Speaker 1: Wigan are still top of the tree. The same cannot
Speaker 1: be said of neighbours. Lee. The Giant season is like
Speaker 1: a nightmare. Bradford gave Saint Helens a scare. York did
Speaker 1: the same to a winning team. Warrington Wolves will be better,
Speaker 1: it would seem. Welcome to the twelfth episode of Super
Speaker 1: League three sixty, a podcast primarily about the top tier
Speaker 1: of British rugby league and great poetry. My name is
Speaker 1: Lee Addison, Esquire What's yours?
Speaker 2: My name is John Davidson, the non Scottish Nontourette's one Ah.
Speaker 1: I'm a coach in Australia, John a journo in the UK.
Speaker 1: Please read descriptions of previous pods and or the description
Speaker 1: of this one to make our intro short of The
Speaker 1: podcast being aired on the Ashes Rugby League Rugby League
Speaker 1: Coach Coach podcast platforms, as well as the Rugby League
Speaker 1: Coach YouTube too, so if you subscribe to those you
Speaker 1: won't miss a thing, but would rather you move over
Speaker 1: to Super League three sixty for this pod. Also, Rugby
Speaker 1: League dot Com are running this every Friday. I believe John,
Speaker 1: Steve Mask, Gord, Jason Costigan and the guys John's tweet
Speaker 1: of the week, as adjudicated by me. You can get
Speaker 1: John at Johnny D Davidson on x He has written,
Speaker 1: quote Rugby league is a cruel mistress unquote on Saturday.
Speaker 1: What the hell does that mean?
Speaker 2: I mean, if you didn't see the post that my
Speaker 2: missus did on Instagram or Facebook le which was during
Speaker 2: the mainly game when Mainly came back and I got
Speaker 2: a little bit excited and then yeah, we lost in
Speaker 2: gold Point and.
Speaker 1: Do you do you shout at the TV dere John.
Speaker 2: I don't, to be honest, I don't generally I've kind
Speaker 2: of gone past that. But when we're at for a Neil,
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, you know, first game of the season,
Speaker 2: you're all full of optimism, Tommy Turbo's back, we're doing well,
Speaker 2: and then it all goes to shit and we're getting flogged.
Speaker 2: And then somehow we come back in and we tied
Speaker 2: that right to death and then we're losing points. So
Speaker 2: it's like, your your levels are like this.
Speaker 1: For those listening, for those listening, he's doing a wave. Yeah,
Speaker 1: sorry watching.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just it is a cruel mistress because you're
Speaker 2: right the highs and those of your team don't you.
Speaker 2: But look, it was a great contest. If you're a
Speaker 2: camera fan, you you're very happy. If you're a mainly fan,
Speaker 2: you you're a sad so so likely, but yeah it was.
Speaker 2: It was entertaining, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Rugby League tweet of the Week. I've got to be honest,
Speaker 1: I completely forgot to look for one. So I've now
Speaker 1: done this. While you were talking then I was listening
Speaker 1: to you, John So, a man by the name of
Speaker 1: Louis two seven double one ninety two, an hour ago
Speaker 1: from this recording, has said of the Castleford coach Ryan
Speaker 1: Carr that he must have been a one season wonder
Speaker 1: for FEV because he was a fantastic coach. Can't see
Speaker 1: him lasting at CASS. I'm going to talk about cast
Speaker 1: when we get to there. I've made some observations about them.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you want to add anything there, John,
Speaker 1: but I was.
Speaker 2: I was at the addersfield Wholekur game was on the
Speaker 2: exact same time as Leeds. I saw some clips of
Speaker 2: c Those tries have got a hat trick. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, but you can't really compare when he was
Speaker 2: at feb and the money that I had in that
Speaker 2: division compared to where is it cast and limitations I have.
Speaker 2: I don't think that's a fair comparison. It's also all
Speaker 2: rounds in so yeah, to me, I think that's a
Speaker 2: bit nonsense.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll elaborate on that when we get to them.
Speaker 1: Socials Popper Lee of the Week nada, zilch zero. Mate.
Speaker 1: It's been a quiet week on socials in that regard
Speaker 1: Johnny's job. You're concerned a little bit about red cards,
Speaker 1: bad tackles effects of head milks. I'll let you elaborate
Speaker 1: on that.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I mean I think it was just the
Speaker 2: I'm not sure of if you saw it, Lee, but
Speaker 2: at the it was that the paposhi. I don't know
Speaker 2: how you pronounce, but the card against St. Helen's on
Speaker 2: George Delaney. He comes in as with a group tackle,
Speaker 2: shoulder to the head. Delaney's can cust and yeah it's
Speaker 2: a red card. And I just I showed a quick
Speaker 2: video of the clip on from TV and just when
Speaker 2: that's an ugly one. But the amount of comments that
Speaker 2: you get people is like, yep, definite red card to
Speaker 2: the game's gone soft, nothing wrong with that, blah blah blah.
Speaker 2: It's like complete opposite ends of the spectrum. And it
Speaker 2: seems to me a lot of people or a lot
Speaker 2: of us just don't know what is and isn't a
Speaker 2: red card anymore.
Speaker 1: So do you blame the authorities for that or do
Speaker 1: you blame people's perception for that?
Speaker 2: I mean, there's probably a few ways, a few people
Speaker 2: you can blame. But I think the part of me,
Speaker 2: I think that people don't understand. And literally, just before
Speaker 2: we were starting recording, and I was watching a BBC
Speaker 2: documentary about concussion in rugby and it's done by rugby
Speaker 2: union guy Ben Young's.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I've seen that. Yeah, yeah, they talk.
Speaker 2: About Rob Burrow, and you know they talk about CT
Speaker 2: and M and D in links with rugby, and I know,
Speaker 2: you know, your own personal family can actually you've got
Speaker 2: a link with M and D.
Speaker 1: My mom would have been sixty eight today. She died
Speaker 1: twenty years ago of it. So and I imagine she wasn't,
Speaker 1: you know, taking hit ups on she was just hitting me, yeah,
Speaker 1: my dad before this, blittle man.
Speaker 2: My point is, like, I know, the M and D
Speaker 2: link is not being established by science, but CT and
Speaker 2: early inside dementia has been by repeated brain injuries, contact
Speaker 2: and contact, and we do need to make the game safer.
Speaker 2: Like I know, you can't do that completely because rugby
Speaker 2: of both codes, is a contact sport and that's part
Speaker 2: of it. But we do need to try and protect
Speaker 2: our players as much as possible. And some people I'm
Speaker 2: not saying what the Bradford Ford did was intentional or
Speaker 2: mouth or anything like that, but it was shoulder too
Speaker 2: head and it knocked the other player out. And you've
Speaker 2: got to get you're and you're the coach, you can
Speaker 2: explain this better. Maybe you've got to get you know,
Speaker 2: technique down lower, don't you You need to you need
Speaker 2: to coach your players, and you know, if it goes
Speaker 2: wrong then people need to be penalized with a red card.
Speaker 2: I don't think that's.
Speaker 1: Just before I go into that. I just want to
Speaker 1: make sure that my mum didn't beat me. Ever, just
Speaker 1: just give me a slap around the chop sometimes, particularly
Speaker 1: when it particularly when it came home pissed at age
Speaker 1: fourteen after a day on the town.
Speaker 2: I thought you were joking, but also probably that you
Speaker 2: would have deserved it anyway.
Speaker 1: So yeah, probably Look in terms of the high tackles,
Speaker 1: we're in an area now, where anything around the melon
Speaker 1: has to be some kind of consequence. Okay, So I
Speaker 1: spoke in depth last week on the Loose Carry podcast
Speaker 1: from Zero Tackle about the Stephen Crichton non punishment for
Speaker 1: what happened in Vegas. I don't know if you remember
Speaker 1: the Saint George player I forget his name, came. It
Speaker 1: came out from his wing and actually slipped and he
Speaker 1: was virtually horizontal. But Stephen Crichton actually connected with his
Speaker 1: head and it was a swinging arm that connected with
Speaker 1: his head. So a swinging arm to a head, whether
Speaker 1: it's on the grass or in ten foot in the sky,
Speaker 1: is a swinging arm to the head. And this is
Speaker 1: where I think the game has got confused. And I
Speaker 1: also linked it back to the incident where Reese Walsh
Speaker 1: was slipping and Joseph Sualihi was tackling him and it
Speaker 1: was forty and Reese Walsh was about forty five degrees
Speaker 1: when he got hit. Basically, so, I think there's some
Speaker 1: lack of knowledge in the refereeing realm and in officialdom
Speaker 1: when it comes to what actually happens in the game.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the game has played us fast pace because they
Speaker 1: make it faster, right, every rule change is to make
Speaker 1: the game faster, never to slow it down, particularly in
Speaker 1: England where the ground is slippy. But also people don't
Speaker 1: understand this. In Australia it can be slippy too because
Speaker 1: of humidity, because of bouts of rain that kick in
Speaker 1: in the summer, in particular in the in the autumn.
Speaker 1: So so play a slip because they're moving at high
Speaker 1: pace on very high quality field in Australia. So and
Speaker 1: at the same time they're being met by somebody who
Speaker 1: wants to tackle them hard. So I really like the
Speaker 1: rugby union rule where they give them a card I
Speaker 1: think it's a short arm card or something like that,
Speaker 1: or something a lot and they actually send them off
Speaker 1: for ten if this contact with the head, and that
Speaker 1: then gives the people in the equivalent of the bunker
Speaker 1: ten minutes to decide the severity of of that incident
Speaker 1: because because and the other thing we can do with
Speaker 1: that too is we can actually send on an extra
Speaker 1: interchange to cover for that player that's been simbinned in
Speaker 1: case the decision is wrong one and that takes the
Speaker 1: pressure off the ref because I think we want our
Speaker 1: referee to interpret the lords of the game. What I
Speaker 1: don't think we want our referees to do is be
Speaker 1: arbitrators of future medical issues. Right, So there's a line there,
Speaker 1: and I think anything near the head that gives a
Speaker 1: referee the jurisdiction to be able to go, I'm sending
Speaker 1: him away for ten but I'm not convinced. It's I'm
Speaker 1: not convinced. And then we could potentially bring on another
Speaker 1: player to replace that player. And then if after two
Speaker 1: minutes they decide it's a sending off a fence that
Speaker 1: that extra player comes off, okay, that that could be
Speaker 1: an option, or we don't use an extra player at all.
Speaker 2: And I think I think in more recent times, what
Speaker 2: referees and I understand from their point of view is
Speaker 2: I'll just put things on the report. You know, so
Speaker 2: and so probably should be sent off, but I'll just
Speaker 2: put on a report and let the judiciary sort it out.
Speaker 2: You know, if the other team's lost a play because
Speaker 2: of fail player or whatever, it doesn't help them, does it.
Speaker 1: No? No? Yeah, So I really like that rule. I mean,
Speaker 1: rugby union tend to steal rules off us, and we
Speaker 1: tend not to steal that much off them. At times,
Speaker 1: we think we're we're better in that regard as rugby
Speaker 1: league players as footballers, so I think we should we
Speaker 1: should not be too proud and take that from them,
Speaker 1: because because we can't take any risks from this, because
Speaker 1: there's already people trying to sue the game, and there's
Speaker 1: already people people taking steps, and honestly, if something wins
Speaker 1: in England, it will ruin rugby league. The game will
Speaker 1: be decrepit and there'll be nothing left. So I think
Speaker 1: we need to be a bit careful in and around that.
Speaker 1: I think any contact with the head, whether intentional or unintentional,
Speaker 1: at least deserves a sin bin. And honestly, I've said
Speaker 1: this numerous times already on this Super League three sixty
Speaker 1: podcasts but also on my other podcasts. The era has
Speaker 1: gone and it is and the coaches who are not
Speaker 1: moving with these times are going to be left behind.
Speaker 1: You can't stay upright and try and catch and wrestle anymore.
Speaker 1: You can, but the margin ferrera gets really reduced because
Speaker 1: you're going to end up around the head. At some point.
Speaker 1: Coaches need to encourage their players to get lower and
Speaker 1: use their shoulders rather than a hugging technique, and the
Speaker 1: other reason they need to do that is, you will
Speaker 1: drive back momentum, or you'll at least stop momentum if
Speaker 1: you do it right, or even if you don't, you'll
Speaker 1: be in a better position to control the ruck for
Speaker 1: a couple of seconds before you have to get away.
Speaker 1: Because what's happened is over the years, because the game
Speaker 1: has reacted to the symptoms of what coaches have been doing.
Speaker 1: They've never gone to the cause. They've gone to the symptoms.
Speaker 1: When twenty odd years ago they brought in the rule
Speaker 1: that as soon as you were off the floor you
Speaker 1: had to get off, basically coaches started to decide, well,
Speaker 1: we're going to hold them up for longer. Once you're
Speaker 1: holding them up for longer, that's influenced tackle techniques over
Speaker 1: the years. That influence of tackling higher has ended up
Speaker 1: with a few more high shots in places where it
Speaker 1: shouldn't happen, And there's also more room for chicken wings,
Speaker 1: grapple tackles, and so many other things that we've never
Speaker 1: heard of prior to the year twenty ten. And all
Speaker 1: league does is go for the symptoms, not the causes. So,
Speaker 1: in other words, put so much pressure on the coaches
Speaker 1: and the teams not to go near the head and
Speaker 1: they will soon learn. It is that simple in my mind.
Speaker 1: And people can cry that the game's gone soft. I
Speaker 1: always say to those people, if you think it's gone soft,
Speaker 1: why aren't you playing it? And you know, maybe it
Speaker 1: has gone a little bit soft. Maybe, but it's just
Speaker 1: the world we're in now. Lee's Laugh This week. It
Speaker 1: won't be obvious straight away why it's Lee's Laugh, but
Speaker 1: I've brought in John Wilkin and his comments before and
Speaker 1: after games because I look forward to them. I find
Speaker 1: them refreshing, and with Carnie and Wilkin, I think we've
Speaker 1: got two of the best in spot. Quite frankly, I
Speaker 1: think they're brilliant before and after games. And the reason
Speaker 1: I've put it in Lee's Laugh is it's refreshing. But
Speaker 1: also I laugh at the thought of the clubs just going,
Speaker 1: oh shit, what's John Wilkin gonna say and Brian Carney
Speaker 1: going to say this week? And I think it's brilliant,
Speaker 1: I really do. There's none of this sick of fancy.
Speaker 1: I'm sure.
Speaker 2: Oh.
Speaker 1: I don't watch it every week because I simply can't
Speaker 1: because of the time differences, but I'm sure there's a
Speaker 1: little bit of you know, nice stuff said to keep
Speaker 1: favor with some people. I'm sure there is, but the
Speaker 1: vast majority of what they say is raw and honest
Speaker 1: and it's absolutely brilliant. So hats off to John Wilkin
Speaker 1: and Brian Carney, but the Lees laugh. The component of
Speaker 1: that is how the clubs are going, oh no, what
Speaker 1: are they going to say now? And how they react
Speaker 1: and Saint Helen's last week was a perfect example of that.
Speaker 1: Are you going to comment or just look at me?
Speaker 2: I was just going to say, yeah, no, I agree.
Speaker 2: I rarely do, but I agree with pretty much everything
Speaker 2: you've said early, Thank you always.
Speaker 1: I've also put that in media Watch. Right, let's talk
Speaker 1: about some news items before we get into game reviews
Speaker 1: and people's questions. And we've also been inspired to start
Speaker 1: a poetry competition. John, We've had an entry. Somebody's jealous
Speaker 1: of my poetry skills, so we've got a poetry addition
Speaker 1: that I will bring in soon. I just want to
Speaker 1: let everyone know know I've been drinking Yorkshire tea this morning,
Speaker 1: not coffee. I had one coffee and then I've had
Speaker 1: Yorkshire tea. The reason being, did you know instant coffee
Speaker 1: has a number on no right. I've only been drinking
Speaker 1: coffee for approximately thirty five years, thirty three, thirty two years,
Speaker 1: something like that, and I didn't know it had a
Speaker 1: number on. And accidentally, about three months ago, I bought
Speaker 1: a jar of something that I like the look of
Speaker 1: and it was number fourteen, which basically is weapons grade,
Speaker 1: nuclear level caffeine. And when I was putting my normal
Speaker 1: dollops of spoons of coffee in, I was fully awake,
Speaker 1: training hard and everything else. But come two o'clock, three
Speaker 1: o'clock in the afternoon, I felt I was having some
Speaker 1: kind of stroke or something. Everything was tightening open, and
Speaker 1: my sleep has been affected. Anyway, remembered the next month
Speaker 1: to get a different coffee, a bit lower grade, and
Speaker 1: then I've forgotten this month and I've ended up with
Speaker 1: another high level nuclear grade coffee. So I've now had
Speaker 1: to adjust it to one coffee and one tea.
Speaker 2: So you're living a great coffee nation and you drink,
Speaker 2: you need to know.
Speaker 1: There's some there's some very instant, there's some. There's some
Speaker 1: very good instant coffees now because they've responded to what's
Speaker 1: been going on on the high street. And yeah, the
Speaker 1: coffee in question is Victoria and even if you look
Speaker 1: at my Kona and things like that, they're making so
Speaker 1: many different blends now it's actually not bad mate. There's
Speaker 1: no cafes open when I try and record with you
Speaker 1: because you get me up at daft o'clock anyway, So
Speaker 1: it's all right for you. It's all right for you
Speaker 1: sitting there drinking costa coffee.
Speaker 2: You need, you need an expressed over shame like me
Speaker 2: with your.
Speaker 1: Yeah, truly fair enough news items. The first thing you
Speaker 1: wanted to talk about was the NRL and Super League talks.
Speaker 1: Where are they at? Mate?
Speaker 2: Well? Yeah, I mean there's been uh a lot of talk.
Speaker 2: I think we had a few questions about that. Didn't
Speaker 2: we get a piece in the I paper yesterday. I
Speaker 2: spoke to a lot of different people in Australia and
Speaker 2: New Zella. It's a very fluid situation. I think the
Speaker 2: really interesting thing is that there's been no terms or
Speaker 2: conditions set by the NRL, which after a year of
Speaker 2: this is a bit mad to me, apart from the
Speaker 2: public time of complete control and you know it needs
Speaker 2: to be done in three weeks for three months. Sorry, Yeah,
Speaker 2: there's a lot. I think there's it's a really nuanced situation.
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of different ways to look
Speaker 2: at this. You know, is Peter of Landy's is he
Speaker 2: trying to intimidate super League? Is he trying to talk
Speaker 2: it down to get a better deal. Is he that bothered?
Speaker 2: You know, they've got they've got their own Perth, they
Speaker 2: own P and G, so they've got to run those clubs.
Speaker 2: They're going to do Las Vegas again next year. Haven't
Speaker 2: got enough manpower. There's there's just really a lot to it.
Speaker 2: But in saying all that, I think there is more
Speaker 2: an appetite from the super League side for an NRL
Speaker 2: deal then there was twelve months ago. That doesn't necessarily
Speaker 2: mean a deal will be done because we don't know
Speaker 2: what's what's being proposed, but yeah, it is a really
Speaker 2: interesting time and I think, as I wrote in the article,
Speaker 2: there's been some you know, mentions from private equity for
Speaker 2: super League. But and super League needs money, but it
Speaker 2: also needs expertise and the only sort of organization to me,
Speaker 2: I think that does that both is the NRL because
Speaker 2: they have a history of growing rugby league and marketing
Speaker 2: rugby league and you know, being able to secure better
Speaker 2: TV deals so yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think Peter Valandi's and the NRL
Speaker 1: would have forgotten to bring those terms and conditions sick.
Speaker 1: I don't think they're too busy to go all, well,
Speaker 1: we've just forgotten. It must be it must be a play,
Speaker 1: it must be a ploy to get some kind of response.
Speaker 1: We have had some questions and maybe you got some
Speaker 1: in the last hour because you sent a thing. Mark
Speaker 1: Williams on x AS does to role play John, So
Speaker 1: get your costume ready.
Speaker 2: I was going to say that you bringing the latex underwear,
Speaker 2: am I?
Speaker 1: I'm going to address as a nurse roleplay your Vita
Speaker 1: Polandi's a chic with billions, said Mark, how would you
Speaker 1: structure Super League and Championship twenty twenty seven? Free pass, promote,
Speaker 1: relegate restructure, go wild and no fan base can be offended.
Speaker 1: It's only a personal opinion. I would go to. I'm
Speaker 1: a I'm a rugby league development man by nature in
Speaker 1: terms of I believe in long term development of players.
Speaker 1: I want the England or Great Britain team to be
Speaker 1: a lot better, So I think we need to increase
Speaker 1: the intensity of the Super League competition. So we either
Speaker 1: need to make a ten team competition or we have
Speaker 1: have to have two conferences. We need we need to
Speaker 1: make the games tougher, so we need to think about
Speaker 1: what that looks like and what also marry that up
Speaker 1: with what crowds will be etc. We need to reduce
Speaker 1: the amount of games that English players play because that's
Speaker 1: not helping them when it comes to postseason events, and
Speaker 1: the World Cup will expose that. I feel this year,
Speaker 1: and they're not getting proper preseasons either. So whereas in
Speaker 1: the NRL they probably do too much, in England, they're
Speaker 1: probably doing too little and that's why so many players
Speaker 1: are breaking down. So I think we need to marry
Speaker 1: that up now. If I was the Shekh, I would
Speaker 1: also do something in the middle of the year that
Speaker 1: is similar to Australia's origin. What that looks like, what
Speaker 1: that looks like, whether it's Lancashire Yorkshire again or England
Speaker 1: versus someone or whatever, and I'd mark it the absolute
Speaker 1: hell out of it. And what I would say to
Speaker 1: the clubs is we're going to make your money back
Speaker 1: off this. Okay, so what you're losing in fixtures, you're
Speaker 1: making on this. Maybe it's not maybe it's not anything
Speaker 1: like that. Maybe it's a nine circuit, maybe it's seventh circuit.
Speaker 1: But do something that's a circuit breaker, which is the
Speaker 1: equivalent of Big Bash origin anything like that where people
Speaker 1: can get a break from their week to week reality.
Speaker 1: And I think Rugby League's not bad at doing magic
Speaker 1: weekends and things like that, but just something in the
Speaker 1: middle of the season that becomes a show piece event
Speaker 1: in that regard. But we've got to reduce the games
Speaker 1: that our players are playing now in terms of the Championship,
Speaker 1: there's too many clubs folding. Basically, I had a look.
Speaker 1: Somebody else interviewed me for something the other day and
Speaker 1: I had a bit of a look. I think it's
Speaker 1: something like nine clubs that have folded in the last
Speaker 1: five years, and some of them have been come back
Speaker 1: to life again, and it's something like eight or nine
Speaker 1: seven eight nine, something like that. And so if it
Speaker 1: was a business, you'd start to take drastic action. And
Speaker 1: if you think about the Championship, well, first of all,
Speaker 1: the cost of living has gone up, so fans are
Speaker 1: less likely to find the pounds and pence to get
Speaker 1: to games. It's harder for them to do. Players have
Speaker 1: probably been demanding more money because they have to pay
Speaker 1: their mortgage and their bills, and some clubs are obviously
Speaker 1: paying too much and not earning enough. Also because of
Speaker 1: the expansion of the game over the years. I know
Speaker 1: some of those expansion clubs have withered on the vine.
Speaker 1: But there's actually longer journeys now than they used to be.
Speaker 1: But you know, rugby league used to be a bit
Speaker 1: of Yorkshire and a bit of Lancashire, and now it's
Speaker 1: now you can end up anywhere, so so I think
Speaker 1: we might need to regionalize that a little bit and
Speaker 1: reduce some of the costs for the teams. And I'm
Speaker 1: going to use the horrible term because they've never really
Speaker 1: done this in the Championship, I don't think. But some
Speaker 1: loop fixtures get some looke fitishes going.
Speaker 2: That have I mean effectively merging league went into the
Speaker 2: Championship this year and I do have regions, so they
Speaker 2: are playing a kind of regional drawing that not everyone
Speaker 2: plays each other right amount of time, and they're playing
Speaker 2: teams that depending on table structure, so they are they
Speaker 2: have moved to that, but I think you're right. I
Speaker 2: think they've probably moved to that far too late and
Speaker 2: the original expansion when they brought in a Gloucester and
Speaker 2: Oxford and these sort of clubs was twenty fourteen, twenty
Speaker 2: fifteen when they got the forty million a year TV deal.
Speaker 2: As you said, rightly saidly most of those have gone bust.
Speaker 2: So I think that strategy just sort of plunking in
Speaker 2: clubs new clubs and not as has failed. It's not
Speaker 2: really been thought out expansion or supported.
Speaker 1: And I think the problem with the current championship is
Speaker 1: unless people are ready to look into it further, you
Speaker 1: don't know it's regionalized. You just look at the long season.
Speaker 1: It just looks like a hell of a long season
Speaker 1: because it's a long season for fans too. It's a
Speaker 1: lot of money for fans.
Speaker 2: It starts in January and ends in October.
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty nine. Yeah, yeah, Look.
Speaker 2: I think when we're talking about the lower divisions, the
Speaker 2: simple fact is there's really hardly any media coverage, there's
Speaker 2: no TV coverage, and the fan bases are very small.
Speaker 2: So we've got a bit of a middle ground. That
Speaker 2: super League's probably not a lead enough compared with the Championship,
Speaker 2: and there's not enough of a gap when you know
Speaker 2: the Maitland pumpkin pickers don't have as much sale or
Speaker 2: braining as the Bristo Broncos, but in England there seems
Speaker 2: to be a bit more of a similar footing, which
Speaker 2: probably doesn't help either.
Speaker 1: Now, one other thing i'd consider, and I've not cost
Speaker 1: thought this out or anything like that, but would have
Speaker 1: an English franchise in the NRL and buy an English
Speaker 1: franchise in the NRL. I think the obvious choice would
Speaker 1: be Perth, so I wouldn't get some kind of investment
Speaker 1: in there somehow, And this would probably happen from an
Speaker 1: NRL perspective if they come in and put some cash in,
Speaker 1: even though I'm the shake and I would make Perth predominantly,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't have to be every single player, but
Speaker 1: I'd make it predominantly players who qualify for England, whether
Speaker 1: it be through parents or grandparents. So obviously somebody like
Speaker 1: Victor Radley, somebody like what was the fullback time I've
Speaker 1: just had no, Yeah, the one who played this year
Speaker 1: for England. I've had a brain. J Brimson. They could
Speaker 1: be they could be incentivized to play for that club.
Speaker 1: It might be P and G P and G might
Speaker 1: be the team, you know, because there is a thought
Speaker 1: in Australia that P and G are going to struggle,
Speaker 1: Perth might struggle, So this could be a way of
Speaker 1: influencing that. Yes, that would we can super leagal little bit?
Speaker 2: What do you mean perose didn't you see males comments
Speaker 2: you know we're gonna we might We're going to try
Speaker 2: and win the company our first year at Perth.
Speaker 1: I think he must have been eating cakes in Amsterdam.
Speaker 1: You you did a piece on the Las Vegas effect
Speaker 1: on teams, although it didn't seem to affect Leeds and
Speaker 1: yeah this week.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean I wouldn't say it didn't affect whole
Speaker 2: car because they were playing the worst team in the camp,
Speaker 2: but whole our reaction was very positive. You know, they
Speaker 2: played very well. They weren't perfect, but you could see
Speaker 2: the effort and enthusiasm for I think the article I
Speaker 2: wrote was just you know, having a look and look
Speaker 2: you could say Canberra last year of the anomaly because
Speaker 2: they finished minor premaries and they were great, but they
Speaker 2: did go out in the Semis back to back and
Speaker 2: then you could say they were they were robbed because
Speaker 2: rus Wols should have been simpinned. But look, no one
Speaker 2: who's played in Vegas the following year has managed to
Speaker 2: win a Grand Final afterwards, and having gone to Vegas
Speaker 2: last year not got a lot of sleep, jet lag,
Speaker 2: et cetera. I think it has an impact. Now, I
Speaker 2: don't know if it has an impact enough that it
Speaker 2: will affect a club from winning a premiership. But it's
Speaker 2: just an interesting thing that I thought up. I thought,
Speaker 2: you know, and I heard the sample size a small
Speaker 2: We've any got?
Speaker 1: No, it isn't. It isn't, And I stick up for
Speaker 1: on it.
Speaker 2: You did, Yeah, yeah, well I had. I had Josh.
Speaker 2: I don't know who Josh is, but some lovely trilling
Speaker 2: by Josh. He didn't even read the article, but he
Speaker 2: was like, so thanks for that, Josh. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: A small sample size, isn't thirty three percent? Tell tell
Speaker 1: me any tell me any research where they sampled thirty
Speaker 1: three percent of the sample in anything. We're now going
Speaker 1: to see how humans react to the injection of this vaccine.
Speaker 1: We're now going to sample thirty three percent of the earth.
Speaker 1: Get stuff, mate. It was it was a fine sample.
Speaker 1: That's you know. It's about thirty three of the top
Speaker 1: flight professional clubs in the world. They've tried this, so
Speaker 1: I stuck up for you, John. Did you get any
Speaker 1: more questions on X by the way, maybe just have
Speaker 1: a look at those see if we've got them in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got a load of Mike Davies. Do you
Speaker 2: think the RFL has sold out the championship camp? For
Speaker 2: the past few seasons, it's uguly been the most competitive
Speaker 2: league in the sport, but merging the two leagues into
Speaker 2: one division when all the teams playing each other, has
Speaker 2: turned into a bit of a dog's dinner. I'll learn
Speaker 2: to this one firstly, and if you want to have
Speaker 2: a buy it afternoon. But I don't think the rfls
Speaker 2: sold out a championship comp. I don't think there's ever
Speaker 2: really been a lot of investment or marketing push for
Speaker 2: the championship. Like I know it had that Premier Sports
Speaker 2: TV deal a while ago which was popular, but it
Speaker 2: may be quite competitive. Previously, I mean writing about Super
Speaker 2: leigu y because the fixtures clash and there's no TV covers,
Speaker 2: you can't really run for it closely, either cover one
Speaker 2: or the other. So look, I think the Championship certainly
Speaker 2: has its place, but I think it should be. Its
Speaker 2: place should be as a feeder league to Super League.
Speaker 2: That's my personal opinion.
Speaker 1: I think what the problem with this league structure is
Speaker 1: is if your team's losing, it's a long year ahead
Speaker 1: till September, especially when you started half an hour after Christmas.
Speaker 1: The other problem, John is I think the most market
Speaker 1: ball thing in the Championship right now is London Broncos,
Speaker 1: and they're obviously putting their games on YouTube. The problem
Speaker 1: is some of those fixtures have been absolute floggings because
Speaker 1: of the opposition that they're playing.
Speaker 2: That was going to be my point. I think the
Speaker 2: idea to merge the two visions had merit. But the
Speaker 2: problem is you've got London who might be spending one
Speaker 2: point seven million on the cap and you've got North
Speaker 2: Wales who might be spending one hundred and fifty grand
Speaker 2: and you know there's allegations that they're paying their players
Speaker 2: laid again, So how do you work that out. You've
Speaker 2: got one full on team and you know people who
Speaker 2: are training two nights a week. You're going to get
Speaker 2: massive flogging. So is that competitive? No? But you don't
Speaker 2: get that in Super League because everyone's fall team. You
Speaker 2: do get some floggings, but you don't get you don't
Speaker 2: get eighty two nil. And in the NRL, I know
Speaker 2: we had a we had an eighty odd school last year,
Speaker 2: but you generally don't get that, do yet? So yeah,
Speaker 2: I think we've kind of answered that one. There's a
Speaker 2: couple or few other questions on from Kevin Byrne. They
Speaker 2: are for a veinings for Super League? Will we stick
Speaker 2: or twist? I think we've already talked about that.
Speaker 1: Is it private investment offers for Super League? You've got
Speaker 1: that as a as a Yeah.
Speaker 2: Look, there's been some interest, there's been reported in the Guardian,
Speaker 2: there's been some interest from line Cap Global and from
Speaker 2: Oakwell Sports. But are there investment ones that have broken out? Ones?
Speaker 2: An investment for But anyone who's seen what private equity
Speaker 2: investment's done with rugby union, I think you'd be very
Speaker 2: reticent or very careful, And people have spoken in RFL.
Speaker 2: We're not really sure if it they're realistic offers because
Speaker 2: obviously private equity would want to return on their investment,
Speaker 2: they'd want to make a profit, and I don't think
Speaker 2: in rugby lea you'd guaranteed that. So yeah, there is
Speaker 2: some speculation where some people want to you know, push
Speaker 2: off the RFL, sorry, the NRL, to say, look, we've
Speaker 2: got this private equity investment coming in, so we don't
Speaker 2: need the NRL. But how realistic is that investment offer?
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I mean, it seems highly questionable.
Speaker 1: Shall we say anything else?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've got one from Mike Smithhurst. Can you highlight
Speaker 2: the shock and coverage of the game and the red
Speaker 2: button or through the app? Also the clock situation, especially
Speaker 2: after the Saints match, and the continuing community communication problems
Speaker 2: for the officials.
Speaker 1: I think you spoke about that last week about the
Speaker 1: TV coverage that well, the.
Speaker 2: Clock situation, and I think the communication problems, at least
Speaker 2: the communication problems with the officials. I believe he's an
Speaker 2: RFL issue. The clock situation, I'm not sure. The Look,
Speaker 2: I'm a big fan of the game starts ten minutes,
Speaker 2: the coverage stat ten minutes before the game. You have
Speaker 2: nothing at half time. But if we're having every game
Speaker 2: on TV live, this is what we're going to put
Speaker 2: up with because.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, beggars can't be choosers, which is exactly
Speaker 1: what I said last week.
Speaker 2: Exactly, So whether we go back to having two games
Speaker 2: a week or three games a week full coverage, or
Speaker 2: we have three games a week Paul red Button and
Speaker 2: we have three good coverage.
Speaker 1: I mean rugby league is also at the pointy end
Speaker 1: of what has been changing in the world quite significantly
Speaker 1: over the last fifteen years. Anything legacy media orientated is
Speaker 1: going downhill at a rapid rate, isn't it. There's less staff,
Speaker 1: there's less budget, there's less advertising spent on legacy media.
Speaker 1: We have had to move, whether we want to or not,
Speaker 1: into a more social media savy world. So Sky Sports
Speaker 1: is legacy media. It was around thirty od ago, so
Speaker 1: it's a legacy it's a legacy item. And therefore some
Speaker 1: of their production staff probably aren't there anymore on rugby
Speaker 1: league at least, and they probably have to prioritize their
Speaker 1: football output and some of the other sports, and there
Speaker 1: probably just isn't the manpower. And that's also probably why
Speaker 1: the TV deal has gone down over the years, because
Speaker 1: there's probably less money coming into the joint so and
Speaker 1: that's probably why it was sold a few years ago
Speaker 1: and what not.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's less money for the TV deal
Speaker 2: because the games not growing in popularity, or in media
Speaker 2: coverage is actually shrunk, and there are other sports like
Speaker 2: darts and women's football that are taking common ches. They're
Speaker 2: getting big ratings.
Speaker 1: Sky are going where the fish is biting quite frankly,
Speaker 1: and the's not biting as much in rugby league.
Speaker 2: And there's not another broadcaster who's prepared to whacking a
Speaker 2: lot of money. So that's the only way to count
Speaker 2: that has become bigger and more.
Speaker 1: Popular, Shake Addison, Peter Landers.
Speaker 2: There's a few more questions, James Harvey think any of
Speaker 2: the newly promoted sides will strengthen further. That's a tough one, James. Look,
Speaker 2: I think York and to loose obviously getting half the
Speaker 2: distribution and and to lose having to pay the travel costs.
Speaker 2: I don't think there's any money for their Bradford possibly,
Speaker 2: but again I think all of those clubs you know
Speaker 2: are on fairly tight budgets. They don't have well, you know,
Speaker 2: well off owners, so I think any recruit would be limited.
Speaker 2: Nick Allen, this is a tough one. Of the three
Speaker 2: clubs that you've come up, who has impressed you the
Speaker 2: most thus far? I think all three of them have
Speaker 2: impressed me. Bradford really good against the Helens. Look to Loose,
Speaker 2: how to dig against Wigan obviously got beat and York
Speaker 2: pushed Warrington all the way. I think probably the one
Speaker 2: for me is York because to Loose were full time
Speaker 2: last year. You know, they kind of got the advantage
Speaker 2: of a club traveling to them and had that experience
Speaker 2: in Super League a couple of years ago. Bradford obviously
Speaker 2: picked up a lot of Salford players, the good rep
Speaker 2: as a coach and obviously historically have got that Super
Speaker 2: League link and you know, a big fan base. But
Speaker 2: York probably are the ones who've impressed me the most.
Speaker 2: But they've all done well. And then another one from
Speaker 2: Joe Kieran which coaches are already under pressure, will luke
Speaker 2: Rooms and keep his job after the dreadful start to
Speaker 2: the season. What do you think? Right?
Speaker 1: So let's deal with the promoted teams first, Simon paul
Speaker 1: on x had is it safe to say going to
Speaker 1: fourteen teams and success as a massive rugby fan after
Speaker 1: a poor Super League last season? I believe it has.
Speaker 1: I still think it's too early to tell right now.
Speaker 1: Right now it's fine, but to Loser already starting to
Speaker 1: find a bit of reality Bradford. Bradford have a lot
Speaker 1: more history to talk about and think about as players.
Speaker 1: So for example, you know, going to Saint Helens, they
Speaker 1: can One game that springs to mind is the Wide
Speaker 1: to West game, you know, the that that was at
Speaker 1: the height of Bullmania. So there's more history in Super League.
Speaker 1: To count On York, it's their first every year in
Speaker 1: Super League. They're not being in the top flight for
Speaker 1: for forty years, so there's a lot of excitement there
Speaker 1: to lose. I've already had a dip come back out again,
Speaker 1: so they're in a little bit of a different a
Speaker 1: different phase. So they're finding it a little bit tough
Speaker 1: for the last through a few weeks. I still think
Speaker 1: York and Bradford are living a little bit on adrenaline
Speaker 1: that will only last so long. Go on, what was
Speaker 1: the next question?
Speaker 2: Which coaches are already under pressure? Will Luke Robinson keep
Speaker 2: his job after the dreadful start to the season. Look,
Speaker 2: I think it's very early. I think obviously Haddersfield a
Speaker 2: bottom and I had a terrible year last year. I
Speaker 2: think I was at Hallisville again today in Luke Robinson
Speaker 2: said they've got fourteen of the what thirty man's squad injured. Yeah,
Speaker 2: picked up three or four more injuries today. It's the
Speaker 2: worth injuries crisis he's ever seen at a club, and
Speaker 2: he's playing and coaching career. I think you've got to
Speaker 2: give him some time with that.
Speaker 1: Well you know what, though, John, it all depends on
Speaker 1: what they did in pre season. So people always when
Speaker 1: they assess injuries, coaches will always say, for us, we've
Speaker 1: got injuries. It's also integral that the coach manages training
Speaker 1: loads with his staff to make sure that they are
Speaker 1: playing in a situation where they are less likely to
Speaker 1: get injured, so they're training methods and whatnot, and then
Speaker 1: also that they're also prepared. It's a very tough job.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it is, but that's why they are
Speaker 1: paid to be the head coach. Now, I'm going to
Speaker 1: give you an example, a very very very relevant example
Speaker 1: to to tell you what can happen. When I was
Speaker 1: working in Super League. I won't give the team and
Speaker 1: I won't give the the year or anything like that,
Speaker 1: but I was working in Super League and in one
Speaker 1: season the club I was working out had a very
Speaker 1: very very good year and they had no next to
Speaker 1: no soft tissue injuries. The year after they changed the
Speaker 1: condition the strength and conditioner, the one that they had
Speaker 1: had based effectively retired or moved back to Australia. They
Speaker 1: changed the strength and conditioner and he was regarded as younger,
Speaker 1: more up to date, et cetera, et cetera. But this
Speaker 1: conditioner wanted the players to start doing deep, heavy squats
Speaker 1: in the gym and also a few other things in
Speaker 1: the gym. All of a sudden, this club in the
Speaker 1: second season started having breakouts of hamstring injuries and certain
Speaker 1: other soft tissue injuries that they didn't have before. So
Speaker 1: this is how delicate the balance is. And this all
Speaker 1: comes back to the head coach. The head coach is
Speaker 1: the one responsible for all this. Now there's injuries popping
Speaker 1: up all over Super League at the moment, right, and
Speaker 1: so the way to look at this is it might
Speaker 1: be unavoidable. But the ratio and the amount of injuries
Speaker 1: is the think, Okay, if you put somebody unprepared into battle,
Speaker 1: they're more likely to get injured. If you put somebody
Speaker 1: over prepared for battle, they're more likely to get injured.
Speaker 1: If you put them in in peak condition, they're less
Speaker 1: likely to get injured and it has to take something
Speaker 1: else to knock them off. So there is some responsibility
Speaker 1: on the coaching staff there also. I mean, I'll talk
Speaker 1: about it a little bit more in the match reviews.
Speaker 1: They are such a poorly coached defensive side. I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1: They are like five year olds on the edges. It's
Speaker 1: really bad.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just to jump back what you said, I did
Speaker 2: actually ask Luke about you know, have you looked at
Speaker 2: you know, training loads and you know methods, and he said, yes,
Speaker 2: they've they've swapped from training on forward you back to
Speaker 2: grass And with some of those I agree with what
Speaker 2: you said. But I think with some of those, like
Speaker 2: today George Flanagan Jr. He jumps up high for a ball,
Speaker 2: he lands very awkwardly, arguably maybe even gets hit in
Speaker 2: the air. That's where his injuries come from.
Speaker 1: John, Even with that right, I'll stop you right there,
Speaker 1: Sorry to interrupt. If your body is more likely to
Speaker 1: get injured because you haven't done things right, be enough, sleep,
Speaker 1: not the right diet, et cetera, et cetera. The person
Speaker 1: who's who is ready and who is in the right
Speaker 1: kind of condition. He jumps up for that ball, falls
Speaker 1: a bit awkwardly whatever it was my twister ankle a
Speaker 1: little bit, shake it off, get off. But there's still
Speaker 1: there is, still there is absolutely till something the coaching staff.
Speaker 1: I mean you you you what you what you often
Speaker 1: defer to me when it comes to coaching things. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you there is. There is definitely a correlation
Speaker 1: between what they are doing.
Speaker 2: I'm not I'm not I'm not disagreeingly, I'm just saying
Speaker 2: I think for some of those injuries many English today,
Speaker 2: he gets a cannonball.
Speaker 1: To the knee, you know, that's to avoid is that
Speaker 1: role for.
Speaker 2: The I think that was the last week concussion head
Speaker 2: knock in the game, you know. I think I think
Speaker 2: there can be perhaps some down to training as that's
Speaker 2: the thing. But look, I think the issue for Harriswood
Speaker 2: is not this. This is not the first year has happened.
Speaker 2: It has happened for a few years.
Speaker 1: So also also what they allow. So are there play
Speaker 1: are what are their players doing after games? How are
Speaker 1: they recovering?
Speaker 2: We don't know, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what's the culture at Huddersfield Giants? Right? We don't know?
Speaker 2: Well, we do know the culture apart from your famous
Speaker 2: giants on leash, the culture has not been a winning
Speaker 2: culture since what twenty thirteen, so that's actually well, I
Speaker 2: think it was twenty it was twenty twenty two. I
Speaker 2: think they did finish third under well, they made the
Speaker 2: Challenge Cup one under in Watson, but you know they
Speaker 2: haven't had a good season results wise for a long
Speaker 2: long time.
Speaker 1: So yeah, any more questions?
Speaker 2: We do have a couple more, I mean, Phil Higgins,
Speaker 2: any thoughts on why there are so many injuries soil
Speaker 2: in the season. Too many games? We've covered that one
Speaker 2: ab seeing our refs too busy focusing on what happens
Speaker 2: in the tackle. Teams are able to be off side
Speaker 2: pretty much every set and get away with a question mark. Yes,
Speaker 2: I agree that. I agree with that. Also, who would
Speaker 2: be blame at shocks only serving eight minutes for a yellow? Also?
Speaker 2: Do hip drops not exist anymore since Morganoles has left?
Speaker 2: I think he's referring to the one on Jacob Host
Speaker 2: which broke his leg in the game against Bradford. I
Speaker 2: think hip drops sometimes, I don't know about Ulie. I
Speaker 2: find them hard. Had to pick out what is and
Speaker 2: isn't because sometimes they're very blatantly obvious, and the players
Speaker 2: like drops their weight. But other times, anyone who's actually
Speaker 2: you know, has made a few tackles in their life,
Speaker 2: bodies kind of get tangled up, don't they.
Speaker 1: You you know, Yeah, And a lot of them look
Speaker 1: like passive tackles to me. And because they go for
Speaker 1: the symptoms and not the cause, players are wired now
Speaker 1: to try and stop the opposition player getting down to
Speaker 1: play the ball quickly. So everybody who's been around the
Speaker 1: game for a long time, he says, we used to
Speaker 1: get rewarded for tackling around the legs. Now you don't
Speaker 1: you tackle around the legs, draft saying, get off. So
Speaker 1: we have to go higher. So we go higher, and
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, if anybody ends up going
Speaker 1: a bit lower because they've got the feet in the
Speaker 1: wrong place when they're approaching, or somebody step them, all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, they're trying to do a passive tackle,
Speaker 1: but they think, oh no, we've got to keep them up,
Speaker 1: so they end up twisting them in some kind or
Speaker 1: somebody else comes in and offer something else. It's because
Speaker 1: we attack the symptoms, not the causes. So the hip
Speaker 1: drop is another thing that's coming to the to the
Speaker 1: rugby league.
Speaker 2: Lexicon I can't remember hip trubs ten years ago a
Speaker 2: little now.
Speaker 1: I can't remember him two years ago.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well maybe two years yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Keep sending us questions guys at Johnny D. Davidson on
Speaker 1: X I'll speak for him and I'm Rugby League Coach
Speaker 1: on Socials and Rugby League Coach dot com to tell
Speaker 1: you if there's any more, John will talk about him
Speaker 1: at the end because I've still got more questions at
Speaker 1: the end. We should have Maybe we should just do
Speaker 1: a podcast, Questions Questions podcast every week. Mark Percival, is
Speaker 1: he going? Is he staying the class? Should I stay?
Speaker 1: Should I go?
Speaker 2: No? He has there's been a big, big backflip it.
Speaker 2: So he's resigned on a one year deal.
Speaker 1: What's going on there at that club? Why has that happened?
Speaker 2: There's a lot going on there? League?
Speaker 1: What's going on there? John?
Speaker 2: I don't know legally what I can can't say without
Speaker 2: getting sued, But I mean, I think it was reported
Speaker 2: he'd had a falling out with Saint Helens and was
Speaker 2: looking for an exit. You know, there's been allegations that
Speaker 2: he was offered a contract which he agreed to a
Speaker 2: two year deal, which was then pulled. Now I don't
Speaker 2: know whether that was a handshake or what, but I
Speaker 2: think St Helens have denied that, but that's been reported
Speaker 2: and lots of sources have told me about that, and
Speaker 2: which obviously Percival was very upset about. He was looking
Speaker 2: to leave. I think Catalan's and Wakefield and Huddesfield were
Speaker 2: interested and he was close to getting a deal with Hardestfield.
Speaker 2: Now my understanding is that there was some lawyers involved
Speaker 2: over this situation and Saint Helens have done a major
Speaker 2: backflip and managed to secure him in a one year deal,
Speaker 2: which is he's actually off going to be earning more
Speaker 2: money how the contract was. So it's quite bizarre, but yeah,
Speaker 2: it's it's there's been a very very big bad and
Speaker 2: obviously Mike Rush was the CEO involved in the personal
Speaker 2: negotiations previously. He's left the club now so it's Aimy
Speaker 2: is doing the negotiations. You can read into this a
Speaker 2: lot of ways, but as I said, I'll be somewhat
Speaker 2: careful of what I can say with that big suit.
Speaker 1: In terms of should I stay or should I go.
Speaker 1: Halifax were gone and now they're back.
Speaker 2: They are back, and it's good. Obviously you know that
Speaker 2: the club has been resurrected. I think their first game
Speaker 2: will be against London. I think interesting for me Lee
Speaker 2: is and I don't know a huge amount amount of
Speaker 2: Halifax history, but I know they've got a long, long history.
Speaker 2: But they produce a lot of players, like a lot
Speaker 2: of players. And I'm talking about rugby league town. It
Speaker 2: is a Rogan. They punch above their way. You know.
Speaker 2: You look at Camera Morgan Smithy's Manna Nicosina from Halifax
Speaker 2: that to lose Tyler Dupre, Jake Connor is from Halifax.
Speaker 2: There's other ones that don't come to mind, but Halifax.
Speaker 2: The thing is interesting. All those players, they didn't come
Speaker 2: through the Halifax Panthers system. I don't think they came through.
Speaker 2: I think along and came through Siddel although were picked
Speaker 2: up in terms of the two camera boys came through
Speaker 2: Wigan's system. Jake Connor came through Hudderfield system. Dupre was
Speaker 2: with Leeds and then went to I think it was
Speaker 2: Salford and then onto Wigan.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: So it's really interesting, like what is the kind of
Speaker 2: role for Halifax Panthers in that town. In fact, when
Speaker 2: there's the amateur clubs who are doing some great development work. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm sure that they play a role in the pathway,
Speaker 2: but I.
Speaker 1: Mean in terms of Halifax in the eighties, who won
Speaker 1: a league and a Cup, I.
Speaker 2: Was gonna say, yeah, that was Christian bull Dogs.
Speaker 1: And then and then they were in the first throws
Speaker 1: of Super League and there were the team that finished
Speaker 1: sort of eighth and ninth most years, and then one
Speaker 1: year I think it was ninety eight, they finished third,
Speaker 1: and then I think it was two thousand and two
Speaker 1: was there last year in Super League and then they
Speaker 1: dropped out so well in two thousand and three.
Speaker 2: I think the when they went bust in nine to
Speaker 2: ninety seven, and I think they see at the time
Speaker 2: was Nigel Woodley.
Speaker 1: So look, I think to put it into context for
Speaker 1: modern fans, this would be like Wakefield going belly up
Speaker 1: in thirty years because of the eighth and ninth sort
Speaker 1: of finishes, you know, like the.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, well. But my point is though, like obviously,
Speaker 2: you know, we don't want to see any clubs go under,
Speaker 2: but they're producing talent that isn't going to them. It's
Speaker 2: kind of an interestingly how this happens elsewhere. But it's
Speaker 2: like for for.
Speaker 1: Rugby, the same in Oldham, mate.
Speaker 2: Well all of them. Yeah, I've they've done that for
Speaker 2: years and year is with what Barry Mack and Kevin Sinfield.
Speaker 1: And for a while there it was the same okay
Speaker 1: are it was?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, And look I think Cass obviously there's a
Speaker 2: club in Cast, but Cass produced a lot of players
Speaker 2: who Rob Burrow for example, who you know, get their
Speaker 2: start at Leeds or other clubs. Paul Anderson was was
Speaker 2: a Cast boy. You know, it was great at Bradford
Speaker 2: and in Hellns, et cetera. So yeah, it's just an
Speaker 2: interesting one. But look, it's good to see the club
Speaker 2: coming back. Let's just hope they can, you know, run
Speaker 2: their business correctly, pay their taxes and not overspend.
Speaker 1: Inspired to do a poetry competition, James Varley, our mate,
Speaker 1: sent something through here. It is well, he sent about
Speaker 1: eighteen things through. I had to break. So if you
Speaker 1: want to send poetry, it needs to be sick lines maximum,
Speaker 1: because that's all I ever do.
Speaker 2: What is this the Times or something? Now?
Speaker 1: Mcafe, At least one of us has standards. Right as
Speaker 1: robins flew high and the dragons breeze fire, the consequences
Speaker 1: for Huddersfield and Lee were dire. The weekend started with
Speaker 1: Wakefield defeating Hull, then also defeats for to lose, Bradford
Speaker 1: and Castleford, which left things over which to mure as
Speaker 1: the Warriors, Saints, Rhinos and even in defeat York or
Speaker 1: perform like Knights. It was Warrington who won under the lights.
Speaker 2: Very good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you know what, you know what, Yeah, good
Speaker 1: effort and all that, James, you get a badge for trying.
Speaker 1: But what James doesn't understand, yeah, is the meter of
Speaker 1: the poem. I've been doing some research. The meter is
Speaker 1: the rhythmetic structure of a poem.
Speaker 2: I'm just hoping no one's using AI tools for this poetry.
Speaker 1: Right last week I started talking about how Super League
Speaker 1: teams could be in groups. We sort of put them
Speaker 1: in groups. I'm now putting them in three. Groups. Last
Speaker 1: week was four, this was three. So I've got Wigan, Leeds,
Speaker 1: Warrington and Saints in the top echelons. I just think
Speaker 1: Saints are not showing a consistency of performance yet. Okay,
Speaker 1: I've spoken in the past about poor rulers, defenses, Middle
Speaker 1: Chunk to lose York, Bradford Bulls have been brilliant as
Speaker 1: we've said newly promoted side, so they're in the middle chunk.
Speaker 1: I'm now also putting Wakefield and Catalans in there. I
Speaker 1: like how Catalans responded this week. In the bottom chunk,
Speaker 1: I e we're in a bit of trouble and we've
Speaker 1: got some work to do. Huddersfield, I've got whole k
Speaker 1: are in there. I've got Lee Leopards in there. I've
Speaker 1: got Hull Left C in there. The one I'm really
Speaker 1: struggling to put into a category as Cast. But in
Speaker 1: terms of results, I've got to put them in that
Speaker 1: bottom group. But I think Casts are showing a bit
Speaker 1: more than Lee and Huddersfield at the moment, and possibly
Speaker 1: Hull Left C. So they're my three groups. York Night's
Speaker 1: thirty Warrington thirty eight to try Manic forty point first
Speaker 1: half it was helter skelter. What were you at the
Speaker 1: game or did you watch it?
Speaker 2: Like I was watching the League Atlins game, so I
Speaker 2: only saw the highlights. Look, I think Warrington probably had
Speaker 2: this one one by a fair margine, but a lot
Speaker 2: of credit to your full chloring back in and putting
Speaker 2: a lot of pressure on them. Look, I think it's
Speaker 2: Warrington three from three, not being you know, at the
Speaker 2: Wigan levels, but underfooded starts, so they've got to be
Speaker 2: very happy and you're again very very competitive, pushed a
Speaker 2: good Warrington team by the way, so sorry. I think
Speaker 2: it's a lot to like for both teams.
Speaker 1: Last week I did some analysis on the Warrington defense
Speaker 1: on the Rugby League Coach YouTube channel and I actually
Speaker 1: think their defense is structurally, structurally very good and I
Speaker 1: I think it's improved a lot from last year and
Speaker 1: I credit the addition of Steve McNamara to the coaching
Speaker 1: staff for that, I think. But sometimes teams can be
Speaker 1: not quite up for the fight. You know that we're
Speaker 1: going to York, we should beat them. We probably only
Speaker 1: have to play at seven out of ten intensity and
Speaker 1: that's probably what happened there. York still have some work
Speaker 1: to do close on their line. You get close to
Speaker 1: the line with York and you tend to come up
Speaker 1: with points, so they've still got work to do there.
Speaker 1: Warrington have Ghoul Vikings in the Challenge Cup next week
Speaker 1: and York faced keith Ley Cougar, so obviously Warrington should
Speaker 1: win that game against gool York. York should beat Cougar's
Speaker 1: And the good thing about that for York is that
Speaker 1: I think their confident run can keep going then as
Speaker 1: a rule, because I think they'll get confidence after what
Speaker 1: they did against Warrington. By the way you're describing the game,
Speaker 1: it was probably won by Warrington, and then Warrington took
Speaker 1: the foot off the gas. But mister Applegarth doesn't have
Speaker 1: to say to his players. He can massage the message
Speaker 1: and say, no, you fought back, boys, you fought back.
Speaker 1: And then this week they'll play Keithley, they'll beat them,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden they've got a winning start
Speaker 1: to the season, or at least a fifty percent start
Speaker 1: to the season. So great stuff at York, and you know,
Speaker 1: I just hope it continues for a while. Lee Leopards sixteen,
Speaker 1: Catalans twenty two. Something's going on at Lee John. I
Speaker 1: mentioned this issue in our after the hooter last week
Speaker 1: when I talked about that player that turn round and
Speaker 1: blame someone. I've analyzed their defense this week with Warrington
Speaker 1: on my Rugby League Coach YouTube channel last week, I
Speaker 1: should say, and their defense is really poor at the moment,
Speaker 1: Lacking line speed, lacking intensity. They're still trying to catch
Speaker 1: and wrestle. They've now lost three Super League matches Lee
Speaker 1: and in a row, and they'll need to see an
Speaker 1: improvement if they're going to make the playoffs. The other
Speaker 1: worrying thing about this for Lee was Catalans had every
Speaker 1: used to lose. They had a mechanical fault on their plane,
Speaker 1: they had to make an emergency landing in Bordeaux. Their
Speaker 1: journey to Greater Manchester took sixteen hours before the kickoff.
Speaker 1: Tommy Makinson picked up an injury in the warm up
Speaker 1: and had to be replaced, and even then Lee scored
Speaker 1: the first try on ten minutes. It was a nice
Speaker 1: tribe that Tessi Nu finished. We seem to mention tes
Speaker 1: every week on this podcast. And it was six all
Speaker 1: at halftime. If you ask me, Catalan's had every reason
Speaker 1: if they were lacking confidence, or if the coach was
Speaker 1: down on them or anything like that. But halftime in
Speaker 1: that game, they could have gone, oh, yeah, all these
Speaker 1: things have gone against us. It's going to be a
Speaker 1: tough second half. That's what happens sometimes. Yeah, definitely it
Speaker 1: was a tough instead. It was a tough second half
Speaker 1: for Lee.
Speaker 2: It was yeah, look, I think broke the story an
Speaker 2: hour or so ago about my understanding that the chairman
Speaker 2: of Lee might learn them a stepped down. It seems
Speaker 2: like there's a lot of things happening at the club.
Speaker 1: The chairman of Lee, he might step down, yes.
Speaker 2: But I understand that he has stepped down. That's right.
Speaker 1: What's his name, Mike Latham? Yes, I don't Mike. Yeah,
Speaker 1: being a.
Speaker 2: Club a long time, being I think chairman since twenty eighteen. Yeah,
Speaker 2: there seems to be a lot happening behind the scenes.
Speaker 2: That obviously a big injury issue there with a number
Speaker 2: of key players out. But yeah, it's been a really
Speaker 2: tough start for them, and you know, I think another
Speaker 2: disappointing game.
Speaker 1: It was ill disciplined in the second half and the
Speaker 1: first half that cost him. I know, Lamb took somebody
Speaker 1: out off the ball and there was a high tackle
Speaker 1: that led to points in the second half. So one
Speaker 1: concern for Catalans was how many tries were conceded down there,
Speaker 1: right testing you again mentioning him again had some fun
Speaker 1: on that side and they and Lee were clearly attacking
Speaker 1: that side too, So they've obviously highlighted that as an issue,
Speaker 1: but it just wasn't enough to lose sixteen wig and
Speaker 1: thirty six. That Wig and Kit was hideous by the
Speaker 1: way that lime green, but it was eighteen nil after
Speaker 1: twenty two minutes and by analysis video coming out this
Speaker 1: week is actually showing how why Wigan are at the
Speaker 1: top of the table. They're building pressure. They're they're very patient,
Speaker 1: coming out of their own end. They're kicking deep, they're chasing,
Speaker 1: they're doing all the boring things and they're happy to
Speaker 1: be bored and all that pressure that they're building is
Speaker 1: allowing them to pile on the points early. It took
Speaker 1: fifty three minutes for to lose to score and that
Speaker 1: was then twenty two to six. Jack Farremond had a
Speaker 1: hand in four tries. Did you watch this game?
Speaker 2: I did. I mean, I'm a big fan of Pharamont.
Speaker 1: How old is it?
Speaker 2: That's a really good question. I'm thinking twenty one.
Speaker 1: Where's he from? Zeer Wigan? Lad, he's from Lee.
Speaker 2: Oh, he's a Lee Miners junior and I believe his
Speaker 2: dad's a coach or has coached Lee Miners. Look, he's
Speaker 2: a fantastic talent. Made his debut I think it was
Speaker 2: about two years ago, just half back. Uh and he's
Speaker 2: had to buy his time and obviously with the injury
Speaker 2: to Joe gire Field, they moved Bevan French back there
Speaker 2: and he just looked, I mean Pharamon when he was
Speaker 2: running the ball, he was I think he beatd three
Speaker 2: defenders on one of them and just skinned them like
Speaker 2: they weren't even there. They've just got so many players
Speaker 2: were getting in such great form and as you said,
Speaker 2: they look relaxed. They can you know, they can. They
Speaker 2: can bash you, they can skin you on the outside.
Speaker 2: They've got pace, They've got a lot of skill. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they just they just really really.
Speaker 1: I think they're the best coach side in the competition
Speaker 1: at the moment. I did an analysis, like I say,
Speaker 1: it looked at the tackle techniques compressed different. I believe
Speaker 1: I coached Batpete. I believe he came to Great Britain
Speaker 1: students training a few times. Yeah, so I don't remember
Speaker 1: meeting mentor should we should we give you never know
Speaker 1: he might be watching it might be watching me stuff.
Speaker 1: A lot of them do. But the worry for to lose,
Speaker 1: maybe the to lose coach should start looking all seven
Speaker 1: Wigan tries were on to lose his left Wigan right,
Speaker 1: so these patterns. These patterns are really really interesting to me. Defensively,
Speaker 1: Wigan conceded two of the three tries they conceded from
Speaker 1: a kick and one a penalty try, so even their
Speaker 1: defense held up. Saint Helen's twenty six. Bradford twenty two,
Speaker 1: the fixture famous for the wide to west moment, was
Speaker 1: another good game. I suppose did you watch this one?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I thought Bradford Shid are a lot of great Obviously,
Speaker 2: there was a few controversial moments. We talked about the
Speaker 2: red card. There was the clonal sin binning early on,
Speaker 2: which was also a big hit. I think it was
Speaker 2: slightly different than the other one, but you know you've
Speaker 2: seen you know those given red as well, so you
Speaker 2: could say maybe Clema got off lightly there. But yeah,
Speaker 2: Saint Helen's managed to get fight back and get the win.
Speaker 2: Bradford again really competitive. I like the way his team plays.
Speaker 2: But they picked up a couple of injuries as well,
Speaker 2: so I think that you know their depth is going
Speaker 2: to be sorely tested in the coming weeks.
Speaker 1: Their right edge got peppered. They conceded four of their
Speaker 1: five tries. Right, Yeah, Eastern Master has really got exposed
Speaker 1: a couple of times. I noticed that some poor defensive
Speaker 1: efforts from him, I would say, but Bradford was six
Speaker 1: points up at halftime and then went twelve points up,
Speaker 1: so so they definitely gave gave Saints a fright. It's
Speaker 1: not getting easier for Bradford. They travel to travel to
Speaker 1: Wigan on Friday the thirteenth, and but what will undo
Speaker 1: undo Saints this year when the Whips are cracking is
Speaker 1: the their defense. The Yeah, he's got some work to do.
Speaker 1: Paul Rowley talking of poor defense Huddersfield six or KR
Speaker 1: thirty two. You were at this game, I'll let you
Speaker 1: go on about them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look, there was sixteen at half time
Speaker 2: and then Mikey Lewis scored a fantastic solo try right
Speaker 2: after halftime, and early in the second half the game
Speaker 2: was over the whole hour. Were just better in every department.
Speaker 1: Twenty two nil at half time, wasn't it?
Speaker 2: Sixteen nil? And then twenty two nil?
Speaker 1: Sorry just after half time? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, okay, I were you know, they were trying
Speaker 2: to make amends from what happened in Vegas. They were,
Speaker 2: you know, strong in defense, they were very good in
Speaker 2: attack that they probably pushed a few passes, maybe try
Speaker 2: a bit too our times, but Hardsfield were just woeful,
Speaker 2: so many errors, cheap errors, and there was I can't
Speaker 2: exactly remember which player, but there was at least two
Speaker 2: occasions when they had two on one and the Senate
Speaker 2: didn't pass to is we're unmarked on the right or
Speaker 2: the left?
Speaker 1: Just to coaching?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean simple, simple too on ones it was
Speaker 2: like just look to you know, your left, to your right,
Speaker 2: if you've got support, if you've got support user, But yeah,
Speaker 2: I can't, I really can't say where Haddison was going
Speaker 2: to get their first win of the season at this point.
Speaker 1: Well, what shocked me about this was how easily hook
Speaker 1: I was scoring there. Try and bear in mind, whole
Speaker 1: k are a team that you could basically expose any
Speaker 1: lack of confidence that was there after what happened at
Speaker 1: Vegas and at York, holders Field has made it too
Speaker 1: easy for them.
Speaker 2: Well, how I weren't at their best by I think
Speaker 2: the best it would have been fifty.
Speaker 1: And Huddersfield only try he came from a high kick
Speaker 1: that lower here put down, So they didn't even really.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, no, they didn't really travel the
Speaker 2: defense match and these two teams play again in the
Speaker 2: Challenge cap in six days?
Speaker 1: Was it Flanning who kicked it and Lily here who
Speaker 1: scored it?
Speaker 2: On? No, I think it was Lolo who kicked it well,
Speaker 2: and then.
Speaker 1: I'm sure the BBC said Lola he had scored. Some
Speaker 1: of the stuff would never be wrongly as you know.
Speaker 1: Now Leeds twenty two Cast four, Jordan Brown, who was
Speaker 1: a teenager, scored his first Super League try forle Leeds.
Speaker 1: That was a nice touch. You know what I got
Speaker 1: me about this game? Obviously? Now my Casivo is the
Speaker 1: talk of Super League. But Rava Lawa for Casts did
Speaker 1: at make as Evo first on me Casivo side. Basically
Speaker 1: just it just barreled over for a try on eighteen minutes,
Speaker 1: all low, but then not to be able to don
Speaker 1: Sivo scored one back, and then another and then another
Speaker 1: and then another.
Speaker 2: Two of them, two of them from Seva I just
Speaker 2: I could have scored. He rolled over and one of
Speaker 2: them was a beautiful offload from Hankinson. But yeah, the
Speaker 2: one where he just went over. Whoever the cast player was,
Speaker 2: It's kind of like you think you know them. I've
Speaker 2: ever seen Civo play before. Because he did this for
Speaker 2: Paramouna for how many years. Like, you've got to get
Speaker 2: bodies in front of him, You've got to get up
Speaker 2: in his face. You know, you can't let him isolate
Speaker 2: a winger one on why why? Because you know what's
Speaker 2: going to happen. So yeah, but look, I think it's
Speaker 2: nine tries in three games, so they're not.
Speaker 1: Doing bad the lad It's like the early in Harland
Speaker 1: of rugby league. Casts are battlers and they've got a
Speaker 1: lot more about them than their results suggest. I think
Speaker 1: they don't lead tries as easily. They don't lead tries
Speaker 1: easily as a rule, and leads had to fight for everything.
Speaker 1: So CAS fans don't give up on your team or
Speaker 1: your coach yet. In response to the to the question
Speaker 1: we had before, Erin Francis asked, do you think each
Speaker 1: ref has a different understanding of rough speed? And then
Speaker 1: she asked me to tagger in the episode so can
Speaker 1: watch the listen. I can't do that, erin book because
Speaker 1: only because your tag won't come up when I try.
Speaker 1: But I'll put it back in that group voye as
Speaker 1: you can see. Do you think they have different interpretations
Speaker 1: of rough speed? John, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Think they do. Yeah, I don't think it's the uniformity
Speaker 2: across the competition.
Speaker 1: Well, it comes back to leadership. Comes back to leadership.
Speaker 1: Then he to help them with that uniformity. And when
Speaker 1: you chase the symptoms rather than the causes, this is
Speaker 1: what happened early Bird on X. How does English Rugby
Speaker 1: League find more talent? Should every team have to run
Speaker 1: a genuine reserve grade and academy? It irks me. We
Speaker 1: don't insist on this talent is there if we allow
Speaker 1: it to flourish? Can I answer that, John?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: The best it ever was, mister Airlybird, was when we
Speaker 1: did service areas. So what we need to do is
Speaker 1: look back at the model that happened in late nineties
Speaker 1: early two thousands. Service areas were about getting everybody in
Speaker 1: your area on side and on the same page and
Speaker 1: pooling all resources wherever you could. And the key thing
Speaker 1: about a development system is the bigger the bottom of
Speaker 1: the development pyramid, the more will rise to the top.
Speaker 1: You then, as you quite rightly say, mister aily Bird,
Speaker 1: who I've written down as Airline Bird on X, is
Speaker 1: you have to have the facilities and the pros to
Speaker 1: have these players filter through to the top and this
Speaker 1: could be a restructuring issue for the championship too. Maybe
Speaker 1: maybe some of them have to be genuine reserve grades.
Speaker 1: Maybe again I don't know, but ultimately service areas is
Speaker 1: the key at the bottom end, whether it's reserve grade
Speaker 1: and academies. I think they cost money and that's why
Speaker 1: some clubs struggle with them. So we're going down that
Speaker 1: avenue again of how much clubs can afford and whatnot.
Speaker 1: We need a twenty year thirty year plan to turn
Speaker 1: this all around. In terms of English rugby League, Ian
Speaker 1: Reed asked loans for a week or even two, are
Speaker 1: they really improving reserve players? Fitness? Is a championship game
Speaker 1: that far above a Super league reserve side. Does a
Speaker 1: championship improve by scraping through a game or two or
Speaker 1: should loans be for a minimum, say three months or
Speaker 1: not happen at all.
Speaker 2: I think the loans are definitely needed from both parties.
Speaker 2: I think a championship look, there's not many reserves fixtures,
Speaker 2: and I think a championship game is of a higher intensity,
Speaker 2: definitely a much stronger physicality. Yeah, I think we need
Speaker 2: one week loans and two week loans obviously, you'd like
Speaker 2: them longer, but it's always possible.
Speaker 1: I think I makee Ben sent a question really early.
Speaker 1: He loves our podcasts. I think this was Ben's question,
Speaker 1: would the NRL have the best interest of the UK
Speaker 1: game at heart or simply their own profits if they
Speaker 1: were to buy into it? And then he also asked,
Speaker 1: how did the likes of Shane rich Richardson do when
Speaker 1: they had senior roles at Gateshead and Hall FC and
Speaker 1: any other ossie or club director you can think of.
Speaker 2: The first part. Look, I think it's a bit of
Speaker 2: a bit of column mind, bit of comb I think
Speaker 2: the NRO can see that there's money to be made
Speaker 2: in the UK. They can sell merch, they can sell
Speaker 2: watch NRO packages, they can have origin and make a
Speaker 2: stackload of money. But they also realize that they need,
Speaker 2: you know, if they want to be a global game,
Speaker 2: they need one of the historically strong countries to be stronger,
Speaker 2: and they need opposition in the internationals because if you're
Speaker 2: just walking the ashes every day, what's the point of
Speaker 2: playing it? You know, And if you're the NRL, you
Speaker 2: want your next Sam Burgess, your next James Grahame, your
Speaker 2: next Mel Riley, your next Adrian Morley. So I think
Speaker 2: generally there is a thing of helping people on this
Speaker 2: side of the world as well as helping themselves. And
Speaker 2: I think you can use the example for New Zealand.
Speaker 2: Warriors have been fantastic for New Zealand rugby league. They're
Speaker 2: way more competitive internationally. They want to World Cup in
Speaker 2: two thousand and eight than they were pre Warriors. Look
Speaker 2: at P and G how you know they've improved and
Speaker 2: how they will go to another level with the Chiefs.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think I think there is mutual benefits
Speaker 2: on both sides. On the other one, the Australian administrators,
Speaker 2: I know, Gateshead, Thunder one under, I don't think you
Speaker 2: can blame them all in Shane Richardson's you know, it's
Speaker 2: all his fault. Yeah, I wasn't covering the game when
Speaker 2: the Gateshead started in what was it ninety nine? I
Speaker 2: think yeah, I think Gateshead could probably be listed down
Speaker 2: a lot of the expansion teams in super Bogue, like
Speaker 2: Paris and Toronto and you know many of the other
Speaker 2: failed ones that what expected, strategy, what support. It's not
Speaker 2: like the Melbourne Storm, you know we're given forty million
Speaker 2: whatever it is quid over twenty thirty years by news limit.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 1: I don't think different. I don't think it matters if
Speaker 1: they're Australian, are English or so. That is about who
Speaker 1: the best people are for the job. Yes, that it's
Speaker 1: that simple. And if they have an Australian accent, if
Speaker 1: they have an English accent, or if they have a
Speaker 1: two bleasy accent, then we need to we need to,
Speaker 1: we need to look at them and consider it.
Speaker 2: Is a point for your lee.
Speaker 1: Ben Blackwell asked the earlier question. Sorry, sorry, I've not
Speaker 1: I've not got the right person who asked that question.
Speaker 1: So Ben Blackwell, thanks for your question. I think we
Speaker 1: answered it earlier.
Speaker 2: Sorry, I was just going to say that there was
Speaker 2: a question that someone or comment that someone had about
Speaker 2: my eye story about the NRL and Super League potentially
Speaker 2: getting into bed with the concern that the Australians would
Speaker 2: not understand the tribal nature of rugby league in England,
Speaker 2: which I respond, I mean they'd like to get your
Speaker 2: thoughts leader, I responded, rugby league's pretty tribal in Australia.
Speaker 1: State of origin is tribal, definitely, That's the epitome of
Speaker 1: Australian tribuilt tribalism having lived, they just they just don't
Speaker 1: decide to sing at each other and bash each other
Speaker 1: and brisbane each other exactly perfect.
Speaker 2: But I know I know Western Suburbs fans who I
Speaker 2: can remember I worked in one in two and six
Speaker 2: and he filled out of rugby league of rugby league
Speaker 2: completely through the West Toys because he was a mad
Speaker 2: pass tragic and the mergers lost a lot of people
Speaker 2: to the game.
Speaker 1: So I think there was a couple of Roosters fans.
Speaker 1: There was a couple of Roosters fans turned up to
Speaker 1: a mate of Mind's dad who passed away in his
Speaker 1: eighties last year, who's a big self fan. A couple
Speaker 1: of Roosters fans turned up and everyone's looking at them, going, well,
Speaker 1: them two doing it. So Challenge Cup next week, so
Speaker 1: we won't have an after the hooter because I don't
Speaker 1: think I can watch these. Wakefield Verus leads on Friday,
Speaker 1: Wigan versus Bradford on Friday, York and Keighley play on Saturday,
Speaker 1: Ghool and Warrington. Okay, I have to go to Huddersfield again.
Speaker 1: I guess Huddersfield are going out of the court. Leon
Speaker 1: Hull f C is probably the pick of those ties
Speaker 1: and both of them need a win and I think
Speaker 1: whoever wins that game will get a bit of confidence
Speaker 1: going back into the league again. The other team will
Speaker 1: be licking their wounds. Casts and Saints. I think Saints
Speaker 1: good for that one, and Catalans for a Moldham. I
Speaker 1: wanted to talk about the NRL before we go, John.
Speaker 1: There was a headline in the Sydney Morning Herald this
Speaker 1: morning actually another NRL opening week of rule changes and
Speaker 1: confusion and confusion. Here's hoping history doesn't repeat. And that
Speaker 1: was by Dan Walsh. And I think when we criticize
Speaker 1: refereeing in England we need to be so happy that
Speaker 1: the referees don't have this paralysis by analysis attitude, because
Speaker 1: in the NRL it's the exact opposite and some people
Speaker 1: are switching off for it from it. Regardless of what
Speaker 1: Valandi says, some died in the world rugby league. People
Speaker 1: have had enough of some of these refereeing interpretations, let's say. So,
Speaker 1: there's definitely an issue in the NRL. Penrith put Brisbane
Speaker 1: to the sword on Friday and there's a headline in
Speaker 1: the telegraph, stroke, courier mail and I know, and you
Speaker 1: know better than anyone headline. You know, writers are a
Speaker 1: different breed to the writers sometimes. Yeah, Madge facing toughest
Speaker 1: test of career after brutal Broncos start was the headline. Now,
Speaker 1: my my thoughts on that, mister sub editor, are that
Speaker 1: you've got short memory. When he arrived at Brisbane a
Speaker 1: year ago, they were outside the finals and as Ramam
Speaker 1: had just been in trouble for doing what he was
Speaker 1: doing off the field, I'd say that was a bit worse.
Speaker 1: Also he coached West Tigers, so the target and so yeah,
Speaker 1: so the NRL has started. Quick review from you. John
Speaker 1: Roosters missed out at the at the Warriors. Broncos got
Speaker 1: heavily beaten.
Speaker 2: Yeah, was very very poor and a lot of people
Speaker 2: faced them this year.
Speaker 1: There were only eight points off being scrubbed out of
Speaker 1: the comp In terms of if you conceived fifty.
Speaker 2: You're not going to come well. Paramatta were diabolical. The
Speaker 2: Storm looked very good. Yeah, Broncos again, can they catch
Speaker 2: a highball? I mean it's not the moment they carried
Speaker 2: the whole Car World Club challenge for me in obviously
Speaker 2: look mainly great ten minutes, first ten minutes, great last
Speaker 2: ten minutes, but they need to play a lot better
Speaker 2: than that consistently to have a good season. I didn't
Speaker 2: see the Titans game, but i'll tell you what. I
Speaker 2: felt bad for Josh because.
Speaker 1: I always laughed the two teams that made the most
Speaker 1: noises in the off season, or at least the media
Speaker 1: made noises for them. So that comes down to whatever's
Speaker 1: leaking out the place with Paramatta and Go cost Titans,
Speaker 1: and there were some and Brisbane, let's not forget the
Speaker 1: Brisbane Yeah, and Roosters actually, so there's a better noise
Speaker 1: around all those. So so there that was int I
Speaker 1: think the concern for the NRL this weekend would be
Speaker 1: some of the blowout scores. And it's funny once Saturday
Speaker 1: kicked in, game's got a bit closer, and I just
Speaker 1: wonder how much influencers coming for the top, from the
Speaker 1: top to the referees too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't see. I didn't see the game. I
Speaker 2: saw at least of the troll Tryer and it's just
Speaker 2: good to see him back full fitness of confidence because
Speaker 2: he's just got that ability like a gi just to
Speaker 2: get the ball bang bang bang to over defend, over
Speaker 2: defend and score and you just kind of go, how
Speaker 2: do you stop that?
Speaker 1: I saw some of that game, and what's clear to
Speaker 1: me is the Dolphins still can't defend so well.
Speaker 2: Christian waf Wolf is a hard task master. I imagine
Speaker 2: he'll be flogging his his players come on Monday morning.
Speaker 1: Mm, that was a bumper one, John. Yes, my my
Speaker 1: laptop battery is about to die, so we better better.
Speaker 1: My eyes are about to die. I should have warned
Speaker 1: my glasses. Look out for the analysis video this week.
Speaker 1: We're not doing an after the hooter. Have a great week,
Speaker 1: enjoy your Challenge Cup weekend and contact me Rugby League
Speaker 1: Coach dot comatay you at Rugby League Coach, on Socials
Speaker 1: admin at Rugby League Coach dot COMA tay you John X.
Speaker 2: Johnny D Davidson and on Facebook at John Davidson a journalist.
Speaker 1: He's got the balls now to get you to ex
Speaker 1: him again after his little wings the other week. See
Speaker 1: you later,