1000 so maybe about 700-800 or so paying.

That is what I can't get my head around, central funding won't amount to much and certainly should not be factored in to wages that are in arrears and most sponsorship money would either be in or been paid in monthly installments which again should be factored in. Why certain players not been paid? Who makes the decisions which ones? Who is supporting these players at this point when they could have mortgages etc themselves. I doubt its anything to be fair, how does it work? Is it something like 30% split after expenses? Again though factoring revenue from an early round Challenge Cup tie just to make wages seems an extremely risky play.

Its good Huddersfield following suit which they really need to do to keep the likes of Brown and Naidole who would both likely ended up at Leeds and help to keep a very distinct top 2 or 3 teams in the league, where as now although Huddersfield won't bridge that gap this season they do look a viable option now for upcoming top players especially with their international bonus scheme and over the next 2 or 3 seasons they could put some serious pressure on the status quo. I do think where Hudds need most improvement is in how their U19's set up is ran and recruited for, you don't have to pay people to still have a proffesional environment and I think if they can sort this area out then there is no reason, with the wealth of talent in the juniors around them, that they can't just think to bridge the gap but could also look to overtake this top group of teams.

Haven Statement. It sounds like a dire situation and you wonder what money a club could be owed in at this stage of the season that is going to clear those debts. The RFL should really be stepping in at this point as they have obviously broken the contracts of seven players and simply saying that they will get paid when the club gets paid is not good enough. I can't wait for the outcry on Twitter from the SL players as they rush through the attempts to sort out their Union so they can help these players and deal with this matter.......

Im totally confused now, can someone confirm one way or the other if Batley are Huddersfield but without the funding.

If he had anything about him he would have already reported this.........

Huddersfield do but I believe its more like expenses rather than anything major. They do offer incentive cash bonuses if players are called up to rep squads though.

They really had no choice, it was either that or risk getting left behind by a number of teams. I'm glad sense has preveiled though.

I know its not allowed but even if it were if I won 10m I wouldn't put it in to Fax, would much rather put it in to the amateur game.

This is Thrum Hall and the Shay all over again by the sounds of it and just like for Fax, it won't be long before the music stops playing. The scary thing though, a lot of people have Salford pinned as a grade A club in the first official gradings. Imagine if that happened given the state they are in. So many self sustainable clubs in the Championship that are infinatley better run.

Does this mean we are not ready to put Oldham in to Super League just yet?

Thats 50/1 on York winning it aint looking too bad now. Obviously they are not going to win it but decent chance of making the final and then would certainly have been able to make some money on that in the final. Hard to see past Sheffield though but should be a decent game before the formality of the final.

It was just a strange incident really but I could see why Litten was annoyed as to me that was not a hand off that was more a forceful jab but we couldnt see if it was flat palm or not but still didn't look great. Litten then copped a hand/forearm when he went back in to the tackle. Was very surprised having watched it that the penalty went Salford's way. As above though it does beg the question where a hand off falls in the rules because it is direct and intentional contact with an opponents head which is the very thing the game is trying to crack down on. It certainly does seem to have been overlooked but maybe that incident we will see the RFL make some sort of ruling on it.

I remember one game in 1987 when Saints were not underdogs. Fax from around '86. Kind of makes me a glory fan I guess.

In the end I dont think it made much difference if it were sent up as a try or no try, I do agree you can't see the ball on the floor so as soon as it were sent up as a try you knew it was one of those that would be given, but if it had been sent up as no try it would still have been given as a penalty try I imagine because you can argue the high contact would have stopped Newman scoring. I don't agree with the binning though.

Good reffing there by the video ref I though picking up the head contact, they sometimes ignore that. I do think the yellow card is a touch harsh though, not sure what he can do there and the ref does have at his discretion that the attacker is low down but chose not to use that.

Laughable sin binning. Seemed to be just because the Saints players ran in.

Had deals with a number of different clubs, the deals always seem to end the same way with the clubs not really benefitting from them.

Im 100% sure the RFL due dilligence process will be very thorough.

Fair to say it looks like York have a discipline problem.

Saints v leigh unless Saints start winning easy in which case will switch to Wigan V Hudds. No interest in the Wire game should be an easy win for them.

Yeah I feel one game for Amone is fair. It would have been disappointing if he had not recieved a ban as he certainly has time to execute that tackle better than he did even if there was no malice involved.

Has there been any discussion with lower league clubs regards the new new interpretations? A lot of talk in the statement of how they would meet with SL coaches as though this is only going to affect them. Obviously next year is going to be an even bigger change and where as at community level there is a lot more reffing using common sense going on regarding the new lower tackle heights, you have to feel they are going to be over scrutinised when it comes to Super League which could lead to a bit of a mess but hopefully this has given the RFL some food for though on how to smoothly adapt. It is good that common sense preveiled in the Brown sending off but I don't agree with a previous poster regarding Amone, although Ive not seen if his charge was removed or not but he clearly had time to get his head in a better position than he did.

Because crowd figures are now worth something. It makes you wonder if teams don't announce now in the thinking that they can get away with publishing a figure later or not at all which could make it harder for the RFL to audit. The other option is go down the Bradford route and announce an obviously over inflated attendance but then you run the risk of other clubs calling you out on it.