Phil W

I wouldn't worry too much about that, the guys involved in the day to day stuff are decent people who care about the club.

From a Thunder point of view, obviously disappointed it hasn't worked out for whatever reason. However I still think that this project is exciting enough to attract some good quality candidates. There's so much potential for growth up here and yes Newcastle will always be a football city, but it's a sports mad city and Thunder being successful will attract more people. For now though it's about putting the foundations in place and getting those right.

Eamon O'Carroll has resigned with a move to a Super League club in the pipeline. Obviously disappointed it hasn't worked out for whatever reason, looks as though Betts and Heap till the end of the season. I still think this project is exciting enough to attract some good candidates, there's loads of potential here.

Did anyone see BT's coverage of the Premiership rugby final yesterday? They started the show from a stage in the car park with Craig Doyle, Ugo Monye and Lawrence Dallaglio the fan zone was part of the live broadcast, I thought that was really good. Then they moved into the stadium to build to the match. We have a summer sport and should be using that it's not just the match it's the whole event especially this time of year the weather's good fan zones could be a part of most games.

Really good post that. I'm still not sure if double headers really work. Take The Challenge Cup Final, how many were there for the Leigh v Featherstone match? A lot of people were there for the main match only. It's similar with Magic Weekend for me, there's too many games and the stadium looks empty. At The Challenge Cup Final there was some good stuff, the DJ playing in the build up. But we do need to look at what a fan experience should look like as in 2022 unless you're a hardcore rugby league fan it's about more than the rugby.

Let's be honest here, this isn't a good crowd for an England game. I'm normally quite positive about things, but we need meaningful international fixtures. Hopefully post World Cup there's a plan for an international calendar.

Well I'm an example of a union supporter taking to league. Had a season ticket at Gloucester for a few years would do a seven hour round trip for matches. Out of interest why wouldn't union supporters take to league? I now live in Newcastle and have a Thunder season ticket. Get the Leeds point but union needs money and league needs money clubs like Gloucester and Worcester who have artificial pitches could make use of that further to provide income. You could have let's say a Gloucester rugby season ticket for union and league. The player point, that's a risk but it could happen now anyway. Like I said i'd be having conversations with the union clubs and sell the idea. I'd rather try things like this and have a conversation.

For me to grow the profile of the game expansion has to happen. Now this is where I put my tin hat on. At Newcastle we share facilities with Newcastle Falcons and are under the banner of Newcastle Rugby. If I was in the RFL I'd be speaking to Premiership Rugby clubs around would they be interested in having league teams. Steve Lansdowne for example has loads of money and Bristol would be a great location. Rugby league and union under the same umbrella gives year round income. This could also work the other way, what's to stop the RFU approaching say St Helens and seeing if they want to get into union, again year round income generator.

Agree with this, it's a big game today and a win keeps us in the chase for the playoffs. But year on year improvement is key for us.

As promised from my group of three yesterday, me a Newcastle Thunder season ticket holder and two London based mates with no link to league. We all enjoyed our day no problem with any of the pricing £30 for a ticket is a good deal and with that still had a good view and had no problem with alcohol pricing. We were sat in the North East corner top tier alongside a fair number of neutrals. At full time we wondered round to the South Stand to take in the biggest bar in Europe and have a pint and took in the Wigan fans celebrations which was all a good laugh. Things that could be improved trains on the way back, not sure with Tottenham games if they get less on the overground as more live locally but could some extra services be put in? It wasn't the end of the world though. Not sure if it was just our block but Abide With Me was quite crackly over the sound system again only a minor problem. I do think the RFL needs to do more to market the game in London next year. We all enjoyed our day and my mates are keen to go again next year which is a good thing. For me personally i'd like to see it back at Tottenham but know there's deals in place with Wembley. If we can't do Challenge Cup Final at Tottenham then two things, the marketing for Wembley needs to be full on as if 50,000 turn up throughout the day it's going to look quite empty. Secondly, we should be exploring all options for a game at Tottenham.

I'm sat on the train on my way to London having just left Newcastle and looking forward to tomorrow. Going with two friends who live in London and have no connection to rugby league other than they came to the World Cup semi final double header a few years ago. I'll be interested to hear their views on tomorrow from an outsider point of view, what they thought of it etc. I'll look to feed back on here over the weekend and probably to the RFL, as I think it's important as a game we understand what works and what doesn't and how we grow it.

Given at Thunder we have a link up with Wigan it has to be them. Hopefully might see one or two who have been on dual registration.

The club have just announced a fans forum at 12:30 on Bank Holiday Thursday before the Featherstone game at 15:00. Keith Christie, Denis Betts and Eamon O'Carroll will be there.

If the Yorkshire clubs did that we could have a Super League of: Wigan, Saints, Warrington, Salford, Catalans, Toulouse, Leigh, Barrow, Widnes, Newcastle as a ten team league. If you wanted 12 add in Whitehaven and London. I've just done that off current league positions but I wouldn't be against it!

I'm going down from Newcastle for the weekend and meeting a couple of mates in London and taking them to the final. Really looking forward to it and I'm sure those that do go will have a good time!

Really pleased with that win for Thunder. Had a few back from injury and hopefully if we can keep players fit we can compete.

Good to see a few back tonight, it'll be a tricky game but hopefully with some back we can get the win!

I'm going as well to my first final and making a weekend of it in London and really looking forward to it. I like the idea of going to London but wouldn't be against taking it to different stadiums. The options would be Anfield, The Principality in Cardiff, Murrayfield or The Etihad outside of London. I haven't included Old Trafford and St James Park as they host events already. The cost thing could rule out Paris although that could be decent in the build up to a French World Cup or The Aviva in Dublin.

Although a union move at community level would be far from ideal for league. The union regions going to three could be an opportunity and present a chance for professional rugby league in Wales. Players could see league as an opportunity from whichever region goes.

I don't think there's a solution that would please everyone here. For me personally i like the idea of getting promoted through the leagues and making it to Super League and opening up relegation from League One but appreciate that's not realistic. My question would be out of the twenty five teams in the Championship and League One who has Super League ambitions? If so could you have minimum criteria for Super League 1 and slightly less criteria for SL2. You could have a play off between bottom of SL2 and League One. Like i said no easy fix but think you might need more than two leagues of ten.

True on the Halifax fans, hopefully clashes with the football can be avoided going forward. With London winning today it puts more pressure on that game. Hopefully we can get one or two back but we've been saying that all season! Thought the loan signings added something, it'll be a case of if we see them again.

Summed up the second half nicely there to be honest. You guys blew us away in the first half and I was fearing a cricket score. As has been said more experience for our lads and the lads who came in on loan definitely added something. We might get some players back from injury soon if we're lucky!

This is great games being played between Leigh and Featherstone. Leigh announce a signing and then Featherstone announce one!

Think it's fair to say the team news report plays things down this week. The players brought in in loan gives a hint they might be looking to sign them next season, Betts mentioned see what we're about etc. As for the Halifax traveling fans enjoy your trip up!

Agreed, clubs need to get as much use out of their facilities as possible. Personally think that sports hubs are the way forward, creating somewhere for the community and having an artificial pitch helps this.