Sat 18th Feb: World Club Challenge: Penrith Panthers v St Helens KO 7:00 (UK Time) (Sky/C4)

[Barley Mow]

1 hour ago, Old Frightful said:

As my lot beat Castleford yesterday, I await the Cas v Saints result with interest, obviously hoping for a home win in order to process my order of :

"HULL FC : OFFICIALLY THE BEST RL CLUB IN THE WORLD!" t shirts.

This could give IMG a great idea for a new trophy - The Winner Stays On Cup

The SL champions start in possession of the trophy and keep it until they lose a match. It then passes to the team that beat them and they keep it until next defeated themselves, and so on. The club in possession at the end of the season are the winners. 

[Kayakman]

23 hours ago, Tippytoe said:

St Helens have to win the Gf again to defend the wcc (which they probably will) but if not they can't be "beaten for it" it goes to the wcc 2014 winner.

2014 winner?

[Saint Toppy]

9 hours ago, AB90 said:

What happens if Castleford beat Saints next week (hypothetical question)? 

There's a pretty high probability thats gong to happen given most of the squad isn't even getting back to the UK until tomorrow evening. As a reward for winning the WCC the players were given a choice of whether they wanted to come straight home or to take a lay-over flight and go out partying. Over Half the squad are still in Bangkok celebrating the win.

There's a pretty strong chance that Cas will be facing a Saints Reserve team next weekend, and any 1st team players who do play wont have trained properly this week.

[redjonn]

1 hour ago, Barley Mow said:

This could give IMG a great idea for a new trophy - The Winner Stays On Cup

The SL champions start in possession of the trophy and keep it until they lose a match. It then passes to the team that beat them and they keep it until next defeated themselves, and so on. The club in possession at the end of the season are the winners. 

sounds a bit like conkers.... if they win a few games it becomes a 3 er and thats added to the team that first beats them to become a 4,,er

[The Rocket]

19 hours ago, gingerjon said:

via rugbyleagueontv:

Channel 4: 202,000 average viewers (290,000 peak)
Sky: 21,000 (28,000) [Main Event only, not including Arena & Mix]

 Is that the usual situation, put a game on FTA and the SKY numbers get hammered, notwithstanding the SKY numbers didn`t include Arena or Mix (would that be many more).

 Interesting to note though, that all up here and in your country the game totalled around the 700 - 800k mark. Nothing to be sneezed at.

 I noted that the Hull KR vs. Wigan game averaged 306 000, peaking at 495 000, that seems very strong.

 One other thing, I noticed that a first round Super League game full replay was available on my Foxtel/Kayo subscription this week, haven`t seen that before.

 

[gingerjon]

10 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

 Is that the usual situation, put a game on FTA and the SKY numbers get hammered, notwithstanding the SKY numbers didn`t include Arena or Mix (would that be many more).

 Interesting to note though, that all up here and in your country the game totalled around the 700 - 800k mark. Nothing to be sneezed at.

 I noted that the Hull KR vs. Wigan game averaged 306 000, peaking at 495 000, that seems very strong.

 One other thing, I noticed that a first round Super League game full replay was available on my Foxtel/Kayo subscription this week, haven`t seen that before.

 

Unlikely that Arena and Mix would be that many more, TBH. Main Event is usually the most watched channel by a long way.

There aren't usually a huge number of simulcasts but I believe when there are, FTA is always a massive draw away from satellite and significantly outdraws it.

[Barley Mow]

34 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

One other thing, I noticed that a first round Super League game full replay was available on my Foxtel/Kayo subscription this week, haven`t seen that before.

 

That's interesting, which game?

[OMEGA]

11 hours ago, AB90 said:

Yeah it’s bizarre that this needs to be explained to people!

What happens if Castleford beat Saints next week (hypothetical question)? By some people’s logic on this forum,  it would mean that Castleford are an overall better team than both Saints & Penrith (and in theory, the best team in the world).

If Cas beat Sts next week they’ll rightfully win 2 Super League points. They’ve earned the right to compete for those 2 points by getting themselves promoted from the Championship and avoiding demotion from the Super League Competition thus they get to play St Helens in League games for 2 League points

Need I carry on as to why St Helens are crowned The Best Club Team in the World?

[OMEGA]

2 hours ago, Barley Mow said:

This could give IMG a great idea for a new trophy - The Winner Stays On Cup

The SL champions start in possession of the trophy and keep it until they lose a match. It then passes to the team that beat them and they keep it until next defeated themselves, and so on. The club in possession at the end of the season are the winners. 

Isn’t that called ‘Pass the Parcel’?

[dkw]

4 hours ago, Dave T said:

We always try and overthink these things. Eddie is of course right that winning a comp doesn't make you the best team necessarily. In the same way that Leeds winning SL from 6th didn't make them the best team. Or Greece winning the Euro championship doesn't suddenly make them the best team in Europe. 

But that rather misses the point. Its a mean-spirited argument that doesn't need to be had. Saints are World Club Champions, beating Penrith, with nobody giving them a chance. 

We don't always need to over-scrutinise everything. 

The whole thing is disingenuous, it's just a ridiculous point to make.

Unless we change to a "winner stops on" format, the other teams need to stick a pound coin next to the pitch for there go.

[EastLondonMike]

how the NRL pre season challenge finished up.

https://www.nrl.com/ladder/?competition=119&round=2&season=2023

Saints in third.

[Niels]

40 minutes ago, dkw said:

The whole thing is disingenuous, it's just a ridiculous point to make.

Unless we change to a "winner stops on" format, the other teams need to stick a pound coin next to the pitch for there go.

Rl Test series have best of 3.

Cricket best of 5.

This is because the best side doesn't necessarily win the initital game.

[Saint Toppy]

3 hours ago, EastLondonMike said:

how the NRL pre season challenge finished up.

https://www.nrl.com/ladder/?competition=119&round=2&season=2023

Saints in third.

Hah ha ha those whinging Aussies just can't bear it to see a humble SL side so far up one of their leagues. They're soo peed off they've even deducted 7 points of the Saints total so the NRL clubs below them don't look as embarrassing.

It was 12 points for a win so Saints got 24 points for their 2 wins, plus they got 3 bonus points - giving them a total of 27 - NOT the 20 they're showing on that table  

[Oxford]

9 hours ago, Dave T said:

Its a mean-spirited argument that doesn't need to be had.

 

4 hours ago, dkw said:

The whole thing is disingenuous, it's just a ridiculous point to make.

I did ask if other sports had arguments like this; do football fans argue that the winners in the soccer world cup are not the best team on the planet?

It just seemed a complete waste of typing finger skin to me.

[Niels]

42 minutes ago, Oxford said:

 

I did ask if other sports had arguments like this; do football fans argue that the winners in the soccer world cup are not the best team on the planet?

It just seemed a complete waste of typing finger skin to me.

It is a good question.

This year's went to penalties so it is difficult to be sure about 

My personal thought is that France were the better team but started slowly. 

As an example, Argentina weren't the best team in 1986, but in Maradona they had by far the best player. 

If Penrith and St Helens played again, and I was told I could have a million pounds if I picked the winner I wouldn't necessarily choose St Helens on the grounds they won so must be the best team.

However, and it is the most important however, there is no other game, it was all on the day.

It is only relevant for assessing the future performances of teams.

[dkw]

4 hours ago, Niels said:

Rl Test series have best of 3.

Cricket best of 5.

This is because the best side doesn't necessarily win the initital game.

Those famous club games......more irrelevance.

[GUBRATS]

If Penrith had won it , even with a drop goal they would be proclaiming themselves as ' The World Champions ' , so if you are the World Champions , you ARE the best RL team in the World 

End of 

[Niels]

53 minutes ago, dkw said:

Those famous club games......more irrelevance.

Deleted. 

I like both sides so it's not really an issue for me. 

[Dirkgee]

Kind of disappointed in the TV ratings in Australia. Only drew 193,000, I thought it would do much better. Brisbane against North Queensland got 144,000 and that was a meaningless game.

Was it marketed well in the Rugby League states?

 

[Dirkgee]

Here's the ratings for that day if anyone's interested 

https://tvtonight.com.au/2023/02/saturday-18-february-2023.html

[koli]

6 hours ago, Saint Toppy said:

Hah ha ha those whinging Aussies just can't bear it to see a humble SL side so far up one of their leagues. They're soo peed off they've even deducted 7 points of the Saints total so the NRL clubs below them don't look as embarrassing.

It was 12 points for a win so Saints got 24 points for their 2 wins, plus they got 3 bonus points - giving them a total of 27 - NOT the 20 they're showing on that table  

They took the 80minute result in awarding points apparently so we won 1 n drew 1 in terms of points awarded.

[Josef K]

On 18/02/2023 at 10:05, wackojacko said:

Never thought I'd be quite so elated for a Saints victory, let's hope it takes it out of them for the next eight months or so. No excuses for Penrith, this was both teams' first game of the season, played in their back yard with their crazy aussie weather and a try not given for a flat ball - Saints were the better team full stop.

I said to my mates after the game “how many points do we need to avoid relegation”, they thought i was joking but i was serious. I always say “first target is get enough pts to avoid the drop”, but this season it’s our “second target”. 

[Old Frightful]

Not sure of the accuracy of this as it was posted on fb but makes for good reading :

"500k Aussies watched the WCC on Foxtel and this wasn't on free to air either, had it been it would've been over a million easy. And not to mention the people who watched the game in Pubs, Clubs, and Casino' that isn't counted. So yeah 90% of us NRL fans wanted Saints to win also, and it was a thrilling end to a game with a magnificent field goal by the number 7 for Saints. "

[Hull Kingston Bronco]

This is pretty good >

 

 

[Oxford]

I'm sorry if anyone's already mentioned or cited this but

"In the build-up to the fixture, it was revealed that over a thousand St Helens fans had made the journey to the BlueBet Stadium in the mountains, but the overall attendance figure was 13,873." TotalRL.com

there have been a few who have argued the toss that Oz has treated this game with due respect and that putting it into the season warm up comp was perfectly fine. The evidence is there in the crowd numbers. And if nothing else people should be slagging the NRL off for being incompetent on this issue.