Speaker 1: To lose should now be called two wins. Prince Andrew
Speaker 1: is paying for his past sins. After Saturday, Wigan fans
Speaker 1: are in heaven. The Bradford Bulls partied like it was
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven. There were also wins for Saints, Wakian,
Speaker 1: Leeds Brisbane now know to give a little respect to
Speaker 1: Super League. Welcome to the tenth episode of Super League
Speaker 1: three sixty, a podcast primarily about the top tier of
Speaker 1: British rugby league, but a few other things as well.
Speaker 1: My name is Lee Addison.
Speaker 2: And my name is John Davidson.
Speaker 1: You've not said anything about the poetry this week, John,
Speaker 1: do was it not up to the mark?
Speaker 2: It was very good, but it was very good. But
Speaker 2: you've so you're just.
Speaker 1: Used to it now, you're blase already. I mean when
Speaker 1: somewhere you know, when you've got a star player in
Speaker 1: your team, you just expect greatness all the time. I'm
Speaker 1: I'm a coach in Australia, but obviously clearly not got
Speaker 1: an Australian accent despite nearly twenty years in this country.
Speaker 1: John's a journalist in the UK. We have had to
Speaker 1: cut down on describing who we are, so you have
Speaker 1: to look back at some old podcasts or on the description.
Speaker 1: This podcast is being aired also on the Ashes, Rugby
Speaker 1: League and Rugby League Coach podcast platforms Rugby League Coach
Speaker 1: YouTube as well, so if you subscribe to those you
Speaker 1: won't miss a Thinger and I also believe in the
Speaker 1: last week John that Rugby League dot Com, Steve mascad
Speaker 1: and the gang have taken our podcast as well, which
Speaker 1: we really appreciate.
Speaker 2: To put us on their schedule of programming.
Speaker 1: John Davidson tweet of the week. I'm actually it's not
Speaker 1: something that you did per se, it's the responses to it.
Speaker 1: So on the February of the eighteenth, you tweeted do
Speaker 1: you still tweet? Even though it's called X you still I'd.
Speaker 2: Like to call it Twitter as opposed to X about.
Speaker 1: To support okay our specs, Savers is giving out twenty
Speaker 1: thousand red tinted glasses at the MKM Stadium Entrances tomorrow
Speaker 1: night for the World Club Challenge. Through the lenses anything
Speaker 1: black turns Red, giving KR fans a way to feel
Speaker 1: at home in a stadium usually wrapped in black and white.
Speaker 1: And then at Keith Underscore Cat, who is known on
Speaker 1: ex Twitter as a dad of three, granddad of six
Speaker 1: and all leftc mad replied efing gobbledegook, you mup it
Speaker 1: call yourself a journal thought you was all supposed to
Speaker 1: be good with words with it being your trade. Efinglame
Speaker 1: dot com yep.
Speaker 2: Perfectly no more response. In the world of social media and.
Speaker 1: The regulating somebody else said they went there spelt it
Speaker 1: wrong on a holiday. Tell me the Broncos put as
Speaker 1: much into this as they did their finals campaign. No,
Speaker 1: didn't even have a match. Yeah, they took it serious
Speaker 1: and I'm Prince Andrew Socials pop up lee of the week.
Speaker 1: They're still happening. In response to my saying that I
Speaker 1: believe that we should respect super League because there's only
Speaker 1: two professional, full time competitions in the world, so we
Speaker 1: should show it a bit more respect, Ryan Fuller on
Speaker 1: Facebook said, y'all can't even pronounce bottle of water correctly. Relax,
Speaker 1: bo oh oh. Julian Thomas Brenchley Super League is the
Speaker 1: NRL from Team Moves shaded up. In response to my
Speaker 1: saying Wiggans nineteen ninety four World Club Challenge win was
Speaker 1: the best, well, a certain man called Martin a Fire
Speaker 1: shared my post, but Lee Cullerton replied, Bollocks Witness versus
Speaker 1: cam Barra Raiders. They're all concerning bt W Witness eighty
Speaker 1: nine all day long. We got some questions though on
Speaker 1: social media. John Paul Trest said, do you think Willie
Speaker 1: Peters will still be at KR next year?
Speaker 2: He's contracted, but to be honest, I would not be surprised. Look,
Speaker 2: I think the Newcastle Knights were interested in last year.
Speaker 2: He wasn't interested in that job. I think there was
Speaker 2: another gig potentially that he could have gone for, and
Speaker 2: you know that he didn't. I'm sure if Anthony seboll
Speaker 2: gets the acts or if mainly struggle, you know, he'll
Speaker 2: be on the radar for I think he's probably the
Speaker 2: number one candidate for any in our old job at
Speaker 2: the moment, so that's probably fifty to fifty if he's away.
Speaker 2: If he's there. Actually, I know the P and G chiefs.
Speaker 2: There was a story came out from Australia saying, you
Speaker 2: know he'd be int in talking about a job. I
Speaker 2: don't think necessarily PG would be the first choice for him,
Speaker 2: but yeah, I think he's he's a friend r and
Speaker 2: what he did last year. But then obviously what he's
Speaker 2: done with whole character Thursday Night. Yeah, you know with
Speaker 2: the Ashes as well with Australia. He's very very talented
Speaker 2: coach and got a you know, inclining reputation that just
Speaker 2: gets better and better.
Speaker 1: And of course he's been linked with the England job too. Look,
Speaker 1: they're just one thing I want to add. It's happened
Speaker 1: this week. Jason Demetrio also spoke about wanting to get
Speaker 1: back into the NRL. He's only just got his feet
Speaker 1: under the table at London. I think Willie Peters has
Speaker 1: possibly earned the right. But I just find it a
Speaker 1: tiny little bit disrespectful to these clubs in England. And
Speaker 1: Brad Arthur has been linked to a few positions ever
Speaker 1: since he's been at Leeds. It's just a tiny bit
Speaker 1: disrespectful to the clubs in England, their employers.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I know, I know the journalists will ask. He doesn't
Speaker 1: mean they have to answer.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think I think it depends on,
Speaker 2: you know, the relationship that you have with the club
Speaker 2: and also you know your intentions when you come in.
Speaker 2: I think Brad Arthur always came in from datad saying,
Speaker 2: you know, he was never going to be at Leeds
Speaker 2: for a long time. He publicly went for the Perth job,
Speaker 2: didn't get it. He's always, you know, said that, you know,
Speaker 2: he's looking to get back to the NRL. I don't
Speaker 2: think he's made any secret so that Willie Peters, I
Speaker 2: think I'm trying to remember. But I think he got
Speaker 2: the whole car an end of twenty twenty two, twenty three,
Speaker 2: so what this is his servefall fourth season now and
Speaker 2: look he's turned the club around. I'm sure there have
Speaker 2: been discussions with the hierarchy long term. You know, he's
Speaker 2: always said that he wanted to get into the NRL.
Speaker 2: I think he's contracted to the end of twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 2: I could be wrong. Now he had an extension not
Speaker 2: long ago, but look, he may sally that out. I
Speaker 2: think he's his family's very happy, his wife's happy there
Speaker 2: and lustry. He's doing a great job there. So but
Speaker 2: you know, you can say, lad, that's disrespectful, But the
Speaker 2: NRL is the pinnacle of the sport, like that's a fact.
Speaker 2: Whether on Thursday Night or not, which they did, it's
Speaker 2: still the of the sport.
Speaker 1: Sam Luke on Facebook said World Club Challenge. Why would
Speaker 1: Rovers go short from a dropout when Rovers are well
Speaker 1: up on points.
Speaker 2: Were you're the coach, may only that one to you.
Speaker 1: I think sometimes players are just robots and don't always
Speaker 1: adapt to the situation, particularly went under pressure. And we're
Speaker 1: going to talk a bit later about the context of
Speaker 1: the World Club Challenge in England, and it would have
Speaker 1: meant so much to those Whole KR players, particularly the
Speaker 1: English lads to win the game, and the Australian lads
Speaker 1: who again but probably can't necessarily secure an NRL contract
Speaker 1: or they're playing in Super League. It would be big
Speaker 1: for them too because they want to stamp their mark
Speaker 1: on on on the world of rugby league. So I
Speaker 1: think pressure sometimes does strange things to people. And I
Speaker 1: do think that a good leader in that team and
Speaker 1: are smart. So I would imagine if Cameron Smith at
Speaker 1: his peak was playing for the Whole k Are or
Speaker 1: Cooper Krok, they would have said, no, we need to
Speaker 1: kick this one long. So I just think it's that
Speaker 1: it's that simple. Really, Maybe Willy send the message out,
Speaker 1: Maybe Willy didn't send the message out. Maybe Willy tried
Speaker 1: to send the message out but the trainer didn't get there.
Speaker 1: I just think I just think sometimes we do things
Speaker 1: in rugby league just because they get done and we
Speaker 1: don't necessarily process the reasons why. Interesting question, Matthew Darnley,
Speaker 1: who has sent us a few questions. Thanks Matthew. Given
Speaker 1: that all three promoted teams have won a game and
Speaker 1: to lose, being two from two, does it prove that
Speaker 1: there is enough talent fourteen teams in Super League and
Speaker 1: that it just needs celebrating more.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's a really good question. I don't
Speaker 2: think we can make the judgment now when you say
Speaker 2: is there enough talent? I mean there's not enough English
Speaker 2: talent because if you look across all those teams, you know,
Speaker 2: most of them have at least ten foreign players. So
Speaker 2: they had to increase the quota because they were concerned
Speaker 2: about the lack of talent. So I think that's a fact.
Speaker 2: I mean, I even, you know, we started on the
Speaker 2: World Cup Challenge. I had a look at the makeup
Speaker 2: of the two squads and if you look through a
Speaker 2: thirty five percent of Whole Hours team on Thursday night,
Speaker 2: of their seventeen thirty five percent rossies six of them,
Speaker 2: and they had a Kiwi player and a French player
Speaker 2: and nine of them, fifty three percent were English. And
Speaker 2: then you look at the Broncos, seventy percent of their
Speaker 2: players rossies and five of them were Kiwi, so thirty percent.
Speaker 2: So out of the two squads, fifty three percent of
Speaker 2: the players on the field and the World Cup Challenge
Speaker 2: were Australian and twenty six percent were English.
Speaker 1: So what was the percentage of Australian?
Speaker 2: Sorry, fifty three percent of the thirty four players and
Speaker 2: both of the coaches were Australian. Yeah, and there was
Speaker 2: actually eighteen percent were Kiwis and twenty six percent were English.
Speaker 1: So it's probably more a re a reflection of the
Speaker 1: Southern Hemisphere player pool.
Speaker 2: And I think you get, yeah, you can read lots
Speaker 2: into it, but I think it shows how interreliant both
Speaker 2: the NRL and Super leg are. English game is very
Speaker 2: reliant on Australian New Zealand players coaches throughout, and you know,
Speaker 2: there's a massive I think it's another reason why there
Speaker 2: should be a partnership between the two leagues because there's
Speaker 2: already you know, things going on, knowledge sharing, you know, loans, players,
Speaker 2: moving development, all that sort of stuff that already happened anyway. Media.
Speaker 2: It just needs probably to be formalized, but I think
Speaker 2: they were very dependent on each side of the world.
Speaker 2: Because rugby league is a small sport, let's be honest,
Speaker 2: they're very co reliant.
Speaker 1: So as you said, I'm a coach and I look
Speaker 1: at it from a coaching perspective, and one thing I've
Speaker 1: noticed has been a few big injuries in the first
Speaker 1: round of Super League. Blake Taff, somebody else at Wigan
Speaker 1: is out for a while. I forget off the top,
Speaker 1: Jack Wardle.
Speaker 2: How does Field have got a load of injuries?
Speaker 1: A load? Whereas I'm critical of the NRL, I think
Speaker 1: they trained too much and prepare too much for the season,
Speaker 1: and I think there's too much of a focus on
Speaker 1: trying to get personal best all the time. By round two,
Speaker 1: there'll be thirty four players on the sideline with easily
Speaker 1: that's two squads of seventeen. Okay, in Super League, I
Speaker 1: think it's the exact opposite. I think they don't have
Speaker 1: enough time. Their season finishes later and it also starts earlier.
Speaker 1: And this year we've also had the added focus on
Speaker 1: the Ashes, so they've had less preparation time. So I
Speaker 1: think there's a lot of bodies that are underprepared, and
Speaker 1: because of that, I think some of the stronger sides
Speaker 1: and those who are more in tune with sports science
Speaker 1: and the body's workings actually tend to pace their season
Speaker 1: a little bit more so they're not necessarily focused on
Speaker 1: starting too well all the time. And Leeds might be
Speaker 1: an example of that. Right they had a scratchy performance
Speaker 1: a week before. Lee could be one of those. They're
Speaker 1: probably just eighty seventy percent of where they want to be.
Speaker 1: Saint Helen's could be, et cetera, et cetera. We're going
Speaker 1: to have had a good start, but I don't think
Speaker 1: they've had the toughest draw yet. And what that gives
Speaker 1: an opportunity for is for the newly promoted sides. So
Speaker 1: for example, your Bradford New York's and you're to lose
Speaker 1: by natural attrition, they'll have less international players anyway, so
Speaker 1: they'll have more of their players at pre season, so
Speaker 1: they can put in more work and as a result,
Speaker 1: they can start the season well. And I think that's
Speaker 1: why York pulled the pants down of Saint Helens. Saint
Speaker 1: Helen's worth ten percent off. I think that's why to
Speaker 1: lose have had a good start as well, because they're
Speaker 1: just catching teams a little bit cold, and because it's
Speaker 1: a bloody longage on the Super League year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and.
Speaker 1: The human body just can't take that much work throughout
Speaker 1: a year. So what I think we're finding right now, Matthew,
Speaker 1: is that imbalance that some teams are a bit more
Speaker 1: ahead in there in their preparation. Because if York Bradford
Speaker 1: to lose get five wins from the first ten games,
Speaker 1: they're not going to finish bottom basically, And that's why
Speaker 1: a team like Huddersfield will probably start to get a
Speaker 1: bit worried in a couple of weeks if they don't
Speaker 1: win a game in Castleford. What we're actually looking at
Speaker 1: is a situation where we probably need to judge it
Speaker 1: in eight to ten rounds, in eight to ten rounds,
Speaker 1: and I think there's warning signs there already with York.
Speaker 1: York played the game of their life against Saint Helens.
Speaker 1: Seven days later, ah okay are again sorry against Okay.
Speaker 1: A week later went to Leeds and don't get me wrong,
Speaker 1: I know they've had a hard draw, but that just
Speaker 1: proves how hard elite rugby league can be.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, And I think I think we'll have a
Speaker 2: better judge probably around Easter, which is yeah, seven seven
Speaker 2: rounds in and we'll have a better judge than you.
Speaker 2: But look, the promoted teams so far have done really well.
Speaker 2: At Bradford were very good against Catalans, you know, I
Speaker 2: mean it's the first game an Ons Super Ego and
Speaker 2: Module in eleven twelve years and I had ten thousand.
Speaker 2: Fantastic and they deserve their win and to lose great
Speaker 2: two wins, you know, you'd have to say against Wakefield
Speaker 2: and Casts winnable probably games for to loose, but not
Speaker 2: necessarily you know, no gimmes by anyway, but they've done
Speaker 2: fantastically well and York you know, came up against a
Speaker 2: very talented lead side. So yeah, we will. We will
Speaker 2: know more throughout the year. I think if you if
Speaker 2: you're Castleford a Harddersfield though, yeah, your two wins and
Speaker 2: two losses so their game coming up and around three
Speaker 2: is massive. You don't want to be none and three
Speaker 2: after three rounds.
Speaker 1: If you want to get questions tours during the week, well,
Speaker 1: first of all, you can right on my Facebook or
Speaker 1: Instagram at Rugby League Coach, or you can email me
Speaker 1: Admint at Rugby League Coach dot com to say you
Speaker 1: John you can.
Speaker 2: Get me on Facebook at John Davidson Journalists or on
Speaker 2: x and Johnny d Davidson. That's generally where most of
Speaker 2: the abuse rolls in.
Speaker 1: I think you'd give different contact details every week. Yeah, look,
Speaker 1: we're going We talked about the World Club Challenge. We
Speaker 1: had a reaction pod, and I know we're going to
Speaker 1: go into it in game reviews and we're also going
Speaker 1: to have it in Johnny's job, so we'll just part
Speaker 1: that for a moment. We have also made a pledge
Speaker 1: to cover some NRL news a little bit to make
Speaker 1: sure fans in England in particular are still in tune
Speaker 1: with what's going on. So obviously they're two weeks from
Speaker 1: the season starting on the mainland, but obviously Vegas is
Speaker 1: the official start of their season. This one I know
Speaker 1: you're going to respond to, though I'm not one of
Speaker 1: those who will overanalyze trials so friendly matches in terms
Speaker 1: of their importance for the bigger picture, for the reasons
Speaker 1: I've just mentioned with regards to Super League that some
Speaker 1: teams are more prepared than others at this stage of
Speaker 1: the year. For example, on pretty sure we're not too
Speaker 1: worried about Melbourne Storm, even though the Titans put forty
Speaker 1: past them in a trial. That said. A certain team
Speaker 1: that John Davidson supported as a boy, the Manly Sea Eagles.
Speaker 1: They played against South Sydney Rabbit Holes yesterday in a
Speaker 1: trial and they showed absolutely nothing and selves basically controlled
Speaker 1: the game from go to Oh and the coach Seabold
Speaker 1: was seen several times in the coaching box. He wasn't
Speaker 1: losing his rag by any stretcher, He's not that kind
Speaker 1: of person, but he's just shaking his head and that
Speaker 1: would suggest to me that he wasn't seeing what he
Speaker 1: wanted to see at this stage. He wasn't too relaxed
Speaker 1: about what he was seeing. So that came to mind
Speaker 1: automatically when you mentioned Willie Peters, who has worked at
Speaker 1: many before. That could be another real thing to watch
Speaker 1: because I think Sea Bold is a bit in the
Speaker 1: Sam Burgess realm needs to have a big club that
Speaker 1: needs to have a good start to the NRL season.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, he's probably one of the coaches, one
Speaker 2: of the most pressure. I probably put him Todd Payton.
Speaker 2: Apart from that, I think probably even Shane Vanigan's got
Speaker 2: a bit more breathing space, but I think those two
Speaker 2: were probably the most under pressure. Obviously, Wholebook's a new coach,
Speaker 2: the Titans coach his name escapes me has only just
Speaker 2: come in, so he's got a bit of breathing room.
Speaker 2: Jason Rawls is only in his second season at Paris,
Speaker 2: so yeah, I think Seabold wasn't far from the acts
Speaker 2: last season, and you know, mainly had a bad year
Speaker 2: last year and they really obviously the DC's gone, but
Speaker 2: they need to they need to improve, and I think
Speaker 2: if he if they don't perform well, he will be out.
Speaker 1: Mike Rush is leaving Saint Helen's or has left. You
Speaker 1: can maybe add some clarity to that, but that's Saint
Speaker 1: Helen's and the Rugby Football League that are looking for
Speaker 1: a chief executive office.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, the Rush one is very interesting. Obviously, been
Speaker 2: at a club for twenty seven years. You know, he
Speaker 2: was the coach at one point, he was the CEO
Speaker 2: for a long time. Yeah, it was sort of the
Speaker 2: key figure at the club for a long time. But
Speaker 2: there's been a lot of rumors about him. I approached
Speaker 2: him the week before he denied he was he'd left
Speaker 2: his role and the media managed to denied it, and
Speaker 2: then there was more rumors that was announcement on the Monday,
Speaker 2: and then low and behold on the Monday they announced
Speaker 2: that he was stepping down. Just goes to show you
Speaker 2: can always believe what you're sold. But look, yeah, I
Speaker 2: think there's a lot that's been gone behind the scenes.
Speaker 2: But my rush obviously there's a marked personal situation which
Speaker 2: you know, sources have sort of said that he was
Speaker 2: offered a contract which he agreed to and then that
Speaker 2: contract was pulled and that's upset a lot of people.
Speaker 2: You could say there's been a lot of questionable decisions
Speaker 2: in terms of re signings and deals and recruitment at
Speaker 2: Saint Helens in the last couple of years, like the
Speaker 2: signing among A Blake and extensions for Ignacious Parsi and
Speaker 2: Conrad Harrald's there's quite a few there. So look saying
Speaker 2: all that, I think Mike RuSHA obviously was a key
Speaker 2: part in there four wins in a row, but maybe
Speaker 2: you know, just changes is perhaps good at any club,
Speaker 2: but the chairman aim around us is filling that role,
Speaker 2: so that's probably not a great thing. Then you've got
Speaker 2: a chairman running us running the club as the CEO
Speaker 2: as well long term. But yeah, I think Saint Alan's
Speaker 2: to me, they've always been. They've been a very successful club,
Speaker 2: but they're somewhat insular. They're very focused about themselves and
Speaker 2: their and not looking like say a Wigan is to
Speaker 2: kind of promote the sport and everything around. So maybe
Speaker 2: some change that couple will open their doors a bit
Speaker 2: and don't look beyond the greater Merseyside area.
Speaker 1: I know Mike Rush and I've worked with him. What
Speaker 1: an amazing stint at Saint Helen's twenty seven years. I mean,
Speaker 1: nobody can doubt commit them to a club, but what
Speaker 1: a will add. And this is with the biggest amount
Speaker 1: of respect I could ever offer. As I mentioned sometimes,
Speaker 1: I'm a Manchester City fan and when City won the Treble,
Speaker 1: which was their holy grail for so long, and winning
Speaker 1: the Champions League, there's definitely been something of a drop
Speaker 1: in standard at Manchester City. And this is with all
Speaker 1: those resources, all the support, all the finances, and nothing
Speaker 1: fails like success in sport. And I think if you
Speaker 1: look at Mike Rush's ear as CEO, Saint Helen's actually
Speaker 1: won the league was it four on the bouts or
Speaker 1: three on the bout?
Speaker 2: Was four on the bout four on the bount which
Speaker 2: is an amazing twenty two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, nobody else has done that. Nobody else has done that.
Speaker 1: So it may just be that he's reached the end
Speaker 1: of his energy level and that's not a crime, and
Speaker 1: he needs to be applauded for what he's done there.
Speaker 1: And because there's a few things, another thing to add
Speaker 1: to the Saint Helen's probably need a reset is that
Speaker 1: crowd on on Friday, on Thursday or Friday whenever they
Speaker 1: played Lea only down the road from Saint Helens, it
Speaker 1: was a big game and there were so many empty
Speaker 1: seats there. Now it wasn't it wasn't a good look.
Speaker 2: So I think there was I'm just actually having a
Speaker 2: look now. I think it was fifty. No, it was
Speaker 2: thirteen thousand, two hundred and three, which is not you know,
Speaker 2: the biggest crowd. But look, I think if we look
Speaker 2: at Saint Helens, I was even when they were in
Speaker 2: that that great run, they weren't you know, getting massive
Speaker 2: crowds every week. And I think what happened with Paul
Speaker 2: Wellens last year was also you know, I think the
Speaker 2: treatment of a club legend like him, and a treatment
Speaker 2: by some of the fans as well, like you know,
Speaker 2: abuse being sent to his son and all that sort
Speaker 2: of thing. It's just disgusting. You possibly lost each way
Speaker 2: a little bit. Yes, I think I think that's fair. Look,
Speaker 2: I think that's a fair comment. And I'm not putting
Speaker 2: that blame on Soliel might rush or anything like that.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I think obviously things are changing. Their poor
Speaker 2: rolies come in. I actually saw poorly a couple of
Speaker 2: hours ago. It was commentating on the Huddersfield game. There's
Speaker 2: been a big turnover of players. There's going to be
Speaker 2: more turnover. You know, that generation for that run, you know,
Speaker 2: is largely going or gone. It needs to needs to happen.
Speaker 2: They've got a good crop, a young good crop of
Speaker 2: young players coming through, but you know, there needs to
Speaker 2: be changing the club, and I think they do need
Speaker 2: to modernize a bit as well.
Speaker 1: Talking of modernizing, Bradford Bulls returned to the Sorry Bradford
Speaker 1: Balls returned to Super League, and therefore oddsal returns to
Speaker 1: Super League. I'll be quite honest, John, just from looking
Speaker 1: on the television all the way from Brisbane, it looks
Speaker 1: no different to when I was last there sometime in
Speaker 1: the late nineties.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think you're a bit half there.
Speaker 2: I think I think the last time I was also
Speaker 2: was twenty eighteen. But I think they have made quite
Speaker 2: a few changes, you know, flood lights, they've painted certain things.
Speaker 2: So I think we give them some credit obviously. You know,
Speaker 2: it's not a it's not an Alliance arena, it's not
Speaker 2: a Wembley, it's you know, but look, ten thousand people
Speaker 2: there for the first game against Catlans, and Catlans will
Speaker 2: have no away fans, snow, criticism, lens. It's just a fact.
Speaker 2: So fantastic to see that many people in Bradford at
Speaker 2: the Bulls. Hopefully they can maintain similar ground levels throughout
Speaker 2: the season. They all had it, but they were really good.
Speaker 2: It was a night of celebration for them. They've had
Speaker 2: a lot of dark times Bradford since well, I think
Speaker 2: it's probably around two thousand and nine ten, when you
Speaker 2: know the main problem started. So good on them, great performance.
Speaker 2: They dominated Catlans Catlands, where as their coach said they
Speaker 2: were soft.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll go through that in the game review. Talking
Speaker 1: about dark times, These new floodlights. I think they still
Speaker 1: need to turn them up a bit because it did
Speaker 1: look dark on the TV. And the grass was long too,
Speaker 1: the grass was really long.
Speaker 2: Well, I said this to how can you get the
Speaker 2: Super eight launch? Like? Coming on? So will be in
Speaker 2: an advantage for his team because you know it is
Speaker 2: a different climate in that bowl, and you know it's
Speaker 2: a small pitch, and you know it's not the most hospitable.
Speaker 2: It's a bit like a couple of years ago, you know. No,
Speaker 2: I think Rgan just said, you know, hated playing it
Speaker 2: wakeful because the dressing rooms were from salted.
Speaker 1: Salted in my hometown. Used to bang your head on
Speaker 1: the dressing room because.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean not at the aj bell, but definitely
Speaker 2: the willows.
Speaker 1: There's a different there's a there's a problem though this.
Speaker 1: We are now in twenty twenty six, which is over
Speaker 1: a quarter of a century into a quarter of a
Speaker 1: century into the twenty third century, so people expect more.
Speaker 1: Our friend James Speedy Vile Varley put on Facebook there's
Speaker 1: better flood lights, jeez, I hate to see what they
Speaker 1: were like previously. And the speedway track has been tarmised
Speaker 1: instead of shale. I don't know what tarmis means. He
Speaker 1: said he didn't get caught short, so I'm not sure
Speaker 1: about the toilet yet. The place does have a retro feel,
Speaker 1: shall we put it that way. And he's a Bradford fans,
Speaker 1: he's the he's the fair Bradford fan. Chad Collinson said
Speaker 1: it's worse now than it was in ninety seven. Sam
Speaker 1: Grundy said corporate hospitality stand built where the speedway pitch
Speaker 1: used to be. I think they've been there for a
Speaker 1: while though, haven't they.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think they've done some work on the corporate hospitility. Look,
Speaker 2: I'm given Bradford credit. You know you can't magic gap
Speaker 2: millions to fix the stadium and that that whole stadium
Speaker 2: needs needs a lot of work. But you know they're
Speaker 2: they're trying to fix it, they're trying to improve it.
Speaker 2: So and you know they had they had a band
Speaker 2: there for the first night and they put on a
Speaker 2: great show. So credit credit to the Bulls.
Speaker 1: Something's cooking at Wigan. They will be top of the ladder,
Speaker 1: I would assume right now. But Adam Kieran, who plays
Speaker 1: in the outside backs, keeps clocking everybody. He's been in the.
Speaker 2: First two weeks of Yeah, he picked up and I
Speaker 2: know at least he picked up one last year, not more.
Speaker 2: He has gone a bit of a worrying tendency to
Speaker 2: kind of fly out of the line. I mean, he's
Speaker 2: obviously he's trying to make a defensive read and to
Speaker 2: stop the ball getting out to the winger, but he's
Speaker 2: coming in and he's hitting people in the head, whether
Speaker 2: it be shouldered ahead or swinging on. And yeah, it
Speaker 2: was a bad one. I think it's probably lacky. He
Speaker 2: didn't get a red on Saturday Night against but he's
Speaker 2: by no means a dirty player, but he's just quite
Speaker 2: a tendency to get those wrong. And I would imagine,
Speaker 2: you know, with the points loading. I don't know what
Speaker 2: points he's on, but he's looking at least probably again
Speaker 2: a week or two Bain, which with Jack Waller that
Speaker 2: means that we're gonna have no centers. So but it's
Speaker 2: going to be difficult for them in the next game.
Speaker 1: You've mentioned he didn't get a red, so it's a
Speaker 1: good segue into something I want to talk about refereeing interpretations.
Speaker 1: I had to feel like the Super League at the
Speaker 1: moment is going through a phase where they are letting
Speaker 1: things go. And when I watched the World Cup Challenge
Speaker 1: the other day, it was pretty obvious that Brisbane was
Speaker 1: sometimes trying to play a different sport. So, for example,
Speaker 1: obstructions that so tries that would be reviewed incessantly in
Speaker 1: the NRL were not reviewed in that World Club Challenge
Speaker 1: or indeed in bost Super League games. I've seen a
Speaker 1: few things that look a bit forward the marker area.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, it is an absolute disgrace. I implore everybody
Speaker 1: to let me finished on because I can see you're
Speaker 1: getting ready. I can see that. I suggest everybody looks
Speaker 1: at the first set of Super League last year, the
Speaker 1: Grand Final, and how offside? What is it? Farrell? What's
Speaker 1: his name? The right edge for whom Liam Farrell? That's right, yeah, Liam.
Speaker 1: There's too many Farrells in Wigan. He was so offside
Speaker 1: when he chopped down Mikey Lewis's kick. It was ridiculous.
Speaker 1: But and this is why I stopped you interrupted. I
Speaker 1: actually like all this. I think it's a positive because
Speaker 1: the game's flowing and I'm worried the NRL will be
Speaker 1: the exact opposite. So during the World Cup Challenge, a
Speaker 1: couple of Brisbane players were in the tackle. They were
Speaker 1: grabbing the back of the neck to try and suggest
Speaker 1: that they've been grappled. Some of them were trying to
Speaker 1: get some kind of crusher. Somebody dived like it was
Speaker 1: Swan Lake when a defender just brushed them, and none
Speaker 1: of it was even looked at by the referee. I
Speaker 1: can assume, and I like it. I like it. I've
Speaker 1: got to be honest.
Speaker 2: I was at the game and the press seats at
Speaker 2: are about uh as far back as like Lincoln, so
Speaker 2: you can't really steal what was going on.
Speaker 1: What's worse? What's worse the m k M or Everton Stadium?
Speaker 2: Uh probably the MK actually later but anyway, look, I
Speaker 2: can't you know comment. I've not gone back and watched
Speaker 2: the game and analyzed the rock. But there was a
Speaker 2: few forward passes there in that game, and I've seen
Speaker 2: a lot of forward passes the first two rounds and
Speaker 2: then they don't seem to be getting cold. And again
Speaker 2: in terms of the Rock, I mean that Wigan game
Speaker 2: that we can have c game. It seemed to be
Speaker 2: a lot of holding and a lot of niggle around
Speaker 2: the neck and hit was just getting not penalized. So yeah,
Speaker 2: it's a bit of a crapshoot. I think week to
Speaker 2: week what is was get what is and what isn't
Speaker 2: getting penalized. Some refs seem to be one in quicker rocks,
Speaker 2: others don't. It kind of ebbs and flows.
Speaker 1: I think what would happen in Australia because of the
Speaker 1: scrutiny around your three sixties and your radioshals have just
Speaker 1: been banging on about one decision or two and we're
Speaker 1: just not getting that at the moment in England and
Speaker 1: coaches will get a bit frustrated. I understand that, but
Speaker 1: as a rule, I think praise to the referees for
Speaker 1: allowing things to flow and there's not that paralysis by
Speaker 1: analysis that we have in the NRL where because I
Speaker 1: do think one thing we can we can praise the
Speaker 1: Super League refs for at the moment they are allowed
Speaker 1: that they've got a feel for the game. So none
Speaker 1: of the games have erupted, none of the games have
Speaker 1: turned into the okay Corral. Yet I do know under
Speaker 1: Liam Moore they will tend to be one rook or
Speaker 1: two that I remember in the in the Super League
Speaker 1: Grand Final looked at one roock in the middle of
Speaker 1: the game, and I'm thinking, I don't even know how
Speaker 1: to describe what I've just seen. It was that different
Speaker 1: to what normally happens. So but I'm talking about rare incidences.
Speaker 1: So play on, I say, play on for a while. Anyway,
Speaker 1: you wrote a story last week Sean Wayne considering or
Speaker 1: started legal action over his exit from England. I thought
Speaker 1: he resigned, John, I thought he resigned.
Speaker 2: Well that was that was the claim and the press
Speaker 2: release that the RFL made on the fourteenth of January.
Speaker 2: I found out that he'd threatened the legal action. He
Speaker 2: was he did not see the decision for him to
Speaker 2: move on by the RFL coming, and that he threatened
Speaker 2: legal action. And I chased the RFL for quite some
Speaker 2: time in this and in the end they refused to comment,
Speaker 2: so they wouldn't confirm it, and they wouldn't deny it,
Speaker 2: and they wouldn't provide any other context, and neither did
Speaker 2: the RFL CEO. Sean Wayne didn't get back to me either.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's it's not it's not surprising the sense
Speaker 2: that I think he always had ultimate faith in his
Speaker 2: own ability, and he was asked after the third test,
Speaker 2: you know, do you believe you are the right man
Speaker 2: still for the job, and he said, I don't believe.
Speaker 2: I know I am and I have the support of
Speaker 2: my staff and players. Now there have been some rumblings that,
Speaker 2: you know, I think some of the players weren't that happy,
Speaker 2: but I think most people can work out. When you're
Speaker 2: losing ashes series three nil and you get the selections wrong,
Speaker 2: you get the tactics wrong, you get the performances wrong,
Speaker 2: it's probably time to move on. So I think the
Speaker 2: RFL made the the right decision without a doubt.
Speaker 1: There's also tends to be ten of the starting thirteen
Speaker 1: that are very happy with the colt because they got picked.
Speaker 2: Well look just to just to jump in there, and
Speaker 2: you know, it goes back to the World Cup challenge,
Speaker 2: you know, the heroic performance that Dean Hadley put in.
Speaker 2: He was one of the players that got overlooked by
Speaker 2: Sean Wayne Elliot Manchela was another bat of steel. Jesse
Speaker 2: Lenton obviously played the second and third Test for or
Speaker 2: started at Hoco for England, but should have started the
Speaker 2: first Test and was maybe England's best player of the series.
Speaker 2: And he was absolutely phenomenal on Thursday night and then
Speaker 2: you've got, you know, Mikey Lewis, who probably should have
Speaker 2: started at half in halves for all three not you know,
Speaker 2: off the bench or at hooker or at fullback. So
Speaker 2: you know, I think what happened on Thursday I probably
Speaker 2: ran home for some people a little more opinions about
Speaker 2: the Ashes as well.
Speaker 1: Also on the RFL, it was leaked last week from
Speaker 1: Australia actually that Tony messed off the former Manly CEO
Speaker 1: could be the next English Rugby League ce L.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think he's applied. It's interesting they
Speaker 2: said he was the front runner. I mean I've not
Speaker 2: heard that. That may be the case, but I've not
Speaker 2: heard that. As I said, there's been a few names mentioned,
Speaker 2: you know, in contention, like Cal Fitzpatrick and Paul Aken.
Speaker 2: Rob Hicks's name has been thrown up. Yeah, I think
Speaker 2: Mestro would be interesting because obviously he's got close ties
Speaker 2: to Peter Landy's, doesn't he. So I think if he
Speaker 2: got the job, you would think that some sort of
Speaker 2: partnership with the NRL would be part of that or
Speaker 2: on the way. But you know, Niger Wood and the
Speaker 2: RFL's kind of you know, kind of I'm not sure
Speaker 2: how the best way to put it, but not necessarily
Speaker 2: welcomed any NROL takeover or any partnership with open arms
Speaker 2: have they if you know, I think there's a reluctance
Speaker 2: from some people in the English game to get into
Speaker 2: bed with the NRL. So yeah, I think there's a
Speaker 2: lot to come on that front. And then obviously who
Speaker 2: is the chairman who sits above the new rfl C
Speaker 2: the group chairman, which some people are saying it will
Speaker 2: be a coronation for Nigel would so I guess we
Speaker 2: I think I think March is probably when we will
Speaker 2: find out, or at least at the end of March,
Speaker 2: the the successes of those or the appointments for those positions.
Speaker 1: Whether people love or hate what the nagile Wood administration
Speaker 1: is doing right now. I know it's not officially the
Speaker 1: agile Wood administration, but I think we can we can
Speaker 1: safely assume he's got a lot of influence, this new
Speaker 1: this new broom. Love them or hate them for what
Speaker 1: they're doing. They are doing things and this CEO appointment
Speaker 1: will I think give us the biggest indication of their
Speaker 1: plan for the next phase of super leagues and Rugby
Speaker 1: Football League's history. I really do, because if they do
Speaker 1: go with an Australian such as Mestro or any CEO
Speaker 1: in Australia at all who fancies it, that is going
Speaker 1: to be a pretty good indication. But also at the
Speaker 1: very least somebody that Peter the land Is and Andrew
Speaker 1: Abdoll can liaise with about what's going on. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's no guarantee that the anarl are happy with what
Speaker 1: they are looking at too. They might want to monitor
Speaker 1: it for a year, eighteen months, two years. If the
Speaker 1: appointment is somebody that some people on internet forums will say,
Speaker 1: oh that's one of Nigel Woods old boys from somewhere,
Speaker 1: blah blah blah, we have a pretty clear idea of
Speaker 1: what might be happening. If they go for a complete
Speaker 1: outsider from anywhere else apart from Rugby League World in Australia,
Speaker 1: then then that's another direction again. So I think I
Speaker 1: think this is going to be a real key, key appointment.
Speaker 1: English rugby league sides are very good at the World
Speaker 1: Club Challenge John and okay our beat Broncos thirty twenty four.
Speaker 1: I mean, we did a reaction podcast on Thursday night,
Speaker 1: Your Time Friday morning, Australia time. And the idea of
Speaker 1: that is we want fans who are at away games,
Speaker 1: like literally, we'll have it out on the first game
Speaker 1: of the weekend most weekends so you can listen to
Speaker 1: it on the way home and it will literally want
Speaker 1: the quick reaction. I guess my question to you, John
Speaker 1: is what are your thoughts after you've had a few
Speaker 1: nights sleep, because you know, bear in mind we have
Speaker 1: done our review of the game. Yes, so so you
Speaker 1: you you live in England, you work in England. You know,
Speaker 1: how does it sit in your head since since Thursday?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean, as I said, I've got I went
Speaker 2: back and watched some of the post match. I've not
Speaker 2: rewatched the game, but uh and I was riding a
Speaker 2: piece of The Guardian about paying House and how the
Speaker 2: Broncos have dealt with his decision to defect asses Sidney.
Speaker 2: So that was, I guess, a separate angle. But look
Speaker 2: the reaction. It was a fantastic occasion. I've been to
Speaker 2: quite a few World Cup Challenges, and I've been to
Speaker 2: a lot of Super A Grand Finals, World Cup finals,
Speaker 2: Challenge Cup finals, you know, the biggest games in rugby league.
Speaker 2: For the best part of a decade that was right
Speaker 2: up there. It was a fantastic full house, unbelievable atmosphere,
Speaker 2: whole car. I did a great put in the event
Speaker 2: and the game was amazing. You know, oholek are flying
Speaker 2: out of the box absolutely bashing the Broncos, and then
Speaker 2: the Bronco's coming back in the last twenty minutes or
Speaker 2: so almost stealing it. It was. It was squeaky bum
Speaker 2: time for everyone in the whole guy and it left
Speaker 2: I left that game thinking, wow, that was amazing and
Speaker 2: how lucky I am to be able to get to
Speaker 2: write about the sport. So it renewed my faith. Look,
Speaker 2: I've said this for numerous years. And the Wigan Penwrith
Speaker 2: game what two years ago was also fantastic. The said
Speaker 2: Helen's Penwoth game, which obviously I watched on TV because
Speaker 2: it was out in Western Sydney. That was a great game.
Speaker 2: I think these are great occasions. I think they should
Speaker 2: be in the calendar every year. The next one should
Speaker 2: be in Australia. Regardless of who wins it. It should
Speaker 2: be a fixture in the calendar. And it means a lot.
Speaker 2: And the people that claim, you know it doesn't mean anything.
Speaker 2: I think they're just kidding themselves.
Speaker 1: Well, this is john his job. We've we've merged it
Speaker 1: into Johnny's job.
Speaker 2: But I think you're running I think Look, the Broncos
Speaker 2: came in ten days before they were staying. I think
Speaker 2: it is at the Lensbury. It's apparently like the elite
Speaker 2: world class hotel in London that the all blacks and
Speaker 2: everyone stays, you know, at costs an amal leg they
Speaker 2: had are posed sessions with the London Broncos that are
Speaker 2: posed sessions with huh lef C. They flew up from
Speaker 2: London to Hole, which is I don't know, a four
Speaker 2: hour drive. You know, they were sparing no expense, Like, yes,
Speaker 2: they could have had a game beforehand, but.
Speaker 1: The r LPA probably wouldn't allow that any exactly exactly.
Speaker 2: That's the thing that people said it you can't just
Speaker 2: throw in extra games when you have a player's union
Speaker 2: that has limits on how much players and also where
Speaker 2: the NRL sits. The season hasn't started yet, people are
Speaker 2: still in pre season. So look, the Broncos wanted to
Speaker 2: win and they gave it there all. They might have
Speaker 2: been a bit rusted up, but the whole k I
Speaker 2: deserve the credit because they were near perfect for fifty
Speaker 2: sixty minutes, and you can't. The Broncos did this all
Speaker 2: the final series last year, didn't They They played a
Speaker 2: very loose They played a very loose open star, which
Speaker 2: is entertained to watch. But they let in a lot
Speaker 2: of tries and they came back in every semi and
Speaker 2: evening in the Grand Frontal win. But you can't keep
Speaker 2: doing it in every game.
Speaker 1: They played like a team that hadn't played a game.
Speaker 1: So every try that jo k r scored, four of them.
Speaker 1: So every try that Jo k are scored, their set
Speaker 1: started within twenty meters of the Broncos goalife right, So
Speaker 1: four errors, so I call them field position gifts. Four
Speaker 1: errors and the fifth one was a forty twenty Okay, so.
Speaker 2: Literally, I can't. I can't remember when center fullback winger
Speaker 2: that dropped so much bored from kicks on their own
Speaker 2: line like it was. It was. It was terrible.
Speaker 1: They were rusty. They were rusty, and then they sort
Speaker 1: of woke up and clicked a little bit. Look, I
Speaker 1: can only asume they don't do it in Las Vegas
Speaker 1: because the Super League makes more money if they play
Speaker 1: it in or the clubs make more money if they
Speaker 1: play it in England. That's the only reason I consume
Speaker 1: because I can. I can assume because the the sensible
Speaker 1: decision for integrity of the game so that we don't
Speaker 1: have to have this conversation about who takes it the
Speaker 1: most seriously and whatever else would be to play it
Speaker 1: in that slot in Las Vegas. That would be the
Speaker 1: obvious one.
Speaker 2: It's not. It's not easy to organize though, is it.
Speaker 2: Because in terms of Vegas, you know people clubs are
Speaker 2: told nine months or whatever they are. There's a lot
Speaker 2: of preparations going marketing. Like it's not you can add
Speaker 2: in a game in Vegas and like, it's not. It's
Speaker 2: not like featherstand down the road where there's a stayment
Speaker 2: that you can use like it's it's it's American sports.
Speaker 2: It's different.
Speaker 1: The NRL and the RFL could book that for them
Speaker 1: and just say, look, you just have to do it,
Speaker 1: but they could consult and look, I just need to
Speaker 1: where there's a will John, Yeah, well.
Speaker 2: This this is a contest. This is an event that's
Speaker 2: got real value. Absolutely, so they just need to find
Speaker 2: a space in it in the calend every year. I
Speaker 2: think it works in February, you know, maybe as an
Speaker 2: open season, as an opener for the season for both
Speaker 2: competitions have probably is super League starts so much earlier,
Speaker 2: so it's round two. It's usually it's usually round two
Speaker 2: or round three in Super League. But the World Cup
Speaker 2: challenge is great and the players love it. All the
Speaker 2: players are fans get behind it.
Speaker 1: I think it's a great challenge for an RL teams
Speaker 1: at the moment. I mean, the last five years have
Speaker 1: been Super Leagues and I think the way you described
Speaker 1: what Broncos did is them starting to go anger on
Speaker 1: a minute, we're not guaranteed a win, because I think
Speaker 1: there has been a little bit of that. I think
Speaker 1: some I look back over the history of it, some
Speaker 1: of the approaches have been somewhat as I say in France,
Speaker 1: I think Penry's first time round were probably a little
Speaker 1: bit blase when they were at home. They certainly weren't
Speaker 1: in there second visit to Wigan. So I just think
Speaker 1: it's a real tough challenge for NRL teams and I
Speaker 1: think we forget sometimes in Australia. Yes, winning the NRL
Speaker 1: is a great competition, is a great achievement, but great
Speaker 1: teams always go a step further than that because we're
Speaker 1: in a salary cap sport. If you look at the
Speaker 1: last twenty five years, virtually every team's been in the
Speaker 1: NRO Grand Final, right, So the fact that the talent
Speaker 1: gets shared around basically. So I just think it's a
Speaker 1: great challenge again for the NRL teams to try and
Speaker 1: to try and do something as it is right now
Speaker 1: in England as well. So I'm with you, John, I'm
Speaker 1: with you.
Speaker 2: Well, you look at it's interesting because between I think
Speaker 2: it was yeah, twenty twelve leads beat mainly and Headingley
Speaker 2: and then from basically twenty thirteen till twenty twenty three
Speaker 2: there was two years off of gover between twenty three
Speaker 2: Super Leigue only one one of what one, two, three, four, five,
Speaker 2: six seven World Cup challenges and that was wigganb and
Speaker 2: Crenaller at the dw which I was out at twenty seventeen.
Speaker 2: But there were some massive scores in there like south
Speaker 2: Well the Roosters beat Wigan thirty six fourteen in Sydney,
Speaker 2: South smashed and Helln's thirty nine mil in Pantry Park,
Speaker 2: North Queensland. I was at this game and it was
Speaker 2: a great game, even though North Queensland batted Leeds thirty
Speaker 2: eight to four, and then you know Melbourne beat Leeds
Speaker 2: thirty eight to four in in Melbourne and twenty eighteen,
Speaker 2: and then you know there was two Roosters wins which
Speaker 2: were closer games twenty to eight and twenty to twelve.
Speaker 2: But I think it just shows that probably the top end,
Speaker 2: you know, people would say, oh, you know, all of
Speaker 2: Super Leagu's improving it. I wouldn't necessarily say that, but
Speaker 2: I would say the top end of Super League'd say
Speaker 2: your top four can definitely compete, and they look there
Speaker 2: one off games. Anything can happen in a one off game,
Speaker 2: you know. But I think you look at whole kur
Speaker 2: Wigan lead, you know they could compete with the NRL sides,
Speaker 2: and I think that's probably always been the case. But yeah,
Speaker 2: a big fail of the World Cup challenge and I
Speaker 2: think a long may it continue.
Speaker 1: Saint Helen's twenty Lee eighteen Paul Rowley gets his first
Speaker 1: Super League one win. Lee led twice in that game.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about Saint Helen's defense, the Redge
Speaker 1: defense in particular particularly the right edge. Already, John, they're
Speaker 1: the fourth worst defensive side in the competition, only Cash
Speaker 1: York and HAWFC are worse. And and I want the
Speaker 1: reason I'm bringing this up is because last week I said,
Speaker 1: I do have paul worries about Paul Rowley's defensive systems.
Speaker 1: Just you know, we're not targeting Paul Rowley. It's just
Speaker 1: something I've noticed in the past and I want I
Speaker 1: want fans to look out for it because they've conceded
Speaker 1: some points already, and yeah, it's changes a foot at
Speaker 1: Saint Helens. John Well I saw today.
Speaker 2: I have passed on your your comment about his defensive systems.
Speaker 2: I was watching the Bradford game, so I only switched
Speaker 2: over and saw the ending, which was quite thrilling because
Speaker 2: Saint Helen's were bravely holding on and Lee were coming
Speaker 2: up after them. But yeah, Lee a very good team.
Speaker 2: I think that Helens were relieved to get out and
Speaker 2: get off the mark, but that the issue is more injuries.
Speaker 2: So I think Nan named McDonald and Johnny Lomax picked
Speaker 2: up injuries in that game. Obviously they've already lost Well
Speaker 2: Lee's for a long period, so big problems on the
Speaker 2: injury front for Saint Helens. You know that they're getting
Speaker 2: that win at home is a is a big pressure reliever.
Speaker 2: But you know there's more they go to. They go
Speaker 2: to Catalans next weekend, which you know isn't always an
Speaker 2: easy away trip. Catalans were very poor against Bradford. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that that'll be that'll be a tough one for them.
Speaker 1: Bradford's not an easier waitpah, come from Catalan region.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 1: Jackson Hastings probably did a bit more of the things
Speaker 1: that we know and love about him in Super League.
Speaker 1: He had a better game. I actually thought I actually
Speaker 1: got a bit of a you know, you just have
Speaker 1: the occasional favorite player that you like. I'm a big
Speaker 1: fan of cal Felt. I'm a big fan of cal Felt.
Speaker 1: I always feel like he's been under undervalued wing who's
Speaker 1: just plowed his trade up there at Cowboys. Seems to
Speaker 1: score at least two every other week, and and he
Speaker 1: got on the score sheets. So that was good. That
Speaker 1: was good to see him doing exactly the same thing
Speaker 1: in Saint Helens's Industrial North Leeds forty six years York
Speaker 1: fourteen York back to Earth with a bump.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I saw the highlights for this. It look quite
Speaker 2: The York were competitive early on and then just leads
Speaker 2: first half hour, first half hour they were in it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they just moved the door really well. And see mic Cacibo,
Speaker 2: he's just a massive man. I mean, I think he's
Speaker 2: his best at Para was probably four years ago, but
Speaker 2: or five years ago, but he's still a huge human
Speaker 2: and you know it's going to take more one on one.
Speaker 2: You get him one on one on the edge, you
Speaker 2: know he's going to score nine times out of one hundred.
Speaker 2: And I think he took Ben Jones Bishop on his
Speaker 2: back and one of them and then he got two tries.
Speaker 2: But yeah, Leeds leads, they will win a good performance.
Speaker 2: I'll be very happy with that. And York, yeah, a
Speaker 2: little bit down to earth, but I think you know
Speaker 2: that that's going to happen over a season. Leads are
Speaker 2: a good team and eight tries leads. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 2: it's going to be hard for York to maintain that
Speaker 2: level that I had against Holga every week because you
Speaker 2: know they were in the championship last year and.
Speaker 1: Then this retro theme. It was the first time they'd
Speaker 1: met since nineteen ninety five on York on York one
Speaker 1: of the one of the worries I have, So I
Speaker 1: did an analysis video on some def on some defensive
Speaker 1: issues for some Super League teams last week, the ones
Speaker 1: that didn't cover that, I'm going to do this week.
Speaker 1: And one thing I said about York is that whole
Speaker 1: k are managed to whenever they got the gut near
Speaker 1: the goal line, just managed to overpower them. So my
Speaker 1: theory last week basically they were a bit soft in
Speaker 1: the middle defensively. Having a look at them this week,
Speaker 1: I have another theory as well to go alongside that one.
Speaker 1: They sometimes get the positioning wrong in broken play quite significantly.
Speaker 1: But I am going to change somewhat my diagnosis of
Speaker 1: their defense and say, if you get near the York
Speaker 1: goal line, you are probably going to score because because
Speaker 1: their techniques are a bit sorry, they're going too high
Speaker 1: a lot of the time. Because they were late entries
Speaker 1: into the Super League, they're probably not physically quite there
Speaker 1: all the time yet, and when people come full steam
Speaker 1: onto the ball there, particularly in the first few months
Speaker 1: of the season, I think I think they're going to
Speaker 1: find it tough. So if I was coaching against York
Speaker 1: this week, I'd be saying loads of field position, loads
Speaker 1: of completion, just get down the other end and let's
Speaker 1: throw some shapes at them and run run hard north
Speaker 1: south and I think you'll come up with some chocolates. Basically,
Speaker 1: Bradford Bulls, this is almost a Bradford bull show today.
Speaker 1: Twenty eight. We're trying to get these Bradford fans back
Speaker 1: on side. Catalans ten the Bulls were twenty four Milo
Speaker 1: up at halftime. I don't think Catalan's got off the plane.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they got absolutely flogged. I mean it was the
Speaker 2: first half demolition Bradford, as you'd expect. We're really up
Speaker 2: for it. You know, a lot of emotion, a lot
Speaker 2: of energy, and Catalans would just know where to be saying,
Speaker 2: I just coughed up ere after it was actually quite
Speaker 2: similar to the Broncos that kept coughing that boat on
Speaker 2: their own line with bad errors, treat mistakes, and then
Speaker 2: Bradford perished them as you would so, yeah, full credit
Speaker 2: to Bradford. John Tomkins was pretty scaring about his side
Speaker 2: after it, and yeah.
Speaker 1: With good His face is funny when they lose. He
Speaker 1: looks like he's ready to kill his players in the
Speaker 1: long grass. They sent Catalans to the long grass. Even
Speaker 1: the Catalans two tries they were gifts from Bradford. So
Speaker 1: I don't know if I don't know if you remember,
Speaker 1: but Ryan the left wing just passed the ball straight
Speaker 1: to the floor in his own end. And the second
Speaker 1: try Akins fumbled a dog's kick and gave them another gift.
Speaker 1: So they didn't even earn those tries Catalans. That's how
Speaker 1: bad they were that day. So no wonder Tompkins the
Speaker 1: coach had a face like that. My new team two
Speaker 1: wins to lose twenty four Castle for Tigers twelve wasn't
Speaker 1: a bad game this It was in the balance for
Speaker 1: sixty seventy minutes. Great defensive attitude from to lose. Last
Speaker 1: week I mentioned about how they have snow in midfield.
Speaker 1: I didn't notice that this week. And they made a
Speaker 1: big emphasis or put a big emphasis on collision. So
Speaker 1: because the rough speed is in theory being increased in
Speaker 1: Super League, and this happened a bit in the NRL
Speaker 1: list last year. People are coached. Some coaches are putting
Speaker 1: more emphasis on the way they actually tackled the player.
Speaker 1: So rather than go into control and dance or catch,
Speaker 1: some of them are actually trying to hit now with
Speaker 1: shoulders under the ball or on the ball or on
Speaker 1: the nose wherever they want to hit right. So Jesus
Speaker 1: said that two wins, the two wins, Olympiak, they were
Speaker 1: doing some of those some of those tackles in the
Speaker 1: game quite a lot. Catherleford's middle getting broken open quite easily.
Speaker 1: I mean it got broken within three minutes of each
Speaker 1: half starting and that's never a good sign. So I
Speaker 1: think that and they're left edge in defense, which was
Speaker 1: proflegate again? Is that the word when they leak a lot?
Speaker 1: That is that the right word? You're the gyal. We'll
Speaker 1: go with that, all right, I'll google it while you're talking.
Speaker 1: That would be a that would be an issue for
Speaker 1: the coach. I think. So huge, huge for Castle for
Speaker 1: this week they've got Huddersfield. But yeah, what did you
Speaker 1: make of that game? John?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just think massive credits are to lose. You know,
Speaker 2: they're two from two promoted team. I think they deserve
Speaker 2: their victory. Oli Ashaw but again was terrific, you know,
Speaker 2: great reads and defense and just every time we ran
Speaker 2: the ball he was he said to be getting past
Speaker 2: defenders for bringing the tackles. Yeah, I'm really happy for them.
Speaker 2: I think they're a really good club. A lot of
Speaker 2: good people there, and yeah, it's a fantastic start. Look,
Speaker 2: I think disappointing for Cast because you know, the game
Speaker 2: was in the balance and they just kind of, I
Speaker 2: don't know, they just didn't surrender, but they just didn't
Speaker 2: didn't throw enough hact to lose. They didn't really stay
Speaker 2: in the grind. And yeah, disappointing loss, but I think
Speaker 2: it's it's fantastic for you know, to have such a
Speaker 2: great start because a lot of people would have picked
Speaker 2: them for bottom.
Speaker 1: The shuttle Gate is recklessly extravagant or wasteful in the
Speaker 1: use of resources, So yeah, i'd apply that. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: was alright, that word Wigan thirty four whole LEFC six
Speaker 1: talking about not turning up and being proffle Gate. Whole
Speaker 1: FC didn't muscle up at all. Wigan came out charging
Speaker 1: and another game that was twenty four mil at halftime.
Speaker 1: These were coming from Hole, not from the south of France. Yeah,
Speaker 1: really poor from.
Speaker 2: I think there was, Yeah, there was there was two parts.
Speaker 2: I think Hole were really poor, but I think Wigan
Speaker 2: were electric and I think you know, they've been the
Speaker 2: form team in the first two rounds. You know, they
Speaker 2: obviously have not well, they're not they're not played in
Speaker 2: the top tens yet, but they've they've put on big scores.
Speaker 2: They are attacks looked really good. Their defense was really
Speaker 2: really good on Saturday Night. But just the way they're
Speaker 2: moving the ball, like Bevan French, it's looked a real fit.
Speaker 2: Eley on the wing, you know, have a great dance
Speaker 2: start of the season. Joe Field, he's looking very dangerous. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot to like about Wigan. They
Speaker 2: really look motivated, they really look connected.
Speaker 1: Really carved up hauls left really carved them up, and
Speaker 1: I think they were playing so we were playing with
Speaker 1: that much go forward, the hooker, the wig and hooker
Speaker 1: was just rolling out and they were just doing what
Speaker 1: they wanted in attack.
Speaker 2: They were completely dominant, I think in every area of
Speaker 2: the game. And then you know, a whole lost at
Speaker 2: the bit Liam brain explosion from him and rightly yellow
Speaker 2: carded and really sad though what's happened to Will Price.
Speaker 2: I don't think we've found out what the injuries, but
Speaker 2: he looked really badly hurt and he's had a lot
Speaker 2: of injury issues the last season or two, so hopefully
Speaker 2: nothing too serious for him. But yeah, I mean John Carter,
Speaker 2: and I think you'd be looking at and saying, well,
Speaker 2: what the hell happened? Because that was just a terrible performance.
Speaker 1: Your Internet is saying John's network bandwidth is low, so
Speaker 1: I don't know if you're downloading any videos to watch
Speaker 1: after you've finished the recording. I also want to pay mention,
Speaker 1: pay tribute and mention Matt Pete, the Wigan coach. He
Speaker 1: he's got a lot of praise for this already, but
Speaker 1: I want to add he took the tie. He actually
Speaker 1: interrupted the interview closing at the end to praise okay
Speaker 1: Ar for what they did. But also there's something I've
Speaker 1: not mentioned since the amount of time he spent doing
Speaker 1: selfies with the fans after and autographs and things like that.
Speaker 1: People tend not to get autographs as regularly now they
Speaker 1: want more selfies and he was just so patient with
Speaker 1: them and I thought it was great to see and
Speaker 1: the England team could have learned a bit more from that.
Speaker 1: Huddersfield sixteen Waky eighteen. I think this says more a
Speaker 1: little bit about Wakefield and again maybe that theory they're
Speaker 1: just slowing starting season a little bit slower to time
Speaker 1: their run because there's a lot of confident people in
Speaker 1: Wakefield after last year's efforts. I had to laugh. Huddersfield
Speaker 1: used a robot to bring out the ball before the
Speaker 1: game in a Huddersfield kit. I wonder if he's been
Speaker 1: in their offensive attack, is we been in their attack
Speaker 1: or defensive line too. I've not seen anything in this game, mate,
Speaker 1: so I'm relying on you.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I was at the game. It was out Ford
Speaker 2: of Wakefield a halftime. It was quite a dour, grinding
Speaker 2: tider fear and there wasn't a lot of open player.
Speaker 2: There was a lot of attacking player.
Speaker 1: Well robotic robotic you.
Speaker 2: Could maybe his analogy, but I'd say that Wakefield they
Speaker 2: went I'm trying to think. I think it was eighteen
Speaker 2: to four ahead with about twenty minutes to go, and
Speaker 2: the game looked over and then Hardersfield came back with
Speaker 2: two tries and two minutes. Pressure was on and it
Speaker 2: was all hardest Field at the end of wake He
Speaker 2: just held on at the end to win. So it
Speaker 2: was a strange game. And Darryl Paler said after his
Speaker 2: team looked nervous, you know, they looked nervous in round one,
Speaker 2: and that they appeared nervous in round two as well,
Speaker 2: So maybe that expectation of this year and how well
Speaker 2: they did last year's got to the team a little bit.
Speaker 2: But I think for the majority they were the better team.
Speaker 2: They defended well apart from a bit of patches, and
Speaker 2: Hardersfield are missing a lot of players, a lot of
Speaker 2: key players, basically their senior players, you know, the likes
Speaker 2: of Adam Swift and Adam Kluhn, and they full back
Speaker 2: Nile Levels and Joe Greenwood. But yeah, Hardersfield left it
Speaker 2: too late to really come around this one. It's going
Speaker 2: to be a hard season for Hardest for I think
Speaker 2: that this cast game is just looming now. Both teams
Speaker 2: really really need a victory, which is going to happen.
Speaker 2: But yeah, Wakefield Rugby relieved because they needed to get
Speaker 2: off the mark and I have done that, even if
Speaker 2: it wasn't the most convincing of performances.
Speaker 1: Lee's laugh also doubles as media watch this week, and
Speaker 1: it's a story that I think you tweeted as well
Speaker 1: about the rugby union player that ended up in hospital
Speaker 1: after falling in dog Pooh. Rugby player ends up in
Speaker 1: hospital after falling in dog pooh was the headline BBC
Speaker 1: on the twenty first of feb Adam Wang twenty eight
Speaker 1: two plays for tom Do RFC in Bridge End, said
Speaker 1: he did not realize a cut had become infected until
Speaker 1: he felt an unbearable pain in his arm following the game.
Speaker 1: He said it was a problem players shouldn't have to
Speaker 1: deal with and that the incident would always be on
Speaker 1: his mind after the infection spread and he had to
Speaker 1: spend more than twenty four hours in hospital. Well, Adam,
Speaker 1: sending our love and support to you. But it's funny
Speaker 1: that it's dog turd, So it made me think about
Speaker 1: such incidences in rugby league. And in eighteen o four
Speaker 1: when I was playing, we played against old Dockers when
Speaker 1: I was at Echols which is now Salford Roosters, and
Speaker 1: before the game they made us stand in a line
Speaker 1: both teams, so you know you're about to prepare to
Speaker 1: knock heads in the opposition, and they made us walk
Speaker 1: in army form sweeping format along the field to scoop
Speaker 1: up duck turd because there was a watery thing nearby
Speaker 1: where ducks existed, and there were copious amounts of ducks
Speaker 1: that had decided to do an ablution on that field
Speaker 1: and it was a regular thing before every game. Have
Speaker 1: you any sort stories, John from your rugby league history?
Speaker 2: Not dog pooh stories, but I know, well, at least
Speaker 2: when I lived in Barnsley, the amount of dog feces
Speaker 2: that were on walkways and whatever, it's clear that people
Speaker 2: don't want to pick it up. It's pretty. And then
Speaker 2: to be honest, when you look at the amount of
Speaker 2: rubbish that just is on parks and walkways in well,
Speaker 2: at least in Yorkshire, yeah, there's not a big attitude.
Speaker 1: Towards Another rugby league story I have when I played
Speaker 1: for British Students against France in nineteen forty two, we
Speaker 1: played at some ground as a warm up game. They
Speaker 1: gave us the wrong directions and this is the days
Speaker 1: well before GPS, so a five minute journey took us
Speaker 1: forty five minutes. And of course, what do you think
Speaker 1: many players want to do before a game in the
Speaker 1: hour before the game, they want to empty the bowels.
Speaker 1: I necessarily wasn't one of those, but I heard plenty
Speaker 1: of complaints as the boys went into the what was
Speaker 1: the lavatories and it was literally just a hole in
Speaker 1: the ground and therefore squatting quite significantly prior to a
Speaker 1: game is probably not the warm what you need to have,
Speaker 1: particularly if it's not quick. So that's Lee's laugh this
Speaker 1: week brief preview of next round Wigan play Lee Thursday.
Speaker 1: We've touched on that. I think that's a big game.
Speaker 1: We're going on fire. Lee probably need to win this
Speaker 1: week after a win loss pattern.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and also you're forgiving the last game that they
Speaker 2: met was in the semifinals before the Grand follow with
Speaker 2: the whole Derrek gate WhatsApp gate.
Speaker 1: To get John. I just didn't choose to mention it
Speaker 1: yet because yeah, I knew you'd be all over it.
Speaker 2: No, No, I just think it's interesting with the rivalry
Speaker 2: between those two clubs, So yeah, it should be a
Speaker 2: great game. They've had some some real ding down bottles
Speaker 2: those two clubs, and obviously they're so close. What is
Speaker 2: it five miles, ten miles or something, Lee do.
Speaker 1: What do fans say about Thursday night games that fans
Speaker 1: that go to games in England, most Yeah.
Speaker 2: They don't like it. I particularly don't like I mean,
Speaker 2: I guess Wiggan Lee is a perfect Thursday night game
Speaker 2: because if you live in either of those towns, it's
Speaker 2: very close by. But say Wigan, we're playing Whole on
Speaker 2: a Thursday night, it's a nightmare because it might take
Speaker 2: you to two and a half hours. You might get
Speaker 2: home till two in the morning.
Speaker 1: You know the other problem, John, people who love rugby
Speaker 1: league in Wiggan and Lee, a lot of them are
Speaker 1: involved in the game at amateur level and they're either
Speaker 1: a player, a coach or an administrator in the amateur game.
Speaker 1: And guess what nights amateur teams tend to train Tuesday
Speaker 1: and Thursday nights.
Speaker 2: Look, you never get you never can get a perfect time.
Speaker 2: Everyone's always but you need content and you need to
Speaker 2: spread your fixtures across. So Thursday night games are great
Speaker 2: for the TV viewer. That's yeah, that's my take on it.
Speaker 2: I'll be at home and it's lovely for every weather
Speaker 2: and enjoying it. On TV.
Speaker 1: Friday, Castleford versus Huddersfield we mentioned that I think there's
Speaker 1: probably the pick of the games this week if I'm honest,
Speaker 1: or certainly that and the Lee Wigan game and then
Speaker 1: who'll play York. I think all will fancy their chances
Speaker 1: in that one, and therefore they'll have a win lost
Speaker 1: win start to the season. Your thoughts.
Speaker 2: Yeah, an interesting one obviously with a couple of injuries
Speaker 2: and you know, don't want a good performance have to
Speaker 2: being so bad against Wigan.
Speaker 1: On Saturday we have rugby league in Las Vegas, the
Speaker 1: Catalan region and the most glamorous, glamorous of all Warrington
Speaker 1: Warrington host Wakefield. Yeah, I mean that's a good game.
Speaker 2: Is a good game. I mean warranted have had the
Speaker 2: week off because obviously whole care I have been a
Speaker 2: World Cup chance, so they should be fitting ready to go,
Speaker 2: vastly rested. I thought they were good in a round
Speaker 2: one Warrington, so I'd be tipping them as a slight
Speaker 2: favorites in that one. Catlans Saint Helen's is an interesting
Speaker 2: game as well because Catlands were or but sirt Alan's
Speaker 2: are missing troops and.
Speaker 1: Then a cold game of the round too early. They're
Speaker 1: all good.
Speaker 2: Well, I think whole currently in Vegas is a great game.
Speaker 2: I'm just really annoying that the kickoff time in the
Speaker 2: UK is I think mid nine or twelve thirty at nine, yeah,
Speaker 2: compared to last year where the Wigan Warrington game kicked
Speaker 2: off I think at around nine thirty pm. And it've
Speaker 2: got huge TV ratings. This one I think will struggle
Speaker 2: because a lot of people will be asleep.
Speaker 1: And on Sunday Bradford host two wins. Olympeak.
Speaker 2: Yeah, quite a fascinating one because the Lucive had a
Speaker 2: fantastic start. Bradford I've had a pretty good start obviously
Speaker 2: one win, one loss, but they were very very good
Speaker 2: in round one and to Luise have been playing at
Speaker 2: Bradford for well every season for about the last ten
Speaker 2: excepts the year they are in Superlue before, so they
Speaker 2: know how to play huttle history of that. So yeah,
Speaker 2: quite a fascinating one that one had to had to
Speaker 2: pick up.
Speaker 1: Would say, well, that'll do us for this week, john
Speaker 1: I keep an eye on Rugby League coach social media
Speaker 1: for analysis video about the other teams that I didn't
Speaker 1: cover last week in Super League. So therefore Huddersfield's defense,
Speaker 1: Catalan's defense, Saint Helen's lee and Leeds defense. Rugby League
Speaker 1: coach on all the social media platforms apart from X
Speaker 1: I'll call it X at RL coach on the net.
Speaker 1: If you want to talk or abuse Johnny.
Speaker 2: Don't, Yeah, maybe think again. Now you can get me
Speaker 2: on exit Johnny D David, so we can get me
Speaker 2: on Facebook, John over to Jonathan, get me on Patreon
Speaker 2: and sign up to.
Speaker 1: Your contact your contacts every week. Soon you'll be giving
Speaker 1: your address out. Oh take care of John, hang on,
Speaker 1: hang on. We a our instant reaction. So after the
Speaker 1: hooter this week, we're going to do Thursday night's game,
Speaker 1: So Friday morning in Australia Thursday night, which Thursday night
Speaker 1: is Wiggan and Lee World War Three.
Speaker 2: See you later,