Sports Prophet

So far, he has led the sport through COVID second to none and I haven’t seen or heard anything to expect his performance throughout the ongoing COVID period to be surpassed. In saying that, he is very pig headed (which has served him well above), but, his tenure still has some controversy. The six again rule and bunker both need urgent attention that I don’t think the referee coaches are smart enough to fix themselves. His anti stance on expansion into “rusted on AFL states” looks more like him cutting off his nose to spite his face. There is only so much blood that can pump through one artery. This position of his does have an upside that has seen him push the NSW Govt to get behind suburban stadium upgrades following the decision to scrap $1.3b redevelopment of ANZ. If the sport is to keep all the Sydney teams, then it needs to help foster suburban parochialism. Individual home grounds will go a long way to help that. To date, he gets an 9/10 from me.

Those figures for the two biggest games of the season are absolutely woeful!

It is true that there is a greater travelling support of those from competing nations, however, those numbers are a very large minority of overall attendancees.

Storm

He was initially given 2 weeks. Expect that to be topped up to 4 in the coming days.

I am more concerned about the action of swearing at the referee, than what was actually said. I agree, we don’t need to suspend him for 10 weeks for using the word spastic. Better to educate him through community service on that front. An outburst of emotion directed at a match official is never in the slightest bit excusable as far as I’m concerned. Swearing and name calling the referee should be inherently against a player’s instincts as it would be for them to face up and swear at and name call their own grandmother. In saying that, similar to you, I think 5-6 weeks is on the mark.

To match Melbourne’s assistance, London Broncos would want to be owned by Sky Sports. I wonder if people on this forum would be open to Sky Sports owning one of the sides...

@Themusician_2, yep, I understand. I was just giving some perspective, not to you specifically, but to everyone, that whilst RU is in a deplorable state in Aus, the international team is still bigger news than the Kangaroos.

The 2003 RUWC in Aus was far bigger than any RLWC hosted in Aus. Should the 2023 RUWC be held in Aus, it would still be bigger than any historical Aus RLWC, despite the calamity the ARU finds itself in.

Forget about Brits not knowing the popularity of League over Union in Oz, I’ve known many an Australian from states other than NSW or Qld, that do not really follow either Rugby code, who think that RU is bigger in Aus and each of them attributed that opinion based on the profile of the Wallabies over the Kangaroos.

I think it is important that there is focus on that word “Club”. What makes it a club as opposed to a team. More so, that club-ship and mate-ship and pride is what I see missing from many junior clubs. There is a great chasm between senior and junior sections also, one that does not encourage retention. I haven’t been hands on in grassroots rugby for a few years now. It won’t be long before the kids are old enough to sign up at their local club though ?

As much as the once rubbish Cronulla were great.

Or disadvantages for that matter? For example, signing for Melbourne Storm means you will be almost certainly be playing finals football and even more likely, a GF or Semi/Prelim’ whatever you want to call it. The facilities for training are 1st class and you will play in front of some of the biggest home crowds in the league. You will also be coached by one of the greatest coaches of all time and for those seeking a little anonymity, as a RL pro in Melbourne, you’ve got it. Almost enough benefit to take a lesser $$ contract than at other clubs. Wests Tigers for example must always pay overs for talent, because they don’t have long term faith in a successful coach, they don’t have awesome training facilities. You are one of hundreds of top line players in a city that thrives on the sport, as such third party contracts are far more competitive and the crowds Tigers player participate in front of are far smaller. Apart from the $$$/£££ a player signs for, how does your club stack up as an enticing offer to prospective professionals?

Sydney is an absolute war zone on game day today like it was since The Great Maul in 1964 (and before), google it, it was a tragedy that many old fellas that were there, still hold as a badge honour. @Copa are obviously as oblivious as the media is to the organised thuggery on back streets that takes part whenever two Sydney clubs play each other. Each club‘s “Ultras” supporters bring their own history. For example, little known fact about why the Roosters crowd sizes appear so much smaller than what the official reported crowd size is, is because they do sell a lot of tickets, but because their supporters are more akin to sipping soy macchiatos than spending time in the gym like those vicious, steroid junkie and racist Sharks fans, approx an average of 43% of Roosters fans end up at either the Royal Prince of Wales or St Vincent’s rather than completing their journey to the fixture. It really is an interesting story that is ignored by the media. I’ve been thinking about putting pen to paper and writing a book about it.

RIP Simon. You are RL through and through.