England vs Samoa Series

[Bongo1]

Wigan are now giving a free first test ticket with every 2025 membership renewal 

[Archie Gordon]

8 minutes ago, Bongo1 said:

Wigan are now giving a free first test ticket with every 2025 membership renewal 

Goodness. Idiotic and depressing.

And Wigan have paid for these tickets, right?

Edited October 18 by Archie Gordon

[JohnM]

1 hour ago, Bongo1 said:

Wigan are now giving a free first test ticket with every 2025 membership renewal 

1. Is that actually true?

2.can I have a free Wigan membership with my Samoa tickets instead?

[Hopie]

1 hour ago, Bongo1 said:

Wigan are now giving a free first test ticket with every 2025 membership renewal 

I hope not, I'm taking my folks to the game, and their main memories from the freebies they got for the grand final were being surrounded by Wigan fans who were sweary and ignorant.

[Bongo1]

50 minutes ago, JohnM said:

1. Is that actually true?

2.can I have a free Wigan membership with my Samoa tickets instead?

 

[WN83]

16 minutes ago, Hopie said:

I hope not, I'm taking my folks to the game, and their main memories from the freebies they got for the grand final were being surrounded by Wigan fans who were sweary and ignorant.

Yeah it's true and every single Wigan fan is like that so they'll be snookered. Obviously without the offer, no Wiganers would've been at a game in Wigan. 

Edited October 18 by WN83

[Just Browny]

Bit of a funny do that.

[Archie Gordon]

5 minutes ago, Just Browny said:

Bit of a funny do that.

Tbf, free tickets alongside a Wigan membership is right up the same street as playing as a curtain raiser for Featherstone Rovers and having the kit made by Oxen. The England RL brand is tacky - but absolutely consistently so.

[EssexRL]

It would have probably cost less and got a bigger crowd if RFL had used Millwall or Charlton or Gillingham

[gingerjon]

7 minutes ago, EssexRL said:

It would have probably cost less and got a bigger crowd if RFL had used Millwall or Charlton or Gillingham

Indeed. Tell me again how we must play these games in the only part of the country saturated by high level rugby league because reasons.

It's kind of beautiful how magnificent the failure is.

[EagleEyePie]

17 hours ago, Hopie said:

I call BS, they haven't been excellent in any game they have played, they usually drift in and out of games, scoring in bursts, then make mistakes, ease off and allow the better opposition to get back into games. They should be using the lesser opponents to build up their performances, but instead they breeze through easy games and fail when it matters, one game mattered at the world cup and they shat the bed. Nothing to suggest anything other than a whitewash against the top 2 teams, and if (big if) Samoa turn up to the series this year, England will have to be better than last year to win.

Excellent might be too high a bar, but they've definitely been good in plenty of games. The problem England have had for decades is that we have to rely on other teams not being at their best to win a major competition. Australia have always been better, New Zealand are sometimes better and now the increasing strength of the NRL has improved Tonga and Samoa too. When it comes to Tonga and Samoa, their strength gets talked up beforehand, but ignored in the immediate aftermath. Beat them and it's because they underperformed, lose to them and it's a disaster.

There are areas where we could possibly gain an advantage on the southern hemisphere sides - like improving consistency as a group, more games playing together to improve cohesion, but that never happens. Playing against better opposition more regularly is a pipe dream so that option is out of the window. The result is just constantly cycling through whoever seems the next best option as head coach each time someone falls short, which they almost certainly will.

[EssexRL]

11 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Indeed. Tell me again how we must play these games in the only part of the country saturated by high level rugby league because reasons.

It's kind of beautiful how magnificent the failure is.

The sports ruling body would seem to prefer a safe failure rather than a 'risky' potential success. They seem to have forgotten how many 'locals' have gone to international down here - including people who would root for the 'opposition'.

[Archie Gordon]

11 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Indeed. Tell me again how we must play these games in the only part of the country saturated by high level rugby league because reasons.

...

And the lesson learned will just be that it's the wrong NW ground. Next time they'll try Widnes. 

[gingerjon]

2 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

And the lesson learned will just be that it's the wrong NW ground. Next time they'll try Widnes. 

"How about we give free tickets to all club members?"

[Tommygilf]

7 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

And the lesson learned will just be that it's the wrong NW ground. Next time they'll try Widnes. 

The problem with most of our NW grounds that we use is that they are generally hyper local offerings. The vast majority of attendees at Wigan (as with St Helens last year) will be from a very small area. 

This contrasts with Leeds or London, where evidently there are lots more people locally, but also lots more people willing to travel to those cities. It's not slander on Wigan or St Helens to recognise they aren't premium destinations for fans to travel to, so they have to be marketed in a different way to Leeds or London for example. More of a community focus etc.

This impact is increased even further outside of World Cups or Australia/NZ matches.

I don't know what it will take at the RFL to change this approach. If we have 2 England tests in the NW in 2 years that combined fail to breach 25k then what more can people say that will make them change? Sadly I see it ending up at the LSV...

[Hopie]

1 hour ago, Bongo1 said:

 

https://wiganwarriors.com/tickets/memberships-2/

For  f***s sake, I mean its just breathtaking isn't it.

[WN83]

18 hours ago, Hopie said:

I call BS, they haven't been excellent in any game they have played, they usually drift in and out of games, scoring in bursts, then make mistakes, ease off and allow the better opposition to get back into games. They should be using the lesser opponents to build up their performances, but instead they breeze through easy games and fail when it matters, one game mattered at the world cup and they shat the bed. Nothing to suggest anything other than a whitewash against the top 2 teams, and if (big if) Samoa turn up to the series this year, England will have to be better than last year to win.

I call somebody with an agenda (going off your Wigan fan comments above, I think I know what it is). 

 

If England were not excellent against Samoa in the WC opener, then I don't know what else they can do to change your mind and your standards must be unrealistically high. They weren't far off that mark against PNG and whitewashed a side in Tonga, that the Aussie side you say would whitewash us (and they probably would), beat by 18 points this morning. 

I agree we bombed it against Samoa and that still stings but it doesn't scrub absolutely everything else out. See how we go in this next couple of weeks (and I'm confident we'll continue to do well) and then it's on to the tests Wane needs. I get the feeling you'll be keeping everything crossed that things go badly, both in the next couple of weeks and beyond. 

[sam4731]

4 hours ago, Bongo1 said:

Wigan are now giving a free first test ticket with every 2025 membership renewal 

Do England need IMG points because seems like a very IMG-y thing to do?

[Click]

2 hours ago, sam4731 said:

Do England need IMG points because seems like a very IMG-y thing to do?

In what way, shape or form is giving free tickets a "very IMG-y thing" to do, rather than a very Rugby League thing to do?

[sam4731]

9 minutes ago, Click said:

In what way, shape or form is giving free tickets a "very IMG-y thing" to do, rather than a very Rugby League thing to do?

Trying to artificially inflate attendance.

[JohnM]

42 minutes ago, sam4731 said:

Trying to artificially inflate attendance.

Do attendances at non- SL games such as Internationals, or Premier League women's games at a stadium count towards the host clubs ranking?

[N2022]

15 hours ago, Just Browny said:

That reads like a chap who has read every social media comment going. In fact he is probably reading this - hi Chris!

I don't think anyone is criticising him for being selected; but there is a fair argument that he is neither in great form nor a selection with an eye on the future.

Hasn't he technically commented on work at KFC by saying he hasn't done it? 

[Sports Prophet]

9 minutes ago, JohnM said:

Do attendances at non- SL games such as Internationals, or Premier League women's games at a stadium count towards the host clubs ranking?

Sam’s original question was “Do England need IMG points…” so he wasn’t referencing the home club.

[Big Picture]

7 hours ago, Bongo1 said:

 

How incredibly small time this makes the sport look.  I can see this series making a loss for the RFL now.

[sam4731]

9 hours ago, JohnM said:

Do attendances at non- SL games such as Internationals, or Premier League women's games at a stadium count towards the host clubs ranking?

It was sort of a flippant response.