Ray Cashmere

I agree. But the point of this thread is Salford's move to Moor Lane; not Salford's poor attendances. The other poster believed it was our potential move to Moor Lane that was the issue; not our poor attendances. We'd contribute much more to Super League with 5,000 every week at Moor Lane than 4,000 at the AJ Bell. The size of the ground is irrelevant unless and until it is full every week. What matters is the matchday experience, TV product and the opportunity to create and retain our own revenue outside of ticket sales.

Do you genuinely believe 4,000 at the AJ Bell provides a better matchday experience and TV product than 4,000 at Moor Lane?

All I needed to know.

Genuine question: have you been to the Peninsula Stadium since the last refurbishments were completed? I'm absolutely fine having a discussion about crowds, what we bring to SL etc but at least make sure you have something beyond preconceptions and a vested interest.

Rouge to me looked like he was trying to avoid injury so as to be involved next week. Few decent tries but defensively v poor and way too many errors . Expected more tbh.

Anyone got team numbers for St. Esteve?

The semi final at the Emirates when Wane's men cruise through the group... (duly corrected)

Be shocked if more than 9 of this squad make the 17 for Samoa

Is the Limoux Elite 1 game on their Youtube channel?

Claire Balding & Adam Hills are the two C4 regulars who have a RL background as far as I know. Would be happy with both of those involved to expose the game to a wider audience. Sell the strengths of our community and disability game and build some hype for the world cup.

That makes sense, cheers. Throw him, Bousquet, Fages & Garcia into that 13 and they suddenly look very competitive.

Channel 4 is the perfect broadcaster for our sport, especially with their move up to Leeds. They're huge on promoting diversity and inclusion and will put a lot of spotlight on our wheelchair & PDRL leagues. Their racing coverage used to be very good and since then they haven't had a flagship sport. Really hope this happens.

Any ideas as to why Joe Chan hasn't been picked? It's a decent (and young) French squad really considering their 3 best players are injured but they look short in the second row.

Is Rouge still the standout hope though in terms of regular SL prospects or are there other coming through who you really fancy to make that step?

Who are the St. Esteve/TO Elite youngsters to be looking out for with a genuine chance of playing SL?

Hoping it's Seguier tbh. He should be playing SL every week been v unfortunate with injuries & the quality around him.

In fairness I'm surprised we've let Pauli go. Think he'll run riot in the championship...

Brilliant news. Any idea if you can purchase the game but watch it later as a full replay?

The NRL spin machine is both slick and shameless but I don't see it convincing NZ, Tonga and Samoa; the players of the 16 other franchises and the general public that a world cup shouldn't happen so that 1 side can have a longer pre-season.

That sounds remarkably high; even inclusive of commercial, marketing and logistics budgets given the salary cap is a little under 2.5 million euro. Would be v interested to see how the breakdown of that.

A squad that is (rightly, btw) being used to promote the future of the national team and yet the only opportunity to watch it is if you happen to be in the area on Friday night. Not everything has to be free but I'd wager there's plenty of people like me who would pay to watch yet can't make it to Castleford on a Friday night. Shame.

I presume this is being shown on OURLeague?

It should be on Davy as SLE chairman and Rimmer as RFL CEO to be proactive in this. Put together a package including (at least) 1 guaranteed England v France game per season, 1 home game each week for one of the two sides and a flagship event (whether that be Toulouse v Cats @ Camp Nou/ Velodrome/ continuing with them at Magic Weekend). If they're foolish enough to not allow TO an initial stay from relegation; then include a penalty clause sufficient enough for a broadcaster to continue showing their games in the Championship and enter into a long-term agreement. Build up OURLeague so that French fans can watch their side away from home. This is now possible with the new Sky deal delivering their production infrastructure to every SL game. There's plenty more you could do besides. My fear is it'll be the same laissez-faire 'it's up to them to sort it out for us' attitude.

With 2 French sides in Super League and on a high, why can't Super League attract sponsorship from French sponsors themselves? I may be wrong but the only new sponsor Super League as a competition seems to have attracted in the last 12 months is Loch Lomond, following their initial partnership with Wigan. Every other sport seems to have tailored, multi-sector deals from replay sponsors to official travel partners. Unfortunately, defeatism and cynicism are always the easier option in this sport.

Should put this quote on Super League's gravestone...