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Tommygilf

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Posts posted by Tommygilf

  1. 14 minutes ago, AB Knight said:

    That article has confused me, it seems very few journalists check what they’ve written these days: 

    The 20-6 defeat saw Rhinos’ first four-figure attendance since 7,103 spectators saw them lose to Wigan Warriors in a Saturday afternoon tie in the sixth round of the Cup last May. In 2023 a crowd of just 5,112 watched as Leeds were beaten by Castleford Tigers at Headingley at the same stage of the competition.


     

    Should say 2022 for the Cas match

    Regardless, the attendances speak for themselves.

  2. 32 minutes ago, dkw said:

    That's the only way I see it being viable.

    I also think the only way the CC gets anywhere near back to good crowds is if the RFL subsidise ticket prices, say 50% discount on all tickets at all games.

    I genuinely don't think price is the problem to be honest, we just don't have a massive culture of one off match ticket purchases, or latent unfulfilled demand. 

    • Like 2
  3. 56 minutes ago, dkw said:

    I'm not sure how they could add it to ST's,  no club is guaranteed a home challenge cup game are they?

    They used to add kids matches on when I was a junior member at the Rhinos, so there must be a system or formula in place.

    I also think there is going to be a move to change the Cup format too which will guarantee home cup games in the near future. 

  4. 54 minutes ago, Eddie said:

    Though they got 7k crowd worth of income in, whereas if it was on season tickets they’d have got a lot less. 

    I'm not sure how many members the Rhinos have currently, but between the larger attendance and higher (I believe) prices for the league game, it could be that it is not that much of a difference financially. Plus I'd wager corporate was significantly higher in the League match too.

  5. 3 minutes ago, Dave T said:

    I saw a crowd of 7.1k, I think it was Serious about RL though. It was that idiot journo Cam something reviewing crowds - he had a brilliant line that it's not the clubs fault as they marketed the games brilliantly as always. 

     

    7108 

    Over 15k literally a week before. If that doesn't show the impact of not being included on Season tickets I don't know what will.

    • Thanks 1
  6. On the open draw of the cup too, for a fair few lower division clubs, playing in a half full SL ground is better for them financially than playing at home because of the revenue split rules.

    Take Wigan vs Sheffield last weekend, whilst it was a pretty low attendance for the former, for the latter, it was one of the biggest attendances they'll play in front of all year, and is nearly double the capacity of their current home ground. For the likes of Sheffield etc, the financial reward is worth even giving up home advantage.

  7. On 24/03/2024 at 13:47, GeordieSaint said:

    I find Southgate stubborn and inflexible. He continues to pick the likes of McGuire and Henderson for example. He won’t play TAA when he’s at RB. He persisted with the Yorkshire Pirlo despite him not playing at all at Man City. Not convinced by his tactics either… we are dull despite having some top quality talent. 

    He is immensely risk averse, which to be fair has served him well. Teams go far in tournaments by not losing and he is clearly a fan of playing the percentages at the international level. 

    Tactically I think he is very limited, though arguably that is the nature of international football vs club football with the amount of time a coach has with his players. He clearly is defensively minded.

    I do find it very frustrating that we can have some incredibly talented players like Bellingham, Grealish and Foden, an embarassment of riches most countries would want, that appear to consistently be stunted by the style of play. 

    I don't blame him for being loyal to the players he has been loyal to, they have served him well and are his men. He's clearly also a man who understands that the best on field 11 players or best 24 for a squad don't necessarily equate to most success. He's picked "good tourists" and dumped those who have stepped outside of that - Ben White for example. Talent isn't everything to him, and it has made the England team feel much more likeable than it has appeared in the past 2 decades or so.

    Its been more successful than any approach before or since (save one tournament in 1966 or maybe Italia 90). In 2018 he had the benefit of low expectations. In 2020(1) we reached the final and got beat by a similarly defensively minded side, 2022 we only just got beat by arguably the best squad in the world. We also won a penalty shoot out in 2018 - so he's doing something right.

    Its difficult to say what happens next really. England are one of the best in Europe and the World, certainly good enough to win international tournaments. Southgate's style seems to get us to these big games, but I'm not convinced it allows us to win them.

  8. 1 hour ago, redjonn said:

    yep, but then again Saints are a good side... so I wasn't surprised about them winning.   Having said that I was surprised how much better saints were - even more surprised they chose to take the early penalties. 

    Leeds line defence was relatively good, their outer field defence is extremely poor.  Any team to-date is easily crossing into 40/30 yard area enabling good attacking kicks.   Whereas Leeds are as it seems to me struggling to get across the half way line and more often than not kicking from around the 40 yard line or even further back. Thus every opposition set they are on the back foot.   Are they being too cautious with the off side line resulting in not having an "aggressive line" rather than a "passive" line.

    Saints are good, but not unbeatably so. 

    We had/have a passive structure in defence, under Smith since his first full preseason, it seems to be one of his philosophies. It did get less passive last season as it went on. 

     

  9. 5 hours ago, RugbyLeagueGeek said:

    The Hundred was devised from a blank sheet of paper, and they decided to come up with a regional, group format competition. They could have chosen to do a straight knockout with the existing counties and minor counties, but they didn't. Cricket's cup comps used to be straight knockouts like this, but they ditched those formats years ago.

    I love the Challenge Cup in its current format - I've thoroughly enjoyed watching all the rounds from the amateur teams at the beginning, and have just watched a great tie between Leigh and Fev. But I just don't think any sport starting a comp from scratch would ever decide to go with a straight knockout comp anymore due to the uncertainty involved around the fixture list.

    In the late 19th century and 20th century, Knockout Cup competitions were the money spinners; its why we ended up with so many of them in loads of sports.

    Things are different now it seems.

  10. 47 minutes ago, Dave T said:

    They used to give kid members free admission, and adults free for the first round the club entered. They used to get good crowds and then they scrapped it. I'm not sure how the current system which sees clubs get 30-50% of a regular crowd is better. 

    I think it damages the brand and the sport. 

    Totally agree, the situation is really poor atm and it looks naff.

  11. 14 minutes ago, Dave T said:

    I'm stunned whenever anyone tries to deny that point, although it is so obvious now that does seem to have calmed down. 

    I don't know what crowd Wire expect tonight, very few I expect, but an example of how little effort they've put in is in their comms. I've checked a few of their releases about this match, and they don't mention the prices. They simply give a link for tickets and say there are discounts for members. They did summarise the pricing 11 days ago just after the draw, but other than that no mention. 

    Yet they have actually reduced the prices - all adult tickets are £20 for anywhere in the ground, even main stand seats, or £15 for members. They should be shouting about the pricing, but it really feels like this game is an inconvenience tbh. 

    It is the number 1 factor without doubt.

    I know from attending LUFC cup matches and having mates at other football clubs where league stadium capacity is well below demand, the cheap tickets for cup games thing works to an extent but even then they have to try hard and aren't guaranteed attendances as good as league games (often relying on larger away followings than usual too). And that is for clubs where demand outstrips supply!

    A lot of our club's whole attitude to the cup has the feel of pre-season friendly, and crowds reflect that too alongside the Season ticket point. Leeds vs Saints last night was in Leeds' regular well attended match slot, against a big side who we (according to some) only just lost to last week, and in a knockout comp a decent few rounds into the season but not so much you could argue for over saturation. It couldn't have been better really from a marketing POV.

    It's really poor that these games aren't getting good attendances. It really would not surprise me to see the solution being something that packages Cup games into Season Tickets, and perhaps in a way that guarantees a certain number of matches too. 

  12. 3 minutes ago, redjonn said:

    he didn't though.... he was asked a pointed question about the PTB area and he talked about the change of approach talked about and how it has regressed back to previous seasons ignoring of it plus the flopping on tackling, six again and off side not applied... he did say not just our game but looking across all the games last week.... He was spot on with those comments.

    On the actual game he was critical of their performance,  not enough intent, performance not were it needed to be, disappointed in not stopping the try just before half time, Saints were the much better team, only a short period of 15-20 mins after halftime were they had more intent, etc.

    Only until asked pointedly by journalist about the poor PTB in the game did he move on to a more general comment on the approach agreed before season started had regressed back to the poor interpretations of the rule again.

    So to me he was clear they were not good enough on the day and the opposition were the much better team, etc

    So I would disagree with your comment.

    He said that 2 deflections and a missed barge, which was more what I was personally getting at.

    As much as it was a specific bait question, he did bite. I always think as well that whilst Smith makes a lot of (sometimes good) points about the refereeing, he seems to never say "it was the same for both sides". 

    Its worrying how poor the attack was. "Actually our defence of our tryline was good" (paraphrasing) was a silly comment to make after that result. Equally, in a Competition where just 3 wins gets you to the final, for Leeds to be out in our first game for is it the 4th time in a row (certainly the 2nd time with Smith as head coach), is poor. This is "his team" now, there can't be any excuses.

  13. 50 minutes ago, JohnM said:

    At one point he says , "what can you do?" Well, and this applies to ALL coaches, not just interim newbies like Smiffy,  you can stop moaning and focus on the teams on-field performance: individual, team, subs strategy, discipline, skills, fitness, speed, passing, kicking, tactics, etc. That helps us fans better undertstand the game. His comments , and any other similar from other coaches, should not go un-sanctioned. 

    I always think blaming the ref in a game you've lost by more than 2 tries is woeful.

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