Speaker 1: Paul Rowley didn't last US coach very long cast beating
Speaker 1: Leeds made us look very wrong. Well, lef C's coach
Speaker 1: looks ready to cry Leah showing they are never say die.
Speaker 1: Congrats to the Giants their first win in eleven hoping
Speaker 1: Scott Duro and Wake's photo man rest easy in Heaven.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the thirtieth episode of Super League three sixty,
Speaker 1: a podcast primarily about the top tier of British rugby
Speaker 1: league and about me and John pretending that really we
Speaker 1: predicted that Castleford would have beaten Leeds last week.
Speaker 2: How are you, John, I'm good, basically yeah. I think
Speaker 2: we have to address that. I think I said massive
Speaker 2: upset and it.
Speaker 1: Was the people, the people that were in the video
Speaker 1: version of this podcast, which you can get on YouTube,
Speaker 1: and this is John Davidson. By the way, I didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't give him chance to say his name. The
Speaker 1: people who are seeing the video version has used YouTube.
Speaker 1: I'll try again. I'll put my teeth in. The people
Speaker 1: who were seeing who have seen the YouTube version of
Speaker 1: this podcast last week, they were our AI versions who
Speaker 1: were predicting the Castleford and Leeds game, weren't they? And
Speaker 1: sound as well, I'm a coach in Australia who can't
Speaker 1: talk today obviously, John a journo in the UK. Please
Speaker 1: read descriptions or all podcasts for more details about us.
Speaker 1: This is on the Ashley Rugby League podcast, the Rugby
Speaker 1: League Coach podcast platforms, as well as a Rugby League
Speaker 1: Coach YouTube too too, and thank you to Rugby League
Speaker 1: dot Com and John. Honestly it was quite painful literally
Speaker 1: as the podcast came out last week virtually at the
Speaker 1: same time I saw the score between Castlefords and Castleford
Speaker 1: and Leeds because we brought the podcast out a little
Speaker 1: bit early last week because of the FEARFA World Cup Final,
Speaker 1: didn't we We did?
Speaker 2: I mean that it was a remark game in the
Speaker 2: Leeds cast game I think for entertainment value, one of
Speaker 2: the best games of the season and obviously good that
Speaker 2: Daniel Levi was not seriously injured and you know he'll
Speaker 2: make it for recovery. But it was a remarkable game.
Speaker 2: A lot of drama obviously that will we'll talk about
Speaker 2: involving Ryan Carr as well. But yeah, fantastic effort from
Speaker 2: from cast if they've got to, you know, give him
Speaker 2: a lot of credit for upsetting the leaders of the competition.
Speaker 1: Castleford won thirty six thirty four tries for Castleford from
Speaker 1: raval aua golden Gary, Gary scored two RC and Ashworth
Speaker 1: goals from Weaver, who kicked six leads. Thirty four came
Speaker 1: from two from McDonald, edgele two from Croft, Sivo and Holroyd.
Speaker 1: I can't believe Graham Holroyd is still playing. He played
Speaker 1: in the early two thousands. Connor kicked three goals. For
Speaker 1: those who think that what's Lee talking about, it's called
Speaker 1: being a joke. And it was a comeback I believe
Speaker 1: for Castleford to beat Leeds.
Speaker 2: Reah it was. It was a remarkable game. As I said,
Speaker 2: like LEVI, Leeds were up I think by two. Trithman
Speaker 2: Danny Levey went down injured and you know it was
Speaker 2: a long long time he was out cold. I wasn't
Speaker 2: sure whether it was you know, spine or what. He
Speaker 2: obviously got stretched from the field, but it was a
Speaker 2: long time and I think that understandably really affected the
Speaker 2: Leeds team. And then Cats scored two tries, sort of
Speaker 2: evenly poised at halftime, but just a real rollercoaster of
Speaker 2: a game. And I think obviously leads have bounced back
Speaker 2: to to put a big score on to Bradford and
Speaker 2: get another win. But probably the biggest ballout was the
Speaker 2: the Ryan Carr comments that could be heard sideline in
Speaker 2: the first half. What did it is? It? Is it
Speaker 2: definitely him who said that. Look, I think there's been
Speaker 2: a lot of debate about who it is, but I
Speaker 2: mean I've and Ryan, I know his accent, I know
Speaker 2: his voice. Yeah, it was just sincly an Australian accent
Speaker 2: by the sideline or near these sky microphones. I should say,
Speaker 2: which the RFL have approach Classifford to, you know, is
Speaker 2: a bit of a please explain. I'm not really sure
Speaker 2: what their defense is going to be or how they
Speaker 2: do explain it. But yeah, you can't get a few
Speaker 2: ways you're you're a coach, Lee and I'm sure you've
Speaker 2: had in your coaching box whatever. Had a few choice
Speaker 2: words to say, a few profanities. But no, But I think,
Speaker 2: but I think the issue is when you can hear
Speaker 2: them on Sky and you know, maybe one hundred thousand
Speaker 2: people are watching and it's criticizing a match official. It's
Speaker 2: not a not a great look for the game, is it.
Speaker 1: There was a problem when there is an accent involved
Speaker 1: in my rugby league coaching career. I have had an
Speaker 1: issue where one of my coaches called a player an
Speaker 1: effort grub. In this case, the words effing cheat have
Speaker 1: been uttered by allegedly, well, a man sounding Australian that
Speaker 1: could be Ryan Carr. And anyway, because I did this, sorry,
Speaker 1: because this was happening in Australia, and person with an
Speaker 1: Australian accent would fundamentally say the words grub very differently
Speaker 1: to the way somebody in a Northern English accent would
Speaker 1: say grub. And I was remonstrating with the person who
Speaker 1: thought it was me, and I ended up saying words
Speaker 1: to the effect of I used so dumb to think
Speaker 1: that it was me because I speak differently, so it's
Speaker 1: probably not. It was a good case for me that
Speaker 1: I had an accent, not a good case for Ryan
Speaker 1: Carr on this occasion. He can't blame Roger from down
Speaker 1: the road. We had the whole Darby ond Thursday. Who
Speaker 1: KR beat Hull FC on Thursday?
Speaker 2: We did? Yeah, it was it was quite brutal, full
Speaker 2: blood of affair and well another loss for LFC. Look
Speaker 2: that a real dig in this game I've said, don't
Speaker 2: want to be too harsh on them because it's been
Speaker 2: a horrific season, but they were in this game right
Speaker 2: up to the death. But it was just a couple
Speaker 2: of all moments, particularly from Mima Burrough. You know, Sam
Speaker 2: Luckiley's in the ruck. And they changed this rule a
Speaker 2: couple of years ago. I think you remembera lee that
Speaker 2: you know when hookers would just pass the ball into
Speaker 2: an opposition player on purpose to get a penalty. So
Speaker 2: that rule has been changed. You can't do that, and
Speaker 2: he's done it on purpose. And then later on he
Speaker 2: stripped the ball out and a tackle I think it
Speaker 2: was a two men tackle and given a penalty and
Speaker 2: that was four points. And they were crucial moments for
Speaker 2: whole KR, who obviously without Mikey lewis under a fair
Speaker 2: bit of pression themselves. But another Derby win for them.
Speaker 2: I don't think Willie Peters has lost to Derby in
Speaker 2: about like the last nine attempts since the first year
Speaker 2: he joined the club. So yeah, another period of soul
Speaker 2: searching for Hale, even though it was a better performance
Speaker 2: than I had dished ot recently.
Speaker 1: It was thirty four twenty to Whole k are at
Speaker 1: the MKM Stadium home with full FC, whose tries came
Speaker 1: from Bachelor d Litton What's what's Litton's okay? And Arthur
Speaker 1: and goals from Hardacre who scored four of them. Whole
Speaker 1: k Are thirty four came from A. Mo Morgue, Broadbent
Speaker 1: Burgess Desirea and Morgue got seven. The next game, Wakefield
Speaker 1: versus Cast. Before we go into the game, they've had
Speaker 1: a longtime club servant pass away.
Speaker 2: Wakefield. Yeah, really satain news. I'm trying to think what
Speaker 2: exactly this was. Was it Thursday or Wednesday? But yeah,
Speaker 2: Jane Williams, someone I who fairly well would always say
Speaker 2: at Wakefield. Literally saw him at Wakefield at the Huddersfield
Speaker 2: game maybe three weeks ago or whenever. That was just
Speaker 2: a lovely guy. Was a former Patron subscriber as well,
Speaker 2: and always polite have a chat and yeah, just die
Speaker 2: very very suddenly. I know he's married, two sons and
Speaker 2: just yeat terrible, terrible news. How old was How old
Speaker 2: was he? John? I'm not sure exactly his age, but
Speaker 2: I think he was in his early forties, so not
Speaker 2: you know, not not old in that sense, but yeah,
Speaker 2: just a real, real surprise. As I said, I saw
Speaker 2: him a couple of weeks ago, and just one of
Speaker 2: those people you know around certain clubs that you see
Speaker 2: you have a chat with. Yeah, just just a good,
Speaker 2: good bloke. So my thoughts and condolences go out, you know,
Speaker 2: for his friends and family. Just a you know, a
Speaker 2: real shocking loss, and yeah, he'll be he'll be missed.
Speaker 1: Wakefield certainly put on a show for him if he's
Speaker 1: watching from upstairs. Wakefield fifty two, Castleford fourteen. So for
Speaker 1: those who can't make sense of why Castleford played twice
Speaker 1: already in this podcast, it's because we didn't cover the
Speaker 1: Cattleford the lead game last week, because we recorded early
Speaker 1: tries for Wakefield Stoughton, far T t. Jowett, Vangnat Johnston
Speaker 1: got two, Hall and Warms they got two and Jowitt
Speaker 1: got eight. Goals for Cattleford there fourteen came from Weaver.
Speaker 1: Gary Garry got two again and Weave kicked a goal.
Speaker 1: Wakefield was ten six behind and also suffered a red card.
Speaker 2: I believe, yeah, I mean we were. I was complimenting
Speaker 2: casts not that long ago, and this was back to
Speaker 2: the bad cast. It seems to be ross and diamonds
Speaker 2: for them. You know they can they can beat Wigan,
Speaker 2: they can bet leads and then they have an extra
Speaker 2: man for I don't know, three quarters of a game
Speaker 2: and they can say fifty two points, so really bizarre game.
Speaker 2: In that five seconds in Wakefield score, you know, they
Speaker 2: get a fluky rebound of a kick and Cast score
Speaker 2: and a six all and then Stalton gets red guarded
Speaker 2: and then Wakefield put on forty odd points to absolutely
Speaker 2: wipe them off the floor. And you know it's not
Speaker 2: guaranteed when when you when you have an extra man,
Speaker 2: but for that period of time, you would think the
Speaker 2: extra work rate and the effort that that the team
Speaker 2: with twelve men has to do and the fact that
Speaker 2: the gaps will will open up on the field and
Speaker 2: if you're smart enough you can you can find that space,
Speaker 2: you can move the ball. And Wakefield have just absolutely
Speaker 2: smashed Cast off the park. So yeah, you do wonder
Speaker 2: about Cast, this this white pole that kind of performances.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's been it's been it's been a year, and
Speaker 1: I think last week we mentioned that the turnaround might
Speaker 1: have been quite different from playing on a on a
Speaker 1: Sunday as well. To back up, I think it was
Speaker 1: on a Friday, was it not?
Speaker 2: It was, It's a shorter turnaround, but I still think,
Speaker 2: you know, I know coach has man about it, but look,
Speaker 2: that's that's the nature of sport. I think you've you
Speaker 2: structure next week, don't you. You might have less field sessions,
Speaker 2: you might have longer recovery. But it's a local derby
Speaker 2: and you've got twelve. You've got thirteen against twelve for
Speaker 2: whatever it was, sixty odd minutes maybe more, I mean
Speaker 2: conceding that amount of points. It's just that's just not
Speaker 2: good enough. But Wakefield really really impressed with when one
Speaker 2: six in a row. Now I think they were beaten
Speaker 2: by a Wigan what was it six seven weeks ago,
Speaker 2: and then before that they won a stack of games
Speaker 2: sitting in second. Now, you know the history of Wakefield
Speaker 2: better than mely. I know about the golden days in
Speaker 2: the sixties, But when's the last time Wakefield were up
Speaker 2: near the top of the ladder. Would it have been
Speaker 2: like the seventies or.
Speaker 1: I can't remember in my lifetime Wakefield being consistently near
Speaker 1: the top of the ladder.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, And you know that it might not last
Speaker 2: for years and years and years. But if you're a
Speaker 2: Wakefield fan you know where they've come from being relegated
Speaker 2: three years ago. It's quite remarkable and Darryl Pearl's done
Speaker 2: a great job there and I really liked the way
Speaker 2: they played, massive four pack, lots of offloads, some quick
Speaker 2: athletic backs and yeah, full credit him.
Speaker 1: Another derby that's got plenty coming out of it because
Speaker 1: of what happened the day before. We'll talk about all
Speaker 1: that soon. But Wigan thirty eight, Saint Helen's sixteen, French
Speaker 1: Eckersley got to, Partington got to and Kieran back on
Speaker 1: the score sheet after I said he scored every week.
Speaker 1: He hasn't scored for a few weeks and he kicked
Speaker 1: seven goals as well. Saint Helen's sixteen came from Wellsby
Speaker 1: Wellsby Douglas and Murphy Hastings got two. This was overshadowed
Speaker 1: the day before with the news that Paul Rowley left
Speaker 1: Saint Helen's. Now surely he was sacked.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's an odd one in the sense
Speaker 2: that you read I'm not sure if you've read the statementally,
Speaker 2: I'll try and bring it up Wie.
Speaker 1: While you're doing that, I'll give you, I'll give you
Speaker 1: just wait wait, Wakefield last to finish top of the
Speaker 1: league in nineteen forty three, forty four.
Speaker 2: There you go.
Speaker 1: So there was a world war going on when that
Speaker 1: last happened. So hopefully we don't break out in war
Speaker 1: this year. But yes, that that gives you some context. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you've got the statement, You've got the statement.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So this this, this dropped into the inbox at
Speaker 2: eleven am on Thursday. So what's that thirty six hours
Speaker 2: before the wigging game on the Friday night. It Sason
Speaker 2: Els can confirm that head coach poorly stepped down from
Speaker 2: his role at the club with immediate effect. I mean confirm.
Speaker 2: Is interesting because they've they're breaking the news themselves that
Speaker 2: wasn't recorded before. Assistant coach am And will assume interim
Speaker 2: leadership of the States first team, And of course aim
Speaker 2: And O'Carroll is leaving at the end of the season
Speaker 2: to join for a coaching job in rugby union. It
Speaker 2: says Paul has navigated an unprecedented injury crisis during his tenure,
Speaker 2: maintaining a very competitive position throughout the twenty twenty six
Speaker 2: bed Threads Super League season. The book ammends him for
Speaker 2: his achievements during his challenging period and wishes him the
Speaker 2: very best in future endeavors. I'm not sure what achievements
Speaker 2: they've been, but okay. As in point of it's continuity
Speaker 2: instability is the clear club keys up for the business
Speaker 2: end of the season as a thorough process to identify
Speaker 2: a permit successor is embarked upon. I mean, that's just
Speaker 2: the word soup, isn't it delivers continuity in stabity?
Speaker 1: Didn't they say in that that it'd been a tough
Speaker 1: decision for us, even though they claiming that Roly made
Speaker 1: the decision.
Speaker 2: I'll finish that. There's just a couple of sentences left
Speaker 2: Chairman aim In and aim in manas sorry added I
Speaker 2: would like you yes, I would like to thank Paul
Speaker 2: for his commitment an extreme hard work as a head coach.
Speaker 2: Hews onely welcome to the club. Decision was extremely difficult
Speaker 2: for all concerned that we've fully recognized the extra challenges
Speaker 2: that Paul faced for this particular season. Where's the club
Speaker 2: must now look forward and do all within our powers
Speaker 2: to preserve our position as the most successful club in
Speaker 2: the history of Super League and to restore our position
Speaker 2: as a silverware contender going forward. Saint Helens will make
Speaker 2: no further comment at this time.
Speaker 1: It's a mess. The whole thing's a mess. I mean,
Speaker 1: why why it happened the day before a derby and.
Speaker 2: The week they'd won again.
Speaker 1: I do there's either been a huge fallout or something's
Speaker 1: brewing for a long time when it's come to a head.
Speaker 1: And old John Wilkin hinted to that effect, and I
Speaker 1: know cow Felt said something a few weeks ago, didn't
Speaker 1: he about how he wasn't enjoying his football under the
Speaker 1: current coach at the time was Paul Role.
Speaker 2: So I think you look at that statement though, and
Speaker 2: that seems to suggest that he stepped down at his
Speaker 2: own violition. Now I've approached Paul, he hasn't responded, but
Speaker 2: spoken with lots of people the last few days and
Speaker 2: it seems pretty clear to me that he was sacked,
Speaker 2: but they've tried to kind of spin it that he
Speaker 2: stepped down. And usually in this in these sort of statements,
Speaker 2: you you get a quote from the coach. There's no
Speaker 2: quote from him in it, and people I've spoke to
Speaker 2: it seems to be put that that. Obviously there's been
Speaker 2: a sort of a rift in the playing group. It
Speaker 2: does seem to have been this kind of uh, you know,
Speaker 2: the veterans at Saint Helens or the St Helens Wavy,
Speaker 2: the kind of Salford way. Obviously, Paul came in from
Speaker 2: Salford and there's a couple of players that he signed,
Speaker 2: a number of players he's had it from Salford staff
Speaker 2: they have with Salford, and there seems to be that's
Speaker 2: kind of one of the root causes a bit of
Speaker 2: a rift, and it seems to be I think that
Speaker 2: that's some players you know, went to the club and
Speaker 2: complained about that about you, performances, standards, that sort of thing. So, yeah,
Speaker 2: it is a mess. You said that clearly to do
Speaker 2: this the day before Derby, I think he'd had nineteen
Speaker 2: Super League games in charge, Paul, and there were six
Speaker 2: or seventh at the sort of the sacking obviously a
Speaker 2: week after being in.
Speaker 1: Katlian's quite shocking. Really, he was never the right fit.
Speaker 1: And I'm not talking after the event. I think if
Speaker 1: people look back and listen back to old Super League
Speaker 1: three sixty podcasts, I was questioning the appointment in terms
Speaker 1: of I looked at his defensive abilities as a coach
Speaker 1: in particular. Some coaches as well are better suited to
Speaker 1: lower clubs and less suited to I mean, Saint Helen's
Speaker 1: in rugby league would be not quite a real Madrid
Speaker 1: or a Barcelona, but they'd be one of the bigger
Speaker 1: clubs in the rugby league world. You would add Saint Helen's,
Speaker 1: Wigan and Leeds in particular to the group of clubs
Speaker 1: that could compete with NRL clubs. So sorry, not just
Speaker 1: compete beat an RL club. So I thought it was
Speaker 1: a real poor appointment. I assume he's not responding to
Speaker 1: your calls, John, because it's probably been paid off quite
Speaker 1: significantly because he was only nine months into a three
Speaker 1: year contract. Right, Yeah, it's probably been paid off quite significantly.
Speaker 1: Whoever wrote the statement had to check though that it
Speaker 1: all added up, because, like I said earlier, in the
Speaker 1: same statement or in the same brush, it said it
Speaker 1: was a difficult decision for us, even though they were
Speaker 1: saying it was poor role is decision to leave.
Speaker 2: Yeah, mixed, mixed messages. I think, look, a lot of
Speaker 2: the fans had turned on him. I'm sure that played. Yes,
Speaker 2: a lot of the Saints fans. I think there was
Speaker 2: a seption like theself who didn't think it was the
Speaker 2: right choice at the time, and obviously with what they've
Speaker 2: dished up this season. Look, we've spoken about them for
Speaker 2: a while now, haven't we, and spoke about extensively last
Speaker 2: week or the week before. You know, I think the
Speaker 2: club's been drifting for a couple of years now. The
Speaker 2: way Paul Wellens was treated last year, you know they
Speaker 2: were looking for other coaches. You know, it was all
Speaker 2: signs that he was going to get benned and then
Speaker 2: you know he only basically got sacked at the end
Speaker 2: of the season. But you know, Paul's a club legend
Speaker 2: and I think the way he's treated was Paul. You
Speaker 2: can look at the recruitment I think Saint Helen's investment wise,
Speaker 2: if you can compare them to the other top clubs,
Speaker 2: they've recruitment wise, they've they've not released the purse strings
Speaker 2: for quite a few years, and you can see that
Speaker 2: reflected in the signings that they've made. I think that's
Speaker 2: come back to haunt them. And then you look, obviously
Speaker 2: there's a massive change of the guard there. Mike Rush
Speaker 2: has gone, Derek Train has gone, there's other stuff that
Speaker 2: have gone James Roby obviously left, he was sort of
Speaker 2: involved there after retiring, so it's a massive transition period.
Speaker 2: But the thing that I also find interesting, you know,
Speaker 2: there's a lot to talk about and you mentioned this
Speaker 2: as them being a powerhouse and there a powerhouse about
Speaker 2: standards and you know, not accepting mediocrity. But no one's
Speaker 2: got a divine right to success, you know. And you
Speaker 2: see all big clubs, whether they be you know, Brisbane
Speaker 2: Broncos or Manchester United, you go through stages like this.
Speaker 2: Sometimes they last for a couple of years or a year.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I last for a decade or more, don't they.
Speaker 2: So yeah, there's going to be a lot of soul
Speaker 2: searching at that place. But yeah, the way the whole
Speaker 2: things sort of come out and the whole period, it's
Speaker 2: been very, very very strange, and yeah, tough times for
Speaker 2: sell On Helens even though I mean they were certainly
Speaker 2: beaten on Friday, but they did they showed the players
Speaker 2: really did put in a performance and gave it quite
Speaker 2: a bit. They just got played by a much better
Speaker 2: team in terms of Wigan. And yeah, that easter wind
Speaker 2: where they nicked it the end was a fluke and
Speaker 2: I think you know most people can realize that.
Speaker 1: I think Saint Helen's I compare their situation somewhat with
Speaker 1: Brisbane Broncoles in the sense that they have certain standards
Speaker 1: that they believe they should be meeting as a minimum,
Speaker 1: Yet what's happening and the personnel that are in there
Speaker 1: in terms of players as well probably doesn't help that cause.
Speaker 1: So they need to have a coach that they just
Speaker 1: stick with during some difficult tides at times. I think
Speaker 1: because it's been a similar in the sense that the
Speaker 1: problem is with Brisbane they put together about two months
Speaker 1: and ended up winning a premiership and that's really skewed
Speaker 1: the data somewhat. But if you look at Brisbane's overall performance,
Speaker 1: let's take the last three years for example, Well, two
Speaker 1: years have been out of the finals and one year
Speaker 1: they got to the Grand Final and won it, and
Speaker 1: the year before the three years they got to the
Speaker 1: Grand Final and just missed out. So if they were
Speaker 1: a genuine forced Brisbane Broncos and they had some genuine
Speaker 1: players that would turn up week in week out and
Speaker 1: do the tough stuff in a lot of places, you'd
Speaker 1: anticipate them being in the top four every year. Saint
Speaker 1: Helen's It's not that long ago they were a dominant
Speaker 1: super League force. It's dropped off a little bit since then.
Speaker 1: But under Wellens they were there or thereabouts.
Speaker 2: Weren't they.
Speaker 1: You were still talking about them as potential champions or
Speaker 1: potential Grand finalists with a few weeks to go. But
Speaker 1: this year has been significantly worse. And I think the
Speaker 1: coach they needed to appoint after Wellens with somebody And
Speaker 1: we're not being captain hindsight here. I don't think we've
Speaker 1: been very consistent on this podcast about it being a
Speaker 1: period of transition. Somebody who can manage that transition now.
Speaker 1: I don't think a club like Saint Helens needs to
Speaker 1: go getting too many players from a club like Salford,
Speaker 1: who even under Rowley did okay, but they didn't quite
Speaker 1: hit the heights of the years prior to that as well.
Speaker 1: So it'd be a bit like when David Moyes took
Speaker 1: over from Alex Ferguson by him buying a load of
Speaker 1: Everton players I think so and getting them to play
Speaker 1: for Manchester United. So they need to move on quickly
Speaker 1: from this, I think. But they also need to be
Speaker 1: patient with the next guy. They need to do a
Speaker 1: proper search rather than just going down the East Lanks road.
Speaker 1: They will say they did a proper search, but I
Speaker 1: think if they did, they wouldn't have gone with Paul Role.
Speaker 1: Put it that way, and they need to stick with
Speaker 1: the guy that they select, and they need to tough
Speaker 1: this out together.
Speaker 2: Think I think before, I think he went to St.
Speaker 2: Helen and they wanted things his way. He wanted complete
Speaker 2: control like he had at Salford, like he had at Toronto,
Speaker 2: and I don't think a St Helen's that approach was
Speaker 2: going to work. And I think now, I mean, I
Speaker 2: don't notice for a fact that I would. My guess
Speaker 2: is that they will look down under for a coach.
Speaker 2: I'll look to someone who they can bring in and say, hey,
Speaker 2: this is the way, you know, this is the the
Speaker 2: Saint Helen's way, that St Helen's ideology, and I look for,
Speaker 2: you know, the next kind of cab off the rank
Speaker 2: in the NROL, which they did with Justin Holbrook, and
Speaker 2: they did with Christian Wolff with obviously big success. So
Speaker 2: I'd imagine people like Ben Horby, Lake Green, Matt King,
Speaker 2: those kind of names, maybe Daniel Holdsworth, you know the
Speaker 2: ones that are, you know, perhaps is the next nur
Speaker 2: L coach off the rank. They'll look to hire someone that.
Speaker 2: I don't think there's a huge number of British coaches
Speaker 2: or English coaches that they'd be interested in. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it's when you said about powerhouses, I think Saint Alen's
Speaker 2: have never been. I don't think they've missed the semi
Speaker 2: finals in the what thirty odd years of Super League,
Speaker 2: which is a bringer remarkable achievement, but there isn't a
Speaker 2: divine right to that. So they have to kind of
Speaker 2: pull their finger out now, and you know completely, I
Speaker 2: think overhaul the club. They are strange clubs in Hellens
Speaker 2: and I think that Leeds and Wigan you compare them
Speaker 2: leads and we're going to have a bit more of
Speaker 2: a national, even international look, while Saint Helen's just they
Speaker 2: like being a big fish in their little pond. But
Speaker 2: to be honest, that's kind of not good enough if
Speaker 2: you want to be the best and you want to
Speaker 2: grow and expand and all that sort of thing. So
Speaker 2: I think they need to kind of change their general
Speaker 2: attitude of the way that the club operates and how
Speaker 2: it presents itself to the doubtside World as well, and
Speaker 2: I think an indicator of that is on Sky. You know,
Speaker 2: they offered Amia McManus or Abbia Girku to come on
Speaker 2: Sky and talk about the decision. Neither of them did.
Speaker 2: And I think this is, you know, you've got to
Speaker 2: show some accountability. You've got to speak to your fans
Speaker 2: and try and explain why you're doing this decision. Now.
Speaker 2: I know, Holsey, you could arguly try to do that
Speaker 2: during the week with a very very long statement, but
Speaker 2: that's probably a poor way to do it. I think
Speaker 2: an interview with you know, the likes of Sky Will BBC,
Speaker 2: where you actually get put some hard questions and you
Speaker 2: answer is the best avenue. But again, people just don't
Speaker 2: Maybe they were scared of John Wilkin. Maybe don't. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't think scared, but yeah, there's probably another word
Speaker 2: I could use, But yeah, I don't want to go
Speaker 2: through the keeper.
Speaker 1: Maybe they should start a program and say that they
Speaker 1: are unleashed. Because a side that was unleashed in the
Speaker 1: Winds column this week was Huddersfield who scored twenty four
Speaker 1: a way to York who got twenty two. Well done Huddersfield,
Speaker 1: I mean we've We've been bringing them every week on
Speaker 1: this podcast for one reason or another. So that's twelve
Speaker 1: Super League defeats in succession that they've suffered. I'm thirteenth
Speaker 1: time lucky. And they managed to jag o win over York.
Speaker 1: And I say jag because it was a close game.
Speaker 1: York's twenty two from Nuffoluma, Galiana, Galiano, Thompson and Inman
Speaker 1: Betterson got three. Huddersfield's twenty four came from Jagger, the
Speaker 1: old Rocker, Lola Here, Wrench and Wolford and Flanagan got
Speaker 1: four goals. So I was really happy when I saw
Speaker 1: that Huddersfield won this game. So for anybody who thinks
Speaker 1: we bag Huddersfield, it's probably because we're so upset that
Speaker 1: a club that we want to do well is doing
Speaker 1: so poorly. But they've got a win. Have they been
Speaker 1: have they been a punished this week? John, have they
Speaker 1: not stopped bleating? Or have they been nine and humble
Speaker 1: after a win?
Speaker 2: We bagged them because they lost Toroly I think, you know, yeah,
Speaker 2: you can't argue with that. Just a very very quick
Speaker 2: segue back to the wing game. Because we didn't give
Speaker 2: a French. Sorry you didn't put that. You didn't put
Speaker 2: that in the running I didn't running order you go
Speaker 2: I did. He was sensational. I can't remember it was
Speaker 2: one or two tries he spoiled. He's set up a load.
Speaker 2: He was just brilliant. And there's more talk about the
Speaker 2: best overseas important Super League history. It's very hard to
Speaker 2: compare different players in different eras. You know, when Jamie
Speaker 2: Lyon did one season, but Bevan French is a freak
Speaker 2: and you know, to joy to have him back playing,
Speaker 2: and you know he's that secret weapon that we can
Speaker 2: have that I think can you know, take them back
Speaker 2: to glory. But going on to Huddersfield, Yeah, well done
Speaker 2: to Huddersfield. Really grinded that went out played well I
Speaker 2: think they did. They came from behind six Niel, Yeah,
Speaker 2: just breaking the hoodo I had. I had heard that.
Speaker 2: You know, Jim Lennon had been making some progress there
Speaker 2: and I know it's been up and down, but it's
Speaker 2: his first winning charge. And there's still the off field
Speaker 2: speculation about the future of the club and where they're
Speaker 2: going to play and all the kind of nonsense comments
Speaker 2: coming from the leadership. But the players and the coachs
Speaker 2: of you know, big grabs for forgetting that win.
Speaker 1: They've also come up with an opportunity for fans to
Speaker 1: come for free. So what more would you want if
Speaker 1: you're a part of the Hudderfield parish than to come
Speaker 1: on the back of a victory against York and come
Speaker 1: and watch your team for free when they play the
Speaker 1: Catalans in one of their future games and it's at
Speaker 1: the stadium, the a Q Stadium as I believe it's
Speaker 1: called now, and they're going to use that day to
Speaker 1: announce where they will play home games in twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 1: So have they paid a bond on Jewsbury Ramsen?
Speaker 2: Have they? I mean, that's that's that's the talk. They'll
Speaker 2: be playing at Jewsbury. They're not obviously playing Halifax. That's
Speaker 2: been pretty clear that the bid to buy the shape
Speaker 2: be not back. I think Newsbury will be the choice.
Speaker 2: There is some talk that they have secured a sign
Speaker 2: in Huddersfield for a future new staying, but that'll be
Speaker 2: a couple of years. Quite You can't build a new
Speaker 2: stadium in three or four months, ken you. It takes
Speaker 2: it takes years for that.
Speaker 1: But what it fled under banks and nice ground. It's
Speaker 1: on a slope and it looks like pul from Parker
Speaker 1: Driver around there, so I.
Speaker 2: Think, yeah, I think they'll be a Jewsbury the free
Speaker 2: fans thing. They've done this before fees. I think they've
Speaker 2: done it maybe two twice before over the last ten
Speaker 2: to twenty years, and I think maybe they're twelve thousand
Speaker 2: for that's on. I'm not a massive fan of this
Speaker 2: because it devalues your product. So if you're going to
Speaker 2: charge twenty twenty five thirty quid each week and then
Speaker 2: suddenly you're saying, okay, everyone can come in for free,
Speaker 2: I'm not I'm not a huge fan. But I do
Speaker 2: like the idea of, you know, giving away tickets to kids,
Speaker 2: you know, making it free or cheap for kids, because
Speaker 2: that way you're kind of you're building that connection. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm not a massive fan.
Speaker 1: Of I think it's okay as a one off a
Speaker 1: year if you pick one game that's a free nie
Speaker 1: and then you give you give the public chance to
Speaker 1: put some money and I don't know, towards a charity
Speaker 1: or to merchandise or drinks, refreshments, et cetera. I think
Speaker 1: it's okay for one, because there's also the other side
Speaker 1: of the coin. I was a junior Devil. I was
Speaker 1: a junior Red Devil, and as soon as I turned sixteen,
Speaker 1: I didn't particularly want to pay because I've been given course,
Speaker 1: I've been given all these tickets for I've been given
Speaker 1: free tickets for years. I was quite concerned about paying.
Speaker 1: So on the York side, Clint Goodchild stepped down as
Speaker 1: a director at York. Now tell everybody what Clint Goodchild
Speaker 1: was at that club, but what kind of director?
Speaker 2: And he remains the chairman and the majority owner. Now
Speaker 2: there's been talks or negotiations for quite a while about
Speaker 2: new investors coming in. My understanding is that there's an
Speaker 2: overseas investment group and a local investment group, and I
Speaker 2: think him standing down as a director on the company's
Speaker 2: house of the company is a part of the process. Now,
Speaker 2: I think this deal is close to being done. I
Speaker 2: don't think it's necessarily done yet, but I think it's
Speaker 2: close to being done. And I think what will be
Speaker 2: interesting is, apart from obviously who takes over the club,
Speaker 2: but whether Clint stays on or moves on. Now I
Speaker 2: think you know, he would probably like to stay on
Speaker 2: but if there's a big payoff, understandably he will be
Speaker 2: he will be gone. So yeah, interesting times at York.
Speaker 2: I think they've done pretty well in their first season
Speaker 2: the Super League so far on a very very small
Speaker 2: budget and half central distribution. And I think I think
Speaker 2: we talked about this well at the start of the season,
Speaker 2: and I think most people expected the bottom three clubs
Speaker 2: to sorry, the three championship clubs coming up to be
Speaker 2: in the bottom three or near it and super leak
Speaker 2: and obviously we've got Huddersfield and huld Off seat at
Speaker 2: the bottom, just followed by Bradford York and cass to
Speaker 2: lose City at night. So look, if I think if
Speaker 2: York finished were they are eleventh now or even a
Speaker 2: little bit higher, that's a massive achievement and they know,
Speaker 2: well done to them. So we shall see what happens
Speaker 2: with York in the next well for the next few days,
Speaker 2: next few weeks, I think more news to come on.
Speaker 1: Darby from says to lose sixteen Catalan's eighteen de sweet
Speaker 1: that's the worst.
Speaker 2: That's the worst French accent or attempted French I think
Speaker 2: I've ever heard.
Speaker 1: Tries Troppis cattle and four kicks for shocks for to
Speaker 1: lose and Catalans sixteen came from making Soon, who got
Speaker 1: a double aspial BChE his horse every week, wouldn't it,
Speaker 1: and who also kicked three goals. This was a scrappy game,
Speaker 1: wasn't it in terms of didn't the weather interrupt it
Speaker 1: a couple of times or really influence it?
Speaker 2: Yeah? It was. It was pouring for Ryan for a while,
Speaker 2: which considering well the heat not only in France but
Speaker 2: its been in most of Europe have been in the heat, wet,
Speaker 2: it was. It was weird to see a game and
Speaker 2: shall we say wintry conditions. But yeah, Carolins haven't won
Speaker 2: for what seems like an age and obviously they got
Speaker 2: sixty foot on them by to loose three weeks ago
Speaker 2: the start of July in the Magic weekend, so big
Speaker 2: result for them. Started off with Tommy Makinson with a
Speaker 2: great leap and a try. They go to tend to
Speaker 2: ahead Katlians and then to loose it back making some
Speaker 2: gets another try and then to loose come back right
Speaker 2: the death, but they rent out of time. I scored
Speaker 2: I think within the last final seconds converted that try,
Speaker 2: but still lost by two, So yeah, to loose, I've
Speaker 2: had a good run. I think it was three wins
Speaker 2: in a row, so a bit of a bounce back
Speaker 2: to earth from them and for Katlans, Yeah, a bit
Speaker 2: of restored pride after they're thrashing by their French neighbors.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the home side. First.
Speaker 1: They had an interview in some masthead or with some
Speaker 1: organization about their future. Can you paint some paint some pictures?
Speaker 1: Said yes, my.
Speaker 2: Right. I interviewed Cedric Gas there, the director of sport
Speaker 2: or effectively their CEO, and they seem very confident that
Speaker 2: they're going to be in Super League next year. They
Speaker 2: believe they deserve to be in there. They believe they're
Speaker 2: going to improve on every IMG criteria, and they're making
Speaker 2: plans in terms of recruitment and resignings for next season.
Speaker 2: So you know, everyone's positive and talking up their chances
Speaker 2: when it comes to Huddersfield London, New York. To lose, obviously,
Speaker 2: they can't all be well unless we expend a fifteen,
Speaker 2: which wouldn't rule out. But though it seems unlikely, they're.
Speaker 1: All playing, they're all playing the media, aren't they. They're
Speaker 1: all getting in their retaliation.
Speaker 2: First of people, they get kicked out and you could
Speaker 2: say that, but I mean I went to Cedriac to
Speaker 2: interview him. It wasn't the case of the club coming
Speaker 2: to me for you know, three pr I thought, you know,
Speaker 2: it was interesting to because they are a French club
Speaker 2: in English, in English competition, they don't get as much
Speaker 2: press or coverage from the media generally the as the
Speaker 2: the English one. So yeah, I thought it was interesting
Speaker 2: to hear from them, And yeah, they're happy about where
Speaker 2: they're obviously on the field, you know, sitting in ninth
Speaker 2: is you know, we talked, seem to say it every week,
Speaker 2: but they've got half the central distribution and they play
Speaker 2: a million quid transport as well at travel coroffs, so
Speaker 2: they're doing well. Obviously the defeat on Saturday, but yeah,
Speaker 2: onwards and upwards for to lose.
Speaker 1: Now, a man that played ninety seven games for their opponents,
Speaker 1: the Catalans Dragons and forty two games for Newcastle Knights
Speaker 1: in the late two thousands, Scott Drawer passed away last
Speaker 1: week at the age of only thirty nine. I believe
Speaker 1: he's been fighting a battle with cancer for quite a while.
Speaker 1: That was really sad.
Speaker 2: John yeah, really sad. I mean I think he got
Speaker 2: diagnosed in twenty I'm going to say twenty thirteen, twenty fourteen. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he had surgery then to remove a tumor behind his eye.
Speaker 2: But I knew Scott a bit obviously his time at
Speaker 2: Catalans interviewed him. He was a lovely guy, really a
Speaker 2: pleasure to deal with. I was actually just looking back
Speaker 2: at some text messages that still on my phone from
Speaker 2: twenty fifteen when he was playing at the Dragons. He
Speaker 2: was always helpful, you know, always generous with his time.
Speaker 2: Originally a tarre boy, played for his junior footy at
Speaker 2: the Port moll Croy Sharks and then came through at Newcastle.
Speaker 2: And I believe my Auntie knows his wife and mother
Speaker 2: in law very well. It's typical Newcastle, one degree of separation.
Speaker 2: But he was just a lovely, lovely person and thirty
Speaker 2: nine years old, you know, wife, kids, terribly terribly sad.
Speaker 2: He battled you know, with cancer basically for that decade,
Speaker 2: which is remarkable.
Speaker 1: That would have been an awfully tough last twelve years
Speaker 1: thirteen years for him then.
Speaker 2: But the tribute, I'm not sure if you've seen it.
Speaker 2: The tribute that Trent Robinson gave. I think it was
Speaker 2: a Fox interview obviously coached him, not only Newcastle but Catlaan's.
Speaker 2: It was just it was really touching. I thought, a
Speaker 2: lovely tribute to him. And yeah, Ano another one, much
Speaker 2: like Dean, you know, gone too soon. It just seems like,
Speaker 2: you know, this year obviously John k here and it's
Speaker 2: been a horrible a couple of months in terms of
Speaker 2: people on the sport, you know, passing away. So yeah,
Speaker 2: thoughts and condolencers go out to everyone who knew Scott
Speaker 2: and his family and friends, and yeah, he was He'll
Speaker 2: be long remembered. I think indeed.
Speaker 1: Lee twenty eight Warrington twelve, big win for Lee. This Armstrong,
Speaker 1: Lamb senior offer and Gwie and Hanley scored the tries
Speaker 1: for Lee. Cook kicked four goals, Warrington's twelve from Sipley
Speaker 1: Hoppawati and we got to go. That's five successive victories
Speaker 1: for Lee now. So they are on the charge, aren't they.
Speaker 2: They're flying at the table again, just the way they
Speaker 2: play that kind of spine with David Armstrong, with Cook,
Speaker 2: with Lamb and then you mightor Hanley chipping in from
Speaker 2: the centers. And really really dangerous and then they've just
Speaker 2: got that massive pack Joe often galways in great, great
Speaker 2: form and then they're you know, they're a team that
Speaker 2: you have to watch and I think they are merging
Speaker 2: his real dark horses in the competition. So another another
Speaker 2: big win for them, and yeah, great signs for the Leopards.
Speaker 1: Leads forty two Bradford twelve Leads were always going to
Speaker 1: bounce back and think after having the plants pulled down
Speaker 1: for Cattleford tries for Leeds, two for McDonald. I'm sure
Speaker 1: McDonald's Oh no, he did score for Leeds a week before.
Speaker 1: I just want to say he's playing everywhere McDonald, O'Connor
Speaker 1: Holroyd again, Croft Jenkins. Watkins scored the try and kind
Speaker 1: of kick seven goals. Bradford's tries from Armitage and Ryan
Speaker 1: and Hooley kicked two goals. The big news I think
Speaker 1: in terms of this game though, was that micros Evo
Speaker 1: may have broken his arm.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that will be a blow if he has broken
Speaker 2: and he's out for a sustained period. I don't know
Speaker 2: whether he'll bring out the mountain and go armguard from
Speaker 2: back in the nineties, But yeah, Leeds yeah, were they
Speaker 2: were very good in this game. Obviously, Bradford scored first,
Speaker 2: which was a little bit of a shock, but Leeds
Speaker 2: came back in a sept try and then you know,
Speaker 2: Jake kind of just took over. I'm not so if
Speaker 2: you've seen that monster forty twenty, but it was it
Speaker 2: was kicked from Bradford and landed and headingley. It was.
Speaker 2: It was Fritish and then he set up a couple
Speaker 2: of try scored one himself. Yeah, Leeds bouncing back like
Speaker 2: we expected to have done. The trouble against Bradford. So
Speaker 2: far this season, I think that's three games against their
Speaker 2: old rivals and three wins and you know, another big
Speaker 2: rack up of points to score. But yeah, I was.
Speaker 1: Waiting for a diagnosis on his arm. If he's with
Speaker 1: the NHS, is probably still in the triage waiting for
Speaker 1: a doctor the ladder. Everybody's played twenty apart from Warrington
Speaker 1: and whole k are now who I think have decided
Speaker 1: they're not going to play this game. They're just going
Speaker 1: to They've just got to let it slide, I think
Speaker 1: on a Tuesday, which is an interesting choice, but I
Speaker 1: guess you've got a squeeze in somehow if they both
Speaker 1: play on the Friday previous and play on the Tuesday
Speaker 1: and then the Sunday, that's fine, that's not too bad.
Speaker 1: It's that old school is that it's also about a
Speaker 1: five day turnaround as well. So Leeds they've played the
Speaker 1: full complement of games their top of the ladder with
Speaker 1: thirty two. Then there's two teams on thirty Wakefield Trinity
Speaker 1: who were in second, Wigan Warriors who are in third,
Speaker 1: and the points difference is only three differents. Wakefield have
Speaker 1: got three points more in their points difference column, Warrington
Speaker 1: Wolves in fourth despite their recent travees. But like I said,
Speaker 1: they've still got an extra game to play. They're on
Speaker 1: twenty six points so they've got some ground to make
Speaker 1: up now and we'reing above them. Lee are a level
Speaker 1: with them, and a lot will depend on how that
Speaker 1: extra game goes to see how far Lee can get
Speaker 1: up the table in the next couple of weeks, because
Speaker 1: they've played the full compliment and they're on twenty six
Speaker 1: and Hunkingston Rovers below them, who've got an extra game
Speaker 1: to player on twenty four with a better points differential.
Speaker 1: Saint Helen's as you alluded to, earlier are outside of
Speaker 1: the final spots. They're in twenty four points, so they're
Speaker 1: not a million miles off being back in them.
Speaker 2: To be fair.
Speaker 1: Catalans are in eighth, they're on eighteen points and then
Speaker 1: there's a bit of a drop now thanks to Castford's
Speaker 1: win over to Lose. They're in ninth on fourteen. Castleford
Speaker 1: are in tenth on fourteen. York Knights and Bradford Bulls
Speaker 1: are both on twelve in eleventh and twelfth respectively. Hull
Speaker 1: left c two points below them on ten in thirteenth
Speaker 1: and then it would have been quite barren if Hudersfield
Speaker 1: didn't manage a win because they're only four points behind.
Speaker 1: Now there would have been six if they didn't beat
Speaker 1: York and they're on six points at the foot of
Speaker 1: the ladder. RL tweet of the week and this is
Speaker 1: going to be a bit of a serious one, John Well,
Speaker 1: two serious ones, actually League Freak close to a week ago.
Speaker 1: We're going into the NRL here a little bit, but
Speaker 1: I think it applies to Super League as well. The
Speaker 1: suspensions the NRL handed out this week were laughable, said
Speaker 1: League Freak. Players got suspended for nothing. What's your understanding
Speaker 1: of how officialdom is performing on both sides of the
Speaker 1: world at the moment.
Speaker 2: John, Look, I think the standard overall officiating in the
Speaker 2: NRL is higher than in Super League. I think there's
Speaker 2: a number of reasons for that, because obviously there's a
Speaker 2: It's a bigger sport in Australia, isn't it. There's more referees,
Speaker 2: there's more players, there's more people involved in the sport.
Speaker 2: I think obviously there's more probably pressure on referees, particularly
Speaker 2: in Super League now with every game being televised in
Speaker 2: a video refereed every game. But I think we've got
Speaker 2: to remember referees aren't perfect and they're going to make mistakes.
Speaker 2: We want the best standards, We want consistency. We don't
Speaker 2: always get it, But I don't think we need to
Speaker 2: be going out and abusing and carrying on either. I
Speaker 2: think it's a fine line, isn't We want We want
Speaker 2: more people to take up a whistle and to referee,
Speaker 2: because without it we don't have a sport. But I
Speaker 2: think the constant barras on online in particular about ben
Speaker 2: talk or raup referees is nonsense and people they need
Speaker 2: to have some common sense as well.
Speaker 1: John tweet of the week. It's actually two tweets. One
Speaker 1: of them you said that this case is a model.
Speaker 1: You were referring to the concussion trials in will be
Speaker 1: Cold in the UK, and you retweeted something else on
Speaker 1: the same issue, something pertaining to Ryland's Garth, who are
Speaker 1: representing some of these players I think may not have
Speaker 1: fully complied with a judges order about many documents.
Speaker 2: This is the major concussion trial that's happened to you can.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's been going on now, i'd say at
Speaker 2: least three or four years, and it's obviously it's it's
Speaker 2: two trials in one in the sense that it's rugby
Speaker 2: union and rugby league. So Ryland's Garth is the law
Speaker 2: firm that's taken on this and I think remember exactly
Speaker 2: off the top of my head, but it's quite a
Speaker 2: large number of rugby X Rugby league players who are
Speaker 2: pursuing the RFL and BAALA, but we're still no close
Speaker 2: to actually going to court. The dispute is over the
Speaker 2: medical information that has been supplied. Now Ryland's Garth is
Speaker 2: going to as a law firm, is going to excuse
Speaker 2: themselves and another law firm is going to take it,
Speaker 2: take their place. But the I think the case is
Speaker 2: in danger of being thrown out because of this and
Speaker 2: because of the delays, and obviously this case is huge.
Speaker 2: You know, if if the players, the X players, won
Speaker 2: their case, I mean I imagine, yeah, the RFL BARLA
Speaker 2: could go bankrupt, have serious replications. But on the same side,
Speaker 2: and I know a lot of fans you think these
Speaker 2: X players are money grubbers or you know, worse than that.
Speaker 2: But I think we've got to remember that a lot
Speaker 2: of them are suffering, you know, massively with dementia and
Speaker 2: also of diseases and problems in life. And we've got
Speaker 2: to remember that the players other lifeblood of our game too.
Speaker 2: You know, they go out there and they give you know,
Speaker 2: they sacrifice their bodies for our entertainment, for the fans.
Speaker 2: So I think there's got to be some compassion on
Speaker 2: both sides as well. But yeah, the case itself just
Speaker 2: seems like the fact that there's been really hardly any
Speaker 2: progression in years for this to go on is is
Speaker 2: is not great. So yeah, it needs to come to
Speaker 2: a conclusion one way or the other, hopefully the most
Speaker 2: most correct one. But what that is I don't really know.
Speaker 2: I mean, you'd have to see all the evidence, wouldn't you.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's going to have far reaching implications, not
Speaker 2: only across all of rugbility, but rugby in as well.
Speaker 2: And I think you know, contact sports generally, you look
Speaker 2: at whatever it was, the five billion lawsuit in the
Speaker 2: NFL a few years ago, and that's obviously a much
Speaker 2: richer sport, but the rugby codes we don't have the
Speaker 2: same but they don't have the same bank bounds, do
Speaker 2: they too, to those kind of climbs.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can see where these players are coming
Speaker 1: from somewhat as well, because concussions, concussions and injuries genuinely
Speaker 1: used to be a badge of honor in the game.
Speaker 1: So it's not it's only just over a decade ago
Speaker 1: that we celebrated as a sport. Sam Burge is playing
Speaker 1: with a broken cheek bone for most of the Grand
Speaker 1: Final against the Ball the sixties.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1: I mean my relatively short playing career and I'm of
Speaker 1: a certain vintage and I remember being knocked out on
Speaker 1: the field and there was no nothing except a wet sponge.
Speaker 1: Also in a professional game that I played, my I
Speaker 1: was trying to fend and my right wrist felt like
Speaker 1: it's sprained or something like that, because I do have
Speaker 1: a reasonably high paying threshold right so I just to
Speaker 1: the physio, sorry, in inverted comms, physio, I think I've
Speaker 1: sprained it, and he got the wet sock out of
Speaker 1: the bucket and wrapped it around the wrist. Well, basically,
Speaker 1: I found out twenty years later it actually broke in
Speaker 1: several places on this occasion and had reset itself. So
Speaker 1: I've literally not been able to move my wrist further
Speaker 1: than that for twenty odd thirty odd years. So these
Speaker 1: things have happened. If it happened to me at that
Speaker 1: level in a shorter time, imagine what some of these
Speaker 1: players are going through, and there is a good chance
Speaker 1: that some of it was down to medical or lack
Speaker 1: of medical attention. Now, I would imagine it's also a
Speaker 1: tricky one because we know a lot more about concussions
Speaker 1: and injuries now than we did thirty years ago as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, my argument, I think it is with the people
Speaker 2: who criticize these players or the concussion side, as that
Speaker 2: where you need the risk when you signed up, and
Speaker 2: people didn't. I think, you know, kids today maybe or
Speaker 2: that the parents are aware. But you know, when I
Speaker 2: was a kid in the late eighties, early nineties, you
Speaker 2: didn't you know, if someone said, oh, if you play
Speaker 2: rugby league and then at thirty, you could you know,
Speaker 2: have early onset dementia that was never mentioned. You know,
Speaker 2: you would might know that you might have a broken
Speaker 2: nose and busted knees and torn biceps and all that
Speaker 2: sort of thing, but we didn't know about you know,
Speaker 2: the brain injuries and how serious it could be. So
Speaker 2: you are right, like, we know these things now. We
Speaker 2: didn't know them even probably got fifteen years ago. We
Speaker 2: didn't know them. But we know now, and it's going
Speaker 2: to be interesting to find out what was known or
Speaker 2: what you know, could have been reasonably deduced by you know,
Speaker 2: getting concussed and waking up and running back on the
Speaker 2: field and what impact that could have later in life. So, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's one to keep an eye on that case. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's massively far reaching implications of what.
Speaker 1: Happens in that Courtum, there's a chance the whole kr
Speaker 1: and Warrington game will happen before this case is settled.
Speaker 2: Are you ready for my idea? John?
Speaker 1: I've been inspired by the fact that Catalan's beat to
Speaker 1: lose last week. They're effectively now the French champions, right
Speaker 1: because they're four points ahead, they probably won't get caught
Speaker 1: in the ladder. They're probably going to finish higher in
Speaker 1: the ladder, right.
Speaker 2: It'd be embarrassing if they if they didn't with all
Speaker 2: the natural advantages that they have. But yeah, but they have.
Speaker 1: But also we used to have Yorkshire and Lancashire Cups
Speaker 1: and it's just like the Calcutter Cup in the Six
Speaker 1: Nations or whatever it is. Now that England plays Scotland
Speaker 1: as part of the Six Nations and somebody gets the
Speaker 1: Calcutter Cup. I would like to float the idea that
Speaker 1: we give either the old Lancashire and Yorkshire Cups out
Speaker 1: to the teams that finish highest in the ladder. So
Speaker 1: for example last year Wigan. Oh, you could either do
Speaker 1: it on the ladder or you could do on the
Speaker 1: Super League playoffs. Right, so just using the Super League playoffs,
Speaker 1: Wigan and Hookingson Rovers would each get one each would
Speaker 1: get a langshare in the Yorkshire Cup as well, or
Speaker 1: you could do it or the ladder and that would
Speaker 1: literally mean every game could mean something because if you
Speaker 1: could get bragging rights and do not do not underestimate
Speaker 1: that a lot of people in Lancashire and Yorkshire really
Speaker 1: do want to get one up on the on their
Speaker 1: local rivals in any way that they can. So that
Speaker 1: was just an idea that are floated so that there's
Speaker 1: more newsworthy things that we can we can take pictures
Speaker 1: of and report on. So I thought it'd be a
Speaker 1: great idea to bring back the Orchestra and Lancshire Cups
Speaker 1: to the teams that finish highest.
Speaker 2: If you want they really have a.
Speaker 1: Well you wouldn't because you're an aussy, right, But the
Speaker 1: yorkid Lancire Cups were huge.
Speaker 2: They were huge, you know.
Speaker 1: The Yorkshire Lancshire Cups as old almost the game itself
Speaker 1: and therefore, and then one day we just decided it
Speaker 1: was no too many games, We're not doing it anymore.
Speaker 1: There's all sorts you could do with this. You could
Speaker 1: have a historical Yorkshire and Lancashire Cup winners since the
Speaker 1: early nineties. You could do that as well. I think
Speaker 1: there'd be great news stories, great cycles, and that would
Speaker 1: have added a bit more spice to the game last
Speaker 1: week between the two French teams as well, and you
Speaker 1: never know. They could be an end of season fixture
Speaker 1: between two sides that just means that little who were
Speaker 1: both in the finals, It could just mean that little
Speaker 1: bit more so, Yeah, it's passed through. The Committee of
Speaker 1: me has decided. You might not have seen this. John
Speaker 1: Andrew Abdo was on James Graham's podcast It comes out
Speaker 1: here on a Sunday morning in Australia, and based on
Speaker 1: what I heard, he never said it's happening. But based
Speaker 1: on what I heard, I am now very confident the
Speaker 1: NRL will be investing in the Super League.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I haven't. I didn't know it was on that podcast.
Speaker 2: I haven't listened to it. I will seek it out. Look,
Speaker 2: I think Peter Landys has been the last boys. He's
Speaker 2: been talking about it. You know. I think I think
Speaker 2: things going on on the scenes. I haven't heard anything
Speaker 2: specifically from any sources of people I speak to, but yeah,
Speaker 2: I think of said numerous times. I think it needs
Speaker 2: to happen. I think it deal needs to happen. We
Speaker 2: need to come together. I do worry about the British
Speaker 2: game if something like this doesn't happen, if there isn't
Speaker 2: expertise and investment in the sport. Yeah, the RFL last
Speaker 2: week released its annual report. Yeah, talk about that. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean there had been a small profit I think
Speaker 2: of about four and a half thousand pounds, which there
Speaker 2: was a projected loss, which is a good thing. But
Speaker 2: you know, I think there's been massive cost cutting going
Speaker 2: on at the RFL. And look, you read the you
Speaker 2: read the annual report, and you know, everything sounds awesome
Speaker 2: and rosy and fantastic. And you know, there has been
Speaker 2: some positive this season, and I'm not saying that hasn't it.
Speaker 2: Crowds are up, I think, you know, I think TV
Speaker 2: ratings have been a reasonably good place. But you know,
Speaker 2: we've also talked about all the other things going on,
Speaker 2: you know, clubs going bust, you know, issues that left
Speaker 2: right and center. We can't, you know, be that's kind
Speaker 2: of head in the sand that everything's perfect. There's there's
Speaker 2: severe issues in the in the sport. So yeah, I
Speaker 2: think it's you know, a mixed a mixed bag. Shall
Speaker 2: we say, there's a man of steel? Is it a
Speaker 2: short list? Being yes, sad, Yes, there's been a short
Speaker 2: list from uh. I think I'm trying to remember the
Speaker 2: exact amount of rounds but I think round ten to nineteen,
Speaker 2: which was announced last week, some interesting choices. Even the
Speaker 2: way the press release came out, it wasn't kind of
Speaker 2: clear necessarily leading, but Jake Connor and Ashnley are are
Speaker 2: joint top in the latest rankings. Lockie Miller is his third,
Speaker 2: and then we've got the likes of just coming down.
Speaker 2: I believe it's Brad O'Neil fourth and Niamila Hanley fifth,
Speaker 2: then Mikael Lewis or the Ashaal bought and then the
Speaker 2: likes of Tyrone May, Michael Civo and Daryl Clark. Now
Speaker 2: I think it's interesting, you know, Daryl Clark perhaps being
Speaker 2: in there, but also interesting you know who's who's not
Speaker 2: been in there? No Wakefield players, which you think is
Speaker 2: is fairly remarkable. I know there's been a bit of
Speaker 2: debate about that shortlist, and yeah, I still don't know
Speaker 2: what I had to change the system. I've got this
Speaker 2: this panel now with the likes of Joe Lyon and
Speaker 2: Hillary Hanley, etc. Who were all great players and former
Speaker 2: as a Man of Steel, But I just didn't don't
Speaker 2: understand why we needed to change it from that system
Speaker 2: of every game you give three points to one player
Speaker 2: two to another and one to another to the best performers,
Speaker 2: whether they be on either side, like the Daly am
Speaker 2: but works in Australia, I don't see why we needed
Speaker 2: to change you here. And even this short list of
Speaker 2: certain games. I mean, I think Daryl Clark had only
Speaker 2: played a handful of those games because he was injured
Speaker 2: at that period. And also, you know, Sir Alan's have
Speaker 2: been fairly poor, so some of the choices are a
Speaker 2: bit odd.
Speaker 1: But I can't help but thinking as well that this
Speaker 1: man of steel mob alike, let's make sure Jake Connor
Speaker 1: gets a man of steel or at least top two
Speaker 1: after last.
Speaker 2: Year one man of steel last year he just didn't
Speaker 2: the England look. I think Jake definitely deserves to be
Speaker 2: up there. He's been fantastic. I mean you look at
Speaker 2: you look at the Leeds that Ash Handley has been great. Obviously,
Speaker 2: Cibo has been great. I mean Brady Croft, I think
Speaker 2: he might be second to the try. I mean, he's
Speaker 2: been fantastic this year. But you could go across, you know,
Speaker 2: the Leeds team. I think Cooper Jenkins has been great.
Speaker 2: I think James McDonald's been fantastic, you know, Leeds have
Speaker 2: not really had a poor player. I think Brad O'Neill
Speaker 2: has been very very good this season, deserves about I mean,
Speaker 2: Oli Partington has been fantastic for a wigind they've obviously
Speaker 2: Wiggins had a lot of changes, a lot of injuries,
Speaker 2: a lot of shoffing around, but Brad O'Neil has been great.
Speaker 2: Luke Thompson he's another one who's who's been great. So
Speaker 2: you know the fact that whole kr have got two
Speaker 2: players in there, and I think Tyrone Mayans had a
Speaker 2: good season, but overall as the team, they've been very poor,
Speaker 2: so that's perhaps a bit odd. But yeah, I think
Speaker 2: they've tried, they've tried to change the system around to
Speaker 2: give it maybe more publicity, more more poors, but I
Speaker 2: don't think necessarily has happened, and I think there could
Speaker 2: be a bit more transparency really. I think we've got
Speaker 2: a question about that in our question section, which we'll
Speaker 2: get to in a minute. But yeah, it's a bit
Speaker 2: of a muddel this this this system.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Midland Hurricanes, was it you who interviewed the chairman
Speaker 1: It was the future of the championship, Yes, the the.
Speaker 2: Chairman and the owner and yeah, I think it kind
Speaker 2: of ties into basically what he said was that he
Speaker 2: welcomes the NRL. You know, he's obviously running an expansion
Speaker 2: club and has been for four or four or five years,
Speaker 2: and they're having a good season Midlands, you know, the
Speaker 2: best season probably in their in their very short history,
Speaker 2: obviously coming up from League One. But yeah, I think
Speaker 2: I think he's He's comments were basically about, you know,
Speaker 2: we need to look outside the kind of on that
Speaker 2: are we generating, and you know, we need to change
Speaker 2: as a sport. And you know we talk about this
Speaker 2: on the podcast and privately all the time, don't we.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I think his sentiments in his views are
Speaker 2: spot on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Lomaks are signed for Papua New Guinea in the NRL.
Speaker 1: Not a bad signing for them?
Speaker 2: Is he? Is he playing AFL that or cricket?
Speaker 1: And Adam Adam Dowey is falling out with the Tigers.
Speaker 1: Every time I open the phone there's an email alert
Speaker 1: from the Daily Telegraph.
Speaker 2: Do he staying? Do his going? Do his talking to Benji?
Speaker 2: Do his not talking to Benji? This has been an
Speaker 2: absolute show. Modzele, Just on the Lomax thing first up, Look,
Speaker 2: I think it's a great signing for PNG. Before he
Speaker 2: left Rugular he was, you know, one of the best
Speaker 2: wingers winger slash centers in the world. And I think
Speaker 2: he's a great signing. And obviously not you know, this
Speaker 2: is a rugby league podcast and we're going to throw
Speaker 2: a lot of sympathy for rugby and if you are,
Speaker 2: if you are straucking rugby or the fourth or all
Speaker 2: of it, you just be like what the fuck Like seriously. Yeah, again,
Speaker 2: we're going to remember that loanents he was going to.
Speaker 2: It was that long ago, what was it called the
Speaker 2: broke through sixty yes, which of course never happened, and
Speaker 2: then there was the whole Melbourne Paramatta saga that went
Speaker 2: to court over Lomax. Yeah, you just think he's got
Speaker 2: to stay in the one spot for a while. But yeah,
Speaker 2: P and G Chiefs are great signing for them. You know,
Speaker 2: they're just I mean, I know they've got some they've
Speaker 2: obviously got some disadvantage, but they've got some strong advantages
Speaker 2: in not paying tax and all the government and third
Speaker 2: party support in P and G. But they are I
Speaker 2: think building a pretty strong club. Anything. You see Bold
Speaker 2: Nagers assistant coach there as well, he's got a I
Speaker 2: think a close relationship with Willie Peters. Obviously, you know,
Speaker 2: run a few NRL clubs, so he's got a lot
Speaker 2: of experience. So you could say they're building their rosstar
Speaker 2: and their club pretty well. Michael Chamis, you know, it
Speaker 2: was obviously a top geno and a very smart operator.
Speaker 2: So good signs, I would say for the Chiefs, For
Speaker 2: Adam Dewey. I mean, I'm glad I'm not a Tiger's fan.
Speaker 2: I mean, I know my club's obviously lost again and
Speaker 2: we're not doing that well. But there we get to them. Yeah,
Speaker 2: well I didn't. I didn't watch the game release, so
Speaker 2: we can we can skip over that, but we're not
Speaker 2: skipping off. Well, you're a salted fan. I don't think
Speaker 2: you can really.
Speaker 1: A Salford fanom from Salford and care, but I don't.
Speaker 1: I sometimes forget to check the results.
Speaker 2: So but no, the West Tigers, I mean I thought
Speaker 2: a year or more ago they'd finally kind of got
Speaker 2: some stability and they were progressing in the right areas
Speaker 2: and even the start this is I remember we were
Speaker 2: doing a podcast during the year and they were I
Speaker 2: think there were fourth weren't they and it was like, oh, this,
Speaker 2: you know, this could be it, and then it's just
Speaker 2: I mean, the Dowy thing is interesting because I think
Speaker 2: he loves that club and he's bled for it, but
Speaker 2: and there are other things going on. But it's never
Speaker 2: a good look where a coach says, and you know,
Speaker 2: you're a coach, like if you said, all player, look,
Speaker 2: you know, whatever the position is, you're you're playing here
Speaker 2: this weekend. Effectively, you do have to do what your
Speaker 2: coach says, don't you like, it's not a great look
Speaker 2: if you're pushing back against the coach and say.
Speaker 1: There's a thousand reasons why this might have happened, and
Speaker 1: none of them are good from the outside. So Jerome
Speaker 1: blue Eyes on his way out and therefore probably had
Speaker 1: eyes on the number six jersey and a bit more money.
Speaker 1: Number two. He's only just signed an extension. Jerome blue
Speaker 1: Eyes on his way out, and therefore if he if
Speaker 1: he went to another club immediately, if you like, or
Speaker 1: in or very soon, then he could maybe get two
Speaker 1: contracts for the rest of his career. Because he's twenty
Speaker 1: eight in just over a week, so essentially he's in
Speaker 1: his peak. Number three, he's probably gone here we go again.
Speaker 1: The Tigers are imploding and all I've done is been
Speaker 1: at this club number four. We've just announced and sprooked
Speaker 1: a big TV deal and he's probably thinking, well, I
Speaker 1: can really maximize my earnings over the next two cycles
Speaker 1: if you like, of my contract, and I've just locked
Speaker 1: myself in for three years or whatever it may be,
Speaker 1: and really I need to renegotiate.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I.
Speaker 1: And honestly the way it's been handled, I'm not joking
Speaker 1: when I say the email alerts. One minute you think
Speaker 1: do he won't be there anymore. Next minute he's having
Speaker 1: peace talks with the players and the coach and everything else.
Speaker 2: It's an absolute mess. Talking of an absolute mess before
Speaker 2: you Segreely, you've been living in Australia for what twenty years?
Speaker 2: Is the Targets. There's more leaks in the Target than
Speaker 2: the Titanic. Would you say that the most leaky club
Speaker 2: in the NRL, because there seems to be just whenever
Speaker 2: something like this happens, it's just report after report after
Speaker 2: leak after leak. I'll tell you what else is leaking? Mate.
Speaker 1: Manly's defense, they got absolutely battered the other day by
Speaker 1: Cronuller and I have to bring this up because you're
Speaker 1: doing everything you can to avoid it. You were spooking
Speaker 1: about fozball gearing was a matter of two months ago maybe,
Speaker 1: and I was like, don't you don't you don't. Don't
Speaker 1: get too kind away, John here, this guy has never
Speaker 1: coached before and it's an absolute mess now and Storm
Speaker 1: and Broncos probably because of their defeats at the weekend,
Speaker 1: they're probably gone now. So that's probably the biggest news
Speaker 1: from the NRL. We're up to questions now, So while
Speaker 1: you get yours ready, I got one directly to me
Speaker 1: from Rich the early Bird, who said highly relatively quick
Speaker 1: one for you rear potential rule change. Currently, if a
Speaker 1: team lose a player sinbin red card, a scrumble pack
Speaker 1: down with just five players, so that team has still
Speaker 1: has seven backs, three theoretically in open space, so from
Speaker 1: a scrum there is no advantage to the opposition. This
Speaker 1: probably worked in the days of winning the ball against
Speaker 1: the head and contested scrums, but in today's sanitized world
Speaker 1: of a scrum basically being a chance for a breather,
Speaker 1: it doesn't. I think a team down to twelve to eleven,
Speaker 1: et cetera should still have to pack down with six players,
Speaker 1: which then opens the field for the opposition, especially if
Speaker 1: the opposition have the feed. I'd be interested to hear
Speaker 1: your thoughts on this. Scrums frustrate me as teams don't
Speaker 1: put on plays to the extent I believe they should
Speaker 1: from scrums, but I think this may well open up
Speaker 1: the possibility of really punishing a team of sind. I
Speaker 1: think it's a great idea, Rich, and it's not that
Speaker 1: big a change really, It's just you have to pack
Speaker 1: down with six, get six in there and yeah, so
Speaker 1: I like that rich John likes it in his head.
Speaker 2: All the questionips do we have. We've got some questions
Speaker 2: on X and some questions on Facebook, one from Nick
Speaker 2: Goog what's happening with the NRL doing If it doesn't happen,
Speaker 2: rugby league is dead over here. I think we've kind
Speaker 2: of covered that, haven't we Just previously question from Jeff
Speaker 2: Straud or neutral referees that desperately needed last night Wigan
Speaker 2: was appalling. We did touch a little bit on referees,
Speaker 2: but I think ideally referees not from that area, you know,
Speaker 2: refereeing that their hometown club would be great. But we
Speaker 2: don't have a lot, particularly in England, we don't have
Speaker 2: a lot of referees, so what we're supposed to do?
Speaker 2: I mean, I know there's one Australian reference super League.
Speaker 2: Do we import more Australian referees to England? I don't
Speaker 2: know that. You know, Ashally Klein obviously did quite a
Speaker 2: few years in Super League, but yeah, we've got to
Speaker 2: make the best use of what we have. Jeff looking
Speaker 2: onto X. There was a question from Ian why any
Speaker 2: line on a new title sponsor for Super League Betford's
Speaker 2: still set to expire end of this season. I haven't
Speaker 2: heard a lot about this, but I think it is
Speaker 2: likely that Betfread will renew. I think they do get
Speaker 2: a lot out of the sport and it's a fairly
Speaker 2: successful sponsorship. So in terms of what figure, I don't know,
Speaker 2: but I think it's likely that they were anew question
Speaker 2: from Leonard Gregory Top six question mark TV deal Is
Speaker 2: it done yet? I know it's probably been a lot
Speaker 2: of conjecture about the TV dealer this week. Someone known
Speaker 2: for inventing things may have invented that. It was sort
Speaker 2: of with Sky. I spoke to a few people and
Speaker 2: I don't believe any deal is done as of yet,
Speaker 2: so again people you just kind of want to watch who,
Speaker 2: what you read and why. But yeah, I think negotiations
Speaker 2: are still going on. I think it's probably most likely
Speaker 2: a a new deal with Sky, but in what shape
Speaker 2: or form I don't know. On the other bit, top six,
Speaker 2: we didn't talk a lot about thisly, but obviously we
Speaker 2: went through the table. I don't see a lot of change,
Speaker 2: like it's so tight. So really, did you get a
Speaker 2: question about the top six? Did you? Well, it was
Speaker 2: just basically top six question mark, which was I think,
Speaker 2: who do you think will finish in the top six
Speaker 2: and make the playoffs? If you look at that table,
Speaker 2: I mean there's what so now it's the seventh same
Speaker 2: points as whole k Are, and then you've got fifth
Speaker 2: and fourth in Warrington and Lee on twenty six points,
Speaker 2: and then I jump four points to a Wigan in
Speaker 2: Wakefield on thirty and obviously Leeds top. Look, I don't
Speaker 2: think there's any doubt Leads will finish top. I can't
Speaker 2: see them collapsing, even though obviously they've had a few injuries.
Speaker 2: I think that Warranton, wholew and you the one you
Speaker 2: keep checking out, that's going to be massive in the
Speaker 2: scheme of yea. But even look, I think we'd have
Speaker 2: to compare each club's running. I think when we're not
Speaker 2: seven rounds from the end, maybe next week or a
Speaker 2: week after, we can we can analyze that closely. But
Speaker 2: I think it's probably a two way battle between Whole
Speaker 2: Car and St Helens for that sixth spot. Like Lee,
Speaker 2: you're in sensational form and I don't see that changing.
Speaker 2: Warrington have been up and down, but I think they've
Speaker 2: got enough there to make the six. You know, Wigan
Speaker 2: and Wakefield will we'll finish the top.
Speaker 1: I think there's every chance who's in the six right
Speaker 1: now as we record will be the six. To me,
Speaker 1: what it is important is how Saint Helen's bounced back
Speaker 1: from losing their coach. That's the important thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and they haven't. They haven't just lost their coach,
Speaker 2: they've lost Daryl Clark out for us the season as well.
Speaker 2: They've got so many players out and I think you
Speaker 2: look at Whole k Are, I think, you know, there's
Speaker 2: not been a great season for Whole Car when you
Speaker 2: compare them to last year, but they've still got you know,
Speaker 2: a fairly they've still got a very good squad and
Speaker 2: you know, apart from Michael Lewis, Artam mauls back now
Speaker 2: they're nearly at full strength. As I said Leah in
Speaker 2: Red Hot Form, we're gonna getting wins Wakefielder and Red
Speaker 2: Hot Form. Yeah, it's going to be I think a
Speaker 2: two way shootout between that Whole Guns and Allens. And
Speaker 2: look if if Warrenton beat Whole Car that's definitely a
Speaker 2: massive boost for Sin Allens when they've got that extra
Speaker 2: game those two clubs. So yeah, look, Carlaan's are in eighth,
Speaker 2: there's six points off Hellns. I think they're done. I've
Speaker 2: been saying that for quite a few weeks. And the
Speaker 2: really other interesting battle, although at the bottom is is
Speaker 2: the Spoon because obviously we've got the Spoon battle. I
Speaker 2: think on Thursday night, haven't we Haddestfield? So Hardest Field
Speaker 2: win that and they're two points so you would think
Speaker 2: Hardest Field are nailed on for the Spoon. But the
Speaker 2: way I obviously are going, how badly they're going, it's possible,
Speaker 2: as you is there any more questions? There is some more.
Speaker 2: Sorry I just went off on a nice little tangent.
Speaker 2: There The more questions there was just switching my screen back.
Speaker 2: There was a question from Phil Turner. Should the referees
Speaker 2: be encouraging teams to use the captain's challenge of the
Speaker 2: minute they are giving a decision against them. Surely it's
Speaker 2: the team's a grievance to approach the referee, not vice versa.
Speaker 2: It's not a good look and further encourages hold ups
Speaker 2: in play. Yeah, lisays no, I agree, no spot on.
Speaker 2: Phil got a question from Kai Gil which was a
Speaker 2: really good question. Thanks for this, Kai. If there was
Speaker 2: one player, both current and former rugby league player you'd
Speaker 2: love to sit down for a discussion, who would it be?
Speaker 2: M Now, this really stumped me when I read it.
Speaker 2: I think former player I think probably would be Well
Speaker 2: I had to actually Fulton, I think would be would
Speaker 2: be fascinating, sadly no longer with us. And the other
Speaker 2: one is Roy Francis, which I know you read the
Speaker 2: book about fantastic book by Professor Tony Collins and you
Speaker 2: know what an amazing life he had and a trailblazer
Speaker 2: current players. It's a good one. I'd like to meet
Speaker 2: Jack Gibson, Yes, I mean another I've read a bit
Speaker 2: of Andrew Webster's book, and I'm obviously he was a
Speaker 2: well you know, I say criminal, but it was a
Speaker 2: bit of a bounce, it wasn't it.
Speaker 1: It was a standard, very very colorful, but obviously understood
Speaker 1: coaching as well well.
Speaker 2: One of the greatest coaches ever and changed the game
Speaker 2: in Australia. So yeah, he would be great current players.
Speaker 2: He's a good one. I I.
Speaker 1: Like opinionated players, so and there's a few I think,
Speaker 1: who would I like to sit down with now?
Speaker 2: Current player? That's a tough one. I was. I was
Speaker 2: thinking about it through the act. You know, I've been
Speaker 2: able to many be nice and clear and monster and brain.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of the top players that I've been
Speaker 2: lacking off to interview. But someone I haven't, that's yeah,
Speaker 2: I might have to think about that, sorry, Car a
Speaker 2: little bit longer, because that is a is a really
Speaker 2: good question.
Speaker 1: I think I'd like to speak to somebody associated with
Speaker 1: the motor neuron disease thing, So somebody like keV Sinfield
Speaker 1: I've got I always an ex player. I used to
Speaker 1: play with his brother Ian, but I don't know Kevin.
Speaker 1: But obviously Gy Arrow until recently was a was a
Speaker 1: current player. The Burgess boys about because their dad had
Speaker 1: multieuron disease as well. So yeah, so yeah, it's a
Speaker 1: tough one. That it's a tough one because I mean,
Speaker 1: my first instinct when you said former player was Kevin Ward.
Speaker 1: Kevin Ward was one of my favorite players, the old proper. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you don't. I don't know Kevin Ward, but I would,
Speaker 1: I would imagine, you know, he might be a man
Speaker 1: of few words. I don't know, it might not be
Speaker 1: the best chat. Probably a very tough paths that I imagine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it might not understand his accent or something. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but yeah, current one. That's that's tough. You mentioned the Burgesses.
Speaker 2: I've interviewed Sam Berge a few times, and you know,
Speaker 2: when he wants to be he's He's quite an interesting interview.
Speaker 2: We'll move on to last question from Nazarenko about the
Speaker 2: Man of Steel panel. Handley should be removed in his
Speaker 2: votes made null and void twice, he's significantly compromised the
Speaker 2: ability of the system. Were refusing to vote on a
Speaker 2: required number of players. If you don't want to follow
Speaker 2: the rules of the job trot on which I wasn't.
Speaker 2: I wasn't aware and I'm not sure if this is
Speaker 2: the case that he hasn't made all the required number
Speaker 2: of voter on the require number of players. I did
Speaker 2: try and see some clarification on that, but it wasn't
Speaker 2: able to. But yeah, if that is the case, that's
Speaker 2: a bit strange if you're not sort of following the
Speaker 2: learning platform, if you you know there's five players.
Speaker 1: That you need to I actually, I actually, I actually
Speaker 1: slightly disagree. If he's if he's just do if he's
Speaker 1: doing if he's doing it because he's not doesn't know
Speaker 1: the rules, then he probably needs to be reminded of
Speaker 1: the rules. But he might actually be doing it because
Speaker 1: I don't know, let's say you've got to pick five players.
Speaker 1: Maybe it sits there because he's a hard task master,
Speaker 1: right it was a hard task master as a player
Speaker 1: about and as a coach. He might just be saying, well,
Speaker 1: there's only three good enough that I'll want to give
Speaker 1: votes for. And I always say, I always say that
Speaker 1: a decision not to vote is a vote in itself,
Speaker 1: so we.
Speaker 2: Need to docut vote. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you've if you've got a gun to your
Speaker 1: head to vol and you decide no, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to use that. If you're doing it conscientiously. That's actually
Speaker 1: a volt. So I think we need to hear from
Speaker 1: mister Hamley's first before we jump to any conclusions.
Speaker 2: Which is what I thought too. Obviously he signs in
Speaker 2: the rankings. Is that true potential of confident? I know
Speaker 2: they're not well as I understand they're not close at all.
Speaker 2: Rugby League conflict of interest? You're joking, aren't you. We're
Speaker 2: not gonna We're not gonna go down to break and
Speaker 2: ask their d Anyone will let that one get through.
Speaker 2: But yeah, that was all the questions. Again, Thanks to
Speaker 2: everyone who's sending a question or a topic much Brushada.
Speaker 2: We really enjoy the feedback, don't we leave.
Speaker 1: You can get them to me admin at Rugby League
Speaker 1: Coach dot com, say you or tag me in at
Speaker 1: Rugby League Coach on Facebook and Instagram. Johnny d Davidson
Speaker 1: on X on X and John Davidson journalist on Facebook
Speaker 1: and on Instagram as as well. Next week Huddersfield at
Speaker 1: home to Whole FC on Thursday.
Speaker 2: What a thriller? Who's going to win that one? John? Yeah? Well,
Speaker 2: as I just said, it's it's a It's a thriller
Speaker 2: in its own Way Scoon battle. Yeah, look, I think
Speaker 2: at the moment, look, all were better. Still not good
Speaker 2: enough against whole card, but I think I just feel,
Speaker 2: you know, hopefully that win gives them a lot of
Speaker 2: confidence breaking that massive losing run. Hal put out that
Speaker 2: bizarre statement over the week which we haven't really talked about,
Speaker 2: but kind of a list of excuses and apologies from
Speaker 2: the owners. I went on BBC humber Side and talked
Speaker 2: about it actually, and I think you know helf C fans,
Speaker 2: long suffering fans, they want action, don't they not empty words.
Speaker 2: So yeah, that the pressure is on that club. They
Speaker 2: need to turn things around. So yeah, it could be
Speaker 2: quite a fascinating game.
Speaker 1: Friday, eight o'clock, three games, hul Kingston Rovers, host Bradford Bulls.
Speaker 2: Well have we got three games on the same time?
Speaker 2: Haven't we learned from this? Can you just give you tip? John? Okay, okay,
Speaker 2: Bradford Bradford basically polling players for around. I'm surprised I
Speaker 2: hadn't signed you for for this weekend.
Speaker 1: That I fit the size quota for the front row
Speaker 1: back based on their nineties quite fit the minute actually
Speaker 1: lead Rhinos play to lose. I can only see that
Speaker 1: going one way and to lose are going to flog them? No, no,
Speaker 1: based on based on last week, we have to wedge
Speaker 1: our best.
Speaker 2: I think either way, I think Leeds will win. But
Speaker 2: any any to quote mister Start, any outcomes as possible.
Speaker 1: Lee Leopards host Wigan. That's a bigger actually a bigger
Speaker 1: that is when they host Wigan.
Speaker 2: It's the bus stop derby. Yeah, that'll be there's no
Speaker 2: love lost between at least the fans and we'll maybe
Speaker 2: the owners of these clubs Ley are in great form,
Speaker 2: but I think they've got a massive change to going.
Speaker 2: Look I think we're going you put Bevan French back
Speaker 2: a tay Bevan French at his best is his next level.
Speaker 2: But you know Leah are full of confidence, a lot
Speaker 2: of momentum, big four back, great back, so quite evenly matched.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think it will be a hell.
Speaker 1: Of a game in what will be a great relief
Speaker 1: to Johnny Davidson. There's three games on Saturday, but at
Speaker 1: different times, and so Tigers play Warrington at three o'clock.
Speaker 1: Following Castleford's bipolar John They're going to this week.
Speaker 2: Well didn't I think it was a season in Warrington
Speaker 2: put seventy on them and tipping Castleford. I'm going to
Speaker 2: tip warrant on this one, but again, any any results
Speaker 2: as possible.
Speaker 1: York Knights host Saint Helen's at five point thirty.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a tough one a bit because until the
Speaker 2: Horderstell game in yorka on a bit of a winning run,
Speaker 2: weren't they. I think maybe Saint Helen's might just the
Speaker 2: experience at this level might might get them over. But
Speaker 2: I expect that one to be a close again.
Speaker 1: And at eight o'clock Catalans host Wakefield Trinity.
Speaker 2: Even over in the warm south of France. I think
Speaker 2: Wakefield what six in a row, as you said, and
Speaker 2: I think they've won something like nine to last ten
Speaker 2: or something crazy. I think Wakefield will. We'll get that one.
Speaker 2: And there's nothing in the Super League on Sunday, John,
Speaker 2: I mean, that's just stupidity for me. So Friday the
Speaker 2: three fixtures. Saturday, Yeah, that's right, Yeah, no fixtures. I
Speaker 2: don't see why we couldn't have at two o'clock Sunday
Speaker 2: game and a four o'clock Sunday game. Yeah, it just
Speaker 2: it doesn't make sense to me, particularly when you look
Speaker 2: at the the venues. The whole our game is that
Speaker 2: Groven Park? Is it not? Yeah? Yeah, so they you know,
Speaker 2: I mean I understand why clubs want to plan on
Speaker 2: Friday night. They get more corporates than so it's more
Speaker 2: financially beneficial. But you know, whole Hower around their stadium,
Speaker 2: they could they could play a game on Saturday. Wigan,
Speaker 2: Well they are in their stadium and the football season
Speaker 2: is not in so you know Unle's is that is that? Sorry?
Speaker 2: Is the Wigan game at Wigan? Or is that Lee
Speaker 2: at Lee's First? Yes? Sorry, they don't know in that stadium,
Speaker 2: but yeah, I just this is I was sure. I
Speaker 2: think part of the new TV deal there has to
Speaker 2: be a bit more coordination from the clubs and the
Speaker 2: broadcaster in terms of not putting fixtures head ahead. It's
Speaker 2: just it should be something of the past. And I've
Speaker 2: been signing that for years and years and I'll keep
Speaker 2: signing it to chin.
Speaker 1: Well, I got feeling if I don't end this podcast soon,
Speaker 1: John's going to keep winging. So we'll we'll see you
Speaker 1: next week. You never know, we might be out a
Speaker 1: bit earlier next week if there's no game on Sunday.
Speaker 1: So we'll see we're working out. We're a bit late
Speaker 1: this week, we were very early last week, and yeah.
Speaker 2: It'll be. It'll be around out roughly the same time
Speaker 2: each week, so enjoy your rugby league