The Frying Scotsman

Are Leigh going to be part-time next season?

Harry. You have still not answered my question. How much do they get paid please? You are making judgements about him putting his body on the line as a professional. I assume therefore that you are aware of how much he gets paid for doing so. Otherwise you would be rambling ignorantly like some drunk down the working men's club, and I am sure you are not ignorant. So please could you answer my question, instead of making uninformed assertions about "my mates" who you know nothing about? Also.... Why do you put "MY COUNTRY" in capitals? What if he cgaf about his country? What if he isn't remotely nationalistic?? Does it make him a bad person? Does it make him a worse professional?? Maybe he no longer identifies particularly closely as being Welsh.... Who knows? Harry I have no idea how old you are, but your comments resonate like someone who is stuck in the 1980s when the Falklands War was on, and rugby league was played by guys who worked in a coalmine all week and picked up a few quid on the side. It's all "my country" this and "pride" that. Does the "red jersey of his country" pay for his kids' school clothes? You honestly sound like you are stuck in a timewarp. You are one of the most judgemental people I have ever encountered.

Really daft citing guys like Rhys Evans and Morgan Knowles as examples. They have played like 4 or 5 games for Wales if they are lucky. Flower has played 17 matches for Wales. More than both these guys put together! Maybe he was just fed up with it? Maybe he didn't feel the team was particularly Welsh (it isn't), or maybe he didn't feel that enthused about trotting out in front of 350 fans at a village rugby union ground, in a meaningless game? Either way.... He played for the team a lot, and then one day decided it was no longer worth his while. Big deal - he is a professional, who was putting his body on the line when he played... It is his choice.

The odd thing about that, is that in almost every other decision taken around rules/refereeing etc, the priority seems to have been to speed up the game, and continually make it quicker. That is why it makes no sense to me.

Just answer my question Harry. How much do Wales RL pay the players? How much does this professional sportsman get paid for playing professional Rugby League for Wales? Thanks. (You must know, as you are able to judge him as "showing his true colours" and "what kind of man he is" based on his decision not to make himself available). #judgmental

How much do Wales RL pay per match, out of interest? The guy was a professional athlete. If he didn't want to risk injury (and loss of career/earnings) putting his body on the line for "Wales Rugby League" in a game surrounded by part-time semi-amateur players, with probably quite limited sports science support in a possibly quite unprofessional environment, that is absolutely up to him. I think most other professionals wouldn't blame him either.

No. I'm talking about stopping the game after a handling error instead of applying "play on, zero tackle". The same point that you brought up! I can't understand how it is not picked up in the review process.

Total Rugby League (the magazine version of this forum) did a decent article about 3 years ago on this (at SuperLeague level). As the refs are professional, the review process sounded pretty good, and very thorough indeed. This makes it even more strange that it is not being picked up/corrected.

I often think it could be fitness related. Not that that officials aren't fit, but the tempo of the game is so high at times, that they may subconsciously look for an opportunity for a stoppage. It is far weirder though how it is not picked up in their post match review process! That suggests that the RFL/NRL are happy to have those slow motion restarts against a set D line, and as you say, is completely against the principles of the sport. It is definitely a factor in the UK as you say.

Fantastic! Will they have a ref?

It is for Rugby League in the UK. League 1 is classed as a "professional" league. (Laughable, I know) so work permit regulations come into force. London Skolars were caught out badly a few years ago, when they had put together a decent side. Their foreign players had to leave the club. A lot of them started playing rugby union in 'amateur' leagues for more money than Skolars had been paying them. The level at Skolars tanked immediately after that.

It's abysmal. The Salford St Helens game still wasn't uploaded 48 hours later. There is no commentary, no caption showing the score. The coverage is absolute garbage. It USED to be good .... A number of years ago now, when they would do a little behind the scenes video on game day. This stopped about 8 or so years ago. The standard nowadays is miles behind that, and miles behind other sports too. They were producing this quality of content 7 years ago. At the time, it shaped up well against pretty much any sport, and made the SuperLeague look really good. Contrast it to the low budget garbage that comes out now.

None of this garbage changes anything I said. He is choosing Japan as a place to live over West Yorkshire. And who can blame him? It is probably the chance of a lifetime for him FFS, "lad'.

Of course I have. We don't all spend our entire lives stuck on some backward Cumbrian village you know!!

Money and probably lifestyle too. He is choosing Japan as a place to live, over places like Wakefield, Castleford or Hull. And who can blame him?