Madrileño

1. Doubtful 2. Probably

No.

The back of the Castleford jersey is completely black. You could see them hanging up.

I am only repeating what Bill Arthur said. I was surprised to hear it. Maybe he was wrong, but I suspect it is probably you who doesn't know what they are talking about

An entertaining 80 mins, but let's be honest: it was a mistake-strewn error fest. HKR are sitting 3rd, so clearly they at least are capable of more. However some of their play tonight was awful. - leaving their half to carry in yardage plays and inevitably get smashed. - no workrate from their middles to get back escort their kick catcher. The Tigers try is a prime example of this.The kicker is able to gather and score in acres of space. - dummy half passing is garbage about 50% of the time (a League wide problem mind... not just HKR). First receiver is taking balls in his ribs, overhead etc etc. -several decent try scoring opportunities bombed by poor skills and/or poor decision making ability. - A real lack of professionalism from some of their players. The bearded guy standing 8m from the goal line, flat footed and not even expecting an offload in the 1st half. WTF??? You are meant to be a professional player mate. Positives for them would be Abdul's kicking game (superb 40-20 second half) and some of their D. Smashing Westerman for example. Castleford though, admittedly look to have a tad more professionalism than they did under Radford. They still look like a bit of a pub side though - probably happy to act the big man down Greggs' back alley rather than grafting at training. Their skills are poor, and Fonua comes across as a complete clown on that left edge. How he can be playing Super League and not score that opportunity he had in the corner is staggering. @Hull Kingston Bronco says they are better than Wakefield, but that is a given. Wakefield look like a part time outfit these days. Castleford need to improve rapidly or they are going to take some heavy beatings, and the last thing this League needs is even more mismatches.

Another kit clash narrowly avoided tonight. Cas can be seen in the changing room cam footage hastily throwing on yellow jerseys at the last minute. They are wearing black/orange shorts and socks and their black/orange jerseys are all hanging up in the changing room. Commentator makes mention of it too... seemingly they are not actually obliged to change, but did so at the request of the referee. Hull KR (normally red) turn up all in darkish blue to play Cas who are in all black. How is this League repeatedly so amateurish??

"Lancashire" has not had professional Rugby League since Super League started a quarter of a century ago. That was my point. It exists to this day in the minds of people who are either in their 70s, or still live in the 70s. Calling a team "Lancashire" in 2023 would be economically suicidal.

I actually suggested this before on here. Give the All Stars first pick of 1-13. Most All Stars players will be foreigners (just look at the Dream Team selection) then let England pick their 1-17 including NRL players. Once England's team is finalised, the All Stars could pick their bench. In reality England would probably be down 2 or 2 or 3 of their normal starters but as you say, you would have a quality opponent for England. And an event that the RFL could actually promote. "Lancashire" FFS... most of the current professional players have probably never even been to Lancashire, never mind played League there!!

Some real mouth-watering matchups there. What sort of crowds would you expect paying to watch this extravaganza?

What we are seeing here is that teams are rapidly working out how to play against Warrington. I mentioned on previous threads, that powell's teams are always based around a dominant middle unit generating fast ruck speed. If his teams get a roll on with a series of quick PTBs then they are always dangerous. However: keep them in yardage as long as possible (Linespeed early in the count) and get numbers in at the contact - win the wrestle. If teams really focus on both of these, then all ofy a sudden, Wire are left looking a bit lost. Matautia got stuck in last night, but is clearly not an elite level Middle - whenever there was a scrum, he looked like a back who had jumped in there to help out (which he was!) Saints got 3 or even 4 men in to the contact, and got tacklers 1 and 2 off the deck early enough to sprint back while their markers stayed in the fight. I have noticed that Super League refs allow a kind of 'Flop Lite' where the 3rd man in is kind of allowed to add weight even when the ball carrier is already down. (The women's games are far worse for this!) And Saints exploited this well, with their 3rd or even 4th man getting hands/forearms/body on to the upper tackler and giving a quick squeeze down. Wire's ruck speed was slowed right down as a result. Obviously Wire will still be able to blow away the chaff at the bottom of the League (the grade 3 teams as Adrian Morley called them this week! ) but I think they need to find something fast to be competitive against the top sides going forward. Catalans, Wigan, Saints all have the athleticism to dominate the collision/wrestle and still get back to feet quickly enough to stop Wire milking penalties.

Agreed @Saint Toppy he clearly chose to "buy" the dummy at the young guy's try rather than simply hit the ball carrier, and force him to execute the pass. (He actually had a defender on his onside as well). if you called this earlier, then fair play to you, because the guy obviously doesn't want to tackle, as you say.

Two words. Walter, Mitty

I would reply but your post "isn't worth the oxygen"to coin a phrase you love using.

Yep. Was watching a bit of club footy over the summer when I was in NZ. It is happily amateur over there. It is not pretending to be professional.

@Mr Frisky I see your reaction, but I genuinely wasnt having a crack. As I said I have zero interest in low level, part time League (League 1) but if you enjoy it, good on ya These teams need all the support they can get, and if you are paying at the gate, then Chapeau ... no negativity from me.

Nothing personal mate, but I only follow the pro game. No interest in the amateur stuff but if that floats your boat, I am delighted to hear you had a good day. I try to watch the part time stuff on Viaplay, and they put together a good product normally. If I see the likes of the farmyard at Dewsbury though, with these BARLA level floodlights, I switch off. Sorry.

More and more I can see the Original Poster is right! The NRL is going from strength to strength. The English competition is holding up really well on crowds though. Quality wise however it is being left in the dust

Sorry.... who are you? Lad.

Exactly. The Grand Final is the game's flagship event. Why on earth would we voluntarily downsize it? (Especially when regular season crowds are flying high).

'Pards by at least 16. They are too professional for that Wakefield outfit. Too fit. Too much skill. Too much cohesion and determination. Wildcats look like a part time outfit.

Billy, meet @Deanb.

You beat me to it. Sounds about right. Halifax has weeds growing on the terraces in their stadium, mind.

Mid table championship next season, followed by part-time ignominy and years of local derbies with Featherstone.

Billy... calm down son. You have come on TotalRL talking about one of their guest interviewees as "a snake"?? Seriously, I think this very organisation might disagree with you. https://www.totalrl.com/the-big-interview-valencia-ceo-on-how-los-huracanes-could-enter-league-1-today-as-hopes-for-spanish-expansion-rise/ The interview mentions that one of his previous plans was for "an ambitious double header in the Philippines " Sounds perfectly legit to me.........

Enough about the fanbase though... what about Old Trafford?