Opening round of Super League

[Man of Kent]

Thoughts?

Felt like the big sport we know it is this weekend. Lots of coverage. The rebrand looks great.

On the pitch I’m not sure we learned much more than we didn’t know already. Saints are a bloody good side, Hull have a fearsome pack, Leeds don’t, Catalans are flaky, Toronto will struggle.

That said, Huddersfield sprung a surprise. Sezer looks a tremendous signing.

And Warrington look like they will play good rugby this year.

Mixed weekend for the big new signings especially one G Burgess Esq., who looked like he spent pre-season in a kebab house.

 

[DavidM]

Four games on telly was the best . If only...

Overall it was good viewing . All set for a Saints v Hull grand final .... 

[Damien]

A pretty good start to the season. It feels like everything has stepped up a level. The teams have recruited well and most look stronger. As importantly the whole presentation looks much more professional, from the new documentaries to the extra pr that we have seen the last couple of months.

[Mr Plow]

The whole competition looks a lot more professional, you can tell the rebrand was done by the same company that rebranded the premier league. The best change though? Has to be that stupid claims roulette video ref thing has gone 

[Chris22]

Positives were a brilliant opening match, a couple of surprise results, decent crowds, good new branding.

Only negative was that only one game was close. I'm sure that will change in the next few weeks though.

Great to be back!

[my missus]

if we count the double header as two attendances of 19500 without knowing the catalans and kr crowds i think we may have a record opening round.

[ELBOWSEYE]

2 hours ago, DavidM said:

Four games on telly was the best . If only...

Overall it was good viewing . All set for a Saints v Hull grand final .... 

Too much water to go under the bridge, if only sport was so easy to predict. 

[graveyard johnny]

myler  and wilkin should be no where near a sl half back jersey

[Man of Kent]

Just now, scotchy1 said:

Elstone done his job?

Not by a long chalk, that’s all about the TV deal. Feels he has contributed to making Super League a more desirable product, however. 

That said, the biggest improvement is the quality of the imports to sell the game and that’s got little to do with him. 

[Rupert Prince]

3 hours ago, Mr Plow said:

The whole competition looks a lot more professional, you can tell the rebrand was done by the same company that rebranded the premier league. The best change though? Has to be that stupid claims roulette video ref thing has gone 

The Wigan fan zone looks a big improvement on the Sullivan Bar and the River Caves. (all you weedy millennials won't know what I'm talking about of course)

[The Hallucinating Goose]

It was a great opening round, some really exciting, competitive games with a bit of everything in them, we've had fantastic tries, some fast offloading rugby, big hits, red and yellow cards, a bit of biff, great atmospheres, big crowds. Super League is back with a bang people!! 

[aj1908]

Well a leading story on channel ten news was the sbw not being able to help wolfpack to a win 

Pretty decent to make 10s sports news when nrl doesn't always make it there

[JonM]

11 hours ago, my missus said:

if we count the double header as two attendances of 19500 without knowing the catalans and kr crowds i think we may have a record opening round.

8254 for Catalans, 8600 and some for Hull KR. Craven Park looked pretty good on the highlights - full stands really in good voice.

Catalans had the lowest crowd of the round - doesn't seem like the lack of tv coverage prompted anyone to come and watch in person instead.

[aj1908]

30 minutes ago, JonM said:

8254 for Catalans, 8600 and some for Hull KR. Craven Park looked pretty good on the highlights - full stands really in good voice.

Catalans had the lowest crowd of the round - doesn't seem like the lack of tv coverage prompted anyone to come and watch in person instead.

Pretty decent for rovers 

 

[hunsletgreenandgold]

Yeah no shocks in the results - as others have said maybe Hudds was a surprise to some but that guy Sezer is something else and we all know with the Dragons it's a case which side turns up on a week by week basis. Of the other sides who lost: 

Leeds - well everybody knows their weakness. A pack that looks to it's backs to make meters going forward and gives away penalties in defence. Granted Seumanufagai was out but that's no excuse - need 2 more IMO.

Toronto - I think we all knew despite the hype SBW's impact will be minimal for quite some time and that proved to be the case. They need to do some smart recruiting in next couple of weeks or they're massive favourites for the drop. 

Salford - Ok so it's only round 1 and we all know Saints are a class act but that was a real beating. Again, seems obvious to say they're weaker than last season for the players they've lost - time will tell just by how much. 

Warrington - no real worries there. They keep 13 on the field and they won that game IMO. Only thing i'd be slightly worried about is if Austin gets a bit of 'second season syndrome'. He had a lot to prove last year and was great but he was prone to blow a little hot and cold when at the Raiders and just hope the GB tour hasn't dented his confidence a little too. 

Wakefield - didn't see the game so not a lot to say in what might have gone wrong there but yeah i'm sure they'll be relatively in the shake for who goes down come the end of the season so a loss to a potential relegation rival will have been a blow.

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

10 hours ago, Rupert Prince said:

The Wigan fan zone looks a big improvement on the Sullivan Bar and the River Caves. (all you weedy millennials won't know what I'm talking about of course)

Did you have to mention the River Caves just after us old b*****s have had our breakfasts?

[EastLondonMike]

Only caught the televised games but seemed to me that pretty much all teams involved in those games were really playing a much more expansive game. Which was real nice to see.

[JonM]

51 minutes ago, aj1908 said:

Pretty decent for rovers 

Yep - seems like they have sold 6 000 season tickets.

Salford v Toronto next Saturday afternoon will be a benchmark for those who like to keep tabs on attendances. You'd expect it to perhaps be the lowest SL crowd of the season, but hopefully the GF appearance will have won Salford some new fans. 

[aj1908]

3 minutes ago, JonM said:

Yep - seems like they have sold 6 000 season tickets.

Salford v Toronto next Saturday afternoon will be a benchmark for those who like to keep tabs on attendances. You'd expect it to perhaps be the lowest SL crowd of the season, but hopefully the GF appearance will have won Salford some new fans. 

Let's leave the bad crowds for next week 

[MZH]

40 minutes ago, aj1908 said:

Let's leave the bad crowds for next week 

At least we should have close to 20k at the KCom to balance it out a bit. 

[aj1908]

1 minute ago, MZH said:

At least we should have close to 20k at the KCom to balance it out a bit. 

Just looked yeh.

Shame it's on a Friday night that's a Sunday arvo game Any time.

 

[aj1908]

someone should do a crowd thread.  each game, round average including champ and league one

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

As far as Toronto's concerned, I'm just going to put their games played in Canada on my spreadsheet, it seems the easiest solution..

[Mr Frisky]

2 hours ago, aj1908 said:

someone should do a crowd thread.  each game, round average including champ and league one

Ok, you go first. 

Tell us when you are done.

[aj1908]

13 minutes ago, Mr Frisky said:

Ok, you go first. 

Tell us when you are done.

Thanks for the reply marra.