From the Western Terrace

One Lion on a shirt....

2007-11-12T15:50:00.000Z

So, Saturday saw Great Britain complete their first series whitewash since 1993 with a 3-0 victory of New Zealand. Much has been made by those who seek to knock the British game about the players the Kiwis were missing (Sonny Bill Williams, Benji Marshall etc) but injuries and unavailability are a fact of life in international sport and for the majority of the 240 minutes in this series the Kiwis were second best.

Great Britain played - particularly in the 44-0 Second Test win - with a flair and urgency not seen all too often under former coach Brian Noble. The offloading, expansive style Tony Smith applied successfully both this year and in 2004 at Leeds paid off with the team looking for opportunities to attack from good field position rather than simply completing sets and relying on the opposition making mistakes.

Several players stood up during this series over whom there had been potential question marks at international level. Leon Pryce - so often used in a utility role or as a winger - grabbed the stand off jersey and made it his own with two assured performances showing a keen footballing brain to go with his elusive running. Rob Burrow was supposed to get smashed all over the park by the rough, tough forwards at this level yet took on the organising role to such good effect, mixing it with his trademark quick feet and hitherto unseen field kicking game. Jamie Peacock led the pack from the front, never more so than his tempo-setting try 70 seconds into the Second Test, bumping off defenders and refusing to be stopped from getting over the line.

This series has been about both sides bringing in new players to key positions alongside some more experienced heads - Graham, Burrow, Clarke, Fa'asavalu, Burgess for GB, Perrett, Smith, Roberts, Lauaki and the like for the visitors. Home advantage or not, it is Britain's new blood that hit the ground running in this series and it bodes to well for the future. There will no doubt be further turnover in both squads prior to the 2008 World Cup with the likes of Keith Senior contemplating international retirement, but the fact that GB has used 23 players in this series shows that depth - once the achilles heel of British teams - is less of a worry now than it has been. Long may it remain so, if the Lion is to eventually challenge the Kiwi and the Kangaroo on a regular basis.

Four more years of hype

2007-10-15T10:56:00.000Z

You nay have noticed there were a couple of games of rugby on over the weekend. Unless you've been living on Mars, in a cave, with your fingers in your ears that is.

Actually, you could be forgiven for thinking there was only one game on, which involved eight burly English chaps with names like George and Lawrence hiding a ball up their jerseys for 80 minutes only occasionally letting a fragile little chap called Jonny have it to kick it away again. Obviously this tactic worked a treat, as it bored their French opposition into a stupor and saw England's brave warriors reach a second successive World Cup final.

Earlier in the day at Old Trafford, the two best teams in Super League had put on a feast of running, handling and violent collisions which saw Leeds Rhinos crowned as champions for the second time in four years in the last game for coach Tony Smith before moving on. Of course by the time the late evening news bulletins came around, any focus on that particular sporting event watched by over 70,000 people was lost among the sort of blind patriotic jingoism that we English do so well.

Despite all the odds being stacked against them (in other words, they were rubbish heading into the tournament) our gallant English boys have found a way to win and now face South Africa for the glory of being the first side to retain the World Cup. That they found this way to win by completely removing all elements of risk, flair and entertainment from the game is secondary to the fact that after being crap for four years since the last World Cup they've started winning again. As usually happens with England teams in all sports, winning equals popular so expect the coming week to be a media barrage with all sorts of celebrities who wouldn't know a drop goal from a lineout expressing their delight and admiration for brave Sir Jonny and "the boys".

In a perverse way, England's progress to the final has demonstrated just what an appalling game to watch for the uninitiated rugby union really is. It's a sport where one team can win by being completely negative and choosing to stifle the opposition rather than looking to score points through pace, imagination and skill in the way the Rhinos did so well on Saturday. It's a game where the rolling maul is king, keeping the ball away from the opposition is paramount and hoofing it 40 yards off the pitch is greeted by rapturous applause. In short, it's the complete antithesis of everything you associate with rugby league. The two sports may have started from an identical root, but there respective evolutions have been as diverse as anything you would find in nature.

For all their brave noises after the last World Cup about playing a more expansive game, bringing in league talent in playing and coaching capacities and promising a red rose revolution, when put under pressure England have reverted to the sort of dour, plodding typecast that won them so few friends through the 1990s and into the new millenium. You know what though, as long as they keep winning the media will keep fawning and the Henrys and Nigels will keep turning up at Twickers (who knows, they may actually watch part of the game inbetween singing negro worksongs and sipping Pimms) and the world will stay on its twisted axis where the more entertaining product struggles to sell while the beige MDF flies off the shelves.

Sayonara Salford

2007-09-08T05:11:00.000Z

The victory for Hull KR in the Hull derby settled the first major issue of the 2007 season last weekend, ensuring Salford will finish bottom of the pile and subject to whoever wins the National League One grand final will find themselves in that division for 2008.

On the face of it, this doesn't look much different from any other relegation in recent years. The club is making the usual encouraging noises about bouncing back. With their contracts rendered void by relegation, their better players are already being snapped up by other clubs - Luke Robinson and David Hodgson to Huddersfield while Andy Coley's move to Wigan, subject of much rumour for the last couple of years, has finally come to fruition.

This year of course is slightly different, with the automatic promotion route into the top flight closed and replaced by the franchise bidding process for 2009. Whereas before, keeping a full time squad would give you a great chance of returning at the first attempt, the option of securing promotion by results alone isn't going to be open to Salford and they will be bidding for one of an as yet unspecified number of places at the top table.

Much of Salford's hopes for a franchise will be pinned on their location. Their current home The Willows is in dire need of redevelopment. It's set in an unpleasant area, and has little in the way of modern facilities. Work is under way to move the club to a brand new purpose built stadium, the completion date for which is unclear. As part of the franchise application process, stadium quality will feature and it remains to be seen what the panel's view will be of Salford's proposal based at a stadium that has yet to be completed.

The other issue to be considered is catchment area. Although the north west is a hotbed of rugby league, Salford is/was the nearest thing to a Super League presence in Manchester. That gives it an enormous potential audience right on its doorstep. The club even shares its Red Devils nickname with Manchester United, and there has been talk of incorporating Manchester into the name over the years to identify the team with the sports mad city rather than the less salubrious suburb.

On the field the club has slumped dramatically this year after a promising season in 2006, with not even the replacement of Karl Harrison with Shaun McRae mid-season being enough to save them. Given the changes in structure, 2007 was the worst possible year to be relegated, and it remains to be seen whether the changes being made off the field will be sufficient to regain top flight status or whether it really is goodbye rather than see you later for the Reds

Walcome home...

2007-08-27T22:58:00.000Z

... welcome, come on in and close the door.

Don't worry, this hasn't just turned into either a nostalgia blog or even a Peters and Lee fansite (ask your grandad).

This weekend the rugby league Challenge Cup final returned to its traditional home at Wembley Stadium, following some time on the road while the new national stadium was being constructed. With all due respect to Twickenham, Murrayfield and the Millenium Stadium who each in their own way were excellent hosts in the meantime, there's something about Wembley that just makes it "right" that the final should be back there.

In days of yore, the final used to be seen as a "grand day out" for northern fans to descend on the capital and play the tourist. As transport links have improved, that's obviously not so much of a big deal any more - you can be in London within 3 hours or so from the M62 corridor. The stadium has also been changed beyond all recognition, its historic twin towers replaced by an imposing arch. But even after all that, it's still Wembley, it's still special and it still has a mystique attached to it.

It's also one of the few showpiece occasions rugby league in this country has where it can display what it has to offer to a broad national media audience. The club game doesn't attract the column inches or free-to-air television time on a week to week basis so it needs occasions like the Challenge Cup final to put itself out there on view to a swathe of potential new fans.

That being the case - and I don't want to be a grinch here - it was a bit of a shame that the spectacle on the field didn't match the build up to it. Having Catalan Dragons in the final was an absolute boon for the RFL publicity machine. New team, new faces and the opportunity to show the world that rugby league is far removed from being cloth cap and whippets and is a growing, cosmopolitan sport. Sadly whether nerves of the occasion got to both teams or not we'll never know, but the first half was littered with errors and the game was effectively over as a contest with half an hour to go.

Still, with over 84,000 tickets sold, acres of positive press in the lead-up that would have cost a fortune to buy and the boost to the game in France that this final will have given all in all it still was a "grand day out" for rugby league.

Schadenfreude

2007-07-30T16:06:00.000Z

It's German, dontcha know. Roughly translated it means "shameful joy", and its primary English use is as a term to describe finding fun in the misfortune of others.

Very popular around the north of England (and south of France for that matter) at the moment, thanks to the defeat of Wigan Warriors by Catalan Dragons in the Challenge Cup semi final this Sunday.

It's fair to say Wigan weren't the public favourites going into the game, for a variety of reasons. For a large chunk of the last decade of the 20th century, they swept all before them in both League and Cup, signing all the best players and paying them wages that no other team could compete with as they went on an unprecedented winning spree. Call it jealousy if you like, but the arrogance shown by the club and its fans over that period made them less than popular.

While success has been less easy to come by during the summer era, they've still found ways to make themselves unpopular. Running up a massive debt, the club was forced to sell its traditional Central Park home and move into the JJB Stadium with the local football club. There still lingers the perception that there is one rule for Wigan and one for everyone else, whether it's when their players visit the disciplinary panel for on-field indiscretions or the club itself being hauled over the coals for a flagrant breach of the salary cap in 2006, a year in which they narrowly avoided relegation by spending significantly more than they were allowed on wages.

When you're unpopular, it helps to have someone fronting the club to the media and general public who is likeable enough to deflect some of the flak. Unfortunately for Wigan, lately that job has fallen to Dave Whelan and Maurice Lindsay. The bluff, uncompromising (until it suits his principles) owner and his chairman - who possesses all the personal charm you'd get in the camp offspring of Joyce Grenfell and Baron Greenback from Dangermouse - aren't going to do Max Clifford out of a job when it comes to generating positive PR. It should come as no surprise then that the rugby league public have taken great delight in kicking the club while it's down.

It seems that this may have been the final straw, as Lindsay has announced today that he is stepping down as chairman at the end of the season and Whelan is considering a serious offer for the club. There's no doubt Lindsay played a significant part in making Wigan the club it is now - whether you consider that to be a good or a bad thing depends on how you look at it. There will be no shortage of people prepared to slam the door after the pair of them however, and it remains to be seen how long it will take to remove the taint off the image of the club that their era will be predominantly remembered for.

Making opportunities out of problems

2007-07-08T07:49:00.000Z

Unless you've been living in a cave on Mars with your fingers in your ears lately, you'll have heard the saga about Sheffield United, West Ham and the FA Premier League. Basically, West Ham bought an excellent player, but in buying him breached a number of Premier League rules about registration. The Premier League found them guilty in April this year, but refused to take any points away from them as it was too close to the end of the season and would have been unfair given West Ham were embroiled in a relegation scrap. Instead they fined them £5m, and it was Sheffield United and Wigan who ended up being relegated as that player scored a vital goal on the final day to keep West Ham up.

Needless to say much has been made of it since, and Sheffield United recently appealed the punishment on the grounds it was too lenient and that many other teams in lower leagues have previously suffered points deductions for playing unregistered or incorrectly registered players. That appeal was dismissed this week, and West Ham remain in the Premier League for next season picking up around £20m in potential income as a result. Not a bad piece of work, take a £5m hit on the basis it could generate you £20m in the following year.

Also this week, news broke that three of rugby league's top clubs - Bradford, Wigan and St Helens - will be called before the Rugby Football League to discuss potential breaches of the salary cap in 2006. The clubs have previous form for infringing cap rules, either accidentally or deliberately, and the eyes of the rugby league community will be trained on the RFL over the next week or so awaiting the results of their findings - in much the same way the eyes of the football world were on the FA when they were deciding the punishment for West Ham.

The link between the two cases grows stronger, given Wigan narrowly avoiding relegation in 2006 after a mid-season recruiting drive, including the world record fee paid for Stuart Fielden from Bradford. If they have been shown to have overspent in the pursuit of retaining their Super League place, and given the club received a points deduction in the past for overspending the cap, perhaps the RFL can expect a challenge from Castleford who were the team relegated last season. Fortunately the RFL have an operational rules framework which covers the salary cap and the punishments for breaches are already set out depending on the nature and size of the offence, so there is little room for arbitrary judgements as in the West Ham case.

What this does represent however is an opportunity for the RFL to put a marker down prior to the cap becoming "live" in 2008. Next year all teams must receive clearance from the RFL that any new playing contracts will not push them over the salary cap before that player can be registered, rather than the current system of retrospective audits. The hearings coming up give the RFL the chance to both show that those who infringe the rules don't prosper (Wigan avoiding relegation, St Helens winning the Grand Final) by setting down meaningful punishments, while also providing some good publicity for the sport by showing off the innovative cap management method for next year.

Unlike the FA, who have emerged from the West Ham affair with very little credit whatsoever, it is to be hoped the RFL grasp the nettle on both counts.

School yard form guides

2007-05-28T16:12:00.000Z

You know how these things work - Team A beats Team B, who then go on to beat Team C, making any game between Team A and Team C a foregone conclusion. They're much beloved tools of those who like to predict results without actually having a clue what they're talking about, and those who prefer to reduce professional sport to some sort of "Top Trumps" style statistical battle. The last few weeks of engage Super League XII has pretty much exposed these things for what they're worth.

Recently, Hull Kingston Rovers have recorded victories over both Wigan and near neighbours Hull FC. Both Wigan and Hull have also beaten Leeds Rhinos in the last two weeks. Earlier in the season, Rovers also beat the Rhinos. Stands to reason then that when Hull KR welcomed Leeds to New Craven Park on Sunday the home side would emerge victorious, right?

Try again. Leeds won 18-10, with Rovers managing their only try of the game with just ten minutes left. On the same weekend, bottom club Salford beat a Huddersfield Giants side that had been in superb form over the last two months and the week before had recorded its first victory in a long time over the Bradford Bulls. Wigan, who by all accounts had feebly rolled over for their tummies tickling against Hull KR, turned around a half time deficit with 35 unanswered points against Hull FC having been equally submissive in the first half of that game.

While there are always going to be freak results in sport, much has been made in the northern hemisphere about the need for intensity in the competition and the big clubs having too many easy games against teams whose main raison d'etre is to avoid relegation. The Australian NRL has been held up as something the competition should aspire to, a league where any side is more than capable of beating any other on a given day and teams can go from cellar dwellers one year to champions the next.

11 rounds into the 2007 NRL season, there are 14 points separating table toppers Manly from bottom side 16th placed Sydney Roosters. After 15 rounds of Super League, St Helens and Salford are just 13 points apart at the top and bottom of the table respectively. Six points separate bottom from 4th on the ladder in Australia, while only one more is the difference between their Super League counterparts. There have been twice as many games where the margin has been 30 points or higher in Super League than in the NRL, and while some of that may be down to the fact that the competition up here is further in to the season than its Australian counterpart, it does show a tendency for some of the weaker teams to collapse under pressure from the big boys.

There's a definite levelling effect taking place in the Super League competition between the top and the bottom. While it may not translate necessarily into a different side winning the competition every year at least in the near future, it's certainly going to make the bookie's job harder (which is no bad thing on its own for us mere mortal punters), but it will also hopefully help drive up the standards and intensity creating players more able to compete on the international stage.

Follow me Terry, I'll make you look good

2007-05-14T15:06:00.000Z

You know how it is - you scoot out of dummy half, draw in the "B" defender and put the runner you'd told to come with you through a huge hole with a perfectly timed pass, allowing him to stroll to the line for a try. It's not often when you're as talentless as I am that the runner turns out to be a multiple cap Great Britain international with numerous league championship and Challenge Cup winners medals to his name.

That was the case last Thursday though, in a charity touch and pass Sevens competition organised by Virgin Media. They had asked along former international rugby league players turned media pundits Barrie McDermott and Terry O'Connor as special guests, and through one of our team knowing Barrie we ended up with both on our side in the later stages of the competition. Sadly for Barrie however, it was Terry who benefitted from my slight of hand although he did look a little embarrassed touching down against opposition who were basically there (as we were) for a bit of fun.

It's certainly surreal, going out onto the field and playing alongside or against players you've marvelled at as recently as these two, who were both playing at the top level of club rugby in the UK as recently as 2005. Huge credit has to go to both lads however (and I can call them lads, as they're both still younger than me) for the spirit in which they joined in the day. They didn't try to take over or show off, they weren't interested in being the centre of attention but were approachable, polite and all the things that you're sporting heroes all too often aren't when you eventually get to meet them.

Much is written about rugby league being a family sport in the context of the behaviour of its spectators towards each other. It's a family sport in another way in my opinion, in that those who play, officiate, spectate or just generally enjoy the game all form part of the rugby league family whatever level their interest in the sport is at. Like any family we have our occasional fallings out, but in the main we look after each other and treat other family members (and the game itself) with a respect some more popular sports would do well to reflect upon.

The Madness of King Ganson III

2007-05-08T10:30:00.000Z

You can't beat a bit of controversy at the end of a big game, can you?

With time running out and Bradford Bulls clinging to a two point lead, Steve Ganson penalises Matt Cook for being offside when replays show the ball coming off the boot of a grounded Leeds player. Kevin Sinfield opts for a 46m kick at goal in an attempt to tie the scores, which rebounds off the post. Jordan Tansey is first to react and gathers the loose ball before touching down under the posts as the hooter sounds to snatch a dramatic win for the Rhinos. Despite pleas from the Bulls players to refer the decision to the video referee (as he had done a multitude of times earlier in the game), Steve Ganson awards the try, despite the wide angle showing Tansey some two metres in front of Sinfield when he struck the kick.

Referees - like players, coaches, administrators and fans - are only human and are going to make mistakes. Ganson had to make a snap decision on the initial incident, moving at full speed at the end of a frantic game and looking into a crowd of players. That he got the decision wrong in those circumstances is unfortunate but entirely understandable. That he chose not to refer the try to the video referee is a little less easy to comprehend, given what was riding on the decision. There's little doubt that the try would have been disallowed and a penalty awarded to Bradford, from which they could have closed out the game and claimed the win.

Course, it's not a first for Steve. A couple of years ago at Headingley, he managed to find a phantom offside decision against Keith Senior, which allowed to Hull FC to clinch a last minute draw with the penalty. Later the same season he penalised Rob Burrow for "waving his arms around" at dummy half, an incident which cost Leeds two points in a game that finished level. The latest blooper appears to be the third part of this particular Leeds-Ganson trilogy, but the first one that has gone the Rhinos way.

While it's difficult not to have some sympathy for the Bulls in all this, refereeing bloopers are unfortunately an integral part of any sport and sometimes will clearly impact on the result of a game. Sometimes they'll go for you, other times against you and it's best to accept them with good grace whichever way they go. Making comments such as "we feel cheated" and "the referee created a penalty in order to make the game a draw" - both of which have been attributed to Bulls coach Steve McNamara - tend to get you labelled as a whiny cry baby, as well as being seen as bringing the integrity of the officials into question. I'd be surprised if McNamara wasn't at least asked to explain his comments by the RFL.

Even worse is insisting that the "right" thing to do would be for the winning side to give up the two competition points they have earned over 80 minutes, as Bradford chairman Peter Hood has done. Leeds went into the game without Peacock, Diskin, Bailey and Gibson, and Ali Lauitiiti was able to contribute very little before his injury. Despite this, the sin-binning of Brent Webb and being behind for most of the game, they had stayed in touch with a very good Bradford side to be in a position to benefit from Ganson's indiscretion. Asking for the result to be overturned on the basis of one bad decision sets all sorts of ridiculous precedents. Perhaps Leeds could ask for the 2003 Challenge Cup, the final of which saw a number of controversial decisions go Bradford's way? Or the results of the two games above being annulled and the points dropped being added to their total for this season?

It would be unfortunate if ten seconds of one game was allowed to detract from what was otherwise a successful weekend for the game in general. Over 60,000 people attended across the two days, including thousands from non-traditional rugby league areas. Within that number will have been some for whom this was their initiation to the family atmosphere of live rugby league, and they'll hopefully be back. The RFL are already looking at what changes could be made to the format for next year in an attempt to improve it further, and it looks as though the event - or something similar - could become a fixture in the rugby league calendar in an attempt to spread the game to a wider audience and create high profile events.

Happy Easter Bunnies?

2007-04-16T16:20:00.000Z

Not the Super League coaches, that's for sure.

Not surprisingly, they have been united in decrying the Easter fixture format, which can see sides playing four games inside fourteen days depending where the pre and post bank holiday double header fixtures fall.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you make anyone - even a seasoned professional athlete - play one of the world's most punishing collision sports on a Friday it's a big ask for him to get up and do it all again the following Monday. Fatigue is certain to take its toll both mentally and physically, and the quality of the product you're offering to customers will decline as a result. So why do we do it?

Kerching - that's why. The Easter Monday/Tuesday round of fixtures this year created a single round record attendance for the history of Super League. The Hull derby played a major part in the final figure, but there were other good crowds at St Helens and Leeds in there too. Bank holiday live sport is very popular. In the most part there's no worrying about school or work getting in the way, the telly's usually rubbish and roads to the coast or countryside tend to be jammed as far as the eye can see. Chuck in a healthy dollop of that old rugby league staple condiment "tradition" and it's no surprise that club chairmen want to milk it for all it's worth.

Well here's an idea for all those coaches who object to the double header over Easter and the impacts it has on their squads for the next two or three weeks after. Next year, field virtual Academy sides for the second round of fixtures over the bank holiday. All get together, and agree to do the same thing in the interests of protecting your players. Let's see how chairmen and broadcasters like the idea of not being able to put their prize livestock on show twice in such a short space of time. As things stand, it may take something as radical as that to force those in charge of the game to take a closer look at what they are expecting from the most important assets the game of rugby league has - the outstanding athletes that play it.

The Kids Are Alright

2007-04-10T16:57:00.000Z

James Roby, James Graham, Ashley Gibson, Jordan Tansey, Sam Burgess, Ryan Atkins, Brett Ferres, Danny Washbrook, Tommy Lee, Scott Murrell, Eamonn O'Carroll, Chris Melling, Louis McCarthy-Scarsbrook.

Core of a decent little side there, and perhaps more importantly they're all young, British and featuring regularly in Super League this season. Some, such as Roby, Graham, Gibson, Atkins and Ferres are no strangers to representative selection either at Great Britain or England level. The others won't be too far off the radar of those responsible for identifying talent for the future international programme providing they maintain form and fitness.

Add in the spine of the side that played in the Tri Nations last year who still have miles in the tank at top level such as Pryce, McGuire, Yeaman, Burrow, Fielden, Peacock, Hock, Wilkin and others and it all looks reasonably rosy. So, why aren't I confident that the 2008 World Cup will end in anything other than a mauling for England at the hands of the Aussies and Kiwis?

Truth is, we've been here before in terms of crops of oustanding youngsters who could more than hold their own against Antipodean opposition at Academy level, without them being able to translate it into results once they're in with the big boys. What we seem to be no nearer to solving is why?

Lonely at the Top?

2007-03-26T14:46:00.000Z

Certainly not in the 2007 engage Super League.

A quarter of the way into the season, and only three points separate the top 8 sides. Everyone (with the exception of bottom club Huddersfield) has registered at least two wins from their opening 7 games, and despite losing all of theirs the Giants points difference is still only minus 30, which gives you an idea how close their games have been.

That top 8 includes Wakefield (10th last year and saved from relegation on the final day), Catalan Dragons (12th last year and saved from relegation only by their 3 year exemption) and Hull KR (promoted last season from National League One).

So far this season, Harlequins have beaten St Helens who were the dominant force in 2006, Hull KR and Catalan have beaten Leeds and 2006 Grand Finalists Hull FC have won only two games. Yesterday the league leading Bradford Bulls were deservedly beaten by Catalan 29-22 at Grattan Stadium (Odsal in old money).

Yes, there's a long way to go before the end of the season. Yes, you'd expect the "big" clubs with the deep squads to come into their own once injuries start to bite. Isn't it nice though after many years of watching the NRL competition where anyone could beat anyone on their day (with the obvious exception of Souths) to see the domestic game in this country moving in a similar direction.

Here's to the uncertainty of results continuing over the coming weeks, hopefully to the continuing dismay of one-club believists who consider that any defeat must come out of either their team playing badly or the referee being "bent" (are you listening out there, Wildcats fans?)

Sporting cliches number 376

2007-03-05T12:30:00.000Z

This week's offering - "it's a game of two halves".

It's often said that a particular period of time in a game is a "big five or ten minutes". Could be at the start, where a side looks to impose its tempo and style on the opposition, or towards the end of a half where a team is looking to protect a lead against a late onslaught. Is there a bigger five or ten minutes though than the time a coach gets to spend with his team at half-time?

The hooter goes and by the time players are back seated, rehydrated, patched up and sufficiently stabilised in terms of fatigue and adrenaline levels to listen the coach has a very limited window in which to get across what he wants them to do in the next forty minutes. It's a relatively easy job if your team is coasting to victory, as Justin Morgan and Daniel Anderson must have felt on Friday night. If you're in Brian Noble or Steve McNamara's shoes though, that five minutes must pass in an instant as you attempt to rally the troops, raise their effort levels and correct technical and tactical problems that have left you behind the 8-ball at oranges.

Whateve they said must have had some effect, as both Bradford and Wigan played with much more purpose and effect in the second half of their games although both had left themselves way too much to do to pinch the two points. Perhaps Noble and McNamara should try delivering their half time team talks before the first half next week?

Saturday's live game gave new meaning to the word "dour". Catalan Dragons, who the previous week had put Leeds to the sword with a scintillating second half display, travelled to Salford and the two sides combined to produce eighty minutes of turgid, one-dimensional rugby punctuated by a steady stream of errors and penalties that would have done nothing for the neutral viewer. While the visitors were missing the influential Stacey Jones and Aaron Gorrell, you have to wonder what Mick Potter does with them during the week as he seemed to have extracted all the flair and confidence from the Leeds performance out of his players. His opposite number Karl Harrison has been touted as a potential Great Britain coach. Based on the way his Salford side staggered direction-less from one set of six to the next those who called so loudly for Brian Noble's head may find it's much better the devil you know.

On a side note - kudos to Mick Potter for leaving out one of the outstanding teenage talents of French rugby in order to get more game time out of a mediocre Aussie journeyman in John Wilson. Visionary thinking like that is sure to make a roaring success of the Dragons franchise.

One ninth down, eight to go

2007-02-26T13:51:00.000Z

So, one ninth of the weekly rounds out of the way and it already looks like this is going to be the bestest Super League season ever in the history of the whole world (in the world of Eddie and Stevo anyway).

The atmosphere around the British game got its annual early season lift in the form of another World Club Championship win on Friday when St Helens narrowly overcame the Brisbane Broncos at Bolton. Of course, Saints had "home" advantage, the benefit of a full pre-season and two competitive Super League games under their belt but it still shows how great the British game is when we can take on and beat the best club side Australia has to offer. No, really it does.

The odds are so stacked in favour of the British sides under the current structure of the WCC that it should be a huge surprise to everyone if they don't win it and certainly puts the 38-0 whupping the Roosters handed out the other year in some perspective.

Meanwhile back in the domestic game the topsy turvy results continued much as they had in the previous two weeks. Leeds travelled to Les Catalans off the back of two wins and managed to get nilled in the second half as the "French" side picked up their first win of the season. The improved standard of imports this year certainly looks like making the expansion venture more competitive judging by the first three rounds, but that's not really why it's there. Hopefully the success will encourage more young French players to stay in the game rather than taking the more lucrative career in Union and improve the player pool for the national team.

Harlequins continued their good start to the season with a win at newly promoted Hull KR, bursting the Robins unbeaten bubble in the process. The return of Paul Sykes and the core of young British players at the club such as Purdham, Worrincy, Melling, Mills and McCarthy-Scarsbrook show movement in the right direction and away from the team full of backpackers they've been labelled in the past.

With Wigan, Saints and Hull all struggling to find their best form at the start of the year, it would be nice to think that the likes of Quins and Les Cats could be pushing for a play off place come the end of the season. With 24 games to go however, it's still early days and it will be interesting to see how both clubs cope with injuries to key personnel given they don't have the deepest of squads.

Seconds out, Round One

2007-02-12T13:57:00.000Z

So, after playing one-sixth of Round 3 the week before all of Round 1, the 2007 Super League season finally got into full swing this weekend. There were some surprise results, injuries and things that really shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone.

It was the two geographically furthest flung sides that came up with the performances of the round. Harlequins travelled to Knowsley Road to take on a Saints side that had already got a competitive game under its collective belts and in positively polar conditions came out on top. Quins have recruited well for 2007 with the likes of Scott Hill and Danny Orr, and if they can keep their playmakers fit could pose a threat to the playoffs.

Les Catalans have undergone more of a transformation on the playing front, and can possibly consider themselves unfortunate only to come away from last year's Grand Final losers Hull with a point having lead for the majority of the game. Travel sickness was one of the reasons the French side were rock bottom after the weekly rounds in 2006. If they can cure that, an improvement could be on the cards particularly when Kiwi playmaker Stacey Jones returns.

Injuries are part of a collision sport such as rugby league, but big players picking up potentially serious ones on the opening weekend is a coach killer. Warrington appear to be the weekend's big losers in that respect, with both Chris Bridge and Adrian Morley looking at a lengthy spell on the sidelines after their game against Wigan. Bridge did a hamstring very early in piece, which is an occupational hazard at this time of year. Morley's however was another example of the reckless nature that saw him spend as much time on Coogee Beach as he did on the field in his career in the NRL.

The Warrington "enforcer" was making his debut for the club and went to put a big hit on young Wigan prop Eamonn O'Carroll. A little deft footwork from the youngster saw Morley grasping at thin air and ended with a clash of heads which appears to have caused significant damage to the Great Britain front rower's eye socket. This was the cause of much delight to the Wigan fans who saw the incident replayed and the outcome close up courtesy of the Sky Sports big screen.

The "Surprise, Surprise" awards for the opening round however both belong to the Saturday night game at New Craven Park, which saw Hull Kingston Rovers take on Wakefield in the Robins debut in SL. The first one goes to the result itself, which was as predictable as night follows day. Even with Wakefield leading by a point with time running out, it still looked like the Robins would be celebrating a win at the final hooter and once Wakefield coughed up the ball with a couple of minutes to go the stage was set.

The second belongs to Wakefield front rower Richard Moore. The former Leeds, Keighley, Bradford and Leigh prop has never been the sharpest tool in the box, except for the decision to shave off his curly hair which made him looked like an outraged Ronald McDonald sans make up. Sadly Moore has never shared the burger clown's demeanour, and can usually be guaranteed to come up with at least one piece of rank bad discipline per game. Saturday's was an attempt to shake the limbs off Rover's full back Ben Cockayne. If there was a market for it on Betfair, you could have laid that Moore would throw a punch, it would be against a bloke significantly smaller than him, he'd get sin binned and then stare at the referee blankly while it sank in. Frankly you'd never have to work again off the proceeds.

If Wakefield are not to find themselves slipping into the National Leagues for 2009, they need to keep as many players as possible on the field for as long as possible. You do wonder what the logic was in allowing the likes of Korkidas and Griffin to move on if they were only going to be replaced by indisciplined boneheads?

The old razzle dazzle

2007-01-22T15:54:00.000Z

Prince, Cirque du Soleil, Louie Vega and renowned artist Romero Britto. The coin toss conducted by one of the great players in the history of the game, and the trophy presented by one of the great coaches. These are the sideshows that will accompany the game to make Superbowl XLI in Miami one of the great spectacles in world sport.

The London Community Gospel Choir, an Army brass band, Deacon Blue, Madness and Lesley Garrett. The sideshows that have accompanied recent rugby league Grand Final and Challenge Cup Finals in the UK.

Yes, I know nobody goes to big games just to see the pre-match and half-time entertainment. Yes, I know essentially it's just something to distract you from the impending tension of the match itself.

What I also know however is that the quality of guests and entertainment a sporting event is able to attract is a fair indicator of its standing on both a national and global level, and the two lists above say a lot more about the NFL and rugby league in the UK than certainly the latter would like to acknowledge.

How do you like your eggs?

2006-12-09T10:01:00.000Z

If you're the Bradford Bulls, the answer to that question is not poached - no siree Bob it most definitely is not...

They've been found to have "no case to answer" by the Rugby Football League in respect of an illegal approach to Wakefield's David Solomona, who they signed recently in a player plus cash deal. Solomona was still contracted to Wakefield at the time, but the contract would have become void had the Wildcats been relegated from Super League. According to Wakefield boss Steve Ferres, around eight other SL clubs had made approaches to Solomona while he was still a contracted Wakefield player, which is illegal under RFL bye-laws. All this speculation and the knowledge that bigger clubs were interested in him unsettled Solomona, and led to him submitting a transfer request to Wakefield which led eventually to his move to one of those clubs.

Of course, the problem then becomes proving it.

Back in the "good old days" it was fairly easy to spot. The only way to approach a player would be either directly or through his club. If the player got a better offer from somewhere else and nobody had approached his club, then the club knew the player had been tapped up.

These days of course it's much more difficult. Agents act for the player, agents act for the clubs and on some occasions an agent may find himself acting for both at different times. You don't have to actually make an illegal approach directly to the player in order to establish what he may want to sign for you should he decide to leave the club he's currently contracted to. All you do is get someone acting on behalf of your club to make informal contact with someone acting on behalf of the player to discuss the metaphorical scenario that he might be interested in playing for you. Strictly speaking, no rules have effectively been broken but the effect has been the same once the agent reports back to the player what he may be able to earn elsewhere.

It's so difficult to stop that in my opinion the RFL should just ditch its anti-tampering rules. Clubs don't have to sell a player even if he is approached from elsewhere, and it's no good any club playing the victim when they've all at some point been guilty of the same crime. Allow clubs to approach players under contract at other clubs in the same way they would be allowed to "head hunt" employees were they businesses in any other industry than professional sport.

One moment in time

2006-11-27T13:51:00.000Z

Picture the scene....

It's the 10th minute of the Tri Nations final, arguably the biggest and most important game of your season, if not your career. It's the last tackle, and due to some poor handling and communication the ball ends up in the hands of you, a back rower not renowned for your kicking game. Do you...

a) Hand the ball (and the responsibility) on to your outside backs - after all, they're the flair players, not you?

b) Take on the responsibility yourself, and kick the ball as far down field as you can. Course, there's no real guarantee of accuracy and it could go anywhere - including out on the full?

c) Weigh up your options while moving forward with the ball in two hands, and throw a flat cut out pass to your right to a player in space hitting the ball at speed?

If you're playing in Super League, including those at the peak of the game in this country, then I suspect the answer may well have been a), or possibly b) for those who like to see themselves as multi-skilled. If you're Canterbury captain Andrew Ryan and the date is Saturday November 25 2006 however, the answer was c), and seconds later Australia were touching down for the opening try and had a lead they were never to lose.

So why the difference? Why was Ryan so able to sum up the situation, weigh up the options and execute something that had looked beyond even Great Britain's half backs in the previous four weeks in delivering an accurate pass to a colleague in space?

If you want my opinion - and you must do, otherwise why would you even be here - it comes down to intensity. Andrew Ryan plays week in, week out in a competition that asks him to make snap decisions under pressure umpteen times a game. When he was presented with such a decision on Saturday, it was second nature for him to weigh up the pros and cons of various forms of action and make his decision in adequate time to put whatever he decided into action. How many times are players in Super League challenged to make similar decisions, particularly forwards? Their main objective in attack appears to be either make as many metres as you can then try to slip the offload, or find the floor quickly then generate a quick play the ball. It's all stuff you can do without thinking or in many cases without a significant level of basic skills such as the ability to time and deliver a pass.

Why is this the case though? To me it comes down to the refereeing interpretation in our competition. Often it's all too easy to break down a defence with a simple play, so keen are referees to increase the speed of the game by penalising holding down. When that tactic was taken away from GB by Paul Simpkins' interpretation in recent weeks they looked lost for ideas on how to break down a well organised defence. Take away the quick play the ball and scoot, and suddenly players have to start thinking of ways to create chances, to unlock defences. Often this means challenging the defensive line and then having to make decisions and execute skills with a defender right in your face. The more you do it, the better you get at it and the more like second nature this split second decision making becomes.

By looking to make our domestic rugby league a television product and keep up the pace of the game, are we strangling the creativity out of the national side for the sake of allowing an extra second at every play the ball and denying the attacking side such an easy ride?

GB on the slab

2006-11-23T17:10:00.000Z

So - the dust has settled, the gnashing and wailing has quietened and it's time to give Great Britain's 2006 Tri-Nations campaign a thorough post mortem and a burial according to the religion of its choice.

What started so positively with the narrow and controversial defeat to the Kiwis followed by the win in Sydney finished with a sense of deja vu and a couple of substantial defeats. The usual culprits have already been trotted out by players, coaches and pundits alike - too many foreign players, too many games, schedule against us etc. While each has an element of truth to it, are they alone enough to explain the difference between the two hemispheres?

Since the lifting of the international ban in the 1980s, the UK has been an attractive place for Australian and Kiwi players to ply their trade, and even more so in recent years with the exchange rates making Super League more attractive despite competitions in both hemispheres operating under a salary cap. While there is little doubt that some sides in SL have more non-GB qualified players than is necessarily healthy, developments in employment legislation such as freedom of movement for people with EU passports and the Kolpak ruling have made it much harder to control numbers in the domestic game. The presence of high quality overseas players such as Jamie Lyon and Trent Barrett is undoubtedly beneficial, but I'm not sure the same can be said for many of the others.

Too many games? I'm not going to sound like one of the dinosaurs often reeled out to provide local radio commentary by banging on about the number of games they used to play in the depths of winter in their day. The fact is that the game has changed and there is only so much abuse the human body can take and still perform to its full potential. Including league, cup, playoff and representative games some of the GB players will have been racking up their 40th appearances of a season that began with pre-season training in January. Their antipodean counterparts will have played roughly ten less games and had an extra month's rest before the start of their season. Does it make a difference? It's hard to see how it doesn't, but until the tail stops wagging the dog and SL is no longer run by those with petty club loyalties and pound signs in their eyes it isn't going to change radically for the better.

Scheduling is probably less of an issue, but it's one just the same. Given the timetable for the Tri Nations and the respective Grand Finals, it's hard to see how much can change to stop GB having to play four weeks on the bounce while allowing Australia and New Zealand vital time off mid competition. The only way you could accommodate it in the present situation would be to start the competition two weeks later, but then you wouldn't be finishing it until some six weeks before the start of the northern hemisphere season and thereby increasing the risk of player burnout. Forget Ricky Stuart's protestations that he'd rather play four weeks in succession, and ask his players instead. I doubt you'd find many complaining about not having to play every week.

There may be lots of easy questions and plenty of easy targets for those who wish to pick over the bones of another ultimately disappointing international campaign, but unless some minds, hearts and wallets are opened there appear to be very few easy answers.

Pride of Lions

2006-11-17T13:40:00.001Z

In the words of Eminem, "if you had one shot, one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted, one moment, would you capture it or just let it slip?"

Great Britain's one shot at making the 2006 Tri Nations Final comes up tomorrow in Brisbane where they take on Australia, knowing that a win or a draw will put them into the decider against the same opposition next weekend.

They have the memories of their win in Sydney two weeks ago to feed off and counterbalance the disappointing performance last week against New Zealand. They know what it takes to beat this Australian side, but can they put it into practice and win back to back Tests against the green and gold for the first time in 30 odd years?

You don't see many bookmakers sitting in the gutter with "hungry and homeless" signs so you'd have to go with their assessment of the home side as hot favourites, but then again they said that last time the two sides met and look what happened then.

It's imperative that Great Britain get off to a good start and dominate field position in the early exchanges. If the Australians get their noses in front and build up some momentum, they could be very difficult to peg back although it must be remembered that they scored first in Sydney off the back of a British mistake, and it was the try from Paul Wellens right on half time that gave GB momentum going into the second half. The forwards have to dominate up front and win the collisions to give our good runners from dummy half such as Roby, Newton, Pryce and Raynor the opportunity to pick holes in a retreating defence. Whoever takes on the kicking game from the departed Sean Long needs to get it spot on to pin the Australians back in their own half.

Perhaps more importantly, the GB players need to take a long hard look at the badge on their chests and consider whether they did it justice last week, and what they can do to put it right. In a tight game, that Pride of the Lions could make all the difference.

A week is a long time...

2006-11-15T15:24:00.000Z

... in politics apparently. It must seem like an even longer time in sport for Brian Noble and the Great Britain boys.

This time last week the players would have still been basking in the reflected glory of their outstanding performance in Sydney and preparing to book their spot in the Tri Nations final by turning over the Kiwis. Sadly, it appears that there was a little too much basking, and not enough thinking or working going on as Britain were rolled over by an enthusiastic Kiwi outfit 34-4.

Scrum half Sean Long was then involved (or not) in some unspecified shenanigans (or not) on the flight back from New Zealand to Australia which may (or may not) have involved the consumption of alcohol in breach of a ban that may (or may not) have been in place. Alternatively, if you believe the official story he was mentally and physically exhausted and needed to come home to be with his heavily pregnant partner. Either way up, it has provided an unwelcome distraction at a time when the focus needed to be on the must-win game against the Aussies in Brisbane this coming Saturday.

In a bid to seal their place in the final, coach Brian Noble has made a number of changes to the side beaten last week. Hull half-back Richard Horne replaces Long for his first competitive game since the Grand Final a month ago while Sean O'Loughlin returns to the side after missing last week's debacle through injury. Gareth Ellis moves forward to the second row and Jamie Peacock to prop while Adrian Morley is among seven replacements to be trimmed to four.

Perhaps the most surprising change is the dropping of Hull centre Kirk Yeaman to be replaced by Martin Gleeson, who was himself dropped after a below par performance in GB's first game of the series. Yeaman wasn't the worst player in a GB jersey last weekend, and played a full part in the previous week's win in Sydney yet appears to have been a sacrificial lamb to enable Noble to bring back another of the tried (and failed) old guard. One of the criticisms of Noble's selection policy since he took on the GB job is that it has had an air of "jobs for the boys" about it rather than players being picked on form. This selection does nothing to quiet those accusations.

Putting the Great back into Britain

2006-11-06T14:10:00.000Z

"Phil Gould, Rolf Harris, Willie Mason - your boys took a hell of a beating..."

Apologies for getting a little carried away, but given recent results against the bread stealers it was nice as a GB fan to be able to spend Saturday afternoon searching the TV schedules for re-runs of the victory in Sydney.

From the moment Mason popped one on the button of Stuart Fielden, you could see the visitors resolve increasing by the minute. The Aussie media likes nothing more than whaling on the Poms, and they've been in good voice in the build up to the series, describing GB as amateur, average and capable of getting beaten by Australia's third/fourth/fifth choice side* (delete as appropriate).

Well on Saturday, the lion stuck it's teeth in the Kangaroos arse and refused to let go until it had finished picking the bones clean with a late drop goal. Once the initial charges of Mason, Hindmarsh et al had been repelled, the lack of quality in depth on the Aussie bench backfired on them, with the likes of Thaiday and Tupou looking well short of the required standard. Sure, the injury to Gasnier won't have helped - but isn't this Aussie side supposed to be so far ahead that surely losing one player wouldn't make such a difference? And weren't GB equally disrupted by losing Brian Carney to injury and Stuart Fielden on a day trip to Disneyland for a chunk of the game?

The GB forwards were led from the front by Jamie Peacock, ably backed up by club colleague Gareth Ellis and another electrifying spell of the bench from James Roby. Finally, Sean Long converted some of his club form into the international arena and the centre pairing of Keith Senior and Kirk Yeaman were manful in defence when required and strong in attack.

Perhaps more significantly, when put under pressure the Australians turned almost exclusively to Darren Lockyer for a piece of magic to pull them out of a hole. It seems hard to conceive, but are the self proclaimed best team in the world very far away from being a one-man side? Certainly the captain was one of the few players in green and gold who looked capable of making a break or creating an opportunity other than from a British mistake. More needs to come from the players around him if the home side are to hit the heights they are universally expected to achieve.

A word of warning however - in the 2004 Tri Nations, Great Britain finished top of the table after the group phase. Come the final, they were on the receiving end of a blistering first half performance that blew them away and showed the gap between the two sides. It's not just the Aussies who need to improve if they are to be walking away with the trophy in three weeks time.

One down, four to go?

2006-10-31T13:23:00.001Z

Great Britain opened their Tri Nations campaign on Saturday with a narrow defeat to New Zealand in Christchurch, in a game that has generated more than its fair share of talking points already.

It turns out that New Zealand fielded Australian-born hooker Nathan Fien on the basis of his supposed Kiwi heritage under the "grandparent" rule, which enables a player not capped by any other country to represent the land of his parents/grandparents even if he wasn't born there. Apparently the relative from the land of the long white cloud whose birth certificate Fien produced was actually his great-grandmother, one generation too far to qualify him for New Zealand and therefore making him ineligible.

It's not clear at the moment whether the NZRL were aware of this and played Fien anyway, or if it was just a genuine administrative error. Usual procedure in most leagues around the world is that points are deducted for fielding an ineligible player, even if it's by accident. Given the way the Kiwis have started this competition with two defeats prior to the win over Great Britain, losing those two points would make the next meeting of the two sides in a fortnight a must win.

If that wasn't enough on its own, Aussie coach Ricky Stuart has chipped in on the subject of foul play, obviously looking to protect the little angels in his own side from any unnecessary fisticuffs. From Saturday's game the two notable incidents involved Adrian "12 seconds" Morley - the first a tackle on Ruben Wiki which started off across the chest then slipped up under the chin putting Wiki on his backside, the second a cuff round the head for Brent Webb in retaliation to a sly elbow. Given that Stuart was Morley's coach at Sydney Roosters prior to taking the Australian job, he'd be hard pushed to complain that he didn't know what to expect particularly in the light of Morley finishing his Roosters career with a lengthy suspension - not the first of his time in the NRL either.

Stuart obviously sees an advantage to his side if the game is kept open and flowing on Saturday, and will have been peeved at the selection of Ashley Klein as referee who he believed kept a very poor 10 metres between the sides in the two games against the Kiwis. His comments would appear to be the first step towards putting pressure on Klein - Aussie born but based in the UK - to referee in a way that favours his side when they meet Great Britain. Hopefully it won't work to influence the way Klein referees, but recent series between the two sides have shown that when the Aussie coaching staff complain about something, British referees have a record of rolling over and complying with their wishes.

Rugby League's Big Night Out

2006-10-14T08:39:00.000Z

So it's that time of year again - Super League Grand Final day. There's a chance of a new name on the trophy this year as Grand Final virgins Hull FC take on hot favourites and minor premiers St Helens. Hull have just two players with Grand Final experience in their squad - Lee Radford with the Bulls and Chris Chester with Wigan - but will be able to pull on their win in the 2005 Challenge Cup Final, their most recent big game experience.

It's easy to forget that the whole play-off and Grand Final concept has only recently been revived in the sport in this country, starting again in 1998 after two years of deciding the SL title on a "first past the post" basis. The concept had its fair share of critics at the outset, but it's fair to say that most people now recognise it as the "right" way to finish the season for a number of reasons.

The concept of a top five/six playoff isn't new in the UK though. For many years through to the early 1970s, the Championship final was the conclusion to the season. The top clubs at the end of the year played knockout football to decide the competitors and it was winner takes almost all, with the team finishing top of the table after the regular season picking up the league leaders trophy.

Then as now, the fixture schedule was uneven with not all teams playing each other home and away over the course of the year. In that case, as with the NFL and most other US sports, it's impossible to declare a champion based simply on regular season results. Arguments would rage over who had the easier fixtures during the season and how their opponents were handicapped by having tougher opposition. It's fairer to make the sides who had the best records over the season face off against each other to decide who really is the best in the land.

There's also the more modern argument of what the play off concept brings in terms of keeping the season alive for a number of clubs. A club in 7th or 8th but safe from finishing bottom would find the latter half of its season rendered almost meaningless - they were too far away from the top to have genuine title ambitions in first past the post, but weren't fighting for survival either. Under the play off system, these clubs are battling to the end of the season to give themselves an outside chance of making the showpiece finale.

Should the regular SL season ever revert back to playing each other once home and away - a possibility if the league is expanded beyond the current 12 sides - it would be interesting to see if the Grand Final and play off concepts retained the goodwill of fans as a whole. If your club finished as runaway leaders after everyone had played the same schedule, would you be happy with them having to go and do it all again to confirm what they'd proved over the year? A dodgy decision or a couple of injuries here and there could undo a whole season's good work after all...

Won't somebody think of the children...?

2006-09-22T06:42:00.000Z

So, it's Castleford Tigers then that fall through the relegation trap door, their form at the business end of the season not being good enough to keep them ahead of a resurgent Wakefield.

Tigers coach Terry Matterson made some interesting comments in the aftermath of the loser-takes-nothing defeat on Saturday in respect of relegation and junior development. Apparently, he had been wanting to get more game time out of young players such as Craig Huby and Andy Kain this season, but because of the pressure to stay in Super League had been forced to stick with veterans and unable to take that gamble. Matterson reasoned that had there been no such pressure to avoid the drop, these young players would have gained valuable experience that benefits everyone in the long run.

Seems a pretty reasonable statement to make, and tugs at the heartstrings of those who have the best interests of the GB side at heart. If these youngsters are being frozen out because they can't be risked by clubs in the bottom half, then how will they ever develop into players capable of playing at the highest level?

That's until you ask yourself one question - if the pressure to stay in the competition disappears, what is likely to replace it? Will club chairmen set their coaches a goal of developing as many outstanding young players as they possibly can, and sod where we end up in the league? Of course they won't. The expectations will still be there to either win the title, get in the playoffs or simply avoid finishing bottom even if that doesn't send you through the trap door into the void that is National League One. Coaches will still find their job on the line based primarily on results, not the number of home grown players in the side. If those results dry up at any stage, who is likely to be first out of the seventeen on a weekend - the promising youngster who is prone to still making some (potentially expensive) rookie mistakes, or the steady but unspectacular veteran with a couple of years NRL experience and an EU passport?

So nice try Terry, but you'll forgive me if I don't buy into this one.

The Not-Quite-So-Grand Final?

2006-08-24T15:06:00.000Z

This weekend sees the Challenge Cup Final at Twickenham between Huddersfield and St Helens - not that you'd know if you didn't follow the game, so low key has the advertising and promotion for it been.

The Challenge Cup has taken a bit of a battering in recent years. It's found itself moved around the calendar with the change to summer, first staying in its traditional late winter, early spring slot but being almost a pre-season competition, then being spread out more across the season with the final in late summer. The final itself has done a tour of the country while some itinerant Aussies try to build a national stadium out of lego and pipe cleaners, taking in Edinburgh, Cardiff and the home of English rugby union.

Where the "big day out" at Wembley used to be the showpiece of the rugby league calendar, it now has competition from the Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford each October. Its position as the ultimate achievement for a player and fan alike has been usurped and some of its thunder stolen by the newcomer. While there's still nothing to compare with a knockout tournament leading to a showpiece occasion, the SL playoffs provide exactly the same thing so that uniqueness that used to belong to a cup run has gone.

Perhaps some of the gloss has also been taken off by the loss of the unpredictability in terms of results. Upsets seem to be fewer and further between as the gap in standards between Super League and the National Leagues grows - victories by Tolouse over Widnes and Hull KR over Warrington not withstanding.

Of course, try telling this to the fans of competing clubs this weekend. All that will matter to them is the result, although Huddersfield fans (as with Hull last year) will take a sense of satisfaction out of simply being there whatever the outcome after such a long time between drinks. Hopefully the game will match the occasion, and to roll out an old cliche "rugby league will be the real winner".

To cap it all...

2006-08-11T11:52:00.000Z

Just when Wigan Warriors fans thought a thoroughly miserable season had turned the corner, two events come along to kick them firmly back down into the relegation dogfight.

Firstly, a Castleford Tigers side that have been difficult to beat at home turn into pussycats against the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, despite having a man advantage for the second half. Then to rub salt into the wound, the club are penalised two points and fined for exceeding their permitted salary cap expenditure in 2005.

Should Wigan lose at Leeds tonight and Wakefield beat the relegation immune Les Catalans tomorrow, the Warriors will find themselves two points adrift again in the relegation battle with games running out.

Much has been made of the fact that the penalty actually applies for the season after the offence has been comitted, so any advantage gained (and the statement to accompany the fine in particular reads as though the breach was to deliberately gain an advantage) isn't nullified. Last year's Grand Final winners the Bradford Bulls are also under investigation for a possible breach in 2005, yet any penalty would not deprive them of the title they won in that year.

It's hard to see what the RFL can do about this though. Clubs are asked to submit two returns, one mid-year and one at the end of it. These returns then have to be audited by the RFL, and given the complexity of the cap rules this is a lengthy and involved process. It's only at the end of the season that any breach can be truly identified as the expenditure limits relate to the full year.

It's far from being a perfect system, but other than dishing out the sort of retrospective punishments that have been so troublesome in the recent Italian football scandal the RFL doesn't seem to have a hatful of alternatives.

So Who Gives a XXXX?

2006-07-26T07:22:00.000Z

St Helens coach Daniel Anderson was in the media recently, having a little whinge at the Great Britain training days for robbing him of his best players in the build up to Super League games. Of course, how Great Britain perform on the international stage is of no concern to Anderson. He's a Kiwi after all even though he lives in the UK and works with some of the national side's leading players on a daily basis. But from a wider perspective, it seemed indicative of the attitude in this country towards representative games from those involved with clubs.

Wherever you stand, the fact remains that if GB are going to be successful in the Tri Nations later this year they need to be able to perform as a team, rather than just a collection of talented individuals. Every last advantage that can be gained in terms of preparation has to be taken, and that includes getting the squad together on a regular basis to train and play during the course of the season.

There has been talk of playing fixtures against a Rest of the World or Overseas XIII, but would those generate the necessary intensity? The opening exchanges of the recent XXXX Test were fierce, but would you still have got that if the Kiwis had been representing some artificial, created entity rather than their country? Regular games against the French have also been on the agenda, and their results in recent years against touring sides create a strong case for at least one game per season between the two countries.

Of course, space then has to be found in the calendar for these fixtures. And by space, I mean free weekends to allow adequate time for travel and preparation. Expecting players to represent their clubs on a Friday or Saturday then back up to play for their country on a Tuesday night after two training sessions just simply is not good enough. Timing also affects attendance. Midweek representative games don’t attract crowds, as witnessed by the turnout at St Helens, at Headingley for the game against New Zealand "A" a couple of years ago and the last "Origin" game at Odsal. Playing in big stadiums in big atmospheres is an integral part of the international learning experience.

This is where the potential expansion of Super League comes into the representative equation. An expanded league of 14 teams means 26 weekly rounds, two less than the current format. The two free weekends could then be used to play France, or with some co-operation from the NRL with the scheduling of their bye weeks possibly a Kiwi side with a full New Zealand Warriors contingent.

Following the announcement earlier this season of the clarified roles of Super League and the RFL in the organisation and running of the competition, perhaps it’s time the two got their heads together and discarded club self interest in favour of giving the international side a better chance to be successful? I’m sure no one will be forgiven however for not holding their breath.

Life is full of ups and downs

2006-07-22T13:25:00.000Z

Yesterday's defeat by Bradford sees Wakefield Trinity Wildcats installed as hot favourites for relegation from Super League. They're leaking points, coachless (and with their perceived first choice of James Lowes stating that he doesn't want the job) and struggling to see where their next win is coming from.

According to departed coach Tony Smith, the players weren't fit enough. Perhaps he misunderstood what the meaning of the word "coach" entails, as you'd have thought it was his job to make sure they were. Or he's maybe just using "fit" as a euphemism for talented?

Of course, they're not the only Super League club standing on the edge of the cliff looking down. Wigan are edging away from the precipice with the help of Dave Whelan's emergency airlift, while the likes of Harlequins, Huddersfield and Castleford can't break out the sun loungers at training just yet. Catalan Dragons may still finish below all of them, but are of course exempt from relegation for their first three seasons. There's also the slim possibility that the National League One winners may decline or not be accepted for promotion, giving everyone a reprieve.

Should Wakefield fall through the trap door into the National Leagues, they may become victims of unfortunate timing. Relegation in any of the previous years would have seen them maintain a full-time squad in an attempt to romp through NL1 and win back their place in the elite on the field. The spectre of franchising hangs over any team relegated this season however, and there is a distinct possibility that on-field success in 2007 on its own would not be enough to get promotion.

Traditionalists, particularly those linked to clubs currently outside SL, have been gnashing and wailing at the prospect of "pulling up the drawbridge" and denying teams automatic promotion to the top flight. Without that, they argue, what is there to play for in the National Leagues? The counterpoint to that argument is the experience of promoted clubs, who have such a short turnaround between the NL1 Grand Final and the start of pre-season to try and recruit a side capable of competing and finishing at least second from bottom in Super League. Wouldn't it be easier for those clubs to have a year or two to plan for entry to the top flight as Catalan Dragons have had?

Rugby League is not football. The sport does not have 25-30 teams all capable of playing in the top division, the sort of market where on-field criteria can be the only way to judge who plays in the top division while still maintaining both on and off field standards. It is important as the flagship competition of the game that Super League is seen to be played in front of decent sized crowds in modern stadia with adequate facilities, rather than in front of 3,000 people in a ground with toilets like something out of a Dickensian novel. If clubs cannot deliver that, do they deserve to be in the competition simply because they won a one-off game in the autumn?

Franchising does not pull up the drawbridge. What it does is create a set of guidelines that all clubs with Super League ambitions will have to meet, both on and off the field, before they will be considered for entry. Those clubs who have genuine ambitions of making the elite will strive to meet those criteria, improving the experience for their own fans in the process - as Doncaster are already doing with their new lakeside development. Those clubs who wish to stay in the top flight must also strive to develop both new markets and improved facilities as in the case of Salford.

Tradition should be something to celebrate when you look over your shoulder, not a millstone to stop you going forward.

So here it is...

2006-07-21T06:44:00.000Z

...Merry Christmas, everbody's having fun...

Sorry, got carried away a bit there. So here it is, my amateur hour attempt at a blog.

Why? Well, I guess I'm really a frustrated writer at heart, and this gives me somewhere to air my views, vent my spleen and get it all down on virtual paper. I've tried getting some of what I've written into print (with extremely limited success) and in the absence of any other takers I thought I'd put it out there on t'interweb for you good folks to read/agree with/laugh at/sue me for libel.

What? I'm a simple soul, as anyone who has tried to teach me anything will tell you. Nobody wants to hear me prattle on about the situation in the Middle East, or global warming, or reality TV. My life isn't interesting enough that I can stick a diary of it on here without depressing myself, never mind any poor sod who stumbles across it. So I thought I'd stick to something I like, and that I reckon I know about. Hence this'll be a blog about rugby league, the second most important thing to me behind family (but only just). It'll contain my musings/rantings/ramblings on the game in general, specific games and other miscellany as it enters my head and hopefully before it leaves it.

When? Whenever the muse strikes me, dammit. I'm not doing this for your benefit you know!

Who? By day, I'm a mild mannered civil servant from Leeds in his late 30's with a wife and two cats. By night, I'm pretty much the same bloke except on Saturdays when I'm Josephine, but more on that later - or maybe not.

So read on gentle viewer and prepare to be entertained/informed/bored witless...