17 stone giant

Have really enjoyed watching the opening ceremony. Paris is a beautiful city, especially after dark when everything lights up. A fantastic start to the Olympics. Well done France!

Just watching The Hundred tonight and I do think there is something good about having a simple graphic of, say, 71 runs needed, 88 balls left. I grew up with the 6 ball overs and having to do the maths when it was 6.3 overs remaining etc. but I can see how this simplifies things. And when you're counting down in that manner, it does make more sense to only have 5 balls rather than 6. You also know then that the bowler changes are happening on 70, 65, 60, etc. If you just change the number of balls in an over from 6 to 5 for short competitions, then a T20 is 100 balls an innings. Considering that in the past, overs have been 4 balls, 8 balls and now 6 balls, is a change to 5 that much of a hardship? I don't think it would bother me, certainly for the short form of the game.

More info about the role etc. President and Vice President (rugby-league.com)

Wales and England have both qualified for the women's, so I guess that can't be Great Britain. Would they have Great Britain in the men's while the women's is still split?

But snooker players love a good hundred (or century as they call it).

I like the women's football as that's full strength teams. I have zero interest in the men's with its under 23 and overage player nonsense.

I think you're probably right about that. England and Wales don't have conveniently sized regions/states with recognisable names that we can use instead. Unless you want to go old school with Wessex vs Mercia, or more vague sounding names like West Midlands vs North of England, etc. I don't think either of those are an upgrade.

But that's not a statement of fact. It's just your opinion. It's no different to someone like me saying that I think The Hundred is great. Personally, I don't closely follow the Blast. It's too many games (133, is it?) and too many teams (18) for my liking. That's why I prefer the more condensed Hundred tournament. There's no right or wrong - it's just what people prefer.

You'd need to survey people to find out what people think of the names. Personally, I don't have any issues with the name Southern Brave. I'm from the south, it's a name that anyone from the south or who identifies as a southerner can get behind, if they so choose. The Brave part is just what it is. I don't have a strong like or dislike for it - it just needed a name and so Brave will do. I feel the same about Hampshire Hawks. Green makes sense to avoid looking like you're favouring Southampton Red or Portsmouth Blue. I do see quite a lot of Southern Brave merchandise out there, along with Hampshire stuff. I do think some of the prices are ridiculous, but I could say the same about other teams in many sports.

Yep, they're somewhat snookered when it comes to the name predicament.

What do we need to do instead that WILL attract the elite players and cause them to choose playing in an English/Welsh competition rather than going off to America or T10 leagues? Is it just a case of sorting the calendar out so that these top events/leagues don't overlap?

But apparently will still be called The Hundred.

Great win by Warrington. I thought they would struggle to hold on with 12 men. Even more so when they had 10 minutes with only 11 men. But they defied the odds and not only held out, but scored again themselves. Superb performance.

As I've said, I would only welcome GB back if it was going to replace England etc. and play in every event. There aren't enough events and there aren't any players from Wales or Scotland (I wouldn't include Ireland anyway) in order to justify changing once every four years. Even more so if it's not even clear or consistent what you're changing for. Neither do I actually care much for changing. I don't mind the Lions concept in RU because it has tradition and each of the four nations involved are genuine rugby union playing nations, but even then I consider it way behind me wanting England RU to win the World Cup etc. In rugby league, it's just a nonsense. Putting 13 England players in a different shirt and pretending you've got a different product. You might as well get 13 Englishmen to play as England in year 1, Great Britain in year 2, European Allstars in year 3, and Northern Hemisphere Superstars in year 4. Four amazing teams that the sport can market!

Want Hull. Think Wigan.