hunsletgreenandgold

I did not realise Wigan Athletic were playing at home the night before WCC. Ground staff of the DW please please please do what you can to get rid of the football markings

Glad to see Smithies getting a start. Realistically if all forwards are fit he doesn’t get in the starting middle forwards for me, but could be huge off the bench. I’m also intrigued about Bateman - he went out to NZ with the squad last week and was training, but was announced quite early that he wouldn’t be playing. Fitness maybe? They did let him have quite an extended time back him over Christmas so could just be a couple of weeks behind. And/or it’s not worth risking him - you know what you’re getting from him at this stage I guess. Good to see Bailey Hodgson been given another crack starting at FB for Manly - clearly they see a lot in him and if he can remain injury free he could get game time this year.

To answer my own question - looks like he was just being held back with some of the other starters for the Raiders, as he comes straight in at 13 this week in what looks like Raiders strongest line up, less Tapine and injured/suspended players

Yeah not sure that’s how it works mate. Two completely different situations. King has an English mother and lived here til he was 7. Sam Walker just happened to be born here whilst his Australian father had a short stint playing here.

Hope I'm wrong mate - I just think the halves pairing has question marks. Strange could do great but I think he'll struggle and never been a huge fan of Fogarty. Agree re forwards and if they do avoid bottom 4 it'll be down to them keeping them in tight games for the most part. Probs more one for Brits in the NRL but anybody have any idea why Smithies wasn't involved at the weekend? Can't see him on any injury or suspension lists?

I'd go Dragons if not Raiders. I think Benji at Wests and a couple of new recruits will see them finish 10-14th. Dogs are a funny one - squad says top 8 potential, but we know that won't happen. 12th - 15th for me.

Don't want this to become a page of remembrance but yeah the original 'Brits in the NRL', started by @burnleywelsh if i'm not mistaken, was probably my most visited thread on TRL. It's legacy for me will be that it was the first knowledge I ever had that now super star Herbie Farnworth existed and was in fact British! Anyway, Brits in the NRL is dead - long live Brits in the NRL: 2024 edition!

Very excited for it! Plenty of British interest across various teams as well, which always adds something for me. I think Brisbane take it this year, beating either Melbourne or Roosters in GF. Knights are the ones to watch though - building nicely to have a real stab in 2025. Raiders for the spoon sadly.

David Nofoaluma is a great signing for Salford! I suspect if the spending caps of some of the big SL sides hadn't been reached he'd have been on the radar of a lot more clubs - with no disrespect intended to Salford.

I suspect the Tigers might not think that's a great deal for them, if that was the case. He'll be back for the Panthers in the early rounds. The fact they left it so late to confirm he wouldn't be playing does suggest to me they hoped he could and therefore are taking this game seriously. He is also due to travel with the squad.

Always like to post this link, mainly to show all the NRL jerseys in one place, but also to highlight the latest iteration of Souths merely changing black for white on their 'alternate' jersey....for the 13th year running. Souths design team - it's good work if you can get it! https://www.zerotackle.com/nrl/2024-nrl-jerseys/

Our game against Wakefield confirmed as 2pm, which doesn't sound like a TV slot. I think it'll be York v Sheffield and Bulls v Widnes for TV

It is a little more complex than it looks on the face of it. The houses behind don't run perfectly parallel to the stadium - it actually narrows towards the railway end. So, if you moved the stand/pitch back say 20m you'd be almost in the back gardens of the houses closest to the railway.

A selfless task mate - thanks for taking one for the team!

I'm sure many have not heard of this brand but it's definitely a step up from Kingstone Press et al

Think this is definitely being adopted then - Hull FC at home to Wigan was another one with the same. Actually suits the clubs who share with football teams as well I’d imagine, as surely easier to cover up a single red line.

I think it’ll look better and more prominent in the summer months. I’m also not sure how affective it’ll look on pitches with a short 10m line, assuming that’ll still be a dash marked white line.

So, for someone like me who’s been asking for uniform pitch markings in SL for a long time (I appreciate there’s been bigger issues) - I think it might have finally happened! Either that or a massive coincidence. Warrington are now going with a single red lines on the 20 and 40 metre lines, as they do in the NRL. I’ve noticed today the Rhinos have done the same - last season both clubs would’ve had the double white/red line. It sounds insignificant but if there’s some joined up thinking on this then we could see an end to each club basically marking out the pitch however they see fit. Anyway, I know at least one other forum member who’ll appreciate this…the rest of you mind your business if it’s not your bag

I don't think Leeds should be 3rd favourites either - mainly because I think there are better teams. That said, only Frawley is potentially a slight downgrade on who played that position for Leeds last season - all the rest are definite upgrades. They should be making the 6 and have made grand finals with worse sides than this.

That would be my thinking. Although, will be interesting to see just how much Tompkins is used as he still lives in Southern France and doesn't appear to be in a rush to move back to the UK.

I'll be getting tickets for this. Wigan will have all the normal 'want to beat the best' energy and Penrith certainly won't want to be beaten 2 years in a row. Makes for a cracker!

And how many of them games were against the only other two international sides worth playing (at the time) for it to be truly to be deemed a test? My point is, you couldn't call him out at club level because a 7 time GF winning captain, 2 time Harry Sunderland, Lance Todd Trophy and Golden Boot-winning player speaks for itself. So you've focused on his international achievements - tell me, Harry, who do you think in the last 25 years has been an 'influential and exceptional player in the international arena'? You've not upset me - it's just pretty transparent you have an axe to grind about him as a player and sought to bring that up, when this was clearly never about him as a player anyway. Just a bit odd, HS.

I'm pretty sure nobody, literally nobody is trying to suggest this would be awarded for his playing career - but I do like how you shoehorned in your opinion of him on the field. Also what's this 'international arena' you speak of - RL has no such thing? You must be thinking of t'other code where exceptional players are separated out from the rest, because of their achievements at that level.

Well it's certainly brought the Jack Welsby rumour mill to front and centre of the off-season that's for sure. This morning, within hours of each other, he's signed with Saints until 2028 and with the St George Dragons with for this season. It'll be a logistical nightmare to do both but at least the name and kits are similar.

I do kind of feel like you're answering your own question. It's clearly very popular and in many ways intrinsically linked to RL in this country. The sub-forum in my experience covers the sport a bit more club-specific, but in my opinion, the NRL certainly has a place in the General Rugby League Forum - it's not called the British RL forum. I hope the irony isn't lost that you've just started another one btw