Tommygilf

Yeah that's the same article I'd read from Shaw with Carter. Given the standard of Elstone's "report" into Toronto I wouldn't have had my hopes up. That said I honestly believe that was cynical and if he had a cause he properly believed in (like himself) he'd do a better job of it! I was always worried when Elstone would swerve certain questions at Season launches etc by saying things like "I'm just the marketing man". It seems like he was given authority to do big things with a majority of clubs support, but when out on a limb fell back to the "just a marketing man" persona. I thi

Apparently they want to have it sorted before the start of the season.

The £99 offer isn't new though is it. I mean the club is quite clearly well backed by its leading investor as without him or an investor to the same extent as him the club wouldn't be sustainable in its current form.

Can't speak for Robin but from my perspective its simply unfair to hamstring a club as they have done with Leigh and deny them their basic right to the agreed share of the TV money.

Tbf I think its more that he was restricted in wanting to play in the North or at least within commuter distance - plus him having an ongoing dispute with Leicester Tigers. Putting aside Leicester, there's barely a few clubs in Union who could accommodate him with those parameters.

The League now has working groups on Fixtures, TV deals etc. But according to Matt Shaw these groups aren't talking to eachother. He cited on the Full 80 Minutes that Hetherington, who as Leeds' rep is working on the TV rights negotiation team, didn't know the fixtures for his own team for magic weekend until they were announced. Doesn't seem to be a happy camp at all.

I said so too

There's no vomit reacts sadly

I think that is a bit harsh tbh mate, Mcshane strikes me as the obvious example of a 9 come 6 and the kicking games of hookers like Roby are great additions to their teams. Some clubs also play with 2 9s on the pitch at certain points in games too.

Rhodri Jones, I believe, is the CCO of Super League and has been the one on the press releases where you would have expected Elstone to be. Whether that becomes a full time step up or reappraisal of the SL organisation (an executive board with Jones etc as the marketing team), who knows.

I mean I'd assume they were charging walk up home fans the same too. I don't have any problem with a club heavily incentivising memberships.

I don't think it will have been front and centre (I think DB's "we'll play for free" tweet and the prospect of a thousand Leigh away fans were more important). If anything from an RFL perspective it makes sense to have the foreign teams in the fully pro league. That said, it would have been a bit harsh too to say to Toulouse "oh yeah so you're going to get half funding and we're potentially going to ask you to base yourself in the UK for a portion of the season - maybe indefinitely". From that sense Toulouse had to be done properly whereas we have seen with the English teams is was possib

Of course, but equally we don't know exactly what wages he is on so for the other reasons I stated he could be on quite average (for a pro sportsman) money too. Moreover, who else is available and from where? As you must have found, NRL players have been nigh on impossible to sign (and for certainly more money and more cap % than Eastmond) and everyone in Super League is already tied down 4 weeks before the season starts. Either Leeds sign someone with a significant fee from a rival, get a championship standard player, or pay over and above the odds for an NRL player - in that context a 2

It could be either way. Leeds are a club with the resources to spend to match the upper end of premiership RU wages and have been much more willing to do so under Sinfield. On the other hand, Eastmond left Leicester under a cloud due to proposed wage deductions and hadn't/couldn't secure a new deal in RU possibly relating to that. Its equally likely that some clubs wouldn't touch him or that he couldn't accept a new deal in that sport without prejudicing his case against Leicester. As far as I can tell he still has links to Oldham too, his son has started playing for Saddleworth