Speaker 1: To lose, finally got another win, this time at Hull.
Speaker 1: The Leeds and Waky match was far from dull. Wigan
Speaker 1: got back to winning ways. Warrington continue in a way
Speaker 1: that pays. Saint Helen's aren't too far off the mark Huddersfield.
Speaker 1: They might be appointing a shark. Welcome to the twentieth
Speaker 1: episode of Super League three sixty, a podcast primarily about
Speaker 1: the top tier of British rugby league, but it's also
Speaker 1: about poetry, the other levels of rugby league and John's
Speaker 1: trip to Paris. My name is Lee Addison.
Speaker 2: My name is John Davidson.
Speaker 1: We're recording this late because John was having vacaunts, as
Speaker 1: they call it in France. In France, he was in Paris.
Speaker 1: How was it, mate? And were you there to prep
Speaker 1: to lose? Is that why they beat Hull?
Speaker 2: No? No, I definitely wasn't there for that. Just a
Speaker 2: little spoiling of my daughter overseas holiday.
Speaker 1: And how was it? Did you have a good time?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we had a great time, packed a lot in
Speaker 2: I had a lot of Pane chocolar and chroisssen begets. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the weather was great.
Speaker 1: And yeah, yeah, I mean I've not been to parish
Speaker 1: for a long time. I've been a couple of times
Speaker 1: and loved it, but I would imagine it's even better
Speaker 1: now after the Olympics. Olympics there recently, a lot of
Speaker 1: things will have been upgraded, so it would be would
Speaker 1: have been a great experience.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hadn't been for I think twenty years. I
Speaker 2: don't really remember it, but as my sort of daughter's
Speaker 2: most properly first overseas trip, so she loved all the
Speaker 2: touristy staff and as there's so much to say him
Speaker 2: do in Paris, but no rugby league. Did watch a
Speaker 2: little bit of rugby on TV in the hotel, but
Speaker 2: there was there was no rugby league in Paris, but
Speaker 2: it will be in in a what mid June, sixth
Speaker 2: of June, I think when when Catalans play Wigan in Paris.
Speaker 1: I'm a coach in Australia and also the host of
Speaker 1: a few other podcasts, including the Rugby League Coach podcast
Speaker 1: and a guest on the Zero Tackle Loose Carry podcast.
Speaker 1: John a journalist in the UK, but as you can tell,
Speaker 1: he's got on Australian accent and if you want to
Speaker 1: know a bit more about us, read the intro in
Speaker 1: the in the comments in the podcast, or listen to
Speaker 1: some old ones. This podcast is being aired or on
Speaker 1: the Rugby League Coach podcast platforms asty Rugby League platforms,
Speaker 1: although we might stop doing that soon so please switch
Speaker 1: over to Rugby League Coach and Super League three sixty.
Speaker 1: But it's definitely on the Rugby League Coach YouTube channel
Speaker 1: two and thank you once again to Rugby League dot
Speaker 1: Com for taking it. So John, I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: educating you this weekend because I bet you've not seen
Speaker 1: a thing. So because both of us we were reporting
Speaker 1: on on Super League and we both neither of us
Speaker 1: were in the country where the games were played. So
Speaker 1: Leeds Rhino's the top on sixteen points and they are
Speaker 1: leveled with Saint Helens who were in second with sixty points.
Speaker 1: Warrington in third with fourteen, but they've played a game less,
Speaker 1: so you could almost argue those three teams are on
Speaker 1: or on even Steven's there. Hulkingston Rovers now in fourth,
Speaker 1: they've really recovered. They're on twelve. Wigan Warrior's got to
Speaker 1: win and they're on twelve, but they've played one more
Speaker 1: game than k Are and Warrington. Wakefield are in sixth
Speaker 1: on and they've played ten games are on twelve. Everyone
Speaker 1: else has played ten games. Lee and seventh with ten points,
Speaker 1: Catalans eight ten points, Hull left c ninth on eight points. York,
Speaker 1: Bradford and Toulouse and Castleford are all on six points
Speaker 1: in that order. Luddersfield Giants propping up the table on
Speaker 1: four points. It's a table starting to make a bit
Speaker 1: more sense. Now, John, do you think I think?
Speaker 2: I mean.
Speaker 1: You think? Sorry? Sorry? Does it? I'll ask the question better?
Speaker 1: Do you think it flex the standards of the team?
Speaker 1: It's a bit better?
Speaker 2: I do. Let me just says the first and not
Speaker 2: to be too anal but I was in France where
Speaker 2: Catalans and Lee were playing, so was in a country
Speaker 2: of course, Yeah, of course, you know for the for
Speaker 2: the point of accuracy.
Speaker 1: I've heard, I've heard you can be quite anal job.
Speaker 2: Well, I got through to the keeper. Yeah, I do,
Speaker 2: I do, I do. Lee. Look, I think while there
Speaker 2: has you know, well, the years, there's always generally been
Speaker 2: probably eighteen that's maybe sprung up, you know, more recently,
Speaker 2: probably the last three four years, it's been whole car
Speaker 2: and Lee and Wakefield have obviously sprung up since being
Speaker 2: being promoted. But generally we have seen the mate that
Speaker 2: the same teams in the top six top eight region
Speaker 2: and yeah, I think there is at least I mean
Speaker 2: generally there's probably like three mini leagues, but there's probably
Speaker 2: at least a good two. When we look at the
Speaker 2: chunk of say Huddersfield casts Bradford York to lose, you
Speaker 2: might be able to throw someone else in there. And
Speaker 2: then you know, you've got teams that are either pushing
Speaker 2: at the very top or pushing for the six. And
Speaker 2: obviously the very top what we've got leads Saint Helen's Warrenton,
Speaker 2: you know, and not that far behind obviously, whole car
Speaker 2: building a lot of momentum. Wiggan still up and the
Speaker 2: rounds there, Lea, you're building some momentum now I don't
Speaker 2: know how many Wednesdays and the bounces at three. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think we are seeing a bit of I was
Speaker 2: gonna say normalcy, but maybe maybe some more consistency. What
Speaker 2: we're around ten, so we're coming up to halfway through
Speaker 2: the year the season. Yeah, I think I think there's
Speaker 2: some point is to form. We're still seeing some unpredictable
Speaker 2: results and I think that's a good thing, and I
Speaker 2: think that goes to show that, you know, realistically, anyone
Speaker 2: can you know if they perform on the day, either
Speaker 2: that our parents are a little bit off ul you know,
Speaker 2: some decisions got away. They can get a result and
Speaker 2: you know you look at to loose what was that
Speaker 2: seven games? I think they'd lost a row and you know,
Speaker 2: a gritty, big result, a surprise, the result beating holf.
Speaker 1: C in home.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think to answer your question in a
Speaker 2: long rounded.
Speaker 1: Way, yes, no comment. Lee's laugh this week again this
Speaker 1: is Super League three sixty, but we do talk a
Speaker 1: little bit of an RL. But what I'm about to
Speaker 1: say does impact the Super League because the P and
Speaker 1: G are coming into the competition and they're on tax
Speaker 1: three dollars and the first signing of announces your own
Speaker 1: blue Eye, and the second signing that will probably announce
Speaker 1: is the greatest tri scorer in Australian rugby league history.
Speaker 1: So my laugh is about the meltdown from everyone else
Speaker 1: because they've signed Blueye, as if as if that wasn't
Speaker 1: going to happen, as if somebody, as if they weren't
Speaker 1: going to sign anyone. I think the reaction action has
Speaker 1: been that somebody's outsmarted them. And because it's Jerome Leueye
Speaker 1: and because of the impact that will have on potential
Speaker 1: other signings, I think the league is in panic mode.
Speaker 1: Now what does this mean for Super League? Well, we've
Speaker 1: already talked about the problems with the lower echelons of
Speaker 1: Super League for those who didn't tune in to after
Speaker 1: the hooter on Friday, I decided to launch into some
Speaker 1: statistics about how many of our lower sides and the
Speaker 1: Super League are struggling in terms of score lines now
Speaker 1: and the big dip in April, and a lot of
Speaker 1: that comes down to injuries, but also it comes down
Speaker 1: to caliber of players already in the Super League. There
Speaker 1: is so many There are so many players that are
Speaker 1: of Queensland Cup or New South Wales Cup standard in Australia,
Speaker 1: or they've played at best one or two NRL games
Speaker 1: and they are prominent players in Super League clubs. That's
Speaker 1: before we add Perth and PNG to the mix. And
Speaker 1: again I don't want I'm not being wise. After the
Speaker 1: event here on the Ashes Rugby League pod that we
Speaker 1: did before this and this Super League pod, we've talked
Speaker 1: about this. This is going to have a massive impact
Speaker 1: on Super League because some of the better players that
Speaker 1: may have come to Super League, so Louie will see
Speaker 1: out his career now at PNG. You would imagine some
Speaker 1: other players who are coming into the sunset of their
Speaker 1: careers might consider going to PNG for a year or
Speaker 1: two instead they used to go to Super League. Now
Speaker 1: they can go to PNG for some tax three dollars
Speaker 1: and really make their fortune for the rest of their lives.
Speaker 1: So it's Lee's laugh. But it's all sold a warning
Speaker 1: shot to the Super League because they're going to get
Speaker 1: the dregs of all this. So there's now if you
Speaker 1: think about all these state league players that are looking
Speaker 1: for opportunities in Super League, well there's going to be
Speaker 1: two brand new franchises that are playing in the Australian competition,
Speaker 1: so they're even less likely to come to Super League.
Speaker 2: Now yeah, yeah, And you mentioned Perth and they never
Speaker 2: already signed what for England Internationals And I think I
Speaker 2: put out, you know, a video of Chris Radlinsky's comments
Speaker 2: and talk about a feeder league, and that upset quite
Speaker 2: a few people. But the fact is it's not a
Speaker 2: feeder league in the sense that all the English players
Speaker 2: are going to go to the NRL. They're just cherry
Speaker 2: picked the best ones, so the England internationals, so you know, generally,
Speaker 2: apart from the foreigners, the best players in Super League
Speaker 2: are those who are picked for the England team or
Speaker 2: in contention for the England team, like we say Jake Connor.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it'll be the same with P and G
Speaker 2: in the same that I think they'll sign and I
Speaker 2: don't have any inside information, but I imagine they will
Speaker 2: sign some of the clueals who are playing in super
Speaker 2: League and at a lone of Broncos now and that
Speaker 2: will then again weekend super League in the English game
Speaker 2: because players are going to go where the opportunities but
Speaker 2: also where the money is now, super League will still
Speaker 2: get some but we've seen this this season or last
Speaker 2: season and the fact that there's no foreign quota in
Speaker 2: the championship. So you could say, for example, Oldham they
Speaker 2: could rock out with you know, seventeen Australians if they
Speaker 2: wanted to. They probably couldn't afford to do that, but
Speaker 2: well particularly they couldn't afford to it at the moment
Speaker 2: as they're own stepping away. But we'll get to that
Speaker 2: in a minute. You know that just doesn't help the
Speaker 2: fact of development or pathways in the English game. And
Speaker 2: I think because participation in the mail game has been
Speaker 2: dropping for some time and the pathways, the development systems
Speaker 2: have not been invested in, they've not been supported. There's
Speaker 2: been really no strategy to change that. This is all interconnected,
Speaker 2: isn't it. It's not single factor. All these factors work together.
Speaker 2: The fact that the publicity, the national profile of rugby
Speaker 2: league in the UK has fallen off the map that
Speaker 2: then affects the grassroots because less kids are turning up
Speaker 2: to play at under tens or under elevens, and then
Speaker 2: then less kids make that step from you know, fourteen
Speaker 2: fifteen sixteen to scholarship and their academy, and then there
Speaker 2: are less kids to pick from when you know when
Speaker 2: they want to turn professional. So it all feeds into
Speaker 2: each other.
Speaker 1: And if the message isn't loud and clear to the
Speaker 1: English Super League side, develop your own youngsters, because there's
Speaker 1: going to be less and less ausies for you to
Speaker 1: pick up on. And also some of your better youngsters
Speaker 1: go off to watch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think and I think that the counterpoint
Speaker 2: is that as even before that, we need to get
Speaker 2: kids just picking up footies and playing you know under
Speaker 2: tens and elevens. We need to you know, the whole
Speaker 2: thing with touch football in England. You know it's run
Speaker 2: essentially by rugby union, and that is you know, it
Speaker 2: was created by rugby league. It's rugby league without kicking
Speaker 2: and tackling. It's much more like rugby league than is
Speaker 2: rugby union. But they run it and that should be
Speaker 2: used as a vehicle to get kids playing, to build skills,
Speaker 2: and then when they're a little bit older they can
Speaker 2: introduce contact. But that's another development tool that's kind of
Speaker 2: just been laid to waste or ignored in England. But
Speaker 2: we need to get more people playing generally and then
Speaker 2: we also at the same time we need to invest
Speaker 2: in those scholarship academy in those pathways and then you
Speaker 2: know we'll have more in a professional game. But it
Speaker 2: is a pyramid, isn't it, And we're not really feeling
Speaker 2: to the top, and the top is suffering, but the
Speaker 2: bottom is also suffering, and you know, you could argue
Speaker 2: that the middle has been suffering for a long time
Speaker 2: without really any change or improvement.
Speaker 1: The Rugby League tweet of the week and your tweet
Speaker 1: of the week I think was what you said was
Speaker 1: an exclusive on Daniel Holdsworth potentially becoming the Huddersfield Jounce coach.
Speaker 1: What if you got to tell us about that?
Speaker 2: Yes, So to get I'm got to tip off on
Speaker 2: Saturday when I was in Paris, was.
Speaker 1: Somebody just in somebody in France just walked past year
Speaker 1: and when monsur it wasn't David, Yeah the name for
Speaker 1: a minute then and then I had to French David.
Speaker 1: So I believe.
Speaker 2: I believe he's the number one candidate to get the job.
Speaker 2: I don't think an appointment has been made yet, but
Speaker 2: I think he's he's in line to get the job.
Speaker 2: Holdsworth obviously uh former Salford holl f C player, hope
Speaker 2: for the Doggies, played for St. George l Ware and
Speaker 2: I think Ranala. I don't know Daniel personally, but I've
Speaker 2: heard he's, you know, good coach, decent guy. He did
Speaker 2: apply for the cast job last year, didn't get that,
Speaker 2: and he's been in the lower grades and with the
Speaker 2: first grade at Cronala for I think about a decade.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's going to be well. As we saw
Speaker 2: in the weekend, another loss, it's going to be a
Speaker 2: very tough gig for him.
Speaker 1: Do you think he'll come this year or do you
Speaker 1: think he'll see out the here on Cronol or if
Speaker 1: he got the job.
Speaker 2: That's a really good question. I'm not sure. I think
Speaker 2: I think I think they probably would would let him go.
Speaker 2: I know they've got Steve Price in there as an
Speaker 2: assistant Akron and have got Freddie Mitchell act the former
Speaker 2: French rugby union Yeah, yeah, the French connection. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I think I think, like with Josh Hannay, they would.
Speaker 2: They wouldn't stand in his way of furthering his career.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean that Huddersfield got They sacked Luke
Speaker 2: Robinson in March, so it's been a good two months.
Speaker 2: I think Liam Finn got those first two wins and
Speaker 2: off the top of my head it might be three
Speaker 2: losses now in a row, maybe more. But yeah, I
Speaker 2: mean Haddersfield. We talked a lot about Haddersfield on this
Speaker 2: podcast somewhere. They've got a lot of issues off the field,
Speaker 2: you know, stadium, fan base, who's running the club. We
Speaker 2: could just go on and on. They're not They're unleashed,
Speaker 2: so hopefully hopefully Holdsworth can get them off the leash
Speaker 2: and improving on the field for.
Speaker 1: Those of you not watching. And I was smiling a
Speaker 1: very big, cheesy grin because he said unleashed Johnny's job
Speaker 1: this week I've gone with for you because you just don't.
Speaker 1: You don't tell me what your job is now, so
Speaker 1: I just decide which one is The Sport Journalism Awards.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think it's not a job so much.
Speaker 2: But I went down what was it? Well, a week
Speaker 2: ago I was shortlisted for Rugby Journalists of the Year,
Speaker 2: which was a very nice honor, was ending the ipaper
Speaker 2: from my work for them last year. And yeah, went
Speaker 2: down for the awards, which was a great night. They
Speaker 2: played in theater and soho kind of be street. But
Speaker 2: what was surprising for me, and obviously it's a rugby
Speaker 2: union journalist kind of agree, I was the only rugby
Speaker 2: league journalist and I don't from what people told me,
Speaker 2: like the Sports Journalism Association Awards don't really have any
Speaker 2: rugby league and is a little bit surprising. I think,
Speaker 2: as you know Lee, you know you lived in Wigan
Speaker 2: and you're from Salford. If you're in kind of a
Speaker 2: rugby league bubble, particularly in the North, you probably don't
Speaker 2: necessarily see how the rest of the country views rugby
Speaker 2: league or you know what the state of plays. And
Speaker 2: I've lived in South Yorkshire for well fourteen years and
Speaker 2: it's not a rugby league area. It's close to rugby
Speaker 2: league areas, but it's a football area. It's Sheffield and
Speaker 2: iitan Sheffild, Wednesday, Barnsley, Rotherham United, et cetera. And it just, yeah,
Speaker 2: rugby league has no presence, you know, at those awards
Speaker 2: and really nationally in terms of London. I mean one
Speaker 2: one sports hader said to me, you know, leagues are
Speaker 2: dying sport and that is the view I think from
Speaker 2: Fleet Street. And there was someone else I won't name
Speaker 2: who who was there but used to work in rugby
Speaker 2: league and he was He sort of said to me
Speaker 2: on the night, you know, rugby league needs more of this,
Speaker 2: like you know, people in the national sphere and you know, attention,
Speaker 2: but we just we don't have it. So it is
Speaker 2: it is a real concern. And the other part of
Speaker 2: that is because I think people are in the bubble,
Speaker 2: they're quite deluded about where the sport sits in the
Speaker 2: national consciousness.
Speaker 1: Well I saw something the other day that explained some
Speaker 1: of the reasons for why the NRL's figures might be up,
Speaker 1: because it's easy and quite lazier thing just to say
Speaker 1: it's because of the way the games played, the faster roucks,
Speaker 1: the more tries, the higher school lines.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, it's also been pointed out to me there's four
Speaker 1: million more people in New South Wales and Queensland than
Speaker 1: when the NRL started in nineteen ninety. It's also been
Speaker 1: pointed out to me there's one and a half million
Speaker 1: more Foxtel subscribers than five years ago. So any any
Speaker 1: any boosting in views that they've had via koor or whatever.
Speaker 1: And then of course we have algorithms. We've got the
Speaker 1: way people consume sports content now so they don't necessarily
Speaker 1: watch it at the same time as the game being on.
Speaker 1: Things like that, So and algorithms also influence what we consume.
Speaker 1: So I don't know about you, but on your Instagram account,
Speaker 1: if you click on something twice, next thing you check
Speaker 1: your search and it's just flooded with those things and
Speaker 1: be able to say, it's needless to say all mine
Speaker 1: and museum artifacts and things like that. John on my Instagram, Yes,
Speaker 1: there's no skinny club women.
Speaker 2: I think that that's actually part of the problem though
Speaker 2: in the moral world, is because you you're just in
Speaker 2: your own bubble, aren't you in your own echo chamber?
Speaker 2: So you know, if you're if you're leeh Edison and
Speaker 2: you're into wrestling, then you will get fed wrestling content
Speaker 2: and you won't you know, you won't probably find it
Speaker 2: unless you go out and you know, seek general mainstream news.
Speaker 2: It's actually harder to find. So I think that's part
Speaker 2: of the problem. But on the NRL point of view,
Speaker 2: I think that is definitely part of it in terms
Speaker 2: of Foxtel subscribers and population, but it's also that media
Speaker 2: market in Australia which has changed a lot since the
Speaker 2: mid nineties. And I can't remember Super rugby started and
Speaker 2: was massive, you know, it was so popular late nineties,
Speaker 2: early two thousands. You know, there was the Rugby World
Speaker 2: Cup in Australia which was big, and rugby league in
Speaker 2: Australia was coming out of Super League War and there
Speaker 2: was still this kind of fragmentation and there wasn't Fox League.
Speaker 2: And since then, you know, with Fox League and you know,
Speaker 2: the rise of certain you know, whether it be three
Speaker 2: six NRL three sixty or you know, Triple m's coverage
Speaker 2: is just really a kind of feeding frenzy of media
Speaker 2: and rugby league that helps just push it into the
Speaker 2: consciousness across Australia. And that's really turbo charged things as well.
Speaker 2: And I.
Speaker 1: Was gonna say Channel nine, Channel nine or Foxtel also
Speaker 1: do a lot to promote the sport because it's their
Speaker 1: content and the want people to watch it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Channel seven do that with AFL, don't they.
Speaker 2: So it's a kind of a they pushed the sport,
Speaker 2: more people watch it, they make more money. It's a
Speaker 2: perfect sort of circle. And the other point, I think
Speaker 2: that the Animal did a while ago which was quite smart,
Speaker 2: which was apart from the Independent Commission, was taking over
Speaker 2: touch footy, taking over oz tag and then pushing them
Speaker 2: as safe as forms of the game. And they've really
Speaker 2: invested in the women's game. I mean, what was the
Speaker 2: I watched a fair bit of the women's State of
Speaker 2: Origin on what was the Thursday night, which was a
Speaker 2: very It wasn't the most entertaining game. It was very
Speaker 2: tough and very physical and tight, but didn't have something
Speaker 2: like the reach was like two million through the air
Speaker 2: or it was like crazy.
Speaker 1: You know million was a million I think yeah.
Speaker 2: In terms of ratings, I think it was one of
Speaker 2: the highest. The women's game in Australia is just getting
Speaker 2: bigger and bigger and better and they're really good at
Speaker 2: pushing that. And the other layer just I know this
Speaker 2: is along with the long winded answer, but the other
Speaker 2: layer underneath that, and that's connected to kind of the
Speaker 2: changing content and social media is there's so many independent
Speaker 2: media platforms now in Australian rugby league, you know, whether
Speaker 2: it be Hello Sport or Levels or James Grahame's by
Speaker 2: around like that. Just it's just rugby league content twenty
Speaker 2: four to seven, isn't it? Like you couldn't said this
Speaker 2: to someone the other day about like podcasts and we're
Speaker 2: just another one of eighty billion the rugby league podcasts.
Speaker 2: But you couldn't listen to every every podcast or no,
Speaker 2: could you. There's literally not enough time of the day.
Speaker 2: So compare it to I remember when I was in
Speaker 2: high school, well I was, I don't know, thirteen fourteen,
Speaker 2: didn't you know, Fox League wasn't a thing. I think
Speaker 2: I didn't have we didn't have PayTV and even they
Speaker 2: didn't show every game anyway, So you get I don't know,
Speaker 2: two out of eight games a week or whatever it
Speaker 2: was on Friday, you get Friday Night Footy, you get
Speaker 2: Someday night fuddy. I used to listen to two GB,
Speaker 2: the Continuous Call team, you know, while I was studying
Speaker 2: or whatever, you know, because I was into Rugulu. But
Speaker 2: now you could just have on your phone. You can
Speaker 2: just have a million different voices and whatever. So it's
Speaker 2: the media market has changed so much alongside that.
Speaker 1: So with this in mind, if the NRL doesn't invest
Speaker 1: in Super League, and you wrote a story last week
Speaker 1: about they might be meeting at the Magic Round, so
Speaker 1: if that doesn't happen, where's the game going to go?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean I can't I can't say too much
Speaker 2: about who I've been speaking to. But my fear is,
Speaker 2: and I think this is quite justified, but my fear
Speaker 2: is that the NRL could look at all this and
Speaker 2: now looking at it and just go, well, this is
Speaker 2: too This has put this in the too hard basket.
Speaker 2: Because Andrew rab Joe and I interviewed him a couple
Speaker 2: of weeks ago, it was like, you know, we need unity,
Speaker 2: we need everyone to get behind board this and that's
Speaker 2: as you really in the UK, that's not the case.
Speaker 2: You know, there's owners and clubs against it, there's a
Speaker 2: lot of fans against it. There's a lot of fans
Speaker 2: for it and a lot of owners for it, but
Speaker 2: there's a lot of people more interested about themselves and
Speaker 2: their own power than the good of the sport. Now.
Speaker 2: If it doesn't happen with the NRL, and I think
Speaker 2: that is a real serious fear. I think we're rooted,
Speaker 2: and by rooted, that's an Australian expression, screwed, buggered, whatever
Speaker 2: you'd like to court, because there needs to be investment
Speaker 2: in the sport in the UK and there needs to
Speaker 2: be changed and I don't see where that investment comes from.
Speaker 2: If it doesn't come from now on, I don't see
Speaker 2: where the expertise to actually run robiality comes from. Because
Speaker 2: IMG you could say they've improved some things, but it's
Speaker 2: not been a resounding success. And the main thing really
Speaker 2: is the money side of things. So TV deals on
Speaker 2: down club owners are propping up the sport. The governance
Speaker 2: is an absolute joke. The RFL not fit for purpose.
Speaker 2: So if the NRL doesn't put in money and helped
Speaker 2: to tell him things around who can in private equity.
Speaker 2: I don't think A is actually credible at this point,
Speaker 2: and B would not work.
Speaker 1: And then that would mean if the NRL did not
Speaker 1: go ahead, that would be them and Eddie Hearn. That
Speaker 1: has taken a look at things and back to way
Speaker 1: well Eddie her in quite recent history.
Speaker 2: The interesting thing with Eddie Hearn is that I think,
Speaker 2: you know, what was it five or six years ago,
Speaker 2: seven years ago he had a meeting and I think
Speaker 2: it was a bit of a face saving me. I
Speaker 2: don't really know how credible or deep the talks were,
Speaker 2: but he wanted everything. He wanted the whole sport. They
Speaker 2: wanted to sort of give him the challenge cup. That
Speaker 2: didn't happen. He just said, well, you know, that's fine,
Speaker 2: and he's made some comments. It's actually really interesting that
Speaker 2: recently he's just signed up Henry Pollock and a load
Speaker 2: of rugby union players, so he's getting he's really getting
Speaker 2: getting the back rugby union. And you can like the Hearns,
Speaker 2: you cannot like them what they do, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2: But one thing the Hearns and a Head is very
Speaker 2: good at is publicity and making money.
Speaker 1: And look what they've done with the darts mate. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: darts has always been quite a big sport, particularly in
Speaker 1: the eighties, but it did drop off the radar somewhat
Speaker 1: and now it's back in prominent again. And you know,
Speaker 1: Luke Littler could walk down any street in England and
Speaker 1: be recognized. I'm not sure Stuart Littler, could you know?
Speaker 1: So I know player?
Speaker 2: And no yeah, no rugby league player. No, no rugby
Speaker 2: league player in the UK of the last ten to
Speaker 2: fifteen years. Could I mean, maybe Gevin Sinfield on the
Speaker 2: back of his charity work, maybe Sam Burgess partly on
Speaker 2: the back of his time in rugby union. But yeah,
Speaker 2: there is a profile for this, But darts, I just don't.
Speaker 2: I don't get it. Lee. You know, it's fat blokes
Speaker 2: throwing you know, a dart on a wall. If that's sport,
Speaker 2: then I'm you know, a monkey's uncle. But that's how
Speaker 2: good the Hens are the major to turn into that
Speaker 2: into you know, a massive event that makes a ton
Speaker 2: of money. Watch gets millions on TV. It's getting you know,
Speaker 2: primetime slots on Sky that rugby Lee used to get
Speaker 2: doesn't get anymore. Yeah, it's it's mad.
Speaker 1: So yeah, John says, you know band which is low.
Speaker 1: John it says your network bandwidth is low. So and
Speaker 1: your screen has gone really small, which isn't going to
Speaker 1: be good for our YouTube video. So is anything? Is
Speaker 1: anybody downloading anything at your house or anything on the.
Speaker 2: Business is probably downloading some some dodgy things. But we'll
Speaker 2: ignore that or we can blame, we can blame and brexit.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I think I don't think rugby league is
Speaker 2: dying in that sense. There will always be a professional
Speaker 2: game in the UK, but it's certainly diminishing and it's
Speaker 2: certainly not growing. And that's the worry from my point
Speaker 2: of view, is how sort of the malaise, shall we say,
Speaker 2: is turned around. I'm just going to send you a
Speaker 2: picture of what you look like on my screen so
Speaker 2: you know I'm not overreacting. No one wants to see
Speaker 2: my face anyway.
Speaker 1: It might affect the recording, that's all. Oh you're back,
Speaker 1: you're back. George Marsden debuted for Wigan. Tell me about that, John.
Speaker 2: Yes, seventeen year old kid made his debut against Bradford.
Speaker 2: I think he had well might have been one crisis,
Speaker 2: but he played a hand in setting up a couple
Speaker 2: of tries him and Jack Faramon. I think Jack Forman
Speaker 2: might be twenty, but they were the youngest harvest partnership
Speaker 2: for Wigan for forty one years, since Sean Edwards and
Speaker 2: Mike Ford in five and he just looked really, really tidy,
Speaker 2: confident kid. It was kind of interesting because you see
Speaker 2: Joey Walsh the other day for Menley and this kid,
Speaker 2: then you go, oh, the future is bright, but yeah,
Speaker 2: really really a sure debut. And then you just look
Speaker 2: at that Wigan team and I know they've had some
Speaker 2: issues this season, but you look at the longer term,
Speaker 2: you know, and they've got Hopkinson at fullback, They've got
Speaker 2: Eccersley on the winger and Satos, they've got Marsden and
Speaker 2: Pharamon in halves. They've got Forborough at hooker, and there's
Speaker 2: a few other young players around like that. That succession
Speaker 2: playing for Wigan his first class in that academy. And
Speaker 2: you know, you've worked at Wigan, you know how they
Speaker 2: do it, and I think they are the best in
Speaker 2: England to do that. And it just goes to show
Speaker 2: that there is really there is talent in England and
Speaker 2: there is you know, some real prospects, but we just
Speaker 2: need we need more of them at everything.
Speaker 1: You need to nurture it properly. Look, if it wasn't
Speaker 1: for a club like Wigan, and of course you can
Speaker 1: put Leeds, Warrington, Saint Helen's in those brackets too, I'd
Speaker 1: hate to think where the game would be. I mean,
Speaker 1: can you imagine how many Wiganers are playing it? All
Speaker 1: the Super League sides, other Championship sides, or the Australian sides.
Speaker 2: I'll give you. I'll give you at the top of
Speaker 2: my head. So you go whole, Kay, are you go
Speaker 2: guild Art, Joe Burgess, you go Lee, you go Hanley,
Speaker 2: Josh Charley, Jack Hughes. Was it Wigan originally? You go Warrington?
Speaker 2: You've got Sam Powell, You've got Liam Byrne, You Leeds,
Speaker 2: you've got James McDonald. I mean our phenomenal Wigan and yeah,
Speaker 2: as you mentioned camera, you know you've got Smithy's, You've
Speaker 2: got Nicholson. Yeah, it's a phenomenal system. But we need
Speaker 2: that replicated across the league, across the country. Yeah, pathways.
Speaker 2: I mean, if we're going circling back to NRL partnership
Speaker 2: and what they need to do for the game. The
Speaker 2: wish list of what they need to fix the game
Speaker 2: is massive, so they can't. If it does happen, they can't.
Speaker 2: And I think they understand the same way. Pathways and
Speaker 2: development is.
Speaker 1: Huge well left, so you might not have a ground
Speaker 1: to play up I read today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got a kind of message about it. It's
Speaker 2: fundly quite an explosive Whole City fans for them, and
Speaker 2: I haven't really followed the fortunes of Whole City for
Speaker 2: a while, not since Jackson Irvine played for them and
Speaker 2: I went over and interviewed him for a soccer story
Speaker 2: many moons ago. But they don't have the best relationship
Speaker 2: Whole City in Whole FC, do they. They don't like
Speaker 2: each other and they've shared that ground, I think for
Speaker 2: twenty three years, and Whole's leases up, I believe. I
Speaker 2: think it's the end of next year, and I think
Speaker 2: the Whole City really want to piss them off, which
Speaker 2: would leave them with a big issue where they play
Speaker 2: in the city, because apart from Craven Park, which I
Speaker 2: don't think they'd be allowed to play that, I don't
Speaker 2: know where else they go. So yeah, it's personally. I've
Speaker 2: been to the m k M stadium for many years.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's the greatest thing. I mean, the
Speaker 2: press facility is a joke. You're literally in the heavens.
Speaker 2: With my poor eye sight, it's hard to body see.
Speaker 2: But yeah, that's a concern for them because it's not
Speaker 2: a great stadium setup in that that they share the
Speaker 2: stadium and that whole city seem to have the more dominant,
Speaker 2: say in a partnership you look at you know, we
Speaker 2: mentioned hardest Field before. It's kind of a similar set
Speaker 2: up with Huddersfield and that now the Huddersfield town have
Speaker 2: full control. And I think they're obviously I mean that
Speaker 2: stadium is too big for hord to for Giants, but
Speaker 2: they want them out as well. So stadium thing, stadium
Speaker 2: ownership and deals in primacy of tenure is a is
Speaker 2: a very big thing in the sport.
Speaker 1: I was going to say they could play at the
Speaker 1: Circle in Hold, but I think that's the MK state
Speaker 1: because the Circle is where some Westfall juniors used to
Speaker 1: play and I remember playing one of the toughest games
Speaker 1: of a rug the league ever played there. So I
Speaker 1: don't have any answers for them. I'm sorry. Maybe what
Speaker 1: they could do they could get Bill Quinn as chairman
Speaker 1: because he's left all.
Speaker 2: Of them our old friend Bill Quinn. Yeah, I guess
Speaker 2: we're very be careful because he says he's sick and
Speaker 2: he's standing down and I don't want to challenge and
Speaker 2: say that is incorrect because I don't have any information
Speaker 2: to the contrary. But it is an unusual situation because
Speaker 2: he came out with all those videos slagging people off
Speaker 2: and off and is.
Speaker 1: That the one where he's spoke in the third person
Speaker 1: A lot?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, there was a lot of Bilkins here to
Speaker 2: stay and I'm fighting and then how he's going. So look,
Speaker 2: I think I don't know how frank we can be lee.
Speaker 2: But it's been a massive Oldham for a couple of months,
Speaker 2: you know, the whole Mike Ford thing stepping away because
Speaker 2: they fell out and then yeah, Bill Quinn sort of
Speaker 2: on his rants and alienating everyone, taking the club out
Speaker 2: of Boundary Park because he fell out with Oldham Athletic
Speaker 2: and sued them or they're in litigation. I think, well,
Speaker 2: what I've been told is that there's two or three
Speaker 2: groups who are looking to take over Oldham. Now I
Speaker 2: think one of them may involve Mike Ford. But I
Speaker 2: haven't had that con so I think in terms of
Speaker 2: the long term future, the club should be okay. But
Speaker 2: this isn't other case of this kind of mad ego
Speaker 2: centric owner who takes over a club and then just
Speaker 2: goes on this kind of Donald Trump like you know,
Speaker 2: escapade to rant and rave and basically do whatever they want.
Speaker 2: And I think we obviously need wealthy benefactors. I'm not
Speaker 2: I'm not saying we don't, but we also need wealthy
Speaker 2: benefactors or understand like they may own the club, but
Speaker 2: without the fans and the players, there is no club.
Speaker 2: Like it's it's more than just a play thing, you know,
Speaker 2: for for one individual. And I think you've got to
Speaker 2: be conscious of you know, when you go out in
Speaker 2: a Facebook live or whatever and you're like having a
Speaker 2: go at your own fans, it's not a great it's
Speaker 2: not a great look. No. So yeah, Bill Quinn, I
Speaker 2: understand years ago he had Oldham and then he stepped
Speaker 2: away and and he's come back in and now he
Speaker 2: stepped away. It's yeah, it's a pitiful Never they never disappoints,
Speaker 2: doesn't they.
Speaker 1: Sheffield Eagals moving ground and the fans aren't happy about that.
Speaker 1: I think you mentioned that after the hoot, didn't you
Speaker 1: the other day?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was that was announced last League. I think
Speaker 2: the what my understanding is they do and I had
Speaker 2: a story on this couple of months ago, they do
Speaker 2: want to move to a site at Woodburn Road, which
Speaker 2: is near at a Cliffe Way, So this seem I
Speaker 2: think is a temporary move to john Field. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I think the other part of Sheffield is is just
Speaker 2: like what is happening with that club, you know, like
Speaker 2: long term the ownership, They don't do interviews, The fans
Speaker 2: are really in the dark, they're not really happy. Crowds
Speaker 2: have gone under. It's sort of another club in the championship.
Speaker 1: I mean, what's happening in the championship full stop. I
Speaker 1: mean we've had Wales, We've got also who ended up
Speaker 1: in there.
Speaker 2: Well, another one has witnessed. There's a lot of rumors,
Speaker 2: you know, a director stepping away not that long ago,
Speaker 2: and about budgets cut for next year. I had another
Speaker 2: I had a message while I was away from you know,
Speaker 2: another club, just saying, you know about how the seasons
Speaker 2: the shambles, the way it's you know, teams are not
Speaker 2: playing for three or four weeks. You know, it's just yeah,
Speaker 2: it's really fallen off the map. So I think that
Speaker 2: this is another indication, and we talked about in our
Speaker 2: own partnership. Again, excuse me, sorry, I'm just dying over here.
Speaker 2: The RFL is talking about a salary cap for the Championship,
Speaker 2: and that's all well and good. It definitely needs one,
Speaker 2: but it should have had one, you know, ten years ago,
Speaker 2: and it should have actually a strategy and actual marketing
Speaker 2: behind it. They can't seem to get a TV deal
Speaker 2: for the Championship, but what they could do is they
Speaker 2: could do, okay, every week we're doing I don't know,
Speaker 2: a Sunday night game or whatever, and put it on
Speaker 2: YouTube and promote it, do it properly. You know that
Speaker 2: there's so many things you could do with the Championship
Speaker 2: which they don't do. Yeah. I think there's a lot
Speaker 2: of people in the Championship fans, players, owners, et cetera,
Speaker 2: who were just kind of throwing the hands up and saying, what.
Speaker 1: The hell is going on?
Speaker 2: Because this this season, you know, what's happen to Feurston, Halifax,
Speaker 2: North Wales. You know, I think Barrow had to do
Speaker 2: a crowd fund and get their bus to London. I
Speaker 2: mean you put all these things together m hm. And
Speaker 2: you know people who will accuse me and you were
Speaker 2: being negative, but you'd have to basically stick fingers in
Speaker 2: your in your eyes and in your ears and just
Speaker 2: go la la, la la la, nothing's happening to not
Speaker 2: really just see what's happening, you know.
Speaker 1: And when you said you were dying there, John, I
Speaker 1: think that might be the brightness coming from your thing.
Speaker 1: There might be the Lord Almighty calling you up from
Speaker 1: the window. The sun is shining, so it might get
Speaker 1: you pull you pull your blind down there. You might
Speaker 1: be getting calls from above. Mate.
Speaker 2: You know. You know what's funnily is actually it's quite overcast.
Speaker 1: Right right while you're doing that, I'm going to give
Speaker 1: a shout out from some mates, say in America who
Speaker 1: were doing the Rap Pack podcast. So I was involved
Speaker 1: with the USA John when it was the original crowd.
Speaker 1: So David knew Bobo who actually used to work with
Speaker 1: Mayor Guliani actually who apparently is not very well in
Speaker 1: hospital right now. America's Mayor David new Matt Astell, Jeff Preston,
Speaker 1: and Marcus vassal Acopolis, a lad not that far from
Speaker 1: the parish in which you reside. And they're doing the
Speaker 1: rat Pack podcast and they're based in the USA and
Speaker 1: they can find you can find them on rat Pack
Speaker 1: Rugby League, rat Cap rat Pack Podcast. I think it
Speaker 1: is on Instagram and YouTube and everything else. And they're
Speaker 1: all mutters. They're all mutters. But they were the old
Speaker 1: g's Yep, they were They were the ogs. They were
Speaker 1: the ones who who made rugby league in America achieved
Speaker 1: some of its greatest things before the Land has even
Speaker 1: thought of going to Las Vegas. Okay, the last round,
Speaker 1: we'll go backwards because after John visited France to lose,
Speaker 1: were inspired to beat Whole FC twelve four. Briscoe was
Speaker 1: the only one to score for Whole and they didn't
Speaker 1: even kick the goal. Ash Old Bolt score, ash Old
Speaker 1: Bolt scored, Bot scored for is it bot or Bolt?
Speaker 1: Ah Holt or Bot? But ash All Bot, who seems
Speaker 1: to score every week and I still don't know his name,
Speaker 1: cat Or scored the two tries and two goals from
Speaker 1: Shoricks and WHOLEFC could have moved into the top half
Speaker 1: of the league if they won that, And I guess
Speaker 1: there's something to be said there. Well, why did that happen?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a good question. I mean the thrash cast
Speaker 2: o the week didn't I they just looked really poor.
Speaker 2: I mean to lose scored, I think after five minutes,
Speaker 2: got that early start game a lot of confidence and
Speaker 2: they really topped it out. Yeah, but that's a very
Speaker 2: poor I mean it's great for to lose. They get
Speaker 2: their own big big result from them to break down
Speaker 2: losing Street. But yeah, a bit pretty embarrassing for ALLFC.
Speaker 1: James Valley wrote in and said it's maybe a truer
Speaker 1: reflection of what will happen to HULLFC now after losing
Speaker 1: it home to to lose their performance at cast might
Speaker 1: have been there sendoff to John Cartwright. Assisted by Castleford's mediocrity.
Speaker 1: Huddersfield were another team that only managed four and Warrington
Speaker 1: rapped up thirty four. They had twenty eight by halftime.
Speaker 1: Huddersfield scored through Swift and didn't kick the goal. Warrington,
Speaker 1: Hoppowarte King, smith Stone, Philbin and Ashton scored their tries.
Speaker 1: Snaid scored five. I've got a good feeling about Warrington.
Speaker 1: I think they're going to be there or thereabouts this year.
Speaker 1: I just like the look of them from what I've seen,
Speaker 1: and five unanswered tries in the first half probably meant
Speaker 1: they took their foot off the a little bit in
Speaker 1: the second.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, looking at social media, I think Mark
Speaker 2: Wilson said, you know, the was it the first half
Speaker 2: of the second half is like the worst game a
Speaker 2: full time. Apparently it was pretty dire stuff. But looking
Speaker 2: at the highlights that Warrington, yeah, I agree with you.
Speaker 2: I think with Warrington, you know, they've been up the
Speaker 2: top fourteen most years, for what sixteen years? I think
Speaker 2: they really and they've won Challenge Cups in that time
Speaker 2: and they made it to grand finals. But they need
Speaker 2: to they need to get a premiership down a an
Speaker 2: Eddy Grand Final win and I don't know if this
Speaker 2: is the year, but I think they've definitely got the
Speaker 2: team to get to Old Trafford. You're losing George Williams
Speaker 2: is a big blow, but you and Irwin he looked
Speaker 2: really good for himton a couple of triasis again another
Speaker 2: young halfback sot of saying, like you know, we're always
Speaker 2: negatively but there are there are some really great young
Speaker 2: players out there and it's great to see them shine
Speaker 2: and play with confidence. He's you know, when you get
Speaker 2: wraps from Andrew John's that's pretty high. And I know
Speaker 2: we talked about him the other week as well. Hopper
Speaker 2: the other Hopper again just scoring, try looking great. And
Speaker 2: Josh Smith we talk about reserve graders from the Q Cup,
Speaker 2: but he's been a great frie from Brisbane East, from
Speaker 2: your neck of the woods. I think he might have
Speaker 2: been Q Cup Player of the Year last year, but
Speaker 2: he's been really good. So yeah, Warrington another great. You know,
Speaker 2: they've they've got a whole can and Challenge Cup this
Speaker 2: weekend which is a massive, massive game. But Huddersfield they
Speaker 2: really need to if they're going to hire I don't know, Holdsworth,
Speaker 2: they need to get him in now. And they also
Speaker 2: need to start recruiting for next year because they're going
Speaker 2: to miss the boat and that is just a circle
Speaker 2: of Huddersfield just staying in that bottom.
Speaker 1: Maybe they need to offer tax three tax three pounds.
Speaker 2: How do you get I mean, you're you're you're the Englishman,
Speaker 2: you're the Englishman, Lee, how do you get people to Huddersfield?
Speaker 1: Relocate them to Monaco? The I've given you too much credit.
Speaker 1: I said you went to France to talk to the
Speaker 1: to lose coach and that's why they won. I think
Speaker 1: you went to catalan because they lost thirty three eighteen
Speaker 1: at home to Lee. Sexton and making Some scored the
Speaker 1: tries for Catalans and making some got two of them.
Speaker 1: Sexton kicked three goals. Lee scored thirty three. There were
Speaker 1: ten to six up at halftime. Charlie got too often,
Speaker 1: Gali scored one, Trout Holt and Cook six goals and
Speaker 1: drop goal as well from Cook. That's three Super League
Speaker 1: wins on the bounce for Lee.
Speaker 2: I think your geography is as good as my missus is.
Speaker 2: Because Paris is now in the.
Speaker 1: I know that, but it doesn't mean you didn't fly
Speaker 1: down there, John.
Speaker 2: No, I think look at Catline's again, just very inconsistent,
Speaker 2: you know, a bit rundless for their coach walking out
Speaker 2: on them. Yeah again another club that really needs well,
Speaker 2: it's a lot of things and it needs to be
Speaker 2: not paying a million quite a year for other teams,
Speaker 2: travel costs, suspiders, but for Lee. Look, I think now
Speaker 2: they've got their players back, they've got their spine back,
Speaker 2: David Armstrong finally back after being out for so so long.
Speaker 2: They are building a bit of momentum. They have got
Speaker 2: some of the good players there. And we're talking about
Speaker 2: Q Cup and you said, Well's Cup players and Adam
Speaker 2: Cook I think is been pretty poor most of this season,
Speaker 2: but he had a big, big game against Catlan's lovely
Speaker 2: cutout pass, cut out pass for one of the tries
Speaker 2: and maybe he's finding his feet now. So it'll be
Speaker 2: interesting to see how much of a run League can make,
Speaker 2: you know, can they finish in the top six, could
Speaker 2: they finish in the top four. They've got a bit
Speaker 2: of work to do, but they've certainly, you know, with
Speaker 2: Lock and Lamb and a Pape and Joe often Galway
Speaker 2: and some of the players there, they've got some some
Speaker 2: really good players who could push them at the table.
Speaker 1: Wigan ended their four match losing streak. They scored thirty
Speaker 1: eight with tries from Eckersley, two from Field, three from
Speaker 1: Hodgkinson and one from O'Neil. Keran kicked four goals and
Speaker 1: farram and kicked a mother. Bradford they scored fourteen, so
Speaker 1: Wigan one thirty eight fourteen against Bradford. Fulton scored for Bradford,
Speaker 1: Ryan scored too and Atkin kicked the goal look, I
Speaker 1: saw a bit of this game and Bradford were never
Speaker 1: in it. They looked Bradford looked very much like the
Speaker 1: team that is struggling with bodies and struggling in a
Speaker 1: division that they probably shouldn't have been in this year.
Speaker 2: I mean, a fun trial. Wasn't a trial? Was it?
Speaker 2: He knocked down on, didn't he?
Speaker 1: I think? So, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: Look, I think you know, Bradford are struggling with a
Speaker 2: lot of injuries, player depth as you said, and Wigan
Speaker 2: missing quite a few players. But I think it was
Speaker 2: the you know, we already talked about the next gen
Speaker 2: for Wigan, getting them over the line and breaking that
Speaker 2: losing run that I've had, which is a perfect time
Speaker 2: because I've got Saint Helens and the Challenge Cup semi
Speaker 2: final and that is a massive game. Like you know,
Speaker 2: we're going to have copped a bit for the last
Speaker 2: four or five weeks. I think there was some crazy
Speaker 2: stat where they hadn't lost like five games in a row. Sure,
Speaker 2: I can't remember if it was ever or in the
Speaker 2: eighty something years, it was something crazy. But look, if
Speaker 2: I think if Wigan beats and Helens next weekend and
Speaker 2: get to Wembley. You know a lot of that noise
Speaker 2: and everything dies away, doesn't it. And I think I
Speaker 2: think Smith is back from his suspension on next week
Speaker 2: and dry Field it seems to be hitting. You know.
Speaker 2: He was pretty pretty dynamic, wasn't he against Bradford. So yeah,
Speaker 2: important result from Wigan. I think most people expected Wigan,
Speaker 2: even though they'd been on a losing run, to get
Speaker 2: the win, and Bradford are just holding on at this point.
Speaker 1: Mike croceive O twelve. The rest of the Leeds team
Speaker 1: twenty eight, Wakefield twenty two. Good game, good game between
Speaker 1: a good game between Leeds and Wakey. Again. I saw
Speaker 1: a bit of this and Wakey went so with him
Speaker 1: and then Leeds just kicked away at the end. Like
Speaker 1: I said, Sevo scored three, Watkins got one and Cross
Speaker 1: scored two tries. Conner kicked eight goals. Wakey there twenty
Speaker 1: two came from Pratt, Lolas Ao and Mayer's got two.
Speaker 1: Lino or Lino scored three. That's micros Evo's fourth super
Speaker 1: League got trick of the years. He's like the Earling
Speaker 1: Harland of super League.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and one of them he went over to Wakefield players.
Speaker 2: One of them I could have scored basically put down,
Speaker 2: but I think I don't know if you saw the
Speaker 2: I'm trying to remember who which Wakefield players hit. Did
Speaker 2: he hit with his head? He got a yellow caigh
Speaker 2: for it. I think he was probably lucky not to
Speaker 2: get a red for that. That was a that was
Speaker 2: a bad one and I won't be surprised if he
Speaker 2: gets a band. It was a strange game and that
Speaker 2: Leeds had three players in bind and still sort of
Speaker 2: won relatively comfortably. But you're right, Wakefield had a real
Speaker 2: dig and Jade and Myers on the wing. I don't
Speaker 2: know if you saw the shimmy that he did on
Speaker 2: Ryan All. He sent Ryan All left right, left right,
Speaker 2: It was brilliant. He's a he's a good, good young player.
Speaker 2: Myers on the wing. But yeah, Leeds again just getting
Speaker 2: it done. Big, big crowd at Headingly it looked like.
Speaker 2: And yeah, they're cruising along very nicely Leeds. I mean,
Speaker 2: I think they'll be kicking themselves that they got knocked
Speaker 2: out of the Cup and they're not playing this weekend,
Speaker 2: but they have that week off at this point of
Speaker 2: the season is very good for them. I'm not sure
Speaker 2: off the top of the man who they play in
Speaker 2: two weeks time. But yeah, they've got They're probably the
Speaker 2: club that's got the most fit uninjured players at the moment,
Speaker 2: and I think that's true.
Speaker 1: It was Waky that knocked them out the corp too,
Speaker 1: wasn't it.
Speaker 2: It was in the blackout game, the old twenty minutes
Speaker 2: when the lights dropped out. Yeah, we love that. But yeah,
Speaker 2: leads to leads are flying high. And Brodycroft, I think
Speaker 2: he was around one of the questions that we had
Speaker 2: as well, wasn't he Lee? Brodie Croft is having a
Speaker 2: great season, scoring a ton of tries. Now, I've heard
Speaker 2: so many rumors about Bradycroft. He's either going to Perth Bears,
Speaker 2: he's staying at Leeds, he's resigned with Leeds, or Warrington
Speaker 2: having a chat to him about replacing George Williams.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: I don't know if any of those are true. I've
Speaker 2: had denials and whatever. But yeah, he's certainly having a
Speaker 2: very good season at Leeds this year Brodi Croft, and
Speaker 2: I think that that partnership with him and Connor works
Speaker 2: quite well.
Speaker 1: The York Knights, I know we've talked about the newly
Speaker 1: promoted sides or sort of clump them together with Castle
Speaker 1: orders Field. But I do feel like the York Knights
Speaker 1: are punching a little bit above their weight. Still, I
Speaker 1: think they're going quite well because the score line didn't
Speaker 1: do justice to the contest when Saint Helen's beat them
Speaker 1: forty to sixteen this weekend, Leyland Dagnall scored too. Walmsley
Speaker 1: wells By, Davis and MacDonald were the scorers for Saint Helen's.
Speaker 1: Hastings kicked six goals for York, d scored two and
Speaker 1: Galiano scored the other. Try Hunter kick two goals. I
Speaker 1: mean that also reflects a little bit on Saint Hellens.
Speaker 1: And I think Saint Helen's are a good attack inside.
Speaker 1: They've got a good attacking coach, but they're always going
Speaker 1: to give something back to the opposition because the defense
Speaker 1: isn't the strongest, is my opinion.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, no, I think that's fair. Look, I think York,
Speaker 2: you know, missing the fullback and a half back of
Speaker 2: barrel really well, and that game was, you know, in
Speaker 2: the balance after sixty minutes, and it was, as you said,
Speaker 2: it was York kind of getting blind away a little
Speaker 2: bit at the end. But I think they only named
Speaker 2: eighteen players instead of the twenty one man squad, you know,
Speaker 2: because that's what they had, and I think that's another indication,
Speaker 2: you know, like Bradford the other week, only having fifteen
Speaker 2: fit players. That's when we talk about player depth and
Speaker 2: the fact about quality for not enough fourteen teams is
Speaker 2: you know, there's the these are the evidence. It's not
Speaker 2: necessarily just the score lines or the performances. It's these
Speaker 2: other factors. I mean, could you imagine if Manly you know,
Speaker 2: are named could only name you know, sixteen but I
Speaker 2: only had sixteen players.
Speaker 1: To play against for those for those listening, I just
Speaker 1: shook my head. Yeah.
Speaker 2: But in saying all that, I do agree with you.
Speaker 2: I think York I've done a really good job considering
Speaker 2: they have no academy, they have the you know, feeder
Speaker 2: system with Newcastle. But you know, I think their recruitment
Speaker 2: has been quite smart and targeted, and I think they've
Speaker 2: got a great spirit at that comb and I think
Speaker 2: Mark Appricoth is to a really good job. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I think fair play to them. I think I will
Speaker 2: pick up some more wins when they get toa back
Speaker 2: and they get Liam Harris back. But I think they're
Speaker 2: also at the same time they have they've kind of
Speaker 2: been Paul Vaughan and Paul McShane the two poles, the
Speaker 2: two veteran pols have had really good campaigns and really
Speaker 2: led the way for them. So I think it's going
Speaker 2: to be interesting to see what happens with McShane, because
Speaker 2: I think he's off contract the end of this year.
Speaker 2: What they do there. If he plays on, his body
Speaker 2: holds up. If he doesn't, they're really going to need
Speaker 2: a top class nine to replace him, and those don't
Speaker 2: grow on trees.
Speaker 1: Let's go to our questions now, or our statements that
Speaker 1: people want us to comment on. If you want to
Speaker 1: get questions or statements towards tweet Johnny at Johnny D.
Speaker 1: Davidson and you're best sending them to me on email
Speaker 1: Admint Rugby League Coach dot com to say you, Leonard R.
Speaker 1: Gregory says, if you were looking to relocate a Super
Speaker 1: League club for season twenty eight, what city would you
Speaker 1: move it to? London is not an option, Leonard. I've
Speaker 1: already told you Monaco that was three pounds. You give
Speaker 1: the serious answer.
Speaker 2: Now, John Yeah, that's a hard one to answer. I mean,
Speaker 2: I look, I think if you're looking city sizes in
Speaker 2: the UK, you're kind of looking at, you know, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle.
Speaker 2: Obviously we've got clubs in the Manchester area. Liverpool Saint
Speaker 2: Helens are on the border. I think Birmingham maybe would
Speaker 2: be the Birmingham and Nottingham maybe would be the ones.
Speaker 2: Obviously we've got the Midlands Hurricanes. But yeah, I think
Speaker 2: I think we do need to try and focus on
Speaker 2: some cities at some point because small towns can only
Speaker 2: give you so much when it comes to explosion crowds.
Speaker 2: But in saying that, I don't think a relocation of
Speaker 2: the current Super League club would work, knowing how tribal tribalism,
Speaker 2: how much troubleism there is in the in the sport.
Speaker 1: I mean, I do think Super League expansion, from a
Speaker 1: spectator's point of view, that's possibly work because it expanded
Speaker 1: into heartland areas again Bradford to Lose and York which
Speaker 1: is on the fringes of the actual heartland. But it's
Speaker 1: still a big, a big rugby league area. So I
Speaker 1: don't know if you'd relocate anyone really, Debbie Jones said,
Speaker 1: Number one scrapped the chat captain's challenge is that yes
Speaker 1: or no from you?
Speaker 2: Ah? No, I like the captain. So I think what
Speaker 2: people don't like is stoppage is in the game. And
Speaker 2: I think what I think Steve Maskow wrote about this
Speaker 2: not long ago is that Super League tried to adopt
Speaker 2: a lot of the NR rules without the same budget
Speaker 2: or with six again, and.
Speaker 1: I just allow one. I'd just allow one and if
Speaker 1: you get to keep it and get another, well that's
Speaker 1: what they have. I partly had two.
Speaker 2: I thought it was only one.
Speaker 1: Okay, I think it's two in the NRL might be
Speaker 1: wrong or something.
Speaker 2: I think with these kind of stoppages, we need to
Speaker 2: try and get them done quickly, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: It's a speed Yeah, four minutes of reviews now. Debbie
Speaker 1: Jones said, oh sorry, I should say for those who
Speaker 1: are wondering where the Castleford and okay, our review is.
Speaker 1: We did it on Friday and I don't want to
Speaker 1: talk about that game again. And what's just reminded me
Speaker 1: Thursday and what's just reminded me about that is how
Speaker 1: long the video review was. Number two. This is Debbie
Speaker 1: Friday game should kick off at twelve pm. Then fans
Speaker 1: can get home just before midnight, so she wants them
Speaker 1: to kick off at lunchtime. According to that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't When I read that, it was kind
Speaker 2: of did she make a different time?
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: And then number three, number three, it just said, ex
Speaker 1: Saint Neil Holding is a Tommy Robinson loving racist twat
Speaker 1: Saint should have nothing to do with him. So what's
Speaker 1: all that about.
Speaker 2: I don't know who that player was. Do you know
Speaker 2: of him?
Speaker 1: I remember Neil Holding?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's perfore my time. I mean, yeah, I
Speaker 2: mean anyone who supports Tommy Rownson needs a good hard
Speaker 2: slab personally. But yeah, I don't know who that player is.
Speaker 1: Chef Toffee Saint said, how can anyone criticize the NRL
Speaker 1: rule changes when there are record crowds and TV audiences.
Speaker 1: They say they've made it like basketball. Well, I find
Speaker 1: it incredible viewing. Well, as the resident Australian here, John,
Speaker 1: I'll tackle this one first. I respect Chef that you
Speaker 1: find it incredible viewing. I find it poor because I
Speaker 1: like a balance between attack and defense. And I already
Speaker 1: said earlier in the podcast Chef about some of the
Speaker 1: other things that may have contributed to that, and I
Speaker 1: do think that the biggest thing out of all of
Speaker 1: them is the algorithm algorithms and the amount of options.
Speaker 1: The podcast asks the twenty four hour Rugby League channel,
Speaker 1: et cetera. So I think in terms of your point,
Speaker 1: Chef about the rule changes, we can criticize the rule changes,
Speaker 1: we're not criticizing the record crowds and TV audiences. What
Speaker 1: I'm challenging, Chef, is that link between those two things.
Speaker 1: I put it this way. I've I'm it's rugby leagues
Speaker 1: in my DNA, and I'm not watching it. I'm watching
Speaker 1: Super League instead, and I will watch the NRL when
Speaker 1: things balance out a bit again. And I'm not on
Speaker 1: my own. And there's people a lot younger than me
Speaker 1: who are thinking the same thing, and people older than
Speaker 1: me and the same age as me. So there might
Speaker 1: be record crowds, but they could be even bigger crowds
Speaker 1: and bigger TV viewers.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I think you've entered that well. I would
Speaker 2: just say that whether there's record crowds or not, it's
Speaker 2: not always indicative of what the product is a lot
Speaker 2: of it. And that's this corresponds with Super League and
Speaker 2: everyone's like Oh, the product's great, but why don't put
Speaker 2: more people watch it? It's like, well, a lot of
Speaker 2: it comes down to the presentation of the product, the packaging,
Speaker 2: the marketing, and what I might find is a great product,
Speaker 2: and what you might find is a great product could
Speaker 2: be completely different because everyone is different. So, you know,
Speaker 2: we've talked about darts before. I'd rather, you know, watch
Speaker 2: paint dry than darts. But you know a lot of
Speaker 2: people like it, and that's that's good on them.
Speaker 1: You know, Gary Collins, who I think might be a leaf,
Speaker 1: said Sky Sports red button issues week in week out.
Speaker 1: What does a red button do on Sky.
Speaker 2: That's the the Sky Sports Plus. So the fact that
Speaker 2: there's a lot of games are on the Plus button,
Speaker 2: so it's a stream, it's not on the regular channel.
Speaker 2: I mean, we've talked about this a lotly and I think,
Speaker 2: you know, the the fact that every game's a live
Speaker 2: but it doesn't have they don't all have the same
Speaker 2: production values, they aren't treated the same has annoyed a
Speaker 2: lot of fans, and there are a lot of issues
Speaker 2: with the presentation, with commentary dropping out or vision dropping out. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think personally, I think in the next TV deal
Speaker 2: we need to go back to if you know, if
Speaker 2: the numbers work out, and obviously how much money is
Speaker 2: the key factor, but we need to go back to
Speaker 2: something where Sky has two or three games, we have
Speaker 2: another broadcaster, so we get each game presented in an
Speaker 2: equal way, in a decent way. Whether that can be
Speaker 2: achieved or not, I don't know, as I mean a
Speaker 2: lot of that's kind of pie the sky, isn't it?
Speaker 2: Perfect world stuff?
Speaker 1: Simon Paul? Question one? Do you honestly believe the game
Speaker 1: is better off of the video ref system and it's
Speaker 1: taking even longer than last season? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I mean we talked just then, did we about the
Speaker 2: video ref? And I think part of that is in
Speaker 2: the bunk of thel The bunkers is them, which costs
Speaker 2: a lot of money. It's quite quick and efficient. They
Speaker 2: still make mistakes, don't they. No one's perfect, but the
Speaker 2: video ref in the UK is very slow. Personally, I
Speaker 2: still prefer a video ref. I can remember when there
Speaker 2: was absolutely horrific knock ons and trials that were awarded
Speaker 2: for years and easier, like how did they give that? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I think we've got technology now we ain't. We ain't going,
Speaker 2: We ain't getting rid of it are.
Speaker 1: We also also, mister Paul, look at the advertising on
Speaker 1: the referee Jersey, look at the advertising on the screen.
Speaker 1: That's that's what it's all about, on the on the
Speaker 1: big screen. Question two, brave decisions need to be made.
Speaker 1: Read a championship. If NRL get involved, what do you
Speaker 1: think they do with it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we talked about this fording we look I think
Speaker 2: they they'd have to have a strategy for the championship
Speaker 2: as well. I think they need to have some honest
Speaker 2: analysis and discussions about what is the role of the Championship,
Speaker 2: What is the role of Is it to get clubs
Speaker 2: into Super League? Is it to be effectively a feeder system,
Speaker 2: you know like a Q Cup or and you so
Speaker 2: Well's Cup, Like, what is it? How do we promote it,
Speaker 2: how do we market it, how do we pitch it?
Speaker 2: When is it played? You know it's a semi professional league.
Speaker 2: Is the wage is sustainable? All these things need to
Speaker 2: be looked out because I think personally it's a big
Speaker 2: difference between say, you know a witness, well, i'd say
Speaker 2: a witness in North Wales Crusaders, but North Wales Crusaders
Speaker 2: could be literally ceased to exist in the next twenty
Speaker 2: eight to twenty four to forty eight hours. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: there's a big difference between clubs who either were in
Speaker 2: Super League or have aspirations, legitimate aspirations like a London
Speaker 2: then to some of the clubs in the Championship at
Speaker 2: the moment. And that's another thing. We've got a massive
Speaker 2: disparity in salary cap spending and quality between say London
Speaker 2: and Swinton, for example.
Speaker 1: John Hodgson rolle with the increase in rooks leads in
Speaker 1: Super League and the increase in injuries, do we need
Speaker 1: to start looking more closely at penalizing hip drop tackles?
Speaker 1: Can I answer this bit first? Because I'm a coach,
Speaker 1: you can.
Speaker 2: You probably no more than myself.
Speaker 1: The definition of a hip drop, even in Australia is
Speaker 1: all over the show. I think a lot of hip
Speaker 1: drop tackles are passive tackles. And because again because for
Speaker 1: years the game has messed around with the rules and
Speaker 1: has taken away the option of tackling around the legs,
Speaker 1: which we were all taught as young kids to do. First,
Speaker 1: because you can't get rewarded for that. Everyone's going up top,
Speaker 1: and if they don't get up top, And because of
Speaker 1: the faster rouck speeds, they're going a bit lower now
Speaker 1: they try and pull them back to try and control
Speaker 1: the ruck. That's why we're getting hip drop tackles. It's
Speaker 1: as simple as that. Players don't do them one purpose
Speaker 1: or very rarely do they do a one purpose, so
Speaker 1: a lot of it is happening so fast and again,
Speaker 1: I think the theme of this podcast so far has
Speaker 1: been budget and expertise with regards to officiating and extra decisions.
Speaker 1: I mean, this would just cause another a layer of
Speaker 1: problems that I don't think Rugby Football League need at
Speaker 1: the moment, particularly when they've got clubs dropping like flies.
Speaker 1: I watched Super League and I can honestly say ten
Speaker 1: percent of the tackles would probably get penalized in the NRL.
Speaker 1: I watched quite a lot, so I don't know if
Speaker 1: people are getting injured from these tackles in Super League. Also,
Speaker 1: a lot of the injuries will because will be because
Speaker 1: of the short preseason in England. But also the interpretations
Speaker 1: probably weren't brought in until the last minute, and teams
Speaker 1: didn't recruit put it this way. They probably didn't prepare
Speaker 1: properly in this off season for it. But they definitely
Speaker 1: wouldn't have recruited for it. Put it that way, they
Speaker 1: wouldt have recreated lighter players, and they wouldn't have put
Speaker 1: long term plans in place for their players to lose
Speaker 1: lots of weight to be more and more abile. John
Speaker 1: also asked should the six again be awarded based on
Speaker 1: tackle count instead of field position, i e. Tackle zero
Speaker 1: to two is a penalty and six a after that,
Speaker 1: So six again? Sorry after that you can answer that one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's an interesting one. I've never really thought about
Speaker 2: it like that. I think it might be hard to
Speaker 2: keep track of, you know, how many you give at
Speaker 2: one point. Look, the six a game is really a
Speaker 2: tough one because I've had people who haven't watched the
Speaker 2: game for all come to me, like, you know why
Speaker 2: they are warning it is it is hard to you know,
Speaker 2: rock in freshmen. It's hard to explain. And look, I like,
Speaker 2: I like the fact there is a speed of that game.
Speaker 2: But at the same point, I like, as you said,
Speaker 2: you know, a balance between attack and defense, and I
Speaker 2: don't want to see, you know, fifty to forty two
Speaker 2: every week. Yeah, it's that I'm struggling to answer that one.
Speaker 1: Lucidly Matt said one week loans discuss, Thanks all.
Speaker 2: I don't like the one week loan system. I think
Speaker 2: some clubs taking the piss out of it. You know,
Speaker 2: there's there's been some speculation about a certain club getting
Speaker 2: in a player just so they could rest another one
Speaker 2: of their players ahead of a big game. Now I
Speaker 2: don't know if that is one hundred percent or not,
Speaker 2: but yeah, I don't like the one week loan. I
Speaker 2: think there should be a minimum, whether it be two
Speaker 2: weeks or three weeks. You know, there seems to be
Speaker 2: a lot of kind of big clubs learning players to
Speaker 2: other big clubs, which I think is also a bad
Speaker 2: look for the game, and it's a bad look for
Speaker 2: development and equality across the company.
Speaker 1: It's Challenged Cup next weekend, So a quick prediction from you,
Speaker 1: John Saint Helens versus Wigan on Saturday that should be
Speaker 1: a belt up.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm hoping to be at that game with Warrington.
Speaker 2: It's a really tough game to call because Sirt Allen's
Speaker 2: I think, you know, you look at recent forms and
Speaker 2: Allens have been the much better team even with you know,
Speaker 2: quite a few injuries. But Wigan really should have beaten
Speaker 2: them on good Friday. You know the lead they had
Speaker 2: with what twelve minutes ago? I think maybe just just
Speaker 2: wigging in the tight one. But yeah, it's a flip
Speaker 2: of a coin that one. I could see either team.
Speaker 2: You know that Ravalie is the biggest longest ravry in
Speaker 2: rugby league, isn't it? So it should be a humdigger
Speaker 2: of a game, I hope.
Speaker 1: And then Warrington and who K are on Sunday and.
Speaker 2: That's that's a I guess a more recent rivalry, isn't
Speaker 2: it an interesting because Tom, sorry I say Tom Burgess,
Speaker 2: Sam Burgess and Willie Peters are mates from the time
Speaker 2: both at South Sydney, but obviously after the Challenge Cup
Speaker 2: final last year and then the year before that, whole
Speaker 2: KR beat Warrington to get to their first Grand Final.
Speaker 1: Could go either way this game. And fancy Warrington for
Speaker 1: that one because I think just from what you've said,
Speaker 1: they've got an awful lot of reason too. And I
Speaker 1: don't think who KR were fantastic against cast last week.
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 2: I think I think WHOLEK have had the wood over
Speaker 2: them in the big games. Although they were obviously lucky
Speaker 2: to win at Wembley, weren't they that try in the
Speaker 2: last couple of minutes. But yeah, I think they've probably
Speaker 2: had a slight edge over them. Warrington this year are
Speaker 2: much improved, but I think maybe just whole Car in
Speaker 2: a tight one. But yeah, again Warrington. I think this
Speaker 2: is a really really good test. Warrington have been good
Speaker 2: for most of the year, more consistent than Whole Car.
Speaker 2: But this is the litmus test, isn't it? Like probably
Speaker 2: one of their first really big games in twenty six
Speaker 2: and if like a beat whole Guy, are that that
Speaker 2: makes and get to Wembley again? That makes people say
Speaker 2: I'm saying, okay, this is a is there the real
Speaker 2: deal the Wolves? So yeah, it should be another great
Speaker 2: game of Doncaster, hopefully some nice weather.
Speaker 1: N RL. We've already mentioned the NRL world and going
Speaker 1: into meltdown because Jerome Looeye signed at PNG. That was
Speaker 1: probably the biggest news last week. But another one that
Speaker 1: we probably should mention and just pass on our best
Speaker 1: wishes is to Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy, who it
Speaker 1: was announced of some kind of neurological disorder. Prepared for
Speaker 1: the worst, hoping for the best. There for I am
Speaker 1: in terms of one of the greatest coaches of the
Speaker 1: game's ever seen. I want to talk about the Bulldogs
Speaker 1: being rubbish. I want to talk about your manly team losing.
Speaker 1: I'm happy to talk about Manly this week, and I
Speaker 1: want to talk about how the Dragons didn't lose this
Speaker 1: week either.
Speaker 2: Well I didn't. Did the Dragons win?
Speaker 1: I wasn't even aware that they had the buye?
Speaker 2: All right, Okay, yeah I did see. I did see
Speaker 2: maybe fifteen minutes of the Mainly game the first half.
Speaker 2: I was having my breakfast in the hotel. But yeah, look,
Speaker 2: Joey Walsh, pretty pretty good debut for an eighteen year old.
Speaker 2: You know that faceball to set up a try and no, look,
Speaker 2: he looks a real talent, doesn't he. So you know,
Speaker 2: and he went to Saint Augustine's your your school or
Speaker 2: alma mater.
Speaker 1: I don't know how I worked there for about a term.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well I'm claiming, I'm claiming he's one of yours. Well, well,
Speaker 2: my my mum worked there, and my uncle worked there,
Speaker 2: and I think my uncle went to school there. But yeah,
Speaker 2: as I said this to someone else who's giving me
Speaker 2: a bit of shit about Mainly losing, I was saying, well, look,
Speaker 2: they were competitive against arguably the best team in the
Speaker 2: in the camp and you know, five weeks ago they're
Speaker 2: absolutely shit, you know, I think I think they they
Speaker 2: had they had a real dig, which is good. Again,
Speaker 2: I didn't see the Bulldogs game, but that is an
Speaker 2: interesting one. They're definitely in a slamp, aren't they. And
Speaker 2: all the all the Doggies fans or the Bellmore mafia
Speaker 2: are death threats at at Lee Everson's house.
Speaker 1: Is that right? Yeah? Well, they definitely get into me.
Speaker 1: So I've doubled down on Luce Kerry today. I've done
Speaker 1: a defensive analysis for them. So the analysis from the
Speaker 1: mainstream media has been their attack isn't clicking. But had
Speaker 1: a look at their defense and I can tell you
Speaker 1: their defense isn't clicking either, So real problems there at Bellmore.
Speaker 1: Will wrap it up there, John, that's quite a long
Speaker 1: one as usual. Where can people get you on the
Speaker 1: chansalis or.
Speaker 2: No, they can't get me there, But I'm hopefully the
Speaker 2: halliwell Jones on Saturday and Instagram at Johnny D Davidson
Speaker 2: r L. I think Facebook a John Davidson journalist and
Speaker 2: on Twitter at Johnny D Davidson.
Speaker 1: And if you're interested in anything I do or don't
Speaker 1: do Rugby League coach dot comvere you at Rugby League
Speaker 1: coach on social Send me a message on there or
Speaker 1: admin a Rugbiley coach.
Speaker 2: What about your award winning book as well?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Rugbyley Coach Thirteen Game Changing Conversations Transform your coaching.
Speaker 1: So i'd say a good book. I'm quite proud of myself,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: Kind a bit more pump in your voice when you're
Speaker 2: selling a Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm a humble kind of guy, me, John, Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, take care