WN83

I think they're just in fear of having to do some work (says the man on the Total RL forum when he should be working).

I'm certainly an outsider looking in at Leyland. I've seen him in passing and my opinion has always been that he looks full of effort and clearly he has some talent but there is a long way to go before he'd be ready for a starting spot at a team hoping to challenge for a trophy. I thought it looked exactly right on Saturday but he wasn't on his own as you say. It was another disappointing night on the big stage for George Williams. I've said it on many occasions over the years, including when he was at Wigan, that he has yet to really stamp his mark on the biggest games. I'd have him in the conversation for being the best player in Superleague but he needs to nail some big games. It worries me ahead of the Ashes at the end of the year because we're really going to need him at his best.

I didn't want to pay £50 to sit on the touchline at Leigh for Lebanon vs Jamaica but I wouldn't blink an eye at paying that to sit behind the posts for an Ashes game (although it'll probably be cheaper). Impossible to compare most of the World Cup to an Ashes series. If the venues are correct and the pricing is sensible, I think we'll get upwards of 120k over the three games.

I think it's been used to build that 'plucky underdog' spirit and while I can get that they don't spend as much as some clubs, it's not been a shoestring squad for a good while (as you say). You only need to look at the players left off the £1.2m cap for the Midlands game, that when they're added in, it can't be far off a full cap spend squad. They've used the space well without a doubt but it feels like they've hidden behind the 'we spend less than everyone else' lines for a few years now.

I remember seeing him in the world cup for PNG at Saints and physically he looks the part but you can't help wonder why a guy at that age has played so few NRL games. It's a great comp and some players do slip through the cracks though, so I wouldn't write him off but I'd have expected him to be signed as a squad player and then a starting backrower to be brought in. I presume there is still some cap space for them to play with because outs of Nicholson, Drinkwater, Dudson, Matty Russell, Bruines and the end of Batemans loan surely cost more than Dan Russell and Leyland (even if some other contracts were upgraded).

I think they've had total faith in Rowley, who had total faith in King but it's never felt quite right. I always felt they over played the 'we're doing it on a shoestring' line, as though to keep peoples minds away from the fact that they had a damn good squad but without crowds coming in to financially support it and without a big money backer to prop it up. I admire the spirit they've built in that playing group and feel for a lot of them now but some of the older guys, who have seen that when issues like these set in at clubs like Bradford and then with the Toronto thing (albeit a totally different situation), they rarely end well must be kicking themselves that they didn't get out when they had the chance. I hope the situation sorts itself out in the next few days but you just can't see it being the end of the matter in the longer term.

Wires recruitment in the off season really surprised me. To lose Nicholson and Bateman in that second row and replace them with Russell, who is 29 years old and has only made 8 NRL appearances seemed a crazy decision and they look short in that area to me. I also didn't quite understand the Leyland signing. All due respect to the lad, he had a real dig for London last year but always looked like a lad used to playing semi pro, having a real dig, rather than somebody you'd expect to move up to a side hoping to challenge for a title. Maybe Leon Hayes will plug the gap when he's back but it's a lot of pressure, especially after such a big injury and then some niggles since his return.

I believe parking was a big issue, with them not allowing any street parking near the ground and looking to make them permit holders only areas but I read yesterday that is being thrown out, so hopefully that will help on that score. I'm sure it'll get sorted well before Everton play their first games and it isn't anything for the RFL to worry about. It's not a bad mooch from the City centre to the ground and presumably they'll put on buses from the City centre, like they do for Anfield.

The Salford players have surprised me a little in all this. Going back to the fan fund being set up and them selling players then, it has been clear there are financial issues, yet they've always seemed loathed to leave the place. Players who could've got fixed up elsewhere have signed new deals, external players have come in and then when they were placed in special measures and told to sell players a couple of months back, none of the players seemed overly keen to leave the club then either. Fair play to them for their loyalty to their mates and the coach I suppose but I'd have expected an exodus before now. They must've had the wool well and truly pulled over their eyes throughout.

67k were on for that semi IIRC. As with any of these games, I think the atmosphere will be better if it's played under the lights but the recent past seems to suggest we'll be playing at 2.30pm or around that time.

Huge news that. Best ever outside of COVID and clearly we need more games that carry this sort of hype. The powers that be have this game as a card to play now and hopefully it does not only lead to increased figures for that one off game but it tempts more people to tune in to other games coming up. The Saints v Wakey game had the best BBC figures on record as well and I think all the noise around Vegas, will have helped just drive some general interest in the games (although presumably it being an FA cup weekend given that one the biggest boost).

I'd personally be surprised if it wasn't. I wonder if they'll try and rinse it and make that game more expensive than the others due to supply and demand. I don't think it would go down well but if people are scrambling for tickets for it, they'll want to maximize the revenue they bring in.

We can only hope the rumours about a promoter (Simon Moran) taking on the Wembley game are true. If its an RFL event, it will just be a hit and hope build up, with no promotion, no fanfare and nothing outside of the 80 minutes of action (or 160 if they decide to throw some sort of other game in) to get people in and you then think we could be looking at 40k or so. If Simon Moran is taking it on, I hope it's pushed all over the place and he makes it a real event. There is still enough time to get in to International sports fans at things like Football, Union and Cricket events and everyone loves an England v Australia contest. It will also be played just a few weeks before the start of the cricket Ashes, so there should be plenty of talk about that sporting rivalry between the two countries.

I do think there will be a pretty big appetite for the series, simply because it's been so long since we played the Aussies, especially in an Ashes series. I just hope they promote the hell out of that Wembley game and we get off to a positive start. The Everton game is a bit of a masterstroke IMO. The Stadium will have only been fully operational for around 3 months by the time the game is on and very very few people will have had chance to attend a game there (outside of Everton fans). An opportunity for general sports fans to have a look at the place and take in an international game, all for about £30/40 should really see a huge crowd. Maybe it's optimistic but I think we'll sell that one out (or come really close).

I still think we'll see Bateman in the team and I do believe he's looked impressive in NQ's pre season games. His experience will be pretty vital in games like these IMO but he should only be picked if his form is good. I don't see Walmsley playing but we'll see. He's looked back to his best in these early rounds but he's spoke on a couple of occasions about knocking internationals on the head and in a way, a big season, without any injury problems may tempt him to swerve it in the hope of sustaining his fitness. That 17 doesn't look too far off. Other names I'd throw in the mix looking at the first few weeks of the season would be Oliver Wilson, Morgan Gannon and James Batchelor. He's not fit at the minute but I'd be interested to see how Brad O'Neill comes back from his injury as well. He's made for international rugby league but it's a bad injury he's got to come back from, so that will be something to look at towards the back end of the season.

Interested to see what happens with the event and the promotion of it. Going off past reports that one was rumored to be getting outsourced to a mystery promotor and going off V'Landys comments that seems to be Simon Moran. Hopefully he markets the living daylights out of it and gets us up to a crowd figure that exceeds expectations and we get a great atmosphere. You'd imagine with his line of business and connections, the event would center around a music act or two but we'll see.

The Everton game is one to really get excited about. The place looks absolutely fantastic and Liverpool is a great city. I've always said I wouldn't moan about any venues as long as the series was on but Headingley has blown my head off to be honest but you could well be right and that being an easy sell, should hopefully push people towards the other venues and they're big/bold choices. I wonder what their targets are for crowds for each one. Obviously a sell out at Headingley is a given but Wembley and Everton will be interesting. A sell out at Everton should be the aim IMO and I'd be surprised if it was any lower than 40,000. It's really hard to try and put a figure on Wembley that we would deem a success. We haven't got much to compare it to and the long wait for an Ashes series could go either way (build up huge interest or lead to many fans just becoming apathetic towards it) but personally I'd hope we could get in excess of 60,000 in there.

I just think the fear of missing out will drive the sales but either way, it's such a crazy choice. I remember the old Ashes series in the 90's and early 00's and when we made it to a decider, the ticket sales would go through the roof and we'd have full houses at Elland Road and could've sold more tickets had the capacity have been available. If we got to a decider this time, I reckon they'll have thrown away 20,000+ of ticket sales. It's a good job the game is that good a financial position that money like that doesn't matter.....unbelievable.

It'll sell out well in advance of the series IMO, so it will be full whatever happens but it's still an absolutely baffling choice. The first two venues are great but Headingley is just such a strange choice and it's one you struggle to get your head around.

Obviously it's not saved it but it's certainly helped it grow and without the British fans, then it's no bigger than last year really (in crowd terms anyway). That's no bad thing, it's an amazing event and isn't just about numbers in the stadium. Hopefully we're part of it for years to come. That will need to be arranged via club owners/managers though I'd imagine because the top brass at Superleague/The RFL seem to have very little involvement (or motivation) in our clubs being involved in big events. Wigan have played in a WCC and will play in Vegas now, in the last 12 months and all because one bloke put it on his back to make it happen. Oh how we could do with our own version of Peter V'Landys.

Really pleased for Hull and their fans. It's not been a good few years but they back the side in numbers. It's still not going to be a perfect season but Cartwright looks to have put some steel in to them and that should give them a base to build from for the future.

Announcement hopefully in the next few days according to V'Landys, in an interview with Brian Carney. It sounds like Simon Moran is the mystery promotor involved.

As a Wigan Athletic fan still scarred from successive dodgy ownership groups, who promised time and again that players wages being late was due to administrative issues, I can only fear for Salford when there are problems like this already. Hearing wages haven't been paid and the debt has not been paid off has loud alarm bells ringing because if you were a serious owner, with ambition and the finances to back it, you'd be determined to get things off to a really steady start and settle everyone's nerves.

Just reading the Salford players were due to be paid this morning but were not. The club are hopeful they'll be paid tomorrow. Not a great start.

Yeah, pretty amusing. They built it up and are feeling the backlash of it.