JonM
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Posts
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Posts posted by JonM
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6 minutes ago, Eddie said:
Oldham chose not to announce theirs also. What have they got to hide?
Oldham v Widnes was at Sedgeley Park RU. I would think they didn't have the figure straightaway due to that. Didn't notice it being announced at the match. London v Halifax the other missing one this week.
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Championship crowds over the weekend:
Bradford v Hunslet 3777
Featherstone v Barrow 1680
Sheffield E v York 760
Toulouse v Doncaster 2770. (Another source gives 2762). Pretty good considering the different venue and the multiple changes of KO time due to the air traffic control stroke.
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2 hours ago, Damien said:
Not really a Schofield fan, and often disagree with his views, but I've really enjoyed listening to him on this. Think he has come across really well and its clear he has genuine respect from the Aussies on the show.
He was top try scorer in the NSWRL one season, and of course only went over to Sydney after Hull's season had finished, so didn't play a full Aussie season for Balmain. He is in the Tigers' hall of fame, along with Ellery Hanley.
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Fortunately, I don't think the RFL has ever been anything like as bad.
WRU were supposedly spending on African safari trips for board members & their families, plus a £50K annual spend on flowers. Mr. Wood paid for his own recent (charity related) trip to Africa.
WRU has had problems with sexual assault and had to pay off multiple employees over allegations of bullying, harassment, discrimination etc. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/67416181. The RFL has had a couple of employees allegedly having an affair, but I don't recall any reports of employees being mistreated etc. Still, if we had £100million annual revenue like they do, we'd be in a massively better place.
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6 hours ago, Rene_Artois said:
Flight delays for Doncaster players due to chaos following strikes. Kick off expected now for 10 pm.
Looks like they're playing at 9pm now (8pm UK time).
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5 minutes ago, american said:
would you be able to elaborate?
Which part? Very few adults play RL. It used to be that you could have pub teams or factory teams etc. Anybody playing RL as an adult today even at the lowest level is likely a serious weightlifter and in a job/ life situation where you can afford to deal with broken bones or other injuries reasonably often. It's not like cricket or soccer or many other sports where almost any able bodied person under the age of 50 or so could get a game.
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21 hours ago, kiggy said:
Just for Info but the TO v Doncaster match has been pushed back to 20h00 local time (19h00 UK time).
Must be some chance of further problems for this game? Doncaster are now flying on the day of the game, and while the strike ends today, I'd imagine the disruption will continue into the weekend with lots of planes being in the wrong places and so on.
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2 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:
1. Do we even think lack of contested possession is a problem?
No.
I think people see it as a problem because of the perception of there being five drives and a kick, then the other team does five drives and a kick and so on, and it can seem like there's not much variety, and this is a way to produce variety.
I think the actual problem is that RL used to be mostly about what happened between the tackles, and now it's mostly about what happens during the tackle - who wins the wrestle, how long can you delay the next play the ball for without being penalised, and so on. A big part of gameplay now is about winning the collision and getting to the next collision faster than the other team wants (attack) or slower (defence).
Very much like phiggins suggestion of second attacker joins means the tackle is completed, although as with all rule changes, there will be unintended consequences as coaches find ways to take advantage of it.
I think there's a separate argument that the game has become too difficult to referee (compared with most other sports) and too difficult for most adults, even very fit young men, to play.
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3 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:
Better tell that to Matt Shaw, in the podcast that @Tommygilf referred to earlier in this thread when talking about the likely clubs 'invited' to make a 14 team SL - not on the grading scale - he said "we haven't a clue as to Toulouse's finances".
Perhaps Matt ought to read his own publication, which is where I got the info from
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18 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:
Really, I can't believe your asking that in the context I replied to you, think back to the clamouring on these pages of all the 'Blue Chip' companies in and around Toulouse that would be queuing up to get on board with T.O. Just one of the many 'potentials' attributed to the club, which have yet to surface.
T.O had over £1.5 million in corporate income in the championship last season (2024). It's their biggest source of income - more than the amount they get from paying spectators. I'd be surprised if that's true for any other club, maybe Leeds?
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2 hours ago, Tommygilf said:
Oldham an outside bet, already spending lots and could spend in SL to make up for only getting £600k central funding.
Oldham would seem in many ways a safer bet than York, who are sometimes mentioned in these sort of discussions.
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48 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:
And we wonder why Australian led tournaments take so long to confirm anything.
They've got 4 months and nothing other than them playing matches at the stadiums has been organised. No hotels, no training facilities, no catering, no pre tour scouting of any of the aspects of the tour schoolboy rugby does now.
No point booking anything this soon. There might be a terrorist incident on a different continent. Or a pandemic that stops RL players from traveling but not cricket, soccer or rugby union players. Or someone's cousin might be getting married.
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5 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:
Certainly on record but I can't remember if it is in his book.
I don't think it is, because he was talking in the book about looking forward to trips refereeing at Gloucester and Hemel, and I doubt he would've been told to influence the outcome of games at Championship one/ League one.
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19 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:
Isn't Matty Ashton out for the season? what's the point in including him?
Had the operation on his knee at the end of May and at the time, it was said he would probably miss the Ashes. Maybe his prognosis has improved.
The squad (once again) highlights either what a small talent pool we have, or how well we do for the size of the playing pool we have, depending on your point of view. Four players out of the 32 played as a junior for Halton Farnworth Hornets, one of several junior clubs in Widnes. Probably there are other amateur clubs with bigger representation.
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2 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:
for me the biggest surprise came this morning when I watched the Batley v Sheffield highlights. I'd seen that Sheffield had led 14-0 before Batley scored 24 unanswered points and assumed this was a typical tale of the slope changing fortunes at the Mount, so couldn't believe it when I saw Batley were playing uphill in the 2nd half.
Should've read the earlier pages of this thread then
(Or not, if you didn't want to spoil the surprise, I suppose...)
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60-14 win for the home team on Saturday, with Jarrod Sammut and 10 Malta-based players involved. Part of a week long training camp in preparation for playing the Netherlands and Serbia in European Championship Group B later in the year.
https://europeanrugbyleague.com/articles/2533/malta-xiii-stun-university-of-exeter-60-
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Sheffield were 14-0 up against Batley, before Batley won 24-14, with Eagles scoreless in the second half. Guess which team was playing downhill in the second half?
(It wasn't Batley...)
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2 456 for Barrow v Bradford, pretty decent.
1300+ for Halifax v Oldham at Odsal
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1 minute ago, The Future is League said:
How poor must Batley Bulldogs and Sheffield Eagles have been when Hunslet beat them.
Hunslet have looked pretty good in several matches recently. Losing Kobe Rugless to Salford must have been a blow. Like many teams, very little depth, so you're going to get some variable performances depending on who's injured.
John Kear's return to Batley seems to have paid off. Bottom four relegation play-off places not locked in yet, but a 6 point gap with 10 games to play is a fair amount to make up, particularly with Widnes having all of the bottom three still to play at home.
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York v Fev here, if anyone isn't already aware:
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34 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:
He's been great this year, but I think they also really missed Shorrocks organising them yesterday.
I think Ashall-Bott is easily the best player in the Championship, but they definitely missed Shorrocks and perhaps also Calum Gahan at hooker. Still, Widnes lacking most of the first team, and massively outgunned physically. You can't blame the missing Toulouse players for the stream of knock-ons. It takes some doing for a full-time team to look less coherent in attack than one where key positions are filled with players who've come in loan a couple of days before the match.
Having watched the video just now, back in the days when referees were being told to take head contact, spear tackles and late tackles on the kicker seriously, Toulouse would have certainly seen several players receiving cards in the first half.
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1 hour ago, Rene_Artois said:
More worried about what I thought was a winnable game at Widnes. Looks like we're waiting a while for another win sadly.
We didn't have 17 players at the end of last weekend. There were 3 loanees and 2 on dual reg today. Who knows what the squad for next week will look like, let alone 3 weeks time when we play you. We've got the weekend off before though, so that may or may not help. Expecting a close one either way.
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FT Score Widnes 24 Toulouse 4. Toulouse cut out the foul play in the second half, and continued to make far more metres with ball in hand, but way too many errors and very much one man rugby at times with little attacking flair. Overall, pretty rubbish, tbh. Widnes out on their feet at the end, but a great victory for us.
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6 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:
I've only been watching the Widnes Toulouse game for about the last half hour but it's been a shocker from what I've seen, absolutely riddled with basic errors from both sides. Both teams missing lots of regular starters though.
Yes, I think only 5 of this Widnes team started against Toulouse at the start of the season, and no Ashall-Bott for Toulouse who was definitely their standout in that game.
24-4 to Widnes. Probably a bit under 20 minutes to go, given the amount of stoppages for injuries.
AFL
in Any Other Business / Any Other Sports
Posted
GWS seem to have made a profit last season - (with $6.6 million in government funding and $25 million from the AFL).
https://www.gwsgiants.com.au/news/1740679/giants-announce-strong-2024-financial-results
It's an interesting model they have, with the central distribution being designed to equalise things, such that the big Melbourne clubs, West Coast Eagles, Adelaide Crows etc. get $10-12 million and the Suns and GWS get $25 million each.