Speaker 1: The prime Minister in waiting turned up at Magic. Will
Speaker 1: his reign be a success or will it be tragic?
Speaker 1: Tragic is a term that Giants could use as York
Speaker 1: destined them to once again lose. Leeds and Lee clocked
Speaker 1: up a big score, Wigan and Saints had a close
Speaker 1: one once more. Welcome to the twenty seventh episode of
Speaker 1: Super League three sixty, a podcast primarily about the top
Speaker 1: tier of British rugby league. My name is Lee Addison
Speaker 1: and my good friend is John Davidson. If you want
Speaker 1: to know who we are, reader description or something. Thanks
Speaker 1: to Rugby League dot Com for carrying this weekly and
Speaker 1: you can also watch it on the Rugby League Coach
Speaker 1: YouTube channel eventually. And we're still on the Ashes Rugby
Speaker 1: League podcast platform. We've kept that going, Johnny. We did
Speaker 1: it for the Ashes. I don't know whether there'll be
Speaker 1: in other Ashes after what happened last year. I'm sure.
Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll do something for the World Cup. Let's
Speaker 1: get straight into the game from last round. John York
Speaker 1: versus Huddersfield kicked things off. We'll talk about the whole
Speaker 1: fact it's magic and what not in a little while,
Speaker 1: but Huddersfield thirty four York sorry twenty four York thirty
Speaker 1: six tries for Hudersfield, Patol Old, Dunford, Russell, Flanagan and
Speaker 1: Flanagan kicked four goals. York thirty six came two from Benison,
Speaker 1: two from Hunter and not for a Luma got one,
Speaker 1: so did Williams and Bamford bam fourth and Hunter kicked
Speaker 1: a goal and Benison kicked three. I think the news
Speaker 1: here is how Huddersfield have lost to another side that
Speaker 1: they would have fanted a chance, the chances are winning
Speaker 1: it against I suppose.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. It was an interesting game that York
Speaker 2: started really well. I thought they were quite dominant, created
Speaker 2: a lot, but then you know, Huddersfield sort of came
Speaker 2: back into it. It was quite close and then sort
Speaker 2: of second half New York just blew Huddersfield off the
Speaker 2: park and then you Huddersfield scored. I think it was
Speaker 2: two very late tries to kind of make the score
Speaker 2: line a bit more respectable. But yeah, Huddersfield were over
Speaker 2: the eighty minutes very poor. I mean, this is this
Speaker 2: was a wooden spoon clash. The wins put York six
Speaker 2: points now above Huddersfield. Huddersfield have won two games all season,
Speaker 2: and I did have to laugh. So obviously you're in
Speaker 2: We're at Magic Weekend, We're at the Hill Dickinson Stadium,
Speaker 2: and you get those stadium announcers and people and the
Speaker 2: interview fans and all this before the first game and
Speaker 2: the announcer gets this Huddersfield fan and he says, you know,
Speaker 2: do you think this? You know, the performance today could
Speaker 2: kickstart your season? And I'm thinking it's July, the season February,
Speaker 2: like the season's long gone. But the the thing is,
Speaker 2: this is how Haddersfield's tenth loss in a row, and
Speaker 2: after last week where they were very unlucky to lose
Speaker 2: Wakefield and they showed a lot, they've definitely regressed this
Speaker 2: week and it is it's pretty worrying for hardest. I
Speaker 2: just don't just don't see where they go from here.
Speaker 1: What does this mean showed Huddersfield finished rock bottom of
Speaker 1: the ladder. What does it mean for their future?
Speaker 2: Well that's a very difficult question to answer because there's
Speaker 2: been a lot of conjection. From what we understand. I
Speaker 2: don't think there will be fifteen teams in Super League.
Speaker 2: I think there'll be fourteen and it will be iron
Speaker 2: g criteria that determines if anyone goes up or down.
Speaker 2: Now I don't know exactly how they're going to fare,
Speaker 2: but by finishing bottom at Super League and by not
Speaker 2: winning any more games, and also with their crowds getting
Speaker 2: even worse, you would think that's going to harm them.
Speaker 2: The thing for me is that Huddesfield have been in
Speaker 2: Super League for what about thirty years? Maybe long?
Speaker 1: Well, super League has all been going for thirty years.
Speaker 2: Yeah, sorry, okay, so they've been in the top. Fight
Speaker 2: for it is they had that period a long, long
Speaker 2: time ago relegation when Tony Smith was there. He got
Speaker 2: them back in.
Speaker 1: I'd be tempted to say about twenty five years. Yes, yes, sorry,
Speaker 1: my brain is a bit frazzled from the weekend. But
Speaker 1: and in that period they had a good period in
Speaker 1: that sort of twenty five years.
Speaker 2: They had a good period of Nathan Brown for a
Speaker 2: few years. I think they made two Challenge Cup finals.
Speaker 2: They had a great period under Paul Anderson twenty thirteen
Speaker 2: finished top in the league and they were the top
Speaker 2: four team for several years, and then they had one
Speaker 2: season where they made a Challenge Cup Final. More recently
Speaker 2: under Watson finished third. But for the last decade, apart
Speaker 2: from that very brief period in Watson, they've been very,
Speaker 2: very average, been terrible, and no team can win every week.
Speaker 2: I understand that, like results are, it's a result business.
Speaker 1: But the thing about.
Speaker 2: Ladasfield is the fans that are going nowhere. The club
Speaker 2: really has no profile. This dadium issue isn't being sorted
Speaker 2: so in basically every pretty much area, the club's just
Speaker 2: in decline. So I think it is time to unleash
Speaker 2: them on the Championship.
Speaker 1: We do seem to talk about them every week, don't we,
Speaker 1: And there's a reason for that. It's because they so
Speaker 1: poor and so many of their metrics are so poor too.
Speaker 1: Are just for the life of me, John, and they
Speaker 1: should have learned it. Last year. They put all that
Speaker 1: money into IMG, they put all that money into the
Speaker 1: little committee that they had to decide who the other
Speaker 1: super League entrant would be, and the three teams that
Speaker 1: got up were the three that finished one, two and
Speaker 1: three in the lower tier competition. Now, I'm pretty convinced
Speaker 1: in a sporting contest, in a sporting realm, we should
Speaker 1: leave it to the sports people to sort out who
Speaker 1: goes up and who goes down.
Speaker 2: Well, there's strong there's strong speculation that harder Field are
Speaker 2: going to buy a Dewsbury Rams, not only play their
Speaker 2: games at Dewsbury, but maybe even buy the Rams as
Speaker 2: a sort of a feeder club, much like York and Newcastle.
Speaker 2: I don't see how harders Field playing the games at
Speaker 2: Dewsbury is a long term solution and how that's going
Speaker 2: to help them.
Speaker 1: What kind of state is Crown Flat in these days?
Speaker 1: The flair stadium I have is it full of flair?
Speaker 1: Is it full of flair?
Speaker 2: There wasn't a flair or actual fans that when they
Speaker 2: played to loose there a couple of weeks ago. But
Speaker 2: I just I don't see how that's going to be
Speaker 2: the solution that you helped them. I just, yeah, I
Speaker 2: think it's time to bring in London and drop Paddersfield down.
Speaker 2: I think maybe, you know, I think there's there's a
Speaker 2: big problems the leadership of that club yet and you
Speaker 2: have to look at the recruitment, you know, signing Tom
Speaker 2: Burgess on big money. I mean no offense to Tom Burgess.
Speaker 2: He's had a fantastic career, but what's he produced in
Speaker 2: the two years whatever he's been there. They get their
Speaker 2: recruitment wrong so many so often, and I think the
Speaker 2: leadership of the club is really needs to change that,
Speaker 2: you know, the people in charge, they have been doing
Speaker 2: it for decades and it's clearly not working.
Speaker 1: Again, we didn't use the word unleashed today KR twenty
Speaker 1: six Hale f C twelve in the Yorkshire RB Lewis,
Speaker 1: Martin and Whitbread scored the meat pies for whole KR.
Speaker 1: Martin kicked five goals, so good day for him. The
Speaker 1: whole FC Arthur and Briscoe scored the tries they could
Speaker 1: kick two goals. Apparently the Gi Whitbread try was quite
Speaker 1: controversial for the defending champions. Why was it controversially, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I didn't watch it.
Speaker 2: I think I think maybe the referring to the kind
Speaker 2: of contact with Martin lost the ball. But this wasn't
Speaker 2: a brilliant game, but it was. It was kind of
Speaker 2: quite tight. It was closely fought. That that that bit
Speaker 2: of play there where Martin dropped the ball on his
Speaker 2: own line and where Brad squad was kind of the
Speaker 2: turning point really. But I would refer to any last
Speaker 2: comments after the game, he came into the presser and
Speaker 2: kind of immediately was was having a go with the referees.
Speaker 2: You know. A week after he did similar after the
Speaker 2: Wigan game. And I think you know LFC or also
Speaker 2: another club for far too long. They had a decencieson
Speaker 2: last year, but for had too long in recent memory
Speaker 2: they've been poor, and they've been poor this year. You know,
Speaker 2: they've shared a bit more character in the last few weeks,
Speaker 2: but just clearly not good enough week to week. And okay,
Speaker 2: I weren't at their best, but they're a much better
Speaker 2: side than all I've saying I've been for for at
Speaker 2: least three years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, do you want to know why I didn't watch
Speaker 1: the whole derby, because obviously I was rushing home to
Speaker 1: watch it from my commitments in the rugby league.
Speaker 2: I was going to say it was probably about midnight
Speaker 2: or one I am your time, and.
Speaker 1: It was midnight and that and that normally isn't a
Speaker 1: bad time for me to watch something, quite frankly, particularly
Speaker 1: on a Saturday night, and particularly if I've got something
Speaker 1: dark and red in a bottle in my hand or
Speaker 1: something like that. But on my way home from Oki,
Speaker 1: which is one of the clubs that I do some
Speaker 1: work ap former former base of Alan Kilshaw, current Oldham coach.
Speaker 1: My tire blue and it blew quite significantly, so much
Speaker 1: soul that we were driving on the rim so to speak,
Speaker 1: and we were in the middle of a motorway so
Speaker 1: we were stuck. So that was a bit of an ordeal.
Speaker 1: So when I got home, the last thing I wanted
Speaker 1: to do was watch sport. I've just wanted to forget
Speaker 1: about Saturday and start Sunday as soon as I could.
Speaker 2: Well, I was. I was down to cover the first
Speaker 2: game I was in New York and the third game
Speaker 2: Lane Warranton and then obviously the kind of the thing
Speaker 2: at Megic weekend. You're dipping in and out of the
Speaker 2: press box to go down and do press conferences and
Speaker 2: then mixed so you can't really see every bit of action.
Speaker 2: It's a bit of a crazy sort of day. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I think I think the other messages that I think
Speaker 2: out of one eight derbies in a row, they haven't
Speaker 2: lost the Derby since twenty three So if you say
Speaker 2: that you know, as your big rivals, that's that's a concern. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he's got a big job on his hands. Next year.
Speaker 2: Let's let's just put it that way.
Speaker 1: Really, have they confirmed McNamara, Yes, it really is a
Speaker 1: big thing when two derby teams have such a significant
Speaker 1: record like that. I mean, you'll know, being in yourself Welshman,
Speaker 1: how tough it would have been when Queensland were winning
Speaker 1: all those still shields. Now, I guess the difference is
Speaker 1: you probably didn't have people in the same classroom if
Speaker 1: you were a kid who supported the team on the
Speaker 1: other side of the town, but it was still still
Speaker 1: felt it. I mean I always remember I was working
Speaker 1: at Saint Gregory's and some teacher just said when the
Speaker 1: year twelves were about to graduate one year, he said,
Speaker 1: you know, these kids have gone through high school and
Speaker 1: New South Wales haven't won series and and those things
Speaker 1: start to become quite quite significant. And I have sympathy
Speaker 1: with all f C fans because I was I am
Speaker 1: a Man City fan, but I've been a Man City
Speaker 1: fan since the womb And I used to say to
Speaker 1: me Dad, why did you why did you not let
Speaker 1: me support United? Dad City a ship he said on
Speaker 1: the other phone, yeah and so so and he me
Speaker 1: old man used to say the City will be the
Speaker 1: best team in the world one day, and that was
Speaker 1: before there was even a World Cup Championship, so nostra
Speaker 1: dam was there. But also he used to say, and
Speaker 1: he's right, that things go in cycles and in life
Speaker 1: and realities change all the time. I mean, there was
Speaker 1: there was a time there where nobody thought anybody would
Speaker 1: win the league apart from Wigan, and then thirty years
Speaker 1: on there's still most of the leagues, or more or
Speaker 1: less most of the leeks happened. So Lee twenty four
Speaker 1: Warrington six. That's quite a big victory in context and
Speaker 1: in score line too. New Armstrong, Pape and Hanley kicked,
Speaker 1: scored the tries and Cook cooked up four goals. Warrington
Speaker 1: six came from Sneed and Irwin. And how much does
Speaker 1: this dent Warrington's title hopes. I don't know when in
Speaker 1: the playoffs if it does, particularly Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean I think the GAT now has four points
Speaker 2: of the leads to the top, so in terms of
Speaker 2: them winning the League Lady's Shield, it's definitely a blow
Speaker 2: Warrington because they lost a few players after the Canaan's game.
Speaker 2: And I'm missing, off the top of my head, Kite
Speaker 2: Ray George Williams Luke Yates simply a few others sort
Speaker 2: of died across the team, so they were down on troops.
Speaker 2: But Lee were really really good in this game. They
Speaker 2: came out and they were weren't perfect, but they went
Speaker 2: far from it and Warrington coughed up an air on
Speaker 2: their own line early on, a few more other errors
Speaker 2: and Lee just made them pay. It was. It was
Speaker 2: very impressive from from the Leopards and I think it
Speaker 2: was their fifth winner the last six, So they're really
Speaker 2: knocking on the door now of the top six. You know,
Speaker 2: it's hard to see them not not getting in there
Speaker 2: when you consider the form that they're in. And then
Speaker 2: you know they've got their players back fit now and
Speaker 2: they've got they've got some real talent there, you know
Speaker 2: with Lock and Lamb Pape. You know the pack that
Speaker 2: they've got eyes at lou Oft and go Away, it's
Speaker 2: very very strong. And then you know they've got Davy
Speaker 2: Armstrong at the back as well. So yeah, it's it
Speaker 2: was a very good even for the Leopards. This making
Speaker 2: a bee line. Well what the Leopards do They're pouncing
Speaker 2: on the six who's at risk of falling out? I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm going to look at the Ladder Ladder soon. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know exactly what the lad
Speaker 2: obviously with the last game. But for me, if you're
Speaker 2: looking on kind of recent form, I think it's Saint
Speaker 2: Helen's they're probably the most in danger because you look,
Speaker 2: Leeds are clear at the top now, Warrington are not
Speaker 2: far behind them whole k are you know, not far
Speaker 2: off that same with Wigan and Wakefield are the other team.
Speaker 2: I don't know how many they've won in a row
Speaker 2: now well, but they've They've been in great form Wakefield
Speaker 2: and obviously they were excellent today that absolutely obliterated Castleford.
Speaker 2: So I can't see, you know, anything denting Wakefield right now.
Speaker 2: So it is yeah, I think probably the most pressure
Speaker 2: is on is on and Helln's you know, we'll get
Speaker 2: to that game in a minute. But they really struggled
Speaker 2: to score points.
Speaker 1: We have to go across the Channel, which is French
Speaker 1: for the Channel, to the Journe Magique which is French
Speaker 1: for magic round. Because to lose played Catalans in the
Speaker 1: south of France to make a quid is.
Speaker 2: It cast three cast? I can spell it, don't I
Speaker 2: can say it. But in France.
Speaker 1: Catalan's eighteen d sweet to lose sixty, I've forgot how
Speaker 1: to say sixty in French. Catalans tries came from Leaming
Speaker 1: La Guare Sexton and three goals from Sexton added to
Speaker 1: their score to lose. Their sixty were from two tries
Speaker 1: from Paul Sally, two from Hands, two from just Say,
Speaker 1: one from Come, two from Ashley Bolt, one from Alburg
Speaker 1: and ten goals from Shorecks. Ten tries to lose racked
Speaker 1: up there dece tries.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have to admit I have seen zero of
Speaker 2: this game. I think it was on nine o'clock UK
Speaker 2: times for me, four games in the one day, obviously
Speaker 2: not at the same venue. But it wasn't the best scheduling.
Speaker 2: I mean I was sort of finishing up at the
Speaker 2: stadium and then going out for a meal, but I
Speaker 2: did and then for a beer, and then I did
Speaker 2: see the score so much and I was shocked. I mean,
Speaker 2: look to Louse have been near the bottom of the
Speaker 2: table for most of the year, but to score sixty,
Speaker 2: I mean, to concede sixty, you have to kind of
Speaker 2: wonder how bad the Dragons were. Like, I'm not I'm
Speaker 2: not accusing them of match fixing, but you would be
Speaker 2: punning Stewards. What's what's going on there? But by oh okay,
Speaker 2: I speaking to some people today who watched the game.
Speaker 2: Apparently Catlin's were leading in the first half and you
Speaker 2: know they're right, and then they just completely shut down.
Speaker 2: Whether it was you know, fatigue, the heat, whatever, but
Speaker 2: they just threw in the tower and then apparently to
Speaker 2: loose for electric. Everything they did came off all the
Speaker 2: past the start electric. Yeah, but very bizarre, bizarre scoreline.
Speaker 2: If you ask me, I'm probably not in the keeping
Speaker 2: of what we've already seen from both teams this season.
Speaker 1: To answer the question that is on everyone's mind right now,
Speaker 1: French for sixty is Swassle Wakefield forty eight, Castleford six
Speaker 1: as another big score too, tries from Scott to try
Speaker 1: from Johnston two from handling Ula warms have got one.
Speaker 1: You know you're in trouble. Oh no, is it?
Speaker 2: Is it?
Speaker 1: Alex walms with that, No.
Speaker 2: It's a lot on was Warmsley from.
Speaker 1: Alex Wallams who play is Smoothie scored rock scored and
Speaker 1: six goals from Castleford from Simperfield. You're you're knackered because
Speaker 1: late at night I'm knackered because it's early in the morning.
Speaker 1: Castleford six came from Gary Gary and a goal from Weaver.
Speaker 1: Nine tries Wakefield have scored there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, were electric. They bullied Cass. I mean casts were
Speaker 2: very very average. I mean Ryan Carr and the post
Speaker 2: Crest conference said some of his players gave up, which
Speaker 2: I think is a pretty damning indictment of how his
Speaker 2: team played. But Wakefield we were electric. The way they went,
Speaker 2: particularly left the right edges and you know they're finishing out,
Speaker 2: scored some really really good tries. Yeah. The Cass he
Speaker 2: just you know, they only lost. There was a hard
Speaker 2: fought loss against you at last week, you know, but
Speaker 2: you know the didn't play badly, but they were just
Speaker 2: never in it today at all. So you just really
Speaker 2: want it. You know, one week they're beating Wigan, they're
Speaker 2: burnings and Helens, and then you know, the next week
Speaker 2: they're copying forty six points. It's yeah, it's really hard
Speaker 2: to have, you know what.
Speaker 1: You know, the big difference in my experience from coaching
Speaker 1: of players that go on to the highest highest levels
Speaker 1: versus those that go on to high levels but don't
Speaker 1: necessarily really play origin or tests or whatever. It may
Speaker 1: be the big difference is the ability two be to
Speaker 1: do what you have to do week in week out,
Speaker 1: and and not only that, get better at it. So
Speaker 1: I mean there'll be a thousand examples in the UK.
Speaker 1: I mean Jack Wellsby is one that sticks out some.
Speaker 1: But using Reese Walsh as an example in the NRL,
Speaker 1: I think it's very hard for me, as somebody who's
Speaker 1: been involved in so much performance coaching, to say about
Speaker 1: Reese Walsh that he's a top, top top class player.
Speaker 1: He's a top class talent, but he seems to have
Speaker 1: difficulty and people keep saying, oh, he's young and he's
Speaker 1: been a first grader now for about five six years.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's not that young.
Speaker 1: He his rocks or diamonds. And if you look at
Speaker 1: that team, the Broncos, I mean, I don't want to
Speaker 1: talk about the NRL necessarily yet in simple three six
Speaker 1: team we do that a bit later, but they are
Speaker 1: they've gone from Grand Final winners to second from bottom
Speaker 1: in the ladder at the moment, and this isn't their
Speaker 1: first time doing this. Twenty twenty three they got within
Speaker 1: cooie of winning the Grand Final and then the year
Speaker 1: after did enough to get the coach punted. So the
Speaker 1: whole culture of that club and a lot of the
Speaker 1: people around Reese Walsh are also dictating their standards a
Speaker 1: little bit too. Now, what's clear is that they're not
Speaker 1: meeting those marks all the time, and there's a minimum
Speaker 1: and your maximum is up to you as a player
Speaker 1: or up to you as a professional. So I would
Speaker 1: imagine that's just what a team like Castleford are are
Speaker 1: battling with at the moment. I mean, Huddersfield haven't got
Speaker 1: the ability to get the minimums in at the moment.
Speaker 1: But when Castleford are getting those wins and doing the
Speaker 1: good things or put it in the good performances that
Speaker 1: we've noted so much on this podcast, I think that's
Speaker 1: because they've got a coach that's they're trying to drive standards. Yes, definitely,
Speaker 1: but sometimes players will not quite understand what those standards
Speaker 1: are even though they're doing their best to achieve them,
Speaker 1: and it just it just happens to be the problem
Speaker 1: for many teams at the bottom end of ladders in
Speaker 1: so many divisions in the game, quite frankly, and there'll
Speaker 1: be no doubt paying overs for some players too, you know,
Speaker 1: just because why would you go to Castleford when they're
Speaker 1: down the bottom end of the ladder kind of thing,
Speaker 1: so they have to pay overs to get players. So
Speaker 1: but I think overall Car's doing a good job and
Speaker 1: he'll be getting used to this bipolear nature of his team.
Speaker 2: I think, Yeah, I think, I think a lot of
Speaker 2: the squad was already assembled before he took over at
Speaker 2: Cass And obviously they've brought Sam players in mid season,
Speaker 2: signed Diaman Cook and it looks like they're going to
Speaker 2: sign Torre Sloan both from the Dragons, players that Car
Speaker 2: coached at the Dragons last year.
Speaker 1: Tyre Slold's Rocks Diamonds.
Speaker 2: Yes, but you were thinking super perhaps where the intensity
Speaker 2: week in week out is not as high he could excel.
Speaker 2: But I think they're at least players that can't knows
Speaker 2: and trust so had more of his Yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: he's kind of squad I think next year, But I
Speaker 2: think I think you're right. I think they've got to
Speaker 2: stick with him and see what you can do. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I think if you're you're a Cast fan, you were
Speaker 2: pre dejected today watching your team.
Speaker 1: B I think I think as well aside, like Castleford
Speaker 1: and Huddersfield. You get you get out of that malaise
Speaker 1: by signing some players who you know what you're going
Speaker 1: to get out of them week in week out, and
Speaker 1: they add some staunch into your midfield. You have maybe
Speaker 1: one of your centers, particularly your right center as strong defensively,
Speaker 1: because quite often teams put their best strike center on
Speaker 1: the left and most of the world right handed as well,
Speaker 1: so things happen a bit more emphatically on that side
Speaker 1: of the field. And so yeah, it'd be interesting to
Speaker 1: see how that project unfolds. But I think they're going
Speaker 1: in the right direction overall. Talking of a team that's
Speaker 1: going in the right direction. Leeds clocked up the half
Speaker 1: century fifty. Yeah, and Bradford only scored sixteen tries from Croft, Hankinson, O'Connor.
Speaker 1: I can't believe Terry O'Connor scored a try McDonald, Handley
Speaker 1: got three and Connor scored a try in sivol. He's
Speaker 1: dropping off, he's dropping off. He only got one and
Speaker 1: Connor kicked seven goals Bradford. Sixteen came from Akins, two
Speaker 1: from Ryan and two from Hooley. Nine tries for Leeds
Speaker 1: eleven wins from twelve they're at the top of Super
Speaker 1: League again. From a coaching point of view, they will
Speaker 1: be concerned though about conceding that sixteen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think when its match that was made,
Speaker 2: coming into it, I think personally I was thinking, you know,
Speaker 2: they're going to beat Breadford by at least twenty. You know,
Speaker 2: when you look at the prospective forms, the way leads
Speaker 2: are playing at the moment, they just seemed they're really
Speaker 2: expensive with the ball and they seem a very tight group,
Speaker 2: like you know, they seem there's a lot of trust.
Speaker 2: You know, they'll they'll throw left the right, they'll make runs,
Speaker 2: they'll up on the inside, but everyone's willing to work
Speaker 2: for each other and a lot of stuff is kind
Speaker 2: of coming off and they're just you know, they've got
Speaker 2: a huge amount of momentum and confidence because they're winning
Speaker 2: every week. I think, you know, the big test obviously
Speaker 2: they lost to Wigan a little while ago, and I
Speaker 2: think that's the big test for them. But everyone else
Speaker 2: pretty much, they've you know, they've they've punted and yeah,
Speaker 2: they took care of Bradford pretty easily today. Bradford, you know,
Speaker 2: first year in Super League, they've got quite a few injuries,
Speaker 2: but just you know, on paper they don't really have
Speaker 2: the troops to match leads and they did. You know,
Speaker 2: the second half they they shared a bit of fight,
Speaker 2: scored a few tries, but it was always going to
Speaker 2: be a Leeds victory. But I think apart from the endgame,
Speaker 2: the worrying thing is how lopsided virtually every game at
Speaker 2: well bar two, every game at Magic.
Speaker 1: Was don't worry, I've got that in the agenda. Wigan
Speaker 1: sixteen Saint Helen's fourteen. Before you start getting grumpy Davidson,
Speaker 1: that was a great game and it's been described as
Speaker 1: a chaotic, stormy and thrilling derby.
Speaker 2: Yeah it was. It was very brutal, it was very physical.
Speaker 2: It was like it was like the song out there.
Speaker 2: There was bodies dropping and both teams really really gave
Speaker 2: it everything in terms of physicality, in terms of putting
Speaker 2: their bodies on the line. Wigging with the St Alan's
Speaker 2: with quite a few injuries, but Wiggan with some big
Speaker 2: misses through the week in Thompson and French and Farrell well.
Speaker 2: But for me, I think Saint Ellens just wells We've
Speaker 2: got two yellow cards. They just seem to be their
Speaker 2: own worst enemy at times, like they did a lot
Speaker 2: of good things and you know, they showed a lot
Speaker 2: of group, but just with the ball, they just they
Speaker 2: don't offer enough. I know we've said this earlier in
Speaker 2: the in the season, and I think that is their
Speaker 2: real problem. You know, I don't think they ask enough
Speaker 2: questions in.
Speaker 1: Attack fantastically defensively either.
Speaker 2: No, but I think you can't fold their effort. And
Speaker 2: I think you know, they were in this game up
Speaker 2: until you know, full time and it was a very
Speaker 2: full blooded affair. But yeah, the identity derby, as as
Speaker 2: I coined, it goes to Wigan again and you know
Speaker 2: they obviously avenge they're good Friday loss and you know
Speaker 2: they dominated Saint Ellen's in the Cup and it's finals,
Speaker 2: so yeah, big big win for a big results for
Speaker 2: for the Warriors.
Speaker 1: But also Saint Helens can get plenty from that too.
Speaker 1: I mean they did get dominated in the cup game,
Speaker 1: but they've gone toe to toe with their nearest rivals
Speaker 1: while they struggle to find their identity the ladder. I'm
Speaker 1: going to go from bottom to top this week. Everybody's
Speaker 1: played seventeen apart from Hull, k R and Warrington and
Speaker 1: will play their game their extra game sometime in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty nine issue Huddersfield rock bottom on four points, and
Speaker 1: then there's four teams on ten in thirteenth at Bradford
Speaker 1: York Knights are in twelfth to lose her in eleventh
Speaker 1: on Hull left c are on ten in tenth, Castle
Speaker 1: that are in ninth on twelve, Catalans are in eighth
Speaker 1: on sixteen and then the race for the six gets interesting.
Speaker 1: Lee Leopards are pouncing on the six. As we said,
Speaker 1: they're in seventh on tw twenty. There they are two
Speaker 1: behind Saint Helens who were in sixth. They are two
Speaker 1: behind Hulkingston Rovers who were in fifth but have a
Speaker 1: game in hand. Wakefield of fourth with twenty four points,
Speaker 1: Warrington our third with twenty four points, Wigan our second
Speaker 1: with twenty four points, but Leeds Rhinolds are at the
Speaker 1: top clear by four points. Jeez, I made that sound
Speaker 1: exciting and.
Speaker 2: It's quite tight though in that top six and obviously
Speaker 2: Wiging going second on points difference and at the bottom,
Speaker 2: I mean you're not had us filled out and that
Speaker 2: sort of fight not to be second last between what
Speaker 2: Bradford Y're to loose and Hull I mean, it really
Speaker 2: just shows how bad hollis being. You know that that
Speaker 2: they're down there with the three promoted teams and with
Speaker 2: the hardest field. That's that's pretty shocking, to be fair.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's it's tired in certain areas in both
Speaker 2: the table. But I can't see Catalans. They're in night,
Speaker 2: aren't they the dragons. I think they've got leads this
Speaker 2: weekend in perfume and I can't see I mean I
Speaker 2: said this a few weeks. I can't see Catalans making
Speaker 2: a run for the eight. I think they're the toasts.
Speaker 1: Personally. I've got about three tweets of the week this
Speaker 1: week you Rugby League tweets.
Speaker 2: Of a week.
Speaker 1: Cherry and White Pins and we've already spoken about this topic,
Speaker 1: so we don't need to if you don't want to
Speaker 1: go into any more depth unless you've got anything else
Speaker 1: to say. But Cherry and White Pins said, Cuddersfield are
Speaker 1: better absolutely nothing compared to any other team, absolutely nothing,
Speaker 1: exclamation mark, stadium fans, squad, commercial value, fan experience, and
Speaker 1: they soon won't even be in Huddersfield. They don't deserve
Speaker 1: to be in the league. And then somebody else who
Speaker 1: you said, I'm a Huddersfield fan, and I completely agree
Speaker 1: I tweet of the week.
Speaker 2: I will say this, you can get parking at Haddersfield
Speaker 2: and you usually get a meat pie, which you can't
Speaker 2: always get a sign. And I'm talking about for the media,
Speaker 2: so they're doing all right on that. In that recard.
Speaker 1: I'm going to save my other tweet of the week
Speaker 1: right to the end because it's about the Prime Minister,
Speaker 1: so well sorry, the Prime Minister in waiting, So I'm
Speaker 1: going to save that for the end of the news items.
Speaker 1: But I do have I do have another tweet of
Speaker 1: the week. You never send me a job these days,
Speaker 1: so I've decided what your job is. It's your tweet
Speaker 1: of the week and stroke Johnny's job. Well, Johnny's winge
Speaker 1: so long, it's over, so long, over, it's not funny
Speaker 1: because you we tweeted the League Scene who said the
Speaker 1: NRL has reportedly set down set to clamp down on
Speaker 1: conflicts of interest for those who hold roles in the
Speaker 1: game and evolved in the media. It will have impacts
Speaker 1: on both Nine and Fox, with a stable of hon
Speaker 1: Air talent possessing other roles as guidelines are set to
Speaker 1: become even tighter as part of the new broadcast deal. Discourse.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think everyone knows, not only the NRL,
Speaker 2: but Super League. Rugby league is a small sport in
Speaker 2: the sense that there's often people with multiple jobs and
Speaker 2: multiple roles and if you're working, you know, I've seen
Speaker 2: it in Super League. You know, I've seen agents working
Speaker 2: for broadcasters have interviewed their own players. You see it
Speaker 2: on Fox Through the Break, and that's there is an
Speaker 2: agent with several players in the n RL, coaches like
Speaker 2: Willie Peers or his client, and then he's interviewing those
Speaker 2: people giving commentary on other clubs. Like it's just huge
Speaker 2: conflicts of interesting at Gas School, Like I think Gas
Speaker 2: Gold is a very good media pundit because he's a
Speaker 2: very smart man when it comes to rugby league, and
Speaker 2: I think he's quite good at building rosters and pathways.
Speaker 2: But he shouldn't be you know, getting millions to work
Speaker 2: for nine but then also rolling bulldogs at the same time.
Speaker 2: And we saw that with the Lachlan Galvin thing when
Speaker 2: he was at the Tigers. You know, it's just it's
Speaker 2: just a bit laughable. I think, you know, it's one
Speaker 2: or the other.
Speaker 1: You can't think it came in and needed to so
Speaker 1: in fairness and to sort of explain this phenomenon, Gus
Speaker 1: was a media person for a long time before he
Speaker 1: went to the Panthers all the Bulldogs this time around
Speaker 1: the first time he was already at the rooster he was,
Speaker 1: but he was long before that. He was a player
Speaker 1: and a coach, wasn't he. Yeah, I just said to
Speaker 1: be along at the start of his media journey. He
Speaker 1: was at the Roosters, but he did did get away
Speaker 1: from cub Land for a long time. So you know,
Speaker 1: some of the decision makers at Penris wouldn't have even
Speaker 1: been conscious by the first incarnation. And when Gus was
Speaker 1: running around and playing and coaching rugby league, so there's
Speaker 1: a there's a bit of Devil's Advocate there, and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden the game was going, Oh, hang
Speaker 1: on a minute, Gus has just said something about Lucky Galvin,
Speaker 1: and Lucky Galvin's ended up there. I mean, how many
Speaker 1: times it happened over the years, right. But the other
Speaker 1: reason this happens, particularly in England, is people have to
Speaker 1: make a living and and unfortunately in England, a lot
Speaker 1: of the jobs that look like they might pay a
Speaker 1: lot of money on TV, don't feed your family. They
Speaker 1: might be good, they might be good, they might be
Speaker 1: decent for what you're doing in that time, i e.
Speaker 1: Three hours work might be worth more than your average
Speaker 1: Joe or Joe Anguetz, but it's not enough to feed
Speaker 1: your family. So people end up doing multiple things. I
Speaker 1: don't know what that excuse is in the NRL in
Speaker 1: many cases. I mean, the NRL certainly is a little
Speaker 1: bit smoke and mirrors. The game is not as big
Speaker 1: as it parades itself as. No, but there are some
Speaker 1: people making an absolute motster out of rugby league too,
Speaker 1: and it's because they have two or three roles and
Speaker 1: got fair play to them. There's no rules in place
Speaker 1: right now, but it stinks. I mean, there are shows
Speaker 1: that I've stopped consuming on mainstream media because I've said
Speaker 1: agendas and I am more likely to get my news
Speaker 1: now from a podcast. I won't name any names. I
Speaker 1: won't say who or whatever, because I don't want to
Speaker 1: sort of individually accuse anybody or what not. But one
Speaker 1: I'm watching some of these shows and I'm thinking, mm hmm.
Speaker 1: I know for a fact he's got a long standing
Speaker 1: relationship with that culture. I know for a fact that
Speaker 1: he used to play for that club, or I know
Speaker 1: for a fact that he's on the board at that club,
Speaker 1: and it's just yeah, it's it's rampantly absolutely.
Speaker 2: I think. I think in particularly in the programs or
Speaker 2: the shows or whatever which have a journalistic lean or
Speaker 2: people are there for you know, their opinions, you have
Speaker 2: to be very careful, you know, if you're an owner
Speaker 2: of a club, or you you know, you're a coach
Speaker 2: at at a other club, but then you're criticizing someone else,
Speaker 2: you have to be very careful about what you say,
Speaker 2: and you know the biases that you have. And I
Speaker 2: think you know, some of the more obvious ones that
Speaker 2: we've already mentioned are easy to to just sort of
Speaker 2: say no, you know, you can't do, you can't do,
Speaker 2: excell I said, because often they may you know, may
Speaker 2: be any perceived conflict of interest, but it just opens
Speaker 2: up the question does that to to biases or.
Speaker 1: And it's harmless ones. There is harmless ones too. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think you know, you've got a contact book right
Speaker 1: as a journalist, and sometimes you will speak highly of
Speaker 1: a coach sometimes I suppose just because you know them better.
Speaker 1: And you don't even realize you're doing it sometimes, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know who they are, but
Speaker 1: it just happens. I'm the same, your mind leans towards
Speaker 1: certain things. So we've got to be got to be
Speaker 1: really careful. One that always that I think is really
Speaker 1: innocent and I'm not accusing them a minute of any
Speaker 1: wrongdoing whatsoever. But I know Paul Crawley here in Australia
Speaker 1: always sticks up for Wayne Bennett, and I think it's
Speaker 1: because his dad had a great relationship with him and
Speaker 1: his dad was heavily involved when Wayne Bennett first coach
Speaker 1: at Canberra back in the eighties. So that's that's fine,
Speaker 1: But can you imagine how many of these there are
Speaker 1: out there when we're when we're consuming what we're consuming.
Speaker 1: So it really is a big issue. I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know what we can do about it. It seems
Speaker 1: like the MRL are trying to do something about it
Speaker 1: with the TV deal. I think what it will be
Speaker 1: is they've got to say to the TV companies they
Speaker 1: must tell your employees to make a decision.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I think I think with you know, we
Speaker 2: talked we mentioned in Lockey Gallantine but the more probably
Speaker 2: recent one has been breath and asked when he was
Speaker 2: talking about machelin Ilius's treatment his client at Sydney. He's
Speaker 2: very critical of Sydney and Blake Solid. You know, he's
Speaker 2: the manager. So yeah, he's got a foot in both.
Speaker 2: It came so it's not a good lot. I think
Speaker 2: in that sort of situation as the host of that program,
Speaker 2: he should be recruiting it. Sorry, excusing himself from that
Speaker 2: and saying, you know, ideally yeah, and you let other
Speaker 2: members on the panel have they say, but that's not
Speaker 2: what's happened.
Speaker 1: Let's dissect Magic Weekend, John, So all the vibes coming
Speaker 1: out of it are good, but we don't live off vibes.
Speaker 1: I've got the sense that you were genuinely excited this weekend,
Speaker 1: particularly on the first day. You were excited today. I
Speaker 1: don't know how excited you are, but yeah, so was
Speaker 1: it a success or not?
Speaker 2: John? Look, I'll say out Frank, I'm a big fan
Speaker 2: of Magic Weekend. I've always liked it. I think it's
Speaker 2: a great concept, a great idea. I've been I think
Speaker 2: I've been to maybe ten or eleven magics now I'm
Speaker 2: not sure exactly but I went to the Eddie Head,
Speaker 2: I've been to Newcastle. The lot went to Anfield which
Speaker 2: was pretty average. Leeds was very average. But I think
Speaker 2: this year was great. Record breaking attendance of eighty two,
Speaker 2: nine hundred and twenty five. Now, I think you can
Speaker 2: look at that a few different ways, like that's for
Speaker 2: all seven games, so you know, we're not really comparing
Speaker 2: apples for apples. They've thrown in.
Speaker 1: Six games, wasn't it.
Speaker 2: No, No, no, So they're thrown in. There's the six
Speaker 2: games in Hill Dickinson SATA. But they've also added in
Speaker 2: the attendance from Catalans v. Toulouse in France. So I
Speaker 2: think it's about I think it was about seventy eight thousand.
Speaker 2: That's Hill Dickinson, which is still you know, up from
Speaker 2: I think the record of sixty eight thousand. It's James,
Speaker 2: but you also have to look that there's there's two
Speaker 2: new teams in there. Obviously Bradford. You know they bring
Speaker 2: usually a fair few fans. But I think they've got
Speaker 2: the fixtures right. You know, you got you've got a
Speaker 2: loop fixture, you've got whole Derby, you've got Wigans Saints,
Speaker 2: you've got Leeds Bradford Derby, you got Wakefield cast Derby.
Speaker 2: Like I think, I think the fixtures are really good.
Speaker 2: I think hill Dickinson Stadium obviously went there for the
Speaker 2: ashes is a fantastic stadium. Something that I really noticed
Speaker 2: how friendly all the staff were, Like not that the
Speaker 2: staff that James's part went from me, but they were
Speaker 2: just all the people went out of their way to
Speaker 2: be really nice. I think it's a great experience for fans,
Speaker 2: the fans. I went and had to look as a
Speaker 2: DJ out. There was heaps of food options, lots of
Speaker 2: people out there and joying that obviously warm weather. It
Speaker 2: was only about twenty one twenty two, but and I
Speaker 2: think URL commercial investors and more money in promoting magic,
Speaker 2: you know, pushing it. There was more media events and
Speaker 2: I think that paid off. I think the concern, or
Speaker 2: I guess one point is it's the new venue, so
Speaker 2: that's people are excited by that. But will that be
Speaker 2: the same next year or the year after. Like, I
Speaker 2: don't think we can say, okay, we have it at
Speaker 2: Hildikinson Stadium for the next five years and more because
Speaker 2: people people like a change, don't they You know, you
Speaker 2: can you know, you look at Wembley in the Challenge
Speaker 2: Cup final. People like a change, so I think that's
Speaker 2: something to be aware of. The Other thing is also
Speaker 2: Liverpool is close to what wigans and how yeah, so
Speaker 2: it's closer to the heartlands the Newcastle was, so that's
Speaker 2: a factor.
Speaker 1: Closer than Newcastle still is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, moved.
Speaker 1: Castle hasn't moved, no, but.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I think Magic is a great event, you know,
Speaker 2: That's why the NRLs copied it and done their own
Speaker 2: and I think it makes Super League feel like it's
Speaker 2: on a bigger, grounder stage and I think it's really good.
Speaker 2: Sky love it, you know, from broadcasting point of view,
Speaker 2: it's it's great content for them. So I think it's
Speaker 2: good that it's staying in Hilton Dickinson Stadium next year.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what we do for twenty twenty eight,
Speaker 2: but yeah, I'm a big fan of Magic and yeah,
Speaker 2: a long way continue.
Speaker 1: And let's add it to the record once again and
Speaker 1: credit where it is due. The UK Rugby League were
Speaker 1: the first to do Magic. Yes, it was copied by
Speaker 1: the NRL and then copied by the AFL, so yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I forget what they call it. Does they gather around
Speaker 1: something like that? They tried to reach around or something.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I got some scintillating pros sent to me, and to
Speaker 1: be fair, this wasn't meant for public consumption, but I've
Speaker 1: referred to the committee and decided it's going in because
Speaker 1: it came from my dad, Chris. The sensational proses as
Speaker 1: follows Magic Weekend was ship up to Wigan Saints. It
Speaker 1: had a bit of everything, first, second to last. I
Speaker 1: assuming means the Wig and Saints game had a bit
Speaker 1: of everything. And then he added cast gave up after
Speaker 1: ten Bradford bullshit Catalan made, which is French for shit.
Speaker 1: Huddersfield beyond description lea good whole team's very average leg
Speaker 1: Oh there's a podcast. I don't know why. I don't
Speaker 1: know why you bothered with our assessment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think. Look, it would have been
Speaker 2: nice if we had more competitive games, less lop sided contests,
Speaker 2: but you can't as an organizer. You can't. Really, That's
Speaker 2: that's up to the teams themselves and the players. Isn't
Speaker 2: it like you can't bank on that. I think in
Speaker 2: an ideal world we would have had more games going
Speaker 2: right down to the wild being closely fort and we
Speaker 2: did have a lot of one sided contests. That's just
Speaker 2: an unfortunate reality. You know. Wakefield smash cast lead smash,
Speaker 2: Bradford York were fairly dominant over Huddersfield and Lee pretty
Speaker 2: much smashed Warrington.
Speaker 1: It's because they had a shorter preseason for a competition
Speaker 1: that got changed within a matter of weeks in terms
Speaker 1: of its rules before the competition, and I think some
Speaker 1: of these teams are genuinely struggling, struggling to keep up
Speaker 1: with the pace of it. Our mate, our long term mate,
Speaker 1: James Varley also messaged some of his feedback from Magic Weekend.
Speaker 1: Warrington was atrocious with their air account. Umulla Hanley, how'd
Speaker 1: you say it? Umler Mala Lamarla Hanley Mala Mala showed
Speaker 1: he was a bit of a chip off the old
Speaker 1: block with his trifle, Lee with his footwork. Despite it
Speaker 1: being in Liverpool, I've seen more Whole Kr Leeds and
Speaker 1: Bradford Shurchs in Liverpool City Center than for any of
Speaker 1: the Lancashire clubs. The whole clubs both had a big
Speaker 1: support there yesterday, more than the Warrington Jay Lee fans.
Speaker 2: Yeah. On my way over on Saturday I saw a
Speaker 2: lot of FC and KR fans think obviously it's probably
Speaker 2: the furthest distance, isn't it, so they're more likely to
Speaker 2: stay over on the on the Saturdays. A lot of
Speaker 2: Cash shirts this morning and a lot of Leeds shirts.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe maybe there's a lesson in there for where
Speaker 1: we have Magic because it's seen as more of a
Speaker 1: trip away for the Orchard crowd, whereas it be a
Speaker 1: day trip for the Yes, but it can be a
Speaker 1: day trip if you're from Yorkshire.
Speaker 2: But there's much I think the idea, the idea, the
Speaker 2: original idea of Magic Weekend was to kind of take
Speaker 2: the game to new market. So I went to Cardiff,
Speaker 2: I went to Scotland. It's being in Newcastle Liverpool, but
Speaker 2: the probably reality is it's more of a just a
Speaker 2: day out for for fearing somewhere new and exciting and different.
Speaker 2: It's not really growing rugby league in Wales, for Scotland
Speaker 2: or in Merseyside. But it makes money for the clubs
Speaker 2: and that's the key. That's the key thing. I understand
Speaker 2: that the clubs this year got more money because of
Speaker 2: the ticket sales been increased than they did last year.
Speaker 2: So you know, we need more profitable events, don't we.
Speaker 1: A couple of players are being offered to super League
Speaker 1: Junior to Power and tom it tallowe Yes.
Speaker 2: My understanding a bit of an exclusive there that the
Speaker 2: two wingers, they could be one of them at least
Speaker 2: could be super Leg bound in twenty twenty seven. I
Speaker 2: think it Allows only made three or so appearances for
Speaker 2: the Roosters this year.
Speaker 1: While he's only young.
Speaker 2: He's only young, yes, or Junior has been in the
Speaker 2: New South Last Cup and hasn't got to start. So
Speaker 2: I don't think either will be at the Chucks next year.
Speaker 2: I know. Yeah, they're looking for deals and super leiks,
Speaker 2: So I want to want to watch the week's ahead.
Speaker 1: Tom it Allows twenty six years of age, but he
Speaker 1: is dating Jessica Surgis, world w player apart three guys
Speaker 1: to according to the Tintinet, And therefore let's start speculating
Speaker 1: that jess Surgis could play in the women's Super League.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that won't happen. But also Tommy the son of
Speaker 2: Willie Teller, who was a pretty handy player for the
Speaker 2: Dogs and Saint Helens and New Zealand. I believe back
Speaker 2: in the day.
Speaker 1: The second or the fifteenth tweet of the week was
Speaker 1: from the MP for Makeerfield Ashtonham Makerfield, Andy Burnham, who
Speaker 1: said rugby league deserves more. As a former president of
Speaker 1: the RFL, I'll be a staunch advocate of the game
Speaker 1: in whatever office I hold. Now, let me go tiny
Speaker 1: bit political for a little bit. I was a bit
Speaker 1: upset that the Labor Party have started to do what
Speaker 1: the Tour did for fourteen years. When the Tories did
Speaker 1: it for fourteen years, he sort of thought, well, that's
Speaker 1: what the tour is do. And then when Labor turf
Speaker 1: out their Prime minister, you know, I thought we were
Speaker 1: over all this. So I've been it's a bit like
Speaker 1: what can I compare it to, A bit like a
Speaker 1: family of kids when the dad brings home the fifteenth
Speaker 1: girlfriend of the year, you don't necessarily think that the
Speaker 1: next one is the one. Yeah, But so I've been
Speaker 1: a bit like that with the old Andy Burnham thing. Bob,
Speaker 1: I've got to be honest. This made my heart glow
Speaker 1: a little bit, this whole the fact he was at
Speaker 1: Magic Round and whatnot. Because we all back politicians for
Speaker 1: what we can get out of it, basically, don't we?
Speaker 1: And yes, and you know, I know it's words and
Speaker 1: he's pretty good at them. Yeah, but this has to
Speaker 1: be a good thing. It has to be a good
Speaker 1: thing that the Prime Minister that we're likely to get
Speaker 1: in the UK and the Speaker of the House are
Speaker 1: both staunch rugby league people and that can't be any
Speaker 1: harm And it can't be It can't also be a
Speaker 1: coincidence that a Labor government has seen two knights of
Speaker 1: the realm in their time in government. And there's other advocates,
Speaker 1: isn't they for rugby league, including the Wigan MP, the
Speaker 1: the Lee and Averton MP who's my cousin. You know,
Speaker 1: they're all advocates for rugby league. So this can't be
Speaker 1: a This can't be a bad thing.
Speaker 2: I wasn't sure if you're going to mention your family
Speaker 2: Labor Party connections, but you just have it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean yeah, she gets hate I think anyway
Speaker 1: on so I'll think a few more or no, Look,
Speaker 1: I think we can we can park the because this
Speaker 1: is a rugby league podcast.
Speaker 2: We can partner whether you where you like Andy Burnham,
Speaker 2: agree with his policies what the Labor Party has done
Speaker 2: to get him into number ten, but what exactly what
Speaker 2: you said having a UK Prime Minister who you know,
Speaker 2: he was the honorary president of Leaf Centurions. I think
Speaker 2: he's played a bit of rugby league when he's you know,
Speaker 2: he's got a connection to the sport. Having someone in
Speaker 2: the highest office with the connection of the sport or
Speaker 2: an interest in it can only be a good thing.
Speaker 2: It can't be a bad thing. It doesn't mean he's
Speaker 2: going to do alban easy and give three hundred million
Speaker 2: to set up a new team in Edinburgh, but which
Speaker 2: would be great. But look, he at least knows the
Speaker 2: sport exists, you know, and he knows you know, he
Speaker 2: knows what he's like. There's not enough people, powerful people
Speaker 2: in the UK in positions of power and influence who
Speaker 2: either love rugby league or you know, can can allocate
Speaker 2: a funding now people, some people forgotten, I certainly haven't.
Speaker 2: The Tory government under Boris Johnson gave rugby League twenty
Speaker 2: five million pounds to do the laste, which lost money.
Speaker 2: But you know why they did that is because of
Speaker 2: the whole Workington Man thing. And they won votes and
Speaker 2: won seats that were traditionally labor rugby league strongholds like
Speaker 2: Workington lightly etc. So yeah, I think it was great
Speaker 2: that he was at the game. I think it was
Speaker 2: great that he spoke so positively about the sport. I
Speaker 2: can't remember another time where you had well, I'd say
Speaker 2: at least three prime ministers in the world Alban Easy,
Speaker 2: Burnham soon and the guy in Papua New Guinea who
Speaker 2: are actually rugby league people. So that's got to be
Speaker 2: a good thing that you know in Australia. I mean,
Speaker 2: John Howard wasn't really Wagons fan, Bob Hawk wasn't Allegee,
Speaker 2: Paul Keating wasn't a Lligie, you know, Tony Abbott was
Speaker 2: not really a Manly fan. That was just a taken
Speaker 2: bit of bullshit. He was a rugby union guy. I
Speaker 2: can go on. So yeah, I think it's I think
Speaker 2: it's positive. There's a lot of you know what was
Speaker 2: interesting at that magic weekend. So he was there, Tessie
Speaker 2: News scored and as we've talked about testing you before,
Speaker 2: everyone booed, which still seems to people get sad about
Speaker 2: or upset about. And then they soon panned to Andy Burnham,
Speaker 2: who was clapping to try because he's a Lee fan.
Speaker 2: But then there was people accusing him of supporting a
Speaker 2: wife beater, which I'm I'm fairly sure he probably doesn't
Speaker 2: know the history of testing you. But when they showed
Speaker 2: Andy Burnham in the stadium there was a fairly large
Speaker 2: amount of booze, but there was also some applause as well.
Speaker 1: So what politicians get all the time exactly exactly exactly.
Speaker 2: I mean in Australia, as you know, any partition of
Speaker 2: any political party is that sporting event. They all get booed.
Speaker 2: It's like a national passed on. But there is and
Speaker 2: I can judge this by my socials, there is a
Speaker 2: large amount of reform voters who are rugby league fans
Speaker 2: in the UK, so it will be interesting, yeah, whether
Speaker 2: there is a bit more of a acknowledgment for rugby league,
Speaker 2: you know, under Burnham's tenure, or there's certainly as you
Speaker 2: know Lee, there's certainly MPs in rugby league areas now
Speaker 2: in power in labor and I think that's a positive
Speaker 2: for the sport.
Speaker 1: Mate. The FIFA World Cup is on making squillions and
Speaker 1: it's huge around the world. It's in America and their president,
Speaker 1: Donald Trump was on st and greevesy in the eighties
Speaker 1: doing the Milk Cup draw. So who knows what could
Speaker 1: happen with Burnham being in the hot seat. John, You'll
Speaker 1: have some questions on your social duels, I think from
Speaker 1: I do.
Speaker 2: I do have some questions. I think the first one
Speaker 2: it was a bit more of a statement from his
Speaker 2: name escapes me. I think it was Jay. There we go.
Speaker 2: It was from James Harvey. Are you a coy Hunter
Speaker 2: fan boy? John? Which I did at Probably no, mate,
Speaker 2: I just appreciate talent. But he was talking about the
Speaker 2: York halfback who scored two tries was made in the
Speaker 2: match for York, who actually signed from the Sunshine Coast
Speaker 2: Falcons to Newcastle Thunder. But it's really, you know, looks
Speaker 2: a really good talent, a young obviously half back and
Speaker 2: doing really well. Paul Kilbride had a question the lack
Speaker 2: of quality on the pitch. Five blow up matches here
Speaker 2: in a state ridden but exciting last few minutes of
Speaker 2: the last game, throw on a blow at in France?
Speaker 2: How many good games? Really? I think we've kind of
Speaker 2: talked about that, haven't we. I mean, I think if
Speaker 2: we want better games, then we reduce the amount of
Speaker 2: teams of the competition to ten, because we've talked maybe
Speaker 2: not hate but we've talked about about the playpool and
Speaker 2: statement from punting number one, Zach Eckersley should be the
Speaker 2: first one I picked for England comfortably the best winger.
Speaker 2: It can also cover fullback and center something on the
Speaker 2: others offer. I agree pretty much one hundred percent with this.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think Dom Young would be the first
Speaker 2: wing I pick, but I think Zach Exerssly should definitely
Speaker 2: be in the squad. He's a big body, he's fast,
Speaker 2: he's tough, and he can cover a fullback, center wing,
Speaker 2: good and hot in the in the air. And I
Speaker 2: think probably Maddie Ashton is the other wing I picked.
Speaker 2: I think Johnston he's in good form. Maybe he's slightly
Speaker 2: below his peat years. Joe Burger should not be in
Speaker 2: the team. I'm trying to think of the contenders that
Speaker 2: that's probably about it. Unless there's an English winger you
Speaker 2: want to throw in the mix for the World Cup
Speaker 2: there Lee dom Young? Yeah, yeah, know, I already said him.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sorry, Martin.
Speaker 2: I think he's about fifty five of these days. I
Speaker 2: though he's still looking.
Speaker 1: Jason Robinson probably look about twenty. Still doesn't get him, Yeah,
Speaker 1: has been two better wingers Mommy in an England Jersey.
Speaker 1: I mean Billy Boston was Welsh, so yes, then it was.
Speaker 2: A great Britain jersey. It's a good, good difference. Question
Speaker 2: from Ricky Sageant. When will the Championship grandfaon will be?
Speaker 2: I don't actually know that's I'm sorry, Ricky, there's been
Speaker 2: no information about that. Lee's looking for a new prop.
Speaker 2: Xaviervar surely fits that bill, with his age two being
Speaker 2: a plus. I think Xavi Var has done well for
Speaker 2: your but he did have some concussion into issues, which
Speaker 2: is why Wakefield didn't sign him. So I don't know
Speaker 2: if if lets would would be interested, but he's done
Speaker 2: well at York. Question from Mark Williams. In the past
Speaker 2: ten years of RFL central funding York have received is
Speaker 2: more or less equivalent to one year of Super League
Speaker 2: that Hattsfield has received. Where has that gone? What have
Speaker 2: they spent it on? Partly obviously to most people, what
Speaker 2: needs to happen now? Hashtag Olympic Nights unleashed. I should
Speaker 2: have put that as tweet of the week. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: I think it would have been spent on salary cap,
Speaker 2: but it's the playing budget. Yeah, but but Hottlesfield have
Speaker 2: spent a lot of money on sacking and hiring new
Speaker 2: coaches and as we know, that hasn't worked partly. Number
Speaker 2: one question another one Paul Rowley and the St Helen's
Speaker 2: coaching staff. You're resident Saint Helen's analysts.
Speaker 1: That you throw that to you, Well, who else is
Speaker 1: on the coaching staff at Saints? So Paul Rowley's head coach,
Speaker 1: who was Brees is.
Speaker 2: The assistant coach aiming O'Carroll. I think as was the
Speaker 2: other assistant has left to go to rugby union.
Speaker 1: I don't know what his point is it there a
Speaker 1: part I assume he means that they're not very good.
Speaker 1: I do think there are deeper issues at Saints. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, at the start of this season of podcasts,
Speaker 1: might Rush ended up leaving his role. I think the
Speaker 1: club's going through a bit of a transformation. And yep,
Speaker 1: I've long said that. I think Paul Rowley has some
Speaker 1: improvement to do as a coach in the defensive side
Speaker 1: of the football in particular, But now you're talking about
Speaker 1: the offensive side as well being a concern. And yeah,
Speaker 1: you're not saying anything pun to number one that I've
Speaker 1: not been well, I've not mentioned the assistance and then
Speaker 1: Lee Briers. I think we've never really scrutinized his role
Speaker 1: in the English side. Was he the attacking coach of
Speaker 1: the England team?
Speaker 2: He was, Yes, he was.
Speaker 1: They were terrible, They were terrible in attack. Lee Briers
Speaker 1: was assistant at Brisbane for a while and I think
Speaker 1: that helped him. And before that, so yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: Anthony Sebold on a podcast referred to a head coach
Speaker 1: being the father and an assistant coach being the big brother,
Speaker 1: and I think sometimes people forget how different those roles
Speaker 1: are and so therefore maybe we're putting too much emphasis
Speaker 1: on the role of an assistant coach. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: think Saints have every Saints fans have every right to
Speaker 1: worry about what's going on with their club. But I
Speaker 1: would also say that the fact that Matty Pete came
Speaker 1: out and talked about their identity means there's obviously subplot
Speaker 1: there and people are talking about Saints in a certain way.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe Pete was onto something that they are genuinely
Speaker 1: now trying to find a new identity to carry them
Speaker 1: through the next couple of decades. Because a lot of
Speaker 1: Saint Helen's success didn't happen overnight. I mean when I
Speaker 1: left England, Saint were really upping things in terms of
Speaker 1: the way they recruited and coached juniors, for example, and
Speaker 1: then a lot of those juniors ended up in Super
Speaker 1: League and carrying them to a lot of success. So
Speaker 1: I mean it's hardly the end of the world for
Speaker 1: Saint Helen's fans. It's not like the bottom of the ladder.
Speaker 1: And even over the hill when Wigan in the mid
Speaker 1: two thousands lost their way a little bit, they ended
Speaker 1: up in threat of relegation. So there are worse ways
Speaker 1: of going through transition. Brisbane Broncos have won a premiership
Speaker 1: and now they're second bottom, so there's there's more reasons
Speaker 1: to worry there. So but Saint Helen's fans demand success,
Speaker 1: don't they. And and that's because there's been many of them,
Speaker 1: have a certain vintage. You've known nothing different.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's what I said, as you said earlier,
Speaker 2: there's a there's a period of transition there, you know.
Speaker 2: I think what happened with Paul Willans, I think that
Speaker 2: left his departure left at a club legend, left probably
Speaker 2: a bit of taste in some people's mouth. Obviously Mike
Speaker 2: rush going. There's been other staff, long standing staff leave,
Speaker 2: a new coach coming in with new ideas. Yes, it's
Speaker 2: an interesting period I think for the club and I
Speaker 2: think the expectations are they're very high. But I don't
Speaker 2: think you know, it's going to be a case of
Speaker 2: signing one or two players and then we're top of
Speaker 2: the league again. I think it may take a while
Speaker 2: for that to happen.
Speaker 1: Now, John, you won't want to talk about the n
Speaker 1: r L this week because New South Wales got battered
Speaker 1: in the last Origin, but also Manly have lost two
Speaker 1: of the last three. So would you like to talk
Speaker 1: about most Eagles this week? And well, get the game
Speaker 1: was at seven am, so I was not up to
Speaker 1: watch it. But for the piss then you wrap back.
Speaker 2: I do wonder how they lost to Pause are pretty
Speaker 2: shyall frostball doomed. It's not been a good weekend for
Speaker 2: the teams that John Davidson supports, and in.
Speaker 1: Soccer Rouge as well, Waller Bees.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we can keep going and then we've got
Speaker 2: we've got Origin game three.
Speaker 1: Didn't even know the Wallabies were playing, that's how well
Speaker 1: things are going in Australia.
Speaker 2: And I was chatting Agent Lamb on Saturday about Origin
Speaker 2: three and the treatment of laurened Early which was which
Speaker 2: was an interesting chat. But yeah, I've got a bit
Speaker 2: of worries for the Blues on and saying I can
Speaker 2: smell at Queensland a big CoInc victory.
Speaker 1: Put New South Wales is going to aim up makes
Speaker 1: I think what Lorie Daly has done is realized this
Speaker 1: caper isn't for him in between game two and Game three,
Speaker 1: and I think he might have been quite smart and
Speaker 1: deferred a lot more to his players. That doesn't mean
Speaker 1: in the next few days he's going to try and
Speaker 1: pretend he's doing a bit more. But I think he's
Speaker 1: gone back to his players a little bit to say
Speaker 1: what do we need to get right? I think there's
Speaker 1: enough football IQ Rugby League IQ in that team to
Speaker 1: direct that conversation somewhere. Differently, that doesn't mean, though, that
Speaker 1: the interchange is going to be fixed. That doesn't mean
Speaker 1: the selections have been fixed. I mean why Aulaquart was
Speaker 1: taken out the side to be brought back in again.
Speaker 1: Why Corrasaw was brought in to sit on the bench
Speaker 1: and then not be used when they were in dire
Speaker 1: need of something in and around the play the ball area.
Speaker 1: You know, there's so many things, and yes, the treatment
Speaker 1: of Lorry Daily. Nobody's criticizing Lorrie Daily as a human.
Speaker 1: They're just critiquing his role as a coach. He should
Speaker 1: never have been given the job. They should never have
Speaker 1: been given the job. It's Origin and they can maybe win.
Speaker 1: You know, it's Origin. It's Origin, mate, You should know that.
Speaker 1: And I think.
Speaker 2: Watching I love watching Lourie as a player. When you said, well,
Speaker 2: I was in the late eighties and early nineties, he
Speaker 2: was an absolute freak. But he's got the record for
Speaker 2: the most losses as a coach in Origin and that's
Speaker 2: really all you need to know. So this is going
Speaker 2: to be regardless of the result on Wednesday, it's going
Speaker 2: to be his last game as a as a stet
Speaker 2: of Origin.
Speaker 1: Cash and the Brisbane Broncos have lost eight on the bounce. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean current premiers John That is.
Speaker 2: Quite remarkable when you consider obviously, you know they went
Speaker 2: through quite a bit last year to kind of somehow
Speaker 2: win the Corn. But you know what Madge did with
Speaker 2: the Blues and what he did with the kiwis before that,
Speaker 2: but it's just all it's all gone wrong. And then
Speaker 2: you look at the broncos I'm not followed it closely,
Speaker 2: but there's players we'd like, alcohol problems, isn't there And
Speaker 2: there's you know, apparently Jesse Arthurs that they wanted to
Speaker 2: re sign him and he said no thanks, I'll go
Speaker 2: to France and play for Catalans. And obviously the pain
Speaker 2: and hears thing. So there's something not right there in
Speaker 2: terms of the culture at the club or the happy.
Speaker 1: But I coached a player who is now a doormen
Speaker 1: in Brisbane and he's a really good human. He knows
Speaker 1: right from wrong and whatnot, and.
Speaker 2: Which is unlike a lot of dormant and Australian pubs.
Speaker 1: And yeah, is a dormant who's in it for the
Speaker 1: right reasons to keep people safe. And he's not a thug.
Speaker 1: And he told me that the word on the street
Speaker 1: in Brisbane at the time Brisbane's really a big village.
Speaker 1: After twenty twenty four, so twenty was it twenty twenty
Speaker 1: three they went to the Grand Final and lost. It
Speaker 1: was yeah, So apparently the behavior of the Brisbane fan
Speaker 1: players was off the charts, like they were the term
Speaker 1: used was they had a disgrace to the club and
Speaker 1: I think Madge was brought in to try and change that,
Speaker 1: and I think there's been some pushback because every time
Speaker 1: he trained a little bit hard, it gets leaked to
Speaker 1: the media and the media turn on him. So they
Speaker 1: either need to back their coach or let the players rule.
Speaker 1: And I think I know what I'd do. Let's go
Speaker 1: to the excitement of this week's fixtures, and I bet
Speaker 1: you can't wait for this one. John on Thursday York
Speaker 1: Nights host Hull lef C. Who You're back in there?
Speaker 2: Well on this weekend's fair I'm definitely back in the nights.
Speaker 1: On Saturday, Huddersfield Giant versus Bradford Bulls.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean two teams that were very poor this weekend,
Speaker 2: but I think I think the Bulls in that one.
Speaker 1: Wigan and Warrington.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's quite a tasty one. And even though
Speaker 2: both teams are missing a lot of talent, I think
Speaker 2: I think Wigan maybe just in a in a tight one,
Speaker 2: but yeah, I think Warranton if they if they're still
Speaker 2: hoping or dreaming of grabbing first, then they need to
Speaker 2: they need to really turn up in that game.
Speaker 1: On Saturday, Lee played Castle Food at three o'clock.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean on current form and in the way
Speaker 2: Lee are looking, he can't say anything, but the Leopards.
Speaker 1: Win that five thirty hill KR play Wakefield all the
Speaker 1: good game.
Speaker 2: That's a really yeah, that's a that's a really good game.
Speaker 2: Wakefield obviously beat whole KR a few weeks ago on
Speaker 2: in great, great form. Whole K are not, you know,
Speaker 2: hitting the straps, but they're still they're still a team
Speaker 2: to be respected. So I think that one's too close
Speaker 2: to cool.
Speaker 1: And Catalans at Lee and Leeds at eight o'clock British time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Leeds probably probably about forty.
Speaker 1: And as is the way, now only one game on Sunday,
Speaker 1: Saint Helen's hopes to lose.
Speaker 2: Yeah, even even with probably a few more injuries and
Speaker 2: all suspensions from today's game, I think, and considering to
Speaker 2: lose a big win, I think St Helens we'll get
Speaker 2: the points in that one.
Speaker 1: And let's see how quickly this podcast ages. Because Berlin
Speaker 1: Harland of Manchester City fame was just headed norway ahead
Speaker 1: with ten minutes to go against Brazil. Wow, well that
Speaker 1: would be uh, that would be a hell of a result.
Speaker 1: You tip for Wednesday's origin, I thought you were the same.
Speaker 2: My tip for tonight is is s Burrito's, tacos and enchiladas.
Speaker 1: All the way. Football is coming home without the h.
Speaker 2: My prediction is the Queensland win. My hope. My heart
Speaker 2: is dreaming of a Blues victory. But I think I
Speaker 2: think you were talking before about football IQ, and I
Speaker 2: think Queensland just seem to understand the Origin arena. And
Speaker 2: when you've got players like Monster and Grant and you
Speaker 2: know Sam Walker's kind of ability to play off the
Speaker 2: cuff footy, He's really impressed me in this Origin Arena.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think I think sadly it will be
Speaker 2: a cane toad victory.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking Queensland might win because at the start of
Speaker 1: the process I said on zero tackles loose carry that
Speaker 1: it will either be Queensland three nil or Queensland two.
Speaker 1: I should climb one, so I should. I's got his one,
Speaker 1: Queensland have got one, So I'm going to go with Queensland.
Speaker 1: But I don't think it will be an emphatic win.
Speaker 1: In New South I think New South Wales is going
Speaker 1: to have a red hot crack it.
Speaker 2: Is Sandcorp as well, like, how many deciders have you
Speaker 2: so well as well at Suncorp about two three.
Speaker 1: Well, you've also got to remember it's happened a bit
Speaker 1: more recently in the last few years, and you've got
Speaker 1: to remember a lot of these NRL players spent a
Speaker 1: full year playing at Suncrp under the COVID times, so
Speaker 1: it's not it's not the daunting place that it used
Speaker 1: to be. So for many of these players, they know
Speaker 1: it very well and they play magic round there every year,
Speaker 1: so so put it this way, they've had a lot
Speaker 1: more practice of playing at that place full of Queenslanders.
Speaker 1: So yeah, just not you know, it's not the lang
Speaker 1: Park of the eighties.
Speaker 2: Is it. So they're not going to get pelted by
Speaker 2: Cairnes no like to. But I still think it's an
Speaker 2: intimidating place to play when it's a stet of our
Speaker 2: and decider And there's how many how many million Queenslands
Speaker 2: are there? Four million, five million? You know that will
Speaker 2: be all.
Speaker 1: There might have been a few more moved in during
Speaker 1: the course of this podcast.
Speaker 2: I wasn't counting the ones with the two heads, so
Speaker 2: there's probably eight million, so all of them will be
Speaker 2: we'll be fired up.
Speaker 1: I don't know what to say after that.
Speaker 2: I thought I was throwing a bit of Paul Gallon
Speaker 2: in spot.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah yeah, see you next week for three sixty.
Speaker 1: Thanks John, thank you.