JonM

First player to run in often gets the sin bin - particularly in that kind of situation where there was nothing happening and the ref had already given a penalty.

Lancashire hasn't had that much of it tbf - Doncaster, Wakefield etc. have had it worse.

Credit to the groundsmen for all three pitches I reckon. Some places in the north have had 20cm+ rain over the last 3 weeks.

Righto. I'll be back in a year or so to moan about constantly moving goalposts then

The problem is that a small number of bad metrics poorly applied seem highly likely to decide who is and is not in SL in 2025. The catchment score as currently implemented is ludicrous and is worth 1.5 to some clubs, when we have less than 1 points separating positions 10-15 in the table. Hopefully the fact that these are provisional ratings means there is scope to tune the criteria.

That appears to mean that in theory a club could raise its score by 0.5 or 1 point due to one of its neighbours being relegated from the Championship to League 1? Huddersfield's score could be affected by Dewsbury being promoted or relegated? Looks like London Broncos get the same score as Leigh for catchment - Merton's population is 220K.

Current plan for England is: 2024 is TBD, but "official" sources have mentioned both the possibility of Samoa touring here and a 'tri-nations' competition involving England and France. Australia 2025 down under World Cup 2026 TBD location New Zealand 2027 in the UK Australia 2028 in the UK (but likely to be cancelled due to El Niño, bad juju, crowd trouble at the 2028 Euros, or something).

Yes, AIUI, Wigan and Leigh both get a point for catchment area (326K divided by two) puts them over the 130K mark, even though Leigh is much smaller than many of the places that only get 0.5 of a point. Presumably Keighley get 1.5 points as Bradford council's 537K is divided over 2 clubs?

Gray Viane

Yes, I think it's the best programme I've seen for some years. Well done to whoever put it together.

David Peachey, of Widnes, NSW dnd Australia. Plus Tyrone Peachey of cours

How often have there been attacks on visiting spectators, how many reports of racist chants, how many coaches have had bricks through the windows? Could work out quite badly for one or two clubs.

We seem to have ended up in a fairly predictable place - the clubs in positions 10-15 or so issuing press releases and arguing the toss about minutia of whether the criteria have been applied correctly, whether they are the right criteria, whether other clubs have cheated the system by lying about crowds and so on.

On Youtube. Unfortunately, I missed the winning lap by going to bed at midnight. One of the competitors, Ihor, quit on the 108th lap, and Harvey Lewis completed it, for a total of 450 miles, to become the winner (and new world record holder).

Terry Lamb has to be first name on the teamsheet - 1982 & 1986 Kangaroos, NSW State of Origin Damien Pickles, who had a season at Huddersfield - and possibly elsewhere, in the 1980s. Rocco Berry - NZ Warriors Jordan Rice - Scotland & Gloucs All Golds Mike Bacon - ex Warrington & Runcon Highfield in the 1980s Col Cheesman - South Sydney Nigel Plum - Canberra (&Roosters, Penrith) Jacob Beer - Hunslet Jaeman Salmon - Bulldogs, Penrith, Parra (or Paul Salmon who had a few seasons at Barrow) Brent Crisp - Bulldogs

I've been dipping in and out of watching the backyard ultra world championship today - they're currently into the 107th hour and have run around 430 miles at this point, with only two contestants remaining.

Amazing how more than 95% of the greatest guitarists of all time come from America or Britain, isn't it?

Mikey Lewis got cut when the two Hull academies were merged. Danny Walker came through Widnes academy which is no more. Quite a chunk of the team who did not come through the academy of a big SL club.

Yes, I was reading the programme on Sunday and thinking, "this is good, let's just get Tonga back on a regular tick, same as cricket does with their tours, we know the kangaroos wont come because terrorism, germs, washing hair, too tired or whatever, so 2028 then"

King and Newman I think. I guess my point was not so much to single out specific towns - probably unusual to have an England team with no-one from Leigh, Oldham, Wakefield or West Cumbria for example. It's more that lots of places produce players and it's not enough just for the top SL clubs to encourage junior clubs in their own catchment areas - it needs to be much wider. I'm sure everyone agrees with the original point that more and better junior clubs is a good thing. I was pretty gobsmacked by my ex club having 500+ boys and girls playing.

What are the chances that we ever have another 3 match England v Tonga series? AIUI, the England plan is: Samoa 2024 (or a potential NH tri nations?) Australia 2025 down under World Cup 2026 TBD New Zealand 2027 in the UK Australia 2028 in the UK

This is where it becomes self-fulfilling. If it is certain to be a good event people are prepared to bring friends - and don't if they are not sure that it will be.

Possibly a few errors in the below, but if you take the England team from the weekend, there's more from Huddersfield junior clubs than St. Helens, Leeds or Warrington (obviously not statistically significant with such small numbers). Also 8 of the 16 locally produced players played at junior clubs in towns whose clubs were outside SL this season. Jack Welsby - Shevington Sharks Tommy Makinson - Hindley, Halton Farnworth Hornets, Wigan St. Judes Toby King - Meltham Harry Newman - Newsome Panthers Tom Johnstone - Stanningley Mikey Lewis - West Hull Harry Smith - Halton Farnworth Hornets Tom Burgess - Dewsbury Moor Daryl Clark - Fryston Matty Lees - Rochdale Mayfield John Bateman - Bradford Dudley Hill Elliott Whitehead - West Bowling Victor Radley - Australia Danny Walker - Rylands, Crosfields Morgan Knowles - Barrow Island Chris Hill - New Springs Lions Mike McKeeken - West London Sharks

First and third for me, already had made plans for this weekend when the games were announced in April. Will watch the 2nd delayed on iPlayer. All 3 grounds are roughly 2 hours away, all are pretty good stadia, although St. Helens is better than headingley these days. So I would have gone to all 3 if the fixtures had been released earlier.

Being born in a stable doesn't automatically make you a horse...