Speaker 1: Hul Kingston Rovers are well and truly back. Huddersfield won
Speaker 1: after their coach got the sack. Leeds ended Warrington's unbeaten
Speaker 1: run amidst all the Super League thirtieth birthday fun well
Speaker 1: left c came fast out of the gates. Lee and
Speaker 1: John are here with all the updates. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: fifteenth episode of Super League three sixty, a podcast primarily
Speaker 1: about the top tier of British rugby league. My name
Speaker 1: is Lee Addison, my name is John Davidson, and I
Speaker 1: have to laugh now, I have to laugh. He's been
Speaker 1: laughing at me all Australian summer when I've been bleary
Speaker 1: eyed and drinking my coffee or mat tea and I've
Speaker 1: been complaining and now the boot is on the other
Speaker 1: foot and that's why we're out a little bit later.
Speaker 1: Blame Greenwich meantime.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, very true, really true.
Speaker 1: I'm also the host of the Rugby League Coach podcast
Speaker 1: if you're interested in that. Also, I'm a feature on
Speaker 1: the Loose Carry podcast from Zero Tackle. I'm a coach
Speaker 1: in Australia. John a journalist in the UK. This podcast
Speaker 1: is on the Ashes Rugby League. Rugby League Coach Podcast
Speaker 1: platforms as well as the Rugby League Coach YouTube too,
Speaker 1: so if you subscribe to those you won't miss a thing.
Speaker 1: Please switch over to Super League three sixty audio listeners
Speaker 1: and subscribe to the Rugby League Coach YouTube channel, and
Speaker 1: also thank you to Rugby League dot Com. That's Rugby
Speaker 1: League dot com, not to be confused with Rugby League
Speaker 1: Coach dot com, who are also carrying this every Friday.
Speaker 1: I think after the Whoter this week will be after
Speaker 1: the Good Friday fixtures, three fixtures that we can talk
Speaker 1: about John on the at the end of Good Friday.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Bumper Friday and the whole derby at midday Wigan
Speaker 3: and Wigan I should say, that's says on the original
Speaker 3: Derby or three o'clock and then Bradford Leeds for I
Speaker 3: think it's something like the first time in twelve years.
Speaker 3: I think they're expecting a crowd of around fifteen thousand
Speaker 3: odds and so I'm sure that'll be a cracker as well.
Speaker 1: Talking of the first time in X amount of years,
Speaker 1: how many times have Wigan played Saint Helen's on Good
Speaker 1: Friday after being battered the week before in Saint Helen's
Speaker 1: case and beaten in a shock circumstance in Wiggans case.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I think there's probably been. Oh I
Speaker 3: saw a Wiggan fan tweets after the said Helens came about,
Speaker 3: Oh you know, Saint Helens will get a center places
Speaker 3: sent off and come back and beat us by two
Speaker 3: tries or something. So I has invested that that that's
Speaker 3: happened on occasion, but probably not to Helen's been what
Speaker 3: put fifty on end Wigan getting beaten by the bottom
Speaker 3: team and the companyhouse for.
Speaker 1: That, that was unbelievable. I mean, just to put that
Speaker 1: into some kind of context. John, because it was the
Speaker 1: middle of my name, because I'm in Brisbane, I checked
Speaker 1: the score if I wake up in the middle of
Speaker 1: the night, and I just assumed, because it didn't look
Speaker 1: properly that we're going Tod won by that score line
Speaker 1: and just close the phone, went back to sleep. And
Speaker 1: then also because you're a sado and you're checking scores
Speaker 1: and them and what not. Yeah, some of us have
Speaker 1: got to be diligent, John, Some of us have got
Speaker 1: to be diligent. Please speculate about what John checks in
Speaker 1: the middle of the night on his phone, please. I
Speaker 1: think all all correspondents pertaining to that should go to
Speaker 1: admin at Rugby League Coach dot com to say you
Speaker 1: are at Rugby League Coach on socials, Johnny, remind everybody
Speaker 1: of your contact details not to send you speculation about
Speaker 1: what you do in the middle of the night.
Speaker 3: You can get me on X or Twitter, Johnny d Davidson.
Speaker 3: You can get me on Facebook. John Davidson, journalist.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to go quickly through the ladder, John,
Speaker 1: because we've not done that yet. Tom This's podcast. We're
Speaker 1: going to top still on ten points. Warrington are in
Speaker 1: second place, so we've had six rounds, but Warrington have
Speaker 1: only played five games and Warrington are two points behind
Speaker 1: Wigan now after dying Wiggans loss Lee Rhinos in third
Speaker 1: after their great win against Warrington yesterday. Their points difference
Speaker 1: isn't too far off either. Wiggans actually wakefielder in fourth.
Speaker 1: They've sort of crept up there. They've ended up in
Speaker 1: third at one point this weekend. They're on eight points.
Speaker 1: Saint Helen's fifth on eight points. Bradford are still on
Speaker 1: sixth despite their defeats to Castleford Tigers. I assume we've
Speaker 1: got that one right, John Well left c resurgent Are
Speaker 1: on six points two but in seventh due to a
Speaker 1: worse points differential. Catalan Dragons. They've not had a bad
Speaker 1: season so far Cattalan Dragons overall, but they find themselves
Speaker 1: in eighth again by virtue of points different because they're
Speaker 1: on six points. O k Are have managed to who
Speaker 1: climb up to ninth and they've now got four points
Speaker 1: after their emphatic win at the weekend to lose her
Speaker 1: in tenth with four points, York eleventh with four points,
Speaker 1: Lee Leppards who would want to be a lot higher
Speaker 1: there in twelfth on four points, Castleford Tigers on four
Speaker 1: points and Huddersfield Giants got their first two points of
Speaker 1: the season against Wigan, but they're still on the bottom.
Speaker 1: The big news this week, John, I think is Willie Peters.
Speaker 1: Isn't it leaving Hulkingston Rovers for Baban New Guinea.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, there's been there's been quite a bit of
Speaker 3: news this week, but I think that's the one. Look
Speaker 3: it's been talking about in this train meeting for a
Speaker 3: couple of weeks. I think they've all said he was
Speaker 3: the favorite arm for the PG job, and then it
Speaker 3: was affirming it is.
Speaker 2: It is massive news.
Speaker 3: Look, I think he's always been I think he was
Speaker 3: contracted to the end of next year at Whole Car,
Speaker 3: but he's always said, you wanted to go back to
Speaker 3: the mL at some point he's done. I think four years, OK,
Speaker 3: are fantastic, you know, contribution to the club, changed the club.
Speaker 3: Twenty twenty five was amazing, beating the Broncos World Club
Speaker 3: Channel for awful trophies. It's just, you know, I think
Speaker 3: the time is probably perfect for him. It's great upportunity
Speaker 3: and pagel As we talked about to build a roster,
Speaker 3: build a club from scratch and you know, get the
Speaker 3: Istraian tax payer to pay for it three hundred million
Speaker 3: pounds or six hundred million dollars Australian.
Speaker 1: A tough job for him, very tough job.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but yeah, it's the Whole Car. It's it's sad news.
Speaker 3: But they knew he was going to go back at
Speaker 3: some time, like he was never going to do a
Speaker 3: you know, a Tony Smith or a Phil Avivas, and
Speaker 3: that he was going to be there for thirty years.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it'd be really fascinating who who they look
Speaker 3: to replace him with because I only had two new
Speaker 3: assistants come in a couple of months ago, really, and
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say there's like a dearth of local coaches
Speaker 3: out there who you would say are ready to take
Speaker 3: a top Super League job.
Speaker 1: As the journalist on the panel, who are you saying
Speaker 1: is in line to replace him?
Speaker 2: There's not really been any firm candidates coming out as yet.
Speaker 3: Look, I think Ian Watson, he's one of the assistants
Speaker 3: who obviously has a lot of experience, did a fantastic
Speaker 3: job at Salford, got them to a Grand Final, got
Speaker 3: him to a Challenge Cup Final, went to Hardest Field,
Speaker 3: started off really well Hardestfield, got them to third on
Speaker 3: the table and Challenge Cup Final, and then it all
Speaker 3: went wrong a Huddersfield and I got sacked. I think
Speaker 3: he's a really good coach personally, really good guy, a
Speaker 3: really good coach. His style maybe you know, he's a
Speaker 3: bit more sort of you know, focused on defense and
Speaker 3: you know, not the most player. Maybe that wouldn't go
Speaker 3: down with Hooker, but I think he would be a
Speaker 3: candidate In terms of other coaches. Look, i think I've
Speaker 3: got an assistant coach in the RL, Willie Peters, and
Speaker 3: I think that could be an opportunity. You know, there's
Speaker 3: a couple of hungry assistance, isn't there in the NRL
Speaker 3: who are looking for jobs. You know, whether it be
Speaker 3: Ben hornby Den Young, you know, Matt Ballen. There's quite
Speaker 3: a few, isn't there. But obviously that that kind of
Speaker 3: links to the mainly job as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it depends where the cards fall, doesn't he Well, I've.
Speaker 3: Heard let me just say one last thing. I've heard
Speaker 3: one wild comment out there about Adrian Lamb. Maybe, obviously
Speaker 3: I think Adrian Lamb was a candidate candidate for the
Speaker 3: P and G job, and I think he would have
Speaker 3: been a very smart choice. But you know, he's done
Speaker 3: a great job at Lee and maybe he's looking for
Speaker 3: a new challenge. So yeah, it's a very intriguing prospect
Speaker 3: for wholeky artist sort out in the next couple of months.
Speaker 1: Quite an open field, I suppose. Look, I've got my
Speaker 1: short list in terms of people I think will be
Speaker 1: in the frame top of the list by virtue of
Speaker 1: the fact he's got a very good agent who gets
Speaker 1: his clients things. And this is one of the reasons
Speaker 1: I think he's not popular as an agent. I think
Speaker 1: Anthony Sebald will be after this job in a big way.
Speaker 1: I bet the call has already happened, yeah, I bet.
Speaker 3: Look, his name has been mentioned on online as in
Speaker 3: by fans, but yeah, I mean it personally as a
Speaker 3: mainly fan.
Speaker 2: As most people know.
Speaker 3: If you look at his coaching career sacked at Brisbane,
Speaker 3: sacked at Mainly. Look, he did do well at the
Speaker 3: house in a brief time, but I don't think throughout
Speaker 3: his whole coaching career, and I think that includes when
Speaker 3: he was in charge of the Melbourne Stone managers.
Speaker 1: I don't think he never won a Grand Final or
Speaker 1: a premiership. That's right, you don't, you don't. You don't
Speaker 1: need to sell that to me. However, he has got
Speaker 1: a manager who was very good in Isaac Moses was
Speaker 1: very good at getting his clients things. And one thing
Speaker 1: Anthony se Ball will do if he gets an audience,
Speaker 1: he will put on some kind of show and he's
Speaker 1: very good. He will be very good at convincing the
Speaker 1: whole k Are board that he's the man and he played.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but personally, in my opinion, I don't think that.
Speaker 1: Would be the right choice for the other one is
Speaker 1: Steve McNamara is a head coach and he happens to
Speaker 1: be an assistant at the moment, and he will he
Speaker 1: will want to be a head coach again. Now what
Speaker 1: I don't know about Steve McNamara, even though he did
Speaker 1: play for whole FT. I don't know if originally he's
Speaker 1: a kr boy or a whole FC.
Speaker 2: I can tell you that. I can tell you the.
Speaker 3: St McNamara is a where his dad played for HALFC.
Speaker 3: He played for C and his son has played for now.
Speaker 3: The interesting thing just with Steve McNamara. And look, this
Speaker 3: is speculation, but I'm hearing noises about John Cartwright's future.
Speaker 3: Nothing concrete but and I need to check, but he
Speaker 3: might be off contract next year at the end of
Speaker 3: the year. I'm not sure whether he's contract for next
Speaker 3: year or not. But I'm here some noises And you
Speaker 3: know about Steve McNamara being an ideal potential hive CE
Speaker 3: coach because of his links to the city. I think
Speaker 3: his family still lives in the city and he's a
Speaker 3: great coach. And the other one is obviously, And I'm
Speaker 3: sure we'll talk about this in a bit about Brot
Speaker 3: Arthur's future.
Speaker 2: So whether good shift to heaving me.
Speaker 3: So look, I think it's it seems to happen maybe
Speaker 3: once a year in the world of rugby leagu because
Speaker 3: we've really got two competitions, haven't we.
Speaker 2: That things move and then there's like, yeah, and we
Speaker 2: had it, you know, we had it last year with.
Speaker 3: Well We had a few times last year, but we
Speaker 3: had last year with Paul Wellens.
Speaker 1: And that's another name, that's another name on my list.
Speaker 3: Well, the interesting with Paul Wellens is he was going
Speaker 3: to go the whole car as assistant coach. He was
Speaker 3: going and then the North Queensland opportunity came up and
Speaker 3: he decided to go down and so yeah, it's really
Speaker 3: interesting how this all says. And I think you were
Speaker 3: saying last week, weren't you. You know, you've got to strike
Speaker 3: while the iron's hot. And first the first card has
Speaker 3: landed in Willie Peters and PNG and we will see.
Speaker 1: You as soon as he signed. As soon as he
Speaker 1: signed the contract, they'll beat Saint Helen's buy a million.
Speaker 1: Now I've got one more name for you, John Morris.
Speaker 1: He's someone who's fallen out with the limelight and also
Speaker 1: apparently he's had a couple of fallouts a couple of
Speaker 1: clubs but he's somebody who has a good reputation as
Speaker 1: a coach.
Speaker 3: Is he is he a staff at Crannello? The man
Speaker 3: I can't remember he was. Yeah, yeah, Look I think
Speaker 3: look I remember him as a player. He was a
Speaker 3: great player, like for underrated, you know, like just hard work, rates, skillful,
Speaker 3: small And I have read that that he's got, you know,
Speaker 3: and I think he had he was caretaker West.
Speaker 2: Wasn't he for a bid?
Speaker 3: And I think Gala and I think he's got a
Speaker 3: really good reputation. So he's one of those up and
Speaker 3: coming and our old assistant coaches who Yeah, it could
Speaker 3: be a really smart choice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like that suggestion.
Speaker 1: Gavin Quinn asketors on X. Who will Willie Peters wanna
Speaker 1: bring with him from the super league coaches and players?
Speaker 3: I'll throw one, Yeah, I mean, I mean, I think
Speaker 3: I think Gavin or someone else mentioned will take. He'll
Speaker 3: take Michael Lewis and Jes Letting. Look, I don't think
Speaker 3: look that's possible about Minchella. Yeah, I mean I think
Speaker 3: with Michael Lewis, he's had the opportunity to go to
Speaker 3: the NROL last year, signed a long term deal and
Speaker 3: he's a very like he's got a young son who's
Speaker 3: I think one or so, and he's a very whole lad.
Speaker 3: I don't know how he would go, and yeah, you
Speaker 3: can take that in many different ways. I don't know
Speaker 3: how he would go on the other side. And like,
Speaker 3: I think, if you're young and going to P ANDNG,
Speaker 3: it's going to be very different if you're going to
Speaker 3: Sydney or Brisbane or or wherever. Yeah, so I think
Speaker 3: I was chatting about this to someone. I think it
Speaker 3: was Brian Carney the other day. You know, if you're
Speaker 3: you're doing the recruitment for P and G, you're going
Speaker 3: to target I think, at least initially, you're going to
Speaker 3: target older players who are married, probably with want young children,
Speaker 3: because you need that experience and you're not Look, if
Speaker 3: you're on a resort half the time and you can't
Speaker 3: really go out, you're not going to.
Speaker 2: Be looking for nightclubs and.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you want to build a family, and yeah,
Speaker 3: there's certain sort of like personalities. I think you're a
Speaker 3: targeting I don't think Michael Wilis is one Eli Minchell.
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't think Willie would want to screw
Speaker 3: over a whole KR personally. He's a very decent guy,
Speaker 3: but he's.
Speaker 1: Also got he's also got to survive where he is
Speaker 1: and where he's going. Sorry, and there is a massive
Speaker 1: misconception in this country Australia. I'm talking about that there's
Speaker 1: not enough talent to go around. That's absolutely boulder dash.
Speaker 1: But that's another story and that's why we've seen so
Speaker 1: many English players over in the NRL now and with
Speaker 1: extra teams coming in, there's going to be even more
Speaker 1: pull on the English resources.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think that'll look.
Speaker 3: There's also a risk to bring players who haven't played NROL,
Speaker 3: so I think they'll look first off for years, Amy Coats,
Speaker 3: you're Locke and Lambs. Your players who either have PNG
Speaker 3: heritage or were born in PNG, but who are experienced
Speaker 3: in the NRL. I think that be their first like
Speaker 3: the Dolphins did. If you remember the Dolphins, they signed
Speaker 3: basically Melbourne's forward pack. Didn't they be aging But they
Speaker 3: find the Bromwich brothers, Cafusi and I signed that ball
Speaker 3: front roll from Sias that you know you need some
Speaker 3: experienced gnard heads and I think that's you know, that'll
Speaker 3: be part of the way they go.
Speaker 2: So I don't think there's any guarantee that he's going
Speaker 2: to got the whole KR.
Speaker 1: And take it to Portmosby your tweet of the week,
Speaker 1: have got to The committee was split on this. The
Speaker 1: committee is only me. So so this is a Johnny D.
Speaker 1: Davidson on x DO like this Warrington ac Milan kit.
Speaker 1: So that's the first one I pulled out. Now, good
Speaker 1: explanation of the kids. A lovely kid. However, I do
Speaker 1: feel they missed a trick in that thirtieth anniversary game.
Speaker 1: They should have commissioned leads in a jersey like the
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six to one with the start and Warrington
Speaker 1: should have played in the green and white deck chair.
Speaker 1: That's what I would have done yesterday, and then they
Speaker 1: should have auctioned them off and raised money for whoever
Speaker 1: they want to raise money for.
Speaker 3: In my opinion, I think that Listen Helen's kid on
Speaker 3: Florida and I was great, but the way they played
Speaker 3: they should probably never Yeah. I looked like I looked
Speaker 3: like Sheffield Wednesday, and they played like Sheffield Wednesday, which
Speaker 3: for anyone who's bloody.
Speaker 1: Terrible, Yeah, it's not good. And that does literally look
Speaker 1: like a deck chair that jersey. You then did a
Speaker 1: tweet where you named your Super League one to thirteen
Speaker 1: as Jamie Lyon, Jamie Lyon, Jamie and Jamie. I know,
Speaker 1: I didn't say it wasn't a joke, but then you
Speaker 1: came up with one and John. Your You're thirteen was
Speaker 1: Sam Tompkins, Ryan Hall, Jamie Lyon, Keith SR, Tommy Makinson,
Speaker 1: Danny McGuire, Rob Burrow, Jamie Peacock, James Roby, Adrian Mawley,
Speaker 1: Liam Farrell, Andy Farrell and Kevin Sinfield. Now I want
Speaker 1: to argue with you, so Sam Tomkins excellent. I want
Speaker 1: to throw Paul Wellens in there as an option. And
Speaker 1: when I was at Wigan, I just felt Paul Wellens
Speaker 1: was just that little bit better than Chris radlan Ski,
Speaker 1: particularly defensively and whatnot. So Paul Paul Wellens is a
Speaker 1: is a name in there. In terms of Ryan Hall
Speaker 1: and Tommy Makinson. I would throw in the names Leslie Vnicolo.
Speaker 1: And you did admit that you'd only been watching Super
Speaker 1: League for so long.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we just proface before you go through the whole thing.
Speaker 3: I didn't pro face my attament the fact that I
Speaker 3: moved to the UK in twenty third and then started
Speaker 3: watching Super lank covering it, so mine's basically based on
Speaker 3: the last thirty years. There wasn't really a lot of
Speaker 3: coverage of Super League before that, or very very very rare,
Speaker 3: So you know, I know there was great as before,
Speaker 3: but I didn't see a lot of them. And Vanacola
Speaker 3: I remember a camera and he was great camera. But
Speaker 3: I know he went to Bradford and was unbelievable for Bradford.
Speaker 3: So yeah, that's and I put my hand up and
Speaker 3: say it's weighted towards the players that I've seen and
Speaker 3: or no more of you did say that Jason Robinson
Speaker 3: is worth a shout on the other wing too, Martin
Speaker 3: Martin Gleeson with Jason.
Speaker 2: Robinson, would you not say, I know what four years?
Speaker 3: I think he went to rugby in two thousands, so
Speaker 3: many played four years of Super League.
Speaker 1: But he got in the Super League Dream Team five times.
Speaker 2: He was a freak.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's one of the best winners all time
Speaker 3: in rugby league history. I would saying in that absolutely.
Speaker 3: Danny McGuire at six. I've resisted this call basically, but
Speaker 3: so many people have told me Bevan French is one
Speaker 3: of the best players ever in super League, So would
Speaker 3: he not be married? I would say, look, I think
Speaker 3: Marion French has been and I would say Danny McGuire
Speaker 3: because he won was it eight Grand Finals and scored
Speaker 3: fifty eight thousand tries?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say for your longevity. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I've also listed Henry Paul who was excellent for Bradford
Speaker 1: and the Bulls were real big and Leon Price. Leon
Speaker 1: Price was excellent standoff. Definitely instead of Rob Burrow, I
Speaker 1: would have thought sean long great player in the props.
Speaker 1: I'm throwing two other names in there, Stuart Field and
Speaker 1: James Graham.
Speaker 2: James Graham massive part of his career in the.
Speaker 1: NRL, so yeah, still a very good Super League prop
Speaker 1: though it was Yeah, some of them, some of the players,
Speaker 1: I mean Leslie Vano spent a fair bit of his
Speaker 1: time in the NRL. So you know it's it's Adrian Morley.
Speaker 1: You've got Adrian Morley in there. He played a lot
Speaker 1: of time at Sydney Rouge the Hookers. Again, James Roby,
Speaker 1: I've had a bit to do with him, great player.
Speaker 1: Buthm and Terry Newton. There was an era in the
Speaker 1: early two thousands where again you could probably hold a
Speaker 1: piece of paper between Kieran Cunningham and Terry Newton. It's
Speaker 1: just that Kieran Cunningham won the won the trophies with
Speaker 1: the team. And the good thing about Kieran Cunningham and
Speaker 1: Terry Newton were there both. They were both big bodies
Speaker 1: as well, so they were very good defensively and people
Speaker 1: didn't particularly want to run at Terry Newton, that's for sure,
Speaker 1: so they could be all sorts going into that tackle,
Speaker 1: not just the shoulder. Second rowers. I don't think Liam
Speaker 1: Farrell is in the same league as Sayer Gareth Ellis.
Speaker 1: I think Gareth Ellis was excellent. Chris joint Of also
Speaker 1: mentioned in there as well. He looked awkward Chris joined
Speaker 1: and he looked like he was so sad when he
Speaker 1: was playing. He had he's head down quite a lot.
Speaker 1: But he was a fantastic second rower. And then of
Speaker 1: course we've got the discussion of where we put Andrew
Speaker 1: Farrell Paul Schulthorpe. Yes, so so Paul Thorpe, you went
Speaker 1: Kevin Simfield at Lock that loose forward and I think
Speaker 1: with Farrell and Paul Schulthorpe they're both off off of
Speaker 1: things at Lock and they both loose forward, and they
Speaker 1: both offer things that can be used in the second role,
Speaker 1: So I would probably interchange them during the game.
Speaker 3: I think, I think never, you can never. With those
Speaker 3: kind of teams, you can never. You're always leaving good
Speaker 3: players out. And I think if you have an a bench,
Speaker 3: you definitely have players in seventeen, players like Skulthorpe, Sinfield.
Speaker 3: You know these guys Price who can play center five
Speaker 3: eighths an if you're not playing front road ay for
Speaker 3: a bit, like they just freaks, you know, So you
Speaker 3: have you have, Yeah, there's there's just so many good
Speaker 3: players that yeah, you never you never.
Speaker 1: Know when ever getting to agree on a perfect thing.
Speaker 1: So that's why the discussion, that's why the discussion is
Speaker 1: so good. The Rugby League tweet of the week and
Speaker 1: also Lee's laugh, was from Matt Kennell, who said, not
Speaker 1: seeing Warrington's right wing, this toothle wasn't exposed on primetime
Speaker 1: TV since that time. Farage got milkshake outside Woolies in
Speaker 1: town Johnny's jab this week, you want to talk about
Speaker 1: Martin Vickers. Something's happened there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well it's a very interesting I heard a rumor
Speaker 3: a while back So for people who don't know Martin Vickers,
Speaker 3: I was to see at Featherstone for several years. To
Speaker 3: be I guess careful how I framed this, but look,
Speaker 3: I think if you don't know Martin vickers history in
Speaker 3: British rugby league, you can google him. He worked at Salford.
Speaker 3: He used to see Salford and mar and cu Cash.
Speaker 3: He worked at Swinton. Briefly he was the I think
Speaker 3: it was some sort of business manager or you know.
Speaker 3: He had a senior role at Toronto wolf Pack. We
Speaker 3: see Featherston and now has joined the commercial department at Bradford.
Speaker 2: Now it's Alford.
Speaker 3: There's allegations about money not being paid to players and
Speaker 3: suppliers and they reached the salary cap in that time Toronto,
Speaker 3: same thing, money not being paid. Toronto eventually went bust
Speaker 3: with millions zero to players and suppliers and coaches, et cetera.
Speaker 3: Featherston as we went into administration and then in December
Speaker 3: again I did a series of stories in early twenty
Speaker 3: twenty four about you know, players taking the club to
Speaker 3: court over money, you know one employment trivials, et cetera.
Speaker 2: So there is a pattern there.
Speaker 3: I'm not implying anything you can, you know, go to
Speaker 3: Google and yeah, just my my point is why do
Speaker 3: these clubs employ these sorts of people with these kind
Speaker 3: of cvs?
Speaker 2: Like how stupid ronic do you have to be?
Speaker 3: And I've had that many people after I published that
Speaker 3: story yesterday messaged me and I'm talking like legends of
Speaker 3: their sport, you know, CEOs eccess, Like what are they?
Speaker 2: What are Bradford doing?
Speaker 3: And it is weird because Bradford give a lot Bradford
Speaker 3: a lot of credit. They've done a lot to get
Speaker 3: back in the Super League. They're doing their best to
Speaker 3: fix onsore. They're doing really well on the field. I
Speaker 3: think Kurt Haggy it's a brilliant coach. They deserve you know,
Speaker 3: the crowds have been great, deserve a lot of credit,
Speaker 3: but just why hire him? Like yeah, it's just it's
Speaker 3: just a bad look. And I think a lot of fans,
Speaker 3: particularly Featherston fans, Alford fans, Toronto fans have been incensed
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's a really it's a really weird one.
Speaker 3: You're the Englishmen, and you know you lived and breathed
Speaker 3: and worked in English rugby league for a long time.
Speaker 2: Can you explain it. How these people keep getting recycled.
Speaker 3: And it's not just Martin because there's it happens with
Speaker 3: a lot of people, and in the British rugby league.
Speaker 1: It happens. In Australia.
Speaker 2: It seems to happen a lot more because it's a
Speaker 2: lot smaller in I.
Speaker 1: Think, why does it happen? I think there's something about
Speaker 1: rugby league. I always think. I always describe rugby league
Speaker 1: people as like a scarecrow. They're there to scare anybody
Speaker 1: else away. And how dare you come into the our
Speaker 1: patch that is ours and you scratch my back and
Speaker 1: I scratch yours yep, And I think that probably answers
Speaker 1: the question anyway. Talking about bursting bursting through glass ceilings, Johnny,
Speaker 1: you've been nominated for an award with a load of
Speaker 1: rugby union writers.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I've been shortlisted for Rugby Journalists of the
Speaker 3: Year at the British Sports Journalism Awards. It was very
Speaker 3: nice of the Ie paper to nominate me for the
Speaker 3: work I did for them last year. And yeah, surprised
Speaker 3: to be shortlisted with five other well five of rugby.
Speaker 2: Joe. I don't think rugby league.
Speaker 3: I had a few people contact me and said they
Speaker 3: can't remember when rugby leagues have been nominated in this
Speaker 3: for journalism, So yeah, it's it's a massive honor. And yeah,
Speaker 3: looking forward to I don't think hell shits of winning,
Speaker 3: but I'm looking forward to.
Speaker 1: Well done, well done. It'd be a nice pistol some
Speaker 1: night somewhere fancy. So the London Palladium play down with
Speaker 1: the Capital the biggest when when you go up on
Speaker 1: stage to get your award, don't don't call anybody a
Speaker 1: name you shouldn't, right, or don't.
Speaker 2: Said that you need to get some new lines.
Speaker 1: But yeah, all right, let's go through some news items
Speaker 1: if you like, or discussion items before we go through
Speaker 1: last week results. Question the giant are unleash?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 1: Is Liam Finn or Andy Kelly the interim head coach?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's a bizarre one because I mean
Speaker 3: they named Andy Kelly, who's the director run. He did
Speaker 3: the midweek press conference, but then at the game it
Speaker 3: was Liam Finn in the box corner shots and then
Speaker 3: he did the.
Speaker 1: Post match And I've also seen it written on TV
Speaker 1: interim assistant coach and I've also seen interim coach.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you currently be an interim you wouldn't
Speaker 3: be an interim assistant coach. He is an assistant coach. Yeah,
Speaker 3: the bizarre one. And I had to chuckle because I
Speaker 3: don't know what had a feel for pain. But it
Speaker 3: would have been massive odds to win that game. My
Speaker 3: piece on the Giants crisis was online on Thursday, but
Speaker 3: then renting Saturday's paper on the ice.
Speaker 2: Of course they win the first character that day.
Speaker 1: But do you remember last week a podcast we work
Speaker 1: off We've got their training run agates orders Field.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's the beauty of that's the beauty
Speaker 3: of spoilers that look at But I think when you
Speaker 3: look at it, and I didn't. I've seen the highlights
Speaker 3: of the game. I didn't watch it live. But Haddersfield
Speaker 3: had nigh levels back. They had Adam klehmanback, that had
Speaker 3: wolf about. I had a whole spine back and talking
Speaker 3: to people someone yesterday who was at the game, Wigan
Speaker 3: were very poor and Haddersfield everything went their way like
Speaker 3: they were good.
Speaker 2: Look your sock a coach.
Speaker 3: You know, in across all sportsly sometimes you get a
Speaker 3: response the next week that kind of puts and also
Speaker 3: Hardersfield were going to win a game at some point,
Speaker 3: like I joked, because I've seen them a fair bit
Speaker 3: earlier season, like they were so bad, you can't say,
Speaker 3: but even the worst teams win a game.
Speaker 1: Well not at the top of the table. Well look
Speaker 1: at their ground. It just doesn't happen.
Speaker 3: Look, I think we can you know, they're definitely without
Speaker 3: the two best player in the competition in French and
Speaker 3: Field like they are.
Speaker 1: I've come back to the part of it, John, They've
Speaker 1: come back to the Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I hadn't lost a game, so they were
Speaker 3: they were going to drop a game at some point.
Speaker 3: But full credit to Huddersfield, I think, you know, if
Speaker 3: you're Luke Robinson, you're like, wtf, you know, because the
Speaker 3: big thing is they had a number of their injured players,
Speaker 3: but they had their spine back. So yeah, that was
Speaker 3: a that was a remarkable result, you know, and I
Speaker 3: think we're going to be Maydie Pete I think.
Speaker 2: Was very gracious.
Speaker 3: He just feel were much much better than I deserved
Speaker 3: the wind and yeah, that's all there is to it.
Speaker 1: Super League celebrated thirty years. Tell us what happened. I've
Speaker 1: not seen I've not seen the celebrations. Basically, I've seen
Speaker 1: clips on socials, but yeah, there wasn't a procession.
Speaker 2: Down you know.
Speaker 1: The Hemmings came back.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, you look.
Speaker 3: I think I've not watched the coverage back because I
Speaker 3: was out having yesterday. But there was sixteen thousand people there.
Speaker 3: I think Sky has done a great job throughout the week.
Speaker 3: You know, the shirts, I think they were it was
Speaker 3: great at casts the Yeah, the retro shirts. So obviously
Speaker 3: a lot of teams were playing in six.
Speaker 1: Kiit or yeah, Bo Warrington and Leeds didn't.
Speaker 2: No, I don't know.
Speaker 3: I don't know the reasons exactly for that, but look,
Speaker 3: there was sixteen thousand headly.
Speaker 2: It was absolutely terrible.
Speaker 3: There was the wind was howling and it was about
Speaker 3: one degrees with the windshill fact and a pissed down
Speaker 3: rain which played havoc for particularly the kickers. But sixteen
Speaker 3: thousand people. It was a great atmosphere, great event. Sixteen minutes.
Speaker 3: The eighty minutes was was bonkers and really really entertaining,
Speaker 3: and yeah it was I thought it was a good day.
Speaker 3: It was a good celebration for thirty years of the sport.
Speaker 3: Pretty good round I think in terms of results. As
Speaker 3: we mentioned, you know, big upset again Huddersfield.
Speaker 1: That be one of the biggest upsets in the thirty years.
Speaker 2: Probably up there.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Look, I think when one of their four in
Speaker 3: their four pat London beats in Helen's and I think
Speaker 3: to lose beats in Helens might have been twenty two
Speaker 3: or twenty three when you know when they were you know,
Speaker 3: by far the most dominant team. But yeah, it was
Speaker 3: a great upset. You know, Cast bouncing back on Friday
Speaker 3: night at Thursday night sorry whole kr back to their
Speaker 3: best to lose league old point, you know, league getting
Speaker 3: back and win. I think that was pretty entertaining. And
Speaker 3: then holl of Ce, you know, another win. So look,
Speaker 3: I think it's been a great round of action and
Speaker 3: results and yeah, thirty years of Super League, I mean
Speaker 3: it's been i'd say boom and bust. A bit of
Speaker 3: a roller coaster, but lots of great moments from you know,
Speaker 3: Magic Weekend and you know Paris and Barcelona, Las Vegas, Helicopters,
Speaker 3: Harvestfield Club call, lots of things, isn't it. I mean,
Speaker 3: you can, as I said, I've I've sort of been
Speaker 3: more focused on Super League for the last thirteen years,
Speaker 3: but you could probably fill in the seventeen before that, when.
Speaker 1: You're definitely go some way to that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the.
Speaker 1: Wakefield club had some big news Roger Toovarta Schek, Yeah,
Speaker 1: signing them Yeah next year.
Speaker 2: I mean, I've not watched.
Speaker 3: Trying to think. I'm not seen much of the Warriors
Speaker 3: this year, so I don't know exactly how Roger's been playing.
Speaker 3: But I'll preface this by saying Roger's been one of
Speaker 3: my favorite players to watch in his career started like
Speaker 3: a house on fire at the Roosters, went over to
Speaker 3: the Warriors, and I think Dalian Player of the Year
Speaker 3: twenty eighteen and then Golden Boot winner twenty nineteen. Just
Speaker 3: a sensational player, one of the best, was one of
Speaker 3: the best players in the world. Went to rugby union.
Speaker 3: I thought he would kill it in rugby union. I
Speaker 3: know he played in the center. I think it was
Speaker 3: inside center, and I thought probably more of a wingful wap.
Speaker 3: But I didn't really see him play rugby union. But look,
Speaker 3: he made a couple of caps in the All Blacks
Speaker 3: and that's the main three. But look, come back to
Speaker 3: the rugby league. It's still a very good player. I
Speaker 3: don't know how much is left in the tank. He's
Speaker 3: thirty three in June. Yeah, so what he'll be thirty
Speaker 3: five by the end of his Wakefield deal. I think
Speaker 3: I think he would have got another year at most
Speaker 3: of our rold clubs. Whether they would would have given
Speaker 3: him two years, which is obviously Wakefield have done, I
Speaker 3: don't know. So look, I think we can judge the signing,
Speaker 3: you know, once he's playing for Wakefield and how much
Speaker 3: we've got left. But look as a name, as a profile,
Speaker 3: he's a fantastic sign for Wakefield.
Speaker 2: I think you noticed league like Wakefield.
Speaker 3: Well, apart from maybe Wally Lewis and Ray Price in
Speaker 3: the eighties, they're not signed you know, massive names. They
Speaker 3: plan it's been the best plan the world. It's been
Speaker 3: Wigan or Leeds or Saint Helen's have done that. So
Speaker 3: it's huge. It's a huge signing for Wakefield and you know,
Speaker 3: kind of put some on the map and they're a
Speaker 3: club on the app. They've changed a lot last to be.
Speaker 1: So, so, as we already mentioned at the top of
Speaker 1: the show, there's a bit of coaching merry go round
Speaker 1: going on or potentially going on, and there's now a
Speaker 1: there's now a vacancy at Sulford r C. And there's
Speaker 1: also a vacancy at Manly.
Speaker 2: So the.
Speaker 3: Link there is you're from Sulfur and a self affair
Speaker 3: and you worked at Mainly, So what are you doing
Speaker 3: at these clubs?
Speaker 2: Makee you're poison the the straight bat that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've had to let it through to the keeper.
Speaker 1: Matt Alan will be the Manly coach.
Speaker 3: So Brad Arthur is not going to get that job
Speaker 3: in my opinion, because yeah, can I can I just
Speaker 3: can I just read out? So obviously I was there
Speaker 3: headingly yesterday postmatch press conference. Brad Arthur is in there
Speaker 3: talking about the police when blah blah blah blah. You know,
Speaker 3: not that many questions, you know, no one else has pasked,
Speaker 3: so it's about then, so I jump in on us
Speaker 3: and look to be honest. Brad Arthur has always I mean,
Speaker 3: he applied for the Perth job while he was Leeds coach.
Speaker 2: He didn't get it.
Speaker 3: I think he was in the running for the P
Speaker 3: and G job, and he's always said, you know, he's
Speaker 3: contract to the end of this year. He's always said
Speaker 3: he wants to go back to Australia. So he's not
Speaker 3: only been reporting this trade meder as a care for
Speaker 3: the manly job. Since Seabold was sacked on Friday. He's
Speaker 3: also a former mainly assistant coach. Yeah, so it's theoretical
Speaker 3: that he would be interested in that job.
Speaker 2: So I asked him.
Speaker 3: He interestedly said, uh, there's about a minute response. He said,
Speaker 3: I read it out to here. This is the quote
Speaker 3: I reckon. I've been pretty honest and fair all the
Speaker 3: way through. I don't think it's fair in the club.
Speaker 3: That would be leads if we keep having these conversations,
Speaker 3: like I'm committed to the club, what will be will be.
Speaker 3: I've got until June thirty, June twenty nine. I'll tell
Speaker 3: everybody what I'm doing. I'm not trying to drag it out,
Speaker 3: but it's hard for me being away from Australia. But
Speaker 3: i feel like I've come here and on everything that
Speaker 3: I said I was going to do, and I'm trying
Speaker 3: to make the club a better club, and the players
Speaker 3: are buying in and what happens back in Australia, I've
Speaker 3: got no control over. People can say I'm in for
Speaker 3: doing this or doing that, but I'm committed to this
Speaker 3: team right now and I've got until June thirty to
Speaker 3: make a decision about whether I stay or not. I'm
Speaker 3: not trying to be rude. I'm trying to be appreciative
Speaker 3: of where I'm at. But I don't think it's fair.
Speaker 3: I don't need to continue to justify my position for
Speaker 3: the club.
Speaker 1: I think that's what good words. And he's one of
Speaker 1: those goages that's been really respectful to the club that's
Speaker 1: out in those words too. He's definitely going to be
Speaker 1: a candidate for the Manlely job.
Speaker 3: However, reading between the lines, he's interested in the mainly job.
Speaker 1: The problem at Manley John is all the signs are
Speaker 1: pointing that it's going to be old boy time again.
Speaker 1: And by old boy, I don't been a coach that
Speaker 1: worked as an assistant for a year time, and I
Speaker 1: just think there's so many things pointing at that. Jason
Speaker 1: King was also X teammate of Matt Balin, and he's
Speaker 1: a big fan of Matt Balin. Apparently on the Channel
Speaker 1: nine Footy show yesterday that was the name, that was
Speaker 1: the name, and Jason King was on the panel. So
Speaker 1: I think that's the direction they're going to go in.
Speaker 1: So I am predicting Brad Arthur will end up without
Speaker 1: that job.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: I don't know if anybody thought the Cowboys would beat Melbourne,
Speaker 1: but that the Cowboys job is obviously a job that
Speaker 1: will be hovering around in the background. And the Saint
Speaker 1: George I lall wore a job as well because they
Speaker 1: are rock bottom of the ladder after losing yesterday to
Speaker 1: the Gold Coast Titans in the first Spoon Bowl of
Speaker 1: the year. Now, why all these coaches are looking at
Speaker 1: the n r L when the Salford job is available,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Mike Mike Grady left the club last week.
Speaker 1: Somebody who has more lives than any cat I ever
Speaker 1: encountered his Nigel would he's back. He's back as chairman
Speaker 1: of the Rugby Football League and he was voted in.
Speaker 1: But there was some opposition. John tell us about that.
Speaker 3: Yes, I saw Nigel yesterday on the way and he
Speaker 3: said hello, I said, allow back. Uh No, I don't
Speaker 3: think he's the biggest fair of me in my work.
Speaker 3: But that's we can talk about that other time. But yeah,
Speaker 3: it's no surprise that Niger was voted in. I think
Speaker 3: was interesting that there was some opposition and if you
Speaker 3: look at it, essentially four of the twelve eligible club
Speaker 3: Super League clubs who could vote for him didn't vote
Speaker 3: for him. Now Callens and Toulouse don't have a vote
Speaker 3: because they're French clubs and they're not members of the RFL.
Speaker 3: But Wigan voted against him, half C voted against him,
Speaker 3: York voted against him, and Castleford abstained.
Speaker 2: Now you could say the other interesting point is.
Speaker 3: They're all owned or have new owners, so they're not
Speaker 3: owners who've been in the game for ten twenty thirty years.
Speaker 3: So Mike Dancon only took over at Wigan two on
Speaker 3: a bit years ago, Andrew Thirkle took over OLFC last year,
Speaker 3: Clint Goodchild it's been at York for three or four years,
Speaker 3: and Martin Jemsen took over a cast what was it
Speaker 3: two years ago, so it's interesting there is a bit
Speaker 3: of opposition to him, and then Witness and Newcastle Thunder
Speaker 3: also voted against him in the Championship, So yeah, it
Speaker 3: is interesting. You can judge social media or online reaction
Speaker 3: but and it doesn't necessarily mean thank he's a bad
Speaker 3: administrator or anything. But the I would say like ninety
Speaker 3: nine percent of the reaction to Niger would being voted
Speaker 3: in by rugularge fans is horrendously negative. Now make of
Speaker 3: that what you will be, But you could use that
Speaker 3: as an indicator when it is so vastly on the one.
Speaker 2: Side, Why is that the case.
Speaker 1: Yair crawl in the field.
Speaker 3: Well, look, niger Would's been working in rugby league, running clubs,
Speaker 3: running the RFL since the mid nineties.
Speaker 1: We did after the hooter, Caasford getting their win over
Speaker 1: Bradford on Thursday and what was a very entertaining game.
Speaker 1: And then on Friday k I'll scored fifty two against
Speaker 1: Saint Helen's who only scored ten tries, three from Burgess,
Speaker 1: three from Lewis, Litton, Batch and Whitbred. Eight goals from Lewis.
Speaker 1: St Helen's ten points came from a dagonal try, a
Speaker 1: right try and a Hastings goal. Nine tries o KR
Speaker 1: scored and they run riot in the first half. It
Speaker 1: was thirty nil at halftime.
Speaker 3: The game was over at half time. I mean this
Speaker 3: was whole car back to the best. The Lion speed
Speaker 3: was really really good. Sot Alan's missing a few bodies,
Speaker 3: but they were just quite soft. I think the Delayey
Speaker 3: knocked the ball on from the kickoff or sorry whoever
Speaker 3: caught the ball from the golf past him and he
Speaker 3: knocked it on and it didn't get any better since then.
Speaker 3: So it was interesting obviously that Willie Peters news. It
Speaker 3: was only confirmed by a club on Sunday morning, but
Speaker 3: everyone knew Thursday that he was going, and you wonder
Speaker 3: sort of what reaction, but it might galvanize ol care
Speaker 3: is that that we want to send Willie out with
Speaker 3: another trophy or two trophies. But yeah, it was It
Speaker 3: was a morning. It was an absolute annihilation and that
Speaker 3: was the whole hour of where twenty five. So Saint
Speaker 3: Helen's yeah, a fair wake up call. They were well
Speaker 3: well off the place.
Speaker 1: Not for the first time on this podcast, on my
Speaker 1: YouTube or whatever, I am going to mention poor Rowley.
Speaker 1: Poor Rowley's teams and defense, particularly edge defense this week.
Speaker 1: They just look so confused. AnyWho. York fourteen Wakefield twenty six.
Speaker 1: York scored tries through Wood, Jones, Bishop and Williams, and
Speaker 1: Williams kicked a goal. Wakefield twenty six came from hamling
Speaker 1: U La perhaps scored to Johnston scored two and goals
Speaker 1: were two from Jowett and one from Simfield. That's the
Speaker 1: third win on the bounce for Wakefield and they've clawed
Speaker 1: the way back up to fourth. A few weeks ago
Speaker 1: we were a little bit worried about them, but we
Speaker 1: always felt that they had plenty of the tank and
Speaker 1: they were going to get better. So that's that stood
Speaker 1: up to scrutiny there. What was that game?
Speaker 3: Like John Well, I was watching how Okay our game,
Speaker 3: so I've only seen the highlights. This is the joy
Speaker 3: when the games are all at the same time. But
Speaker 3: from what the highlights I've seen and what I've read
Speaker 3: about a game, you know, I think Wakefield started strong,
Speaker 3: York came back into it, and then Wakefield sort of
Speaker 3: moved ahead.
Speaker 2: But it was a close game. A lot of injuries
Speaker 2: for York book.
Speaker 3: I think they didn't have well two of their half
Speaker 3: backs were out, so Paul McShane had to play in
Speaker 3: the halves the hookups, which is never a good thing.
Speaker 3: And I think RI York's death depth is really being
Speaker 3: tested now. Add a few more injuries from that game,
Speaker 3: Sam would matter half of their fullback who's been brilliant
Speaker 3: for them. So I think everyone was saying after what
Speaker 3: round two, rounds three or round one, Round two, rounds three.
Speaker 3: Are these new promoted teams are doing great? You know,
Speaker 3: it's been a success. We will judge it actually the
Speaker 3: end of the season. And I think now is that
Speaker 3: the third game York have lost in a row, or
Speaker 3: at least at least two. And I think, you know,
Speaker 3: they've not gone a lot of depth because they do
Speaker 3: not spend a lot of money of the cap, because
Speaker 3: they don't have the money. And I think they're really
Speaker 3: going to I think they've overachieved because Mark Applegarth is
Speaker 3: a great coach and the players have been playing above themselves.
Speaker 3: But I think they're going to struggle to lose another
Speaker 3: loss for them and Bradford and lost for them, and
Speaker 3: Bradford were very poor on Thursday night, So yeah, I
Speaker 3: think New York keep fighting. But then they got Huddersfield
Speaker 3: this weekend and if those players are out for extended
Speaker 3: period of time and they're missing the half backs and
Speaker 3: their spine and the fullback putting your money on how
Speaker 3: to spiel At the moment.
Speaker 1: Lee ended a four match losing streak, although they did
Speaker 1: give up a twenty mierl lead and they were taken
Speaker 1: into Golden Point, but they beat to lose one of
Speaker 1: those promoted sides in Golden Point. Did you see this game, John,
Speaker 1: I watched. I watched the highlights. Are up twenty nil Lee.
Speaker 3: In the first I think thirty odd Lock and Lander
Speaker 3: really pulling the strings and they were looking really good
Speaker 3: and then to lose come back into it actual bought
Speaker 3: quite influential a dumb sing bin from from Lee as well,
Speaker 3: and yeah, went down to the Golden Point to Louise
Speaker 3: will probably be kicking themselves that they didn't get the
Speaker 3: win here even though they were, you know, twenty all behind,
Speaker 3: and you would think, you know, Lee get that score up.
Speaker 3: You've just got to close the game out, don't you.
Speaker 3: But Gareth ob the legend of Salford and other clubs.
Speaker 2: He loves.
Speaker 3: He loves a drop goal winner, doesn't he. Right, that's
Speaker 3: right Salford that time he's one. I think he did
Speaker 3: it the casts as well. He's won quite a few
Speaker 3: games in Golden Point. But I was watching it. They
Speaker 3: just they went for it early in the set and
Speaker 3: there was like no pressure kick pressure like to Louse
Speaker 3: did not see it coming. Yeah, so that I mean
Speaker 3: he may have still kicked it even we kick prushure.
Speaker 3: But look, that's great win for Lee that they've lost
Speaker 3: a few and they've had a lot of injuries, but
Speaker 3: to loose, yeah, I think it's just going to get
Speaker 3: tougher and tougher for them. Still on two wins, two
Speaker 3: wins Olympic ye try two out of six, it's two.
Speaker 2: Out of six and I think is it next weekend?
Speaker 3: I think they've got catalans in the French Derby, so
Speaker 3: that'll be there'll be tears, there'll be emotions that the
Speaker 3: far in French, they'll be pumped.
Speaker 1: The tries for Lee were Charley with a double senior
Speaker 1: and Horned Cook kicked two goals from the kicking Tea
Speaker 1: and O'Brien, like you said, got the field goal drop
Speaker 1: goal to lose. Their twenty came from Tropis Laguerre scored
Speaker 1: two tries and Shoreroops kicked four goals. Wigan sixteen with
Speaker 1: tries from Ecasley, farrym and Farrell and two goals from
Speaker 1: Smith lost to Huddersfield thirty four tries from Gaguy, Zennon, Evels, Douglas,
Speaker 1: Wrench and Clune and five goals from Zennon. What does
Speaker 1: field squad fake six tries and they've only managed day
Speaker 1: in their previous five.
Speaker 2: What happened.
Speaker 3: Look, we've already talked a little bit of this game,
Speaker 3: but that's what happens when you have your first show spine.
Speaker 2: I think Nile Levels was was great.
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, set up a try, a lovely trailer
Speaker 3: on scored a try, Adam Klune halfback directings, exactly who
Speaker 3: you want, Zach Wolford, hooker, big impact, the thing that
Speaker 3: I really like, and you know, quite a wrench on
Speaker 3: Devoot was very good and Douglas the winger from Saint
Speaker 3: Alan's alone was it was outstanding. But the the try
Speaker 3: set up but I'm not sure if you've seen it leave,
Speaker 3: but Tom Burgess cut it past to the winger. I mean,
Speaker 3: how often in Tom Burgess's career, and he's had a
Speaker 3: great career you see a prop forward he's like one
Speaker 3: hundred and twenty cages, he throw a cutout.
Speaker 2: To score.
Speaker 3: So they've been unleashed. They've been unleashed, I have been
Speaker 3: Look look all the bad press, all the criticism, they
Speaker 3: are unleashed. They are off the leash. Yeah, so well
Speaker 3: done to Hardersfield. It must deserve to win.
Speaker 1: Now, talking of unleashed, it's funny what you said about
Speaker 1: Steve McNamara and WHI left C earlier and potential words
Speaker 1: around John cart right, because they yeah, they seem to.
Speaker 1: They seem to have turned a bit of a corner.
Speaker 1: Haull f C twenty four with tries from Roman Or
Speaker 1: Martin moy and his own goals were from harda crew
Speaker 1: scored four over the Catalans, twenty tries from Mark Dorella
Speaker 1: tor Or two Stains scored one and sect and kicked
Speaker 1: two goals. That's back to back wins for whole le
Speaker 1: f C, isn't it.
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Off the back of that that great win over Leeds.
Speaker 3: Look, I was I was at heading Leaders game was
Speaker 3: just before the Leeds game, and I was mingling with
Speaker 3: the likes of Gary Schofield and Francis Cummings and Phil
Speaker 3: Kaplan distainable Phil Kaplan. So I didn't say this game,
Speaker 3: but cat Leans just for me, the the ultimate caplan.
Speaker 3: Then it's doable, the cromulent film caplan. They are a
Speaker 3: yo yo team Catalans, aren't they like? It's kind of
Speaker 3: the Catalans of years ago before matt Namara. They correctly
Speaker 3: brought it one week and dog dog shit the.
Speaker 1: Next lads put on the record of how English your
Speaker 1: accent sounds at times now, particularly when you say Catalans,
Speaker 1: because you say Catalans like a bank.
Speaker 2: That's that's an insult. I won't take that.
Speaker 3: But look, they were brilliant against whole k R. And
Speaker 3: I don't know how they went yesterday apart from I
Speaker 3: don't know how they performed, but yeah, obviously I think
Speaker 3: good on them a couple of Wednesday. But yeah, the
Speaker 3: look there is talk about John Cartwright's future behind the scenes.
Speaker 3: I spoke to a few people yesterday who heard similar things. Yeah,
Speaker 3: we wanted but look, they can't really move him on
Speaker 3: if he keeps winning. Can I know John cart Right?
Speaker 3: You know two wins. Yeah, they just need to keep
Speaker 3: performing and they'll get some more players back off to
Speaker 3: the treatment table and they could keep motoring.
Speaker 2: Up the table.
Speaker 1: Heading Lee it was microsivol twelve, everyone else in the
Speaker 1: Leeds Jersey eight six fourteen to come up with a
Speaker 1: total of twenty six and Warrington twenty two with tries
Speaker 1: from Josh Soules, Smith with two and King Golds were
Speaker 1: three from Irwin. That sounded like a belting game.
Speaker 3: It was, yeah, like as I said, the conditions were
Speaker 3: horrible and the first twenty minutes weren't great, and then
Speaker 3: it sort of come alive. It was really entertaining. The
Speaker 3: lead was changing, it was tense, it was a bit
Speaker 3: of you know, some dubious pause. It was controversial moments
Speaker 3: at different times of the game. But some great skool
Speaker 3: Civo just seems to be getting, you know, at least
Speaker 3: early on. Warrington got a group to him in the
Speaker 3: second half and really put some pressure on him and
Speaker 3: some bodies in front of him. But first half he
Speaker 3: was just getting the ball in space. It's just strolling over,
Speaker 3: I mean, which he's done for a long time. But
Speaker 3: Warrington will be I think a little bit frustrated. I
Speaker 3: go because I started really well. Josh Lewis for me.
Speaker 3: I mean, if you're picking in England team for the
Speaker 3: World Cup, you've got Josh Lewis in your squad. So
Speaker 3: she's playing fullback with Taylor Ray out, but he can
Speaker 3: play wing, he can play center. Just a really really
Speaker 3: good young player, great ball runner, strong, tough, good defender.
Speaker 2: But yeah, brilliant game.
Speaker 3: Leeds came back into it, and then you know, once
Speaker 3: Connor and Miller started to find space, grabbing across the
Speaker 3: field and just opening and warranted up, particularly on their
Speaker 3: their right edge, Warrington's right edge, and then you and
Speaker 3: Owen we've talked about him. I think before Lee and
Speaker 3: Johns thinks he's one of the best young halfbacks he's
Speaker 3: seen for a long time. And you know, I'm sure
Speaker 3: he's got a massive grip. It was a tough Afternoonew
Speaker 3: like Colum Watkins got in his face that really closed
Speaker 3: him down. He made a few errors, but if you are,
Speaker 3: if you're warranting, you know, look their first loss of
Speaker 3: the season. There were no by no means embarrassed. You know,
Speaker 3: I could have won the game. So I think if
Speaker 3: you're warranting, you're not too disappointed, you know. And Leeds
Speaker 3: really needed that. We two losses in a row after
Speaker 3: the Cup going at the Cup and then thatdded buy
Speaker 3: holl of Sea. So yeah, big win for Leeds. But yeah,
Speaker 3: just a great, great afternoon. As I said, it kind
Speaker 3: of capped off the dirtieth celebrations very well.
Speaker 1: I need your predictions, John, because we need to start
Speaker 1: predicting games now because of what happened with Huddersfield and
Speaker 1: Wigan just right in the mall. So Friday, Good Friday,
Speaker 1: and we'll be reviewing all leason after the hooter, after
Speaker 1: the final hooter. Maybe we should call it after the hooters.
Speaker 1: This week Whole KR and Hull f C Open proceedings
Speaker 1: at lunchtime. Who do you winner there?
Speaker 3: I think, considering the record they've had over them in
Speaker 3: recent Derby's and probably in terms of fit bodies, definitely
Speaker 3: Whole KR. I think, yeah, they get back to their best.
Speaker 1: Saint Helens versus Wigan at three o'clock, yeah, I think
Speaker 1: it's the tough one.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure.
Speaker 3: With Wigan if there's any injuries from their game, but
Speaker 3: I think I think we're getting a close one. Both
Speaker 3: teams coming off a loss and Helens are missing. They've
Speaker 3: still got a very very good squad, but you take
Speaker 3: you know, Wellsby and Lee's and some of those players out,
Speaker 3: it's it's going to be hard and I think we're
Speaker 3: going to be really really fight up.
Speaker 2: So I think I think we're going.
Speaker 1: Bradford host Leeds at eight o'clock.
Speaker 2: Again, it's a.
Speaker 3: Difficult one because they're all over motion and yeah, really
Speaker 3: big grab.
Speaker 2: But I think maybe just leads sort of favorites.
Speaker 1: On Saturday, the resurgent, unleashed Huddersfield Giants play at three
Speaker 1: o'clock against York Knights.
Speaker 3: Yeah, be hazards to think. You know, the York have
Speaker 3: kept surprising me already this season. But with those injuries,
Speaker 3: that picked up and had a Field Boyd with some
Speaker 3: fit bodies back and a big win over Wig and
Speaker 3: I think I think maybe had a s field.
Speaker 1: Warrington played Lee at exactly the same time.
Speaker 3: Again, yeah, they coming off a good win, Warrington off
Speaker 3: a loss. But I think I think Warrington, you know,
Speaker 3: I think wardon All.
Speaker 2: Had too much for him.
Speaker 1: Ludarby frontie between Catalan and to loose at nine at
Speaker 1: seven o'clock UK time.
Speaker 2: Another one where you're kind of flipping a coiner bit.
Speaker 2: I think Catlin's at home.
Speaker 3: You know, they've had a better recent record than to lose,
Speaker 3: and I think maybe to lose it's just like death
Speaker 3: Flies might be struggling a bit so. But again I
Speaker 3: wouldn't be surprised to see to Lucier in the one.
Speaker 3: But I think I think maybe the Dragons.
Speaker 1: I mean, depending on how many French players are playing,
Speaker 1: then obviously their local issues will come to the foe
Speaker 1: as well. There there wherever they've grown up and who
Speaker 1: they hate and who they don't hate and whatnot that
Speaker 1: will come into come into the performance as well. And
Speaker 1: then on Sunday Castle for Tigers host Wakefield.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is this is an interesting one because as
Speaker 3: you said, as we just said, wakefielder build them a
Speaker 3: bit of momentum now a couple of wins. Obviously, the
Speaker 3: RTS news everything you know, been looking good for Waight
Speaker 3: for the moment, but Cast coming off that match needed
Speaker 3: pressure relieving win over Bradford at home. Still like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I think I think the bookies still have wake for Wakefield. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think they've probably been on paper they've got the
Speaker 3: better squad, But yeah, I think there are better times
Speaker 3: ahead for Casts in the long term.
Speaker 2: Well, I certainly hope that.
Speaker 1: I think we've sort of covered the NRL with the
Speaker 1: coaches and whatnot. Penrith are still better than everyone else
Speaker 1: at the moment. Questions came in Saint Philip Boyd the
Speaker 1: second said, why don't players fail hi ads in training?
Speaker 1: Obviously match day is more intense. However, how can players
Speaker 1: only be tested during eighty minutes per week if the
Speaker 1: RFL a claiming player welfare that was a question from
Speaker 1: Saint Philip's X account.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, it's a really good question.
Speaker 3: I don't I mean, there's not I don't think doctor's
Speaker 3: viewing training in my in my knowledge, I don't think
Speaker 3: know where in cashion math guards that activate when you know, Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think this is a really big issue.
Speaker 1: I think I'll come down to resources, won't it the
Speaker 1: ability to pay medical staff?
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, I think more recently, I think that's
Speaker 3: one of the big worries that you know, some clubs,
Speaker 3: I think I think the Roosters in Melbourne definitely do that.
Speaker 3: They train, you know, one and a half times game speed,
Speaker 3: don't they. So they're training their contact sessions are so brutal,
Speaker 3: and I think that's one thing long term that we
Speaker 3: need to try and get out of, is trying to
Speaker 3: lessen that load in training.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I think that's a big problem.
Speaker 3: I think the modern world people are a bit more
Speaker 3: you know, they know about concussion and they're a bit
Speaker 3: more wary of that and in science. But look at
Speaker 3: what happened with Tonga Lee. You know, that was a
Speaker 3: big part of my French But stuff up, wasn't it
Speaker 3: with Katowa?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 1: So I didn't know, I didn't know stuff that was French.
Speaker 2: I was going to use the F word, but then
Speaker 2: we get back from YouTube, don't we. So I won't
Speaker 2: do that.
Speaker 1: But you know that he may never play again, and
Speaker 1: you know he could have had some news today as well.
Speaker 1: Kamakamika has had a stroke.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that. Wow, that's that's terrible.
Speaker 1: You know, he's been in hospital and apparently he's complaining,
Speaker 1: you're going to miss the game at the weekend, so
Speaker 1: he's you know, it's not you know, he's not really
Speaker 1: out of it or anything like that, but still not good.
Speaker 1: Simon Paul, Simon Paul, who contributes to us a lot
Speaker 1: on x Ank Simon and our NRL. Taking our top
Speaker 1: talent is one of the most destructive things in our
Speaker 1: game at the moment. We need superstars like Dom Young
Speaker 1: to be lighting up the pictures here. What and will
Speaker 1: anything be done on a n r L will only
Speaker 1: do what's best for the NRL. A sheep in wolf's clothing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we talked about this week with you
Speaker 3: Leedskin using the salary cap, didn't we. You know, there's
Speaker 3: the clubs that want to increase the salary cap there's
Speaker 3: a lot of clubs are against that.
Speaker 2: I think while the.
Speaker 3: NRL salary cap is three times the size, and it's
Speaker 3: not just the salary cap, as you know, Lee, it's
Speaker 3: the profile, it's everything around it. It's the bigger crowds,
Speaker 3: it's the bigger media coverage and also the lifestyle, the sun.
Speaker 3: It's a pretty attractive proposition. So I can't see that
Speaker 3: changing anyhow time soon. I think I think the super
Speaker 3: League alecraft could be amended in that clubs are rewarded
Speaker 3: for producing their own talent, you know, and that's a
Speaker 3: really good way of retaining them there as the three
Speaker 3: market thing. But we've got to we're going to get
Speaker 3: more money into the game, into the sport, which.
Speaker 2: Means a better TV.
Speaker 1: And going going against Simon's question, it's not the NRL's fault,
Speaker 1: it's a better competition super league in terms of standard.
Speaker 1: Its super League's fault. It's not the same standard as
Speaker 1: the NRL.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you could say in the in the
Speaker 3: nineties or at least in the early two thousands, like
Speaker 3: the flow was argaber on the other way when you
Speaker 3: had you know some or you know, the eighties, and
Speaker 3: it was different in the eighties because it was a
Speaker 3: winner season whatever, but you had you know, Stirlow and
Speaker 3: Brett Kenny, and.
Speaker 1: There was a lot in the early days of Super
Speaker 1: League there was a lot more signings like Roger toovars Check,
Speaker 1: except they've probably come up a little bit earlier in
Speaker 1: the career, but it was still there was still there
Speaker 1: was still a geriatric ward for the NRL. And so
Speaker 1: for example, when I was at Wigan, when Matthew Johns
Speaker 1: wasn't wanted by Newcastle, he ended up coming to Wigan,
Speaker 1: Steve Rnoff saying with Brisbane et cetera, so many players. Now,
Speaker 1: what was different then is that the pound was a
Speaker 1: lot stronger, yes, and the games that the game had
Speaker 1: comparatively more TV money, so therefore clubs had a bit
Speaker 1: more money money tall.
Speaker 3: It's just it's pure economics. And all these other factors
Speaker 3: about expansion and administration, marketing, they all they're they're all
Speaker 3: factors that being set together.
Speaker 2: So you've got to kind of fix the whole power.
Speaker 3: And yeah, you know, if you're if you're a young
Speaker 3: English kid and you grew up seeing what Sam Burgess
Speaker 3: did or James Graham did you know, and if you're
Speaker 3: older Agrian Morley, you know what Dom Young is doing now,
Speaker 3: you know, Dom You people forget Dom youngs a wait
Speaker 3: kid for Wakefield Uddersfield Junior. You couldn't get a game
Speaker 3: for Hardesfield. They didn't play him, you know so and
Speaker 3: maybe maybe you know, maybe you know he's a raw athlete,
Speaker 3: et cetera. But you know you've also you've also got
Speaker 3: to identify your best kids and you've got to give
Speaker 3: him opportunities.
Speaker 2: Then you full credit Dom Young.
Speaker 3: You went the Newcastle I'm sure he would have been
Speaker 3: paid a pittance when he went over there.
Speaker 1: And he's worked hard and become you know, a top
Speaker 1: winner in the NRL. So yeah, good And the other
Speaker 1: thing for all for all he's worried about this talent drain.
Speaker 1: The more English players we have playing in the NRL,
Speaker 1: we're going to have no fear eventually when it comes
Speaker 1: to playing Australia.
Speaker 2: One that that is a positive.
Speaker 1: And I'll learned so much more about the game because
Speaker 1: things happen quicker, there's more scrutiny. Etcter hoy on X said,
Speaker 1: gamesmanship and diving more prevalent nowadays. Question Mark to lose
Speaker 1: the leaders in the late hit penalty count. If I
Speaker 1: can answer the first part of that question, you maybe
Speaker 1: can answer the second or joining on the first part
Speaker 1: as well. Gamesmanship and diving absolutely more more prevalent nowadays.
Speaker 1: It's one thing I noticed in the World Club Challenge, John,
Speaker 1: was how often the Brin Broncos players were trying to
Speaker 1: get things out of the referee that would work in
Speaker 1: the NRL but didn't work in Super League. Clearly, I
Speaker 1: think again because of what we've just been talking about,
Speaker 1: eventually Super League copies the NRL, and it's creeping in.
Speaker 1: I mean some of the some of the diving some
Speaker 1: players do. Now when a defender brushes past, there are
Speaker 1: the bushes, you know, a little glance of the jumper
Speaker 1: and the diving around that lake. So I don't know
Speaker 1: what to lose hit late late hit penalty count means, though,
Speaker 1: do you.
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I mean I'm not I've not seen every minute of
Speaker 3: every to lose game to think that every time past
Speaker 3: has been hitting it hitting players off the ball the time,
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, I'm not sure about that one.
Speaker 1: So building up to next week, we may record on
Speaker 1: Easter Monday, we may record Tuesday, because obviously it's a
Speaker 1: public holiday. John John's got family, I've got commitments, and
Speaker 1: and you know, if we get pulled away in life
Speaker 1: and we might even dare we say, we might even
Speaker 1: have a little bit of time off. We'll see John.
Speaker 1: On that note, I may not do an analysis video
Speaker 1: this week. I might do one in the middle of
Speaker 1: the two weeks. Who should I look at?
Speaker 2: John?
Speaker 1: I listened to your last time and did Warrington?
Speaker 2: Should you look at?
Speaker 1: I'm interested in looking at the Saint Helen's defense against Okay,
Speaker 1: are you know?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think Look, I think that's a really interesting one. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I like that They've had a lot of change moving
Speaker 3: around the spine, a lot of injuries, so there's a
Speaker 3: lot of fluctuating and I think they're warrant Concerned for
Speaker 3: me was how much their pack got absolutely battered on
Speaker 3: on Friday night, So dal would really need to improve
Speaker 3: that area if they're going to beat Wiggan on Friday.
Speaker 1: Get in touch with me rugbyley coach dot comvera say
Speaker 1: you at Rugby League coach on Socials and Rugby League
Speaker 1: Coach dot comver Say you John.
Speaker 3: Facebook at John David's Journalist, on x at Johnny D. Davidson,
Speaker 3: and on Patreon at Rugby league hub dot com or reads.
Speaker 1: We'll see you after the Hooters on Friday, and we'll
Speaker 1: see you either Monday or Tuesday next week. Take care,
Speaker 1: John for those listening, Johnny shaking his head right.
Speaker 2: Now so loves the sexual inuin there.
Speaker 1: Hey, who said anything about sexual But you're the ones
Speaker 1: with the issues.