The General 'Toronto Wolfpack' Discussion Thread

[Oxford 5,023]

15 minutes ago, Smudger06 said:

"It's the first time I've been cold for seven years. I was never cold playing rugby league." Quoting Davies on Question of Sport when asked about his return to yawnion..........says it all really. 

It's a cracking and telling quote that one. I was surprised it wasn't edited out.

[Smudger06 945]

1 minute ago, Oxford said:

It's a cracking and telling quote that one. I was surprised it wasn't edited out.

Yup, totally shocked they aired it.......

 

[Oxford 5,023]

1 minute ago, Smudger06 said:

Yup, totally shocked they aired it.......

 

His other good one was about the speed of the game when he said "I can't believe we ever played this game, Ray!" One of the few who gave away that the sport was faster than when they played.

[PhilCarrington 69]

10 hours ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

Sadly seems less than £10K raised,when I looked well done to those that donated some familiar names there, I just wonder how much it would have been if lets say a similar situation had happened in rugby union.

 

 

P

Less than £1 per home supporter - that's rather sad

[Harry Stottle 4,123]

14 hours ago, Oxford said:

It's a cracking and telling quote that one. I was surprised it wasn't edited out.

Never had much interest in Union, but I did watch the series when the Lions went to South Africa in the early 90's? because it contained so many ex-league players, I will always remember at the end of the game in the post match interviews Bill McClaren I think it was interviewed winger John Bentley who had scored 2 or 3 tries McClaren admiring the quality of Bentley's tries asked him to describe them, I couldn't believe what was said without the screen going blank but as I said it was live,  Bentley replied along the lines of, "I have played Rugby League for 10 years, and if I can't stand up a Union winger I shouldn't be playing Rugby" Priceless.

[Harry Stottle 4,123]

14 hours ago, Oxford said:

His other good one was about the speed of the game when he said "I can't believe we ever played this game, Ray!" One of the few who gave away that the sport was faster than when they played.

I was a massive admirer of Jiffy but I remember one of his first statements, he commented on playing stand off in League and said something like, "I am looking forward to recieving the ball and having those wide open spaces to run into" he didn't  play very much at No 6 throughout his league career as I recall.

[Oxford 5,023]

24 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

I was a massive admirer of Jiffy but I remember one of his first statements, he commented on playing stand off in League and said something like, "I am looking forward to recieving the ball and having those wide open spaces to run into" he didn't  play very much at No 6 throughout his league career as I recall.

That is such a classic and illustrates much about the mindset within union that two less players makes the space not legends making room and time in something being closed down almost the second you get the ball. It's why "What time does the Rugby start?"  is so appropriate.

This'll be locked in a minute but a good addition to the bash TWP thread as was. Thanks to all who contributed to a bright moment!

[RP London 2,806]

47 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Never had much interest in Union, but I did watch the series when the Lions went to South Africa in the early 90's? because it contained so many ex-league players, I will always remember at the end of the game in the post match interviews Bill McClaren I think it was interviewed winger John Bentley who had scored 2 or 3 tries McClaren admiring the quality of Bentley's tries asked him to describe them, I couldn't believe what was said without the screen going blank but as I said it was live,  Bentley replied along the lines of, "I have played Rugby League for 10 years, and if I can't stand up a Union winger I shouldn't be playing Rugby" Priceless.

1997.. couldnt be early 90s as they were only allowed to convert back after 1995... that was a great tour and the success of it was built on those with a league background bringing their professionalism to the tour.. 

The Living with Lions documentary is worth watching from that too.. even if you are not a fan of union its an interesting general sports watch as a game transfers over from being amateur to pro and its an attitude as much as anything else. Also to see just how much John Bentley wanted to play the test matches.. 

[Oxford 5,023]

9 minutes ago, RP London said:

as a game transfers over from being amateur to pro

RP that's the best laugh I've had for ages, thank you so much!

[RP London 2,806]

6 minutes ago, Oxford said:

RP that's the best laugh I've had for ages, thank you so much!

amazing what you can by chopping quotes up... its why i expanded on it about it being an attitude the attitude of the union game was still amateur

[Oxford 5,023]

28 minutes ago, RP London said:

amazing what you can by chopping quotes up... its why i expanded on it about it being an attitude the attitude of the union game was still amateur

Depends entirely where and in which direction you were looking.

Cross-code bin anyone?

[Tommygilf 7,018]

21 hours ago, Dave T said:

I think we do have to be judging marquee success on star quality and getting bums on seats, more viewers, more sponsors etc. otherwise there is little point. 

Unfortunately I think this year has been a bit of a difficult one all round, so not a fair one to judge, but I think there should be question marks around it. It is easy to criticise those who voted against it, but maybe they wanted an increase across the board, or at the lower end, or other changes rather than the approach of paying a handful of players top dollar. But if we've gone down this route, we need to see it through and make the top quality signings. 

At the moment I am swaying to be more favourable towards it, I think some good signings were made this year, but they won't always be a success, but there is no doubt that the likes of Burgess, Widdopp, SBW, Sezer etc added to the attraction of the comp at the start of the year. 

But I think over the next couple of years we need to look at whether we get the benefits from signing these players, obviously we haven't this year unfortunately! 

I don't think there is "little point" without an extra 1000 fans at each game tbh. I see that as far too rigid and in any case missing a bit of the point.

The need for Marquees (and indeed all the other dispensations) reflect how the salary cap in Super League has massively regressed in real terms by staying flat up to 2018. The cost of quality players and imports have gone up with inflation whilst the Super League spending ability didn't. The player drain, and equal lack of top quality signings coming the other way, was indicative of the problem. Those issues cannot be solved overnight.

On the bums on seats thing, I suppose its a problem discussing on here because we are RL nerds in the most part. In wider society, our sport has very little visibility, including the NRL over here, with not very many true "star names".   Equally our own history of depressed wages mean any "marquee money" player at his market value over here isn't forced to be a top echelon player either. With a limited supply of bums on seats names in our sport, let alone our competition, we need to be a bit more patient imo. Sezer for example is a statement of intent from Huddersfield to NRL nuts but also massive influence on the pitch purely as an RL player. I doubt Huddersfield would sell many Sezer 7 shirts before he landed, but will be confident in him as a fan favourite with the return of speccies next year for example. Dare I say Israel Folau has been one of the star players in the League this year? I remember after watching a masterclass from him in a game at Headingley I think that, religious fundamentalism aside, he is exactly the sort of player "marquee" money should be spent on - and certainly a spectator and wider interest attractor. My point is that clubs shouldn't be obliged to spend marquee wages for the sole purpose of bums on seats, but as they need and see fit. Huddersfield needed a half back, they spent marquee money to get one (as did Catalans I believe incidentally with Maloney). Catalans found a way to bring one of the biggest names in rugby to their club.

To some extent, I think marquee players are a way of replicating the effect of the star union converts of days of yore. I'm not old enough to remember that, but I imagine my awe watching Folau do his thing in the air or SBW as a pure physical specimen is similar to seeing Jiffy or Martin Offiah in their pomp?

[Dave T 17,957]

17 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

I don't think there is "little point" without an extra 1000 fans at each game tbh. I see that as far too rigid and in any case missing a bit of the point.

This was a bit of a misrepresentation of my point when you edit what I said, which was:

 

I think we do have to be judging marquee success on star quality and getting bums on seats, more viewers, more sponsors etc. otherwise there is little point. 

If we are addressing inflation etc. there are far better ways than a marquee rule. A marquee rule is about getting better quality players to improve the quality and attract speccies, viewers, media and sponsors. 

Edited November 26, 2020 by Dave T

[minor 2]

why is the thread still running, let it die.

[frank 473]

Would like to see the WP return, even if they were playing in the CRL.

One can only dream of what they offered SL  and it could have been plenty if it had not been for Covid etc.

They certainly brought a lot of publicity to the game,  which was sadly lacking .I for one will miss them and just know whoever replaces them won't bring the interest they created.

[Omott91 810]

1 hour ago, frank said:

Would like to see the WP return, even if they were playing in the CRL.

One can only dream of what they offered SL  and it could have been plenty if it had not been for Covid etc.

They certainly brought a lot of publicity to the game,  which was sadly lacking .I for one will miss them and just know whoever replaces them won't bring the interest they created.

We still have hope with Ottawa. 

[Damien 11,693]

Just now, Omott91 said:

We still have hope with Ottawa. 

Not really, SL have set their stall out.

[Omott91 810]

2 minutes ago, Damien said:

Not really, SL have set their stall out.

Well, as it stands today they are still pencilled in for '22.

[RayCee 1,732]

1 hour ago, frank said:

Would like to see the WP return, even if they were playing in the CRL.

One can only dream of what they offered SL  and it could have been plenty if it had not been for Covid etc.

They certainly brought a lot of publicity to the game,  which was sadly lacking .I for one will miss them and just know whoever replaces them won't bring the interest they created.

I recently raised this Frank in the Toronto area and the response was low. It seems the Toronto fans are disillusioned and not coming to RL Forum, not that I can blame them. 

[RayCee 1,732]

Had the Toronto WP declined their opportunity to enter SL due to the draconian conditions insisted on by SL, would they still be around today? They probably wouldn't have spent all that money on SBW but with no games in the Championship and no furlough assistance available, they still would have been in a tight situation. 

[Big Picture 1,770]

19 minutes ago, RayCee said:

I recently raised this Frank in the Toronto area and the response was low. It seems the Toronto fans are disillusioned and not coming to RL Forum, not that I can blame them. 

Of course they're disillusioned.  Toronto's a major league city and northern hemisphere RL has been exposed as a small time minor league operation, so chances are that they also feel cheated.

[Damien 11,693]

43 minutes ago, Omott91 said:

Well, as it stands today they are still pencilled in for '22.

Not for Super League they're not.

[ojx 2,296]

1 hour ago, Omott91 said:

We still have hope with Ottawa. 

If Ottawa are wise, they would immediately relocate to Toronto. A pre-built fan base and much larger potential market.

[TheReaper 1,276]

I can't believe Ottawa RL will actually happen. Who in their right mind would spend ANY money when they know the door can be, and is likely to be, shut to them reaching the top level. And the top level is the only level where you can make money and where there is some semblance of actually running things like a professional sports organization. 

[ojx 2,296]

8 minutes ago, TheReaper said:

I can't believe Ottawa RL will actually happen. Who in their right mind would spend ANY money when they know the door can be, and is likely to be, shut to them reaching the top level. And the top level is the only level where you can make money and where there is some semblance of actually running things like a professional sports organization. 

I agree. Elstone's mate analyzed the Toronto market for SL and decided that it was not viable. Ottawa is a much smaller market and has no chance.