Man of Kent

Thanks!

I got picked for the South London rep side for the 2022 national tag tournament in Leeds! I’m ridiculously proud of this.

Two tries for Herbie in Brisbane’s 16-10 win over Canterbury Wests Tigers got pumped 26-4 by Newcastle with Gildart not impressing.

Me too. Wells greatly enhances the coverage because he breaks down the mechanics of how tries were scored, which is difficult if not impossible to see in real-time with a relatively narrow field of vision via the TV cameras. Anthony Seibold does/did a series for the NRL YouTube channel called The Game Plan.

Thanks for posting that. Very interesting website. In addition to ranking 50th for men aged 16-34, it ranked as the 44th most watched programme by all adults aged 16-24 and 42nd for under 16s. Seems to me that the good numbers for a younger audience is very important in the longer term.

I believe Jon Wells’ touchscreen is the best bit of any current RL coverage worldwide but I’m not sure Channel 4 is ready yet to bring in a player post-match to talk about how they isolated the four man defender etc. Maybe tactical analysis will come later.

I see Channel 4 coverage as a two hours+ advert for rugby league on terrestrial TV. With that in mind, it has to be viewed differently from content for Sky subscribers or the connoisseur. They seem to be doing a fine job so far, particularly their interviews, commentary and camerawork. Is it perfect? No. But as a vehicle for promotion of rugby league/Super League, it seems to be working.

The positivity continues… “With Channel 4 now based in Leeds, I think we will be talking about all sorts of things moving forward. Already we feel part of rugby league.” https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/channel-4-rugby-league-sky-23096706

I don't disagree with any of that, and maybe that's why 5k was announced.

Yes, indeed. I was going to correct it but couldn't be bothered! There's a lot of naivety about attendances. They aren't a headcount but essentially the number of tickets sold/distributed. In some cases, like this weekend's Toulouse game, even the sales figure can appear to stretch truth to breaking point. I recall Robert Elstone talking about making up crowd figures while at the RFL so if he was doing it, I'm sure others have too.

He's certainly gone quiet on the whole realignment/investment/restructure thing

Indeed. Attendances are, in effect, sales figures.

As a coda to the weekend's coverage, Ralph Rimmer was on the 8.30 R4 Today sports bulletin to discuss its increased profile and other things about Super League and the wider game.

That's not how it works, chief. Tax is paid on income, not attendance figures.

Yes, the ‘He’s QUALITY!’ stuff was depressing to hear during the Toulouse game

That hadn’t occurred to me but you’re exactly right. Channel 4 left the jokey stuff to the actual comedian and pals, not during play.

To be fair, many (most?) of us have slagged off Terry O’Connor for years. His line of ‘bash ‘em up’ punditry was always a bit old hat but he seems like a dinosaur now.

Yep. Not bad but not great.

I was hoping for nearer 1m peak.

Not bad but not great.

Watched the game back on All 4 as had to miss most of it live. Technically the coverage seemed superior to Sky. The camera angles/editing/close-ups were qualitatively better and made an exciting game look fantastic. My only criticism would be the captions. The interchange captions were shambolic. Also, I would have thought a newbie would appreciate being told what a penalty/scrum was given for, and when there is a six again. Perhaps some stats too. Other than that, v good

Not a bad start if you believe pigs can fly.

Can I just say: try tag rugby. Brilliant game.

Comedians and rugby league. Whatever happened to that?

Some good ones Down Under