Madrileño

Let's be honest though. Inside the stadium, in reality, it looked a lot less than that.

You have no idea what you are on about lad. I have been very positive about League crowds all over my socials. As well as here on my post you quoted. I didn't "break cover" to a small bunch of 60-somethings on a forum lad. I just didn't get round to posting, as the audience is miniscule! Rent free son. Rent free.

Brilliant for the game. Unfortunately it looked on TV like there were only about 12 or 1300 at Salford v Castleford. Appalling looking crowd.

Well, Wigan to me looks like a different animal this season. Unsurprisingly really, as they have two proper centres, rather than to aging second rowers playing out of position. They absolutely deserved that tonight. Defensive effort was huge. The uplift in level when compared to some of the other teams we have seen in the 'super' League this season is huge. If you look at the likes of Hull, Castleford and the joke that is Wakefield, then this game looked like it was from another planet.

No

Are Wakefield still full time? Watching highlights of them, they look like the London Broncos in their final days of Super League. Nominally professional... but basically with neither the skills nor the physicality of a proper professional side. I think they would finish bottom in NSW Cup.

Warrington for me. Their middle unit looks too effective. I think they will roll down the park against Wigan.

You are in a huge minority though, mate. Your average northerner has demonstrated over the years that they won't even move to London to play professionally in Super League, never mind Australia. They prefer to stay playing semi amateur in front of 300 fans and a coal tip.

Yeah - he's not the assistant coach. In his own words... he went along to help at 1 session and that article appeared.

Based on what? I have seen nothing to confirm it.

I don't think he is.

I think in this day and age... honestly zero chance of 20K for Bradford v Widnes. However, I think the rest of your point is valid in that there would be a far bigger attraction than any two women's teams.

Gleeson is an odd one for me. He has been unequivocal recently that union is a better game, and that there is where his future lies. He is actually very critical of League as a sport, while bigging up rugby. (The inevitable draughts v chess analogy). Yet it seems that the game's broadcaster cannot find anyone better than him to talk about League in 2023?

Agreed. I don't want to take this off topic, but this observation is (while correct) something that Matchroom have only been doing relatively recently. Hearn admitted a couple of years ago that they were behind the game on this, and subsequently Matchroom's content has both improved and increased. In fact, it was probably BECAUSE of the lack of in-house material, (and of course the lack of Mainstream media coverage) that iFL, Behind The Gloves etc etc became so popular. They were filling a gap in the market, as the fans wanted coverage, but little was available. When Matchroom started to boost their own content, the quality of Kugan's programming dropped temporarily as clearly Hearn was limiting access as he had started to take things in house. iFL were no longer his automatic go-to media outlet. Things seem to have stabilised subsequently. The reason I am talking about this, is because a number of (deluded) posters on here think that League is bigger than pro boxing, boxing has no stars etc etc. However the existence of these successful, popular channels such as Behind The Gloves, iFL (which didn't actually start out as a boxing channel) , iD boxing, BBTV etc all show that there is genuine demand for much more detailed coverage of boxing as a sport. Rugby League has no channels like this. The Sportsman do a bit, but I cannot think of 1 dedicated channel who attend press conferences, get soundbites from players/coaches, analyse games and most importantly operate in full parallel alongside the (limited) mainstream media. Certainly nothing that could remotely compare to Kugan or MJP. To me, that says that the demand for League coverage just isn't there.

Agreed. And worse... some people repeatedly feel the need to try and justify it.

Agreed. A lot of us have known this for years. Try attending Whitehaven as a fan of a French club.... I seriously do not recommend it. Like the description above, but MUCH worse. I would love to see them kicked out of the League, and take their horrific "fans" with them.

No.... its a lot worse than that.

Glasses/bottles etc clearly been thrown from the Hull KR yobs onto the Hull FC fans below. Absolutely disgusting behaviour. It's all over social media.

Thanks. That's good to know. I can set my watch by him - usually within an hour of me posting something. His favourite is these kind of weird slightly racist remarks about Spain. He makes them repeatedly - he is like a walking advert for Brexit. Completely irrelevant to anything to with League, but he makes them anyway.

Rent free son. Rent free...

As a Kiwis fan, I am buzzing for this. There are some seriously tasty matchups among that lot. I really hope Tonga don't decide to tour Hull and Castleford instead. Their Sea of Red at Mt Smart is one of the greatest sights in global League. I can't wait!!

Sounds like a solid second tier comp. They could run it in tandem with the big one down under to hopefully generate a bit more interest up in Europe. Obviously the best English guys are all nowadays playing NRL so I guess England would want them back as PNG would be liable to give them a beating otherwise. So if the tournaments run at the same time, then the England guys should get released.

I said why in my previous post. They are in place to offer a professional pathway in League. Stay semi pro, and the best players will continue to leave Fiji for overseas union (or the NRL). UK league for some reason is almost never signing guys from Fiji.

Fiji for me would be the ideal solution. If the only "professional " option was full NRL participation, then it would be dependent on the numbers adding up. Perhaps a hybrid Fiji-Aus solution to get started with. Semi pro can only go on for so long though.

What makes you say that? The Silktails team is semi professional. Whether via NRL or another competition, there is definitely a need for them to progress to full time professionalism. If they do not, their better players will be offered contracts elsewhere... some in the NRL admittedly, but plenty others will be grabbed by union, where there are far more professional opportunities. We are not here to provide a feeder team for union, the Silktails should be a way to offer a professional pathway in League, and keep Fijian guys in the game, thereby helping the national team to improve.