JonM

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/feb/27/nrl-las-vegas-season-launch-2024-allegiant-stadium Guardian piece about history of attempts to promote RL in the US.

724 for Halifax/ Hammersmith 1477 for Keighley/ Fev Some clubs (Swinton for example) give figures when they update their website later in the week.

Not sure if we have had these already Salford Cas 4770 Huddersfield Saints 6812

Been hearing that the Hammersmith Hills Hoists players, officials and fans were delighted with their big day out and the hospitality and way they were looked after by Halifax.

Even the top academy teams typically only have at most a handful of players per year go on into the professional game. Quite a few of their recent academy players seem to be playing university RL now.

Featherstone R vs Wakefield should be a good one.

Got a source for that? I thought there was a snobby perception that Sky Sports was "council estate TV"?

That section up Swaledale to/ from Keld is one of the best bits in terms of scenery I reckon. Around here has been a complete quagmire, although it's dried out a lot in the last week or so, but the pennine way route has had quite a lot of flags put down on the boggiest bits and is fairly runnable even in the worst of weather.

Mitch Souter looked pretty handy - haven't seen him play before.

This has been a massive improvement on previous weeks - we've not looked anywhere near this standard in the last few matches.

I'd rather have 2 league points for the relegation battle, tbh, but this has been a very good second half so far.

More skulduggery from Flanagan to win a penalty on Widnes first tackle.

Nasty piece of work, Flanagan.

Any idea why Lloyd Roby got 10 minutes - assume he said something?

How is your training going? I ran along the Pennine Way from Hardraw to Thwaite and back this morning - absolutely stunning in the sunshine. Just a touch of snow at the top of Great Shunner Fell.

Bradford dominating territory & possession, but not offering much in terms of creativity to make an actual break. Widnes defending very well near the line, but a bit lucky to get some points on rare forays into the other half. Our defence of the high ball on the last tackle looks pretty sketchy - not sure that standing back and simply allowing Bradford to regather is the best tactic.

Nice words from Ivan Cleary.

Harry Smith was the player of the match announced at the ground.

Well, we all know how much they dislike having neutral referees, which according to some posters on here who live down under, is only a thing that British people care about.

Yes, thought he was a close second for MotM. Got to give some credit to the Wigan fans too - haven't heard an atmosphere like that for some years.

Harry Smith deserved Player of the match.

Fisher-Harris has a swipe at the tackler after the p-t-b pretty much every time, doesn't he?

Try for me

Two brilliant teams. Feels like Penrith could run away with it if they sort out their kicking game though.

Don't disagree with any of that. There are some exceptions in UK sport, of course, but Arsenal, Aston Villa etc. have 100+ years history behind them. As for the hundred, city names like Northern, Southern, Oval, Trent & Welsh? Don't see those on my map If anything, that's an argument for non-geographic names (like Arsenal, Harlequins or whatever). Calling the Northwest hundred team Manchester immediately cut their potential supporter base in half, AFAICT.