*** Official Rugby League SLXVII Thread ***

TonyM19 said:
Makes sense for Wigan v Sts to be last thing Sunday I suppose. I hope its very quiet at work on Monday morning though :)

I understand why they have to pick the big derby fixtures to boost crowds. I love the derbies against Sts (atmosphere, good craic with the Sts fans etc etc), but we played them 6 times last year. Physichull has a point about relative difficulty, but would Wigan v Wire or Leeds not have the same pull?
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Being crude for a minute, but wouldn't a better method be to hold it mid season as it is now, and play 1st v 2nd, 3rd v4th, 5th v 6th, etc?

It would be fairer from the teams points of view, (Widnes must be dreading their fixture, and from a different angle, Wigan and Sts would be jealous of the Wire), but I see your point about crowds etc. Rock and a hard place I suppose, but I think I would prefer the derby from my position. But I'm pretty sure Widnes, Salford etc would be a bit dissatisfied.
 
The countdown is well and truly on now. Dave Woods has his preview up on the BBC website now:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/16786972.stm

Think he's been a bit harsh on Rovers, he puts Liam Watts as "the one to watch", maybe, but I think I'd put a whole host of players above him. Will we miss Vella, Briscoe, no, I don't think so. They will always be remembered at Rovers for their efforts in the early days, but I think we have more than replaced them. He was right about Green though, we will definately feel his loss the most.

Anybody else agree with the assessment of their teams?

Interestingly he has tipped Broncos quite heavily this year, time will tell I guess, but I don't think Wakefield or Widnes will be the "easy" touches that they are being touted to be.
 
That's a pretty good preview.

I think he has Wigan about right (4th). They will struggle at half back and centre but look ok up front. There's a highly rated full back coming through (Matty Russell - he played in the friendly at HKR). Don't be surprised if he gets some games with Sam Tomkins moving to 6.

I think Catalan will go really well this year and will definitely take some beating in France.

Wakefield will struggle again. Tim Smith might be good with the ball in his hand, but he couldn't tackle a hot dinner.
 
TonyM19 said:
Wakefield will struggle again. Tim Smith might be good with the ball in his hand, but he couldn't tackle a hot dinner.
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Its going to be tough seeing Ben Cockayne playing against us next season (and Peter Fox to a lesser extent), definately mixed emotions in that one. A player that tried so hard on the pitch for us, always enthusiastic, often got the fans MOTM, but tried so little off the pitch, which ultimately lead to his downfall at Rovers.

I think he really has got Rovers all wrong, no mention at all of any of our new signings, I'd put our young prop Scott Taylor way ahead of Watts in the one to watch. I really, REALLY rate him. I don't doubt we shall see much more of Scott Taylor in the future, he will be a quality prop who grew into his role massively last season (in more sense than one). Eager young prop who certainly takes some stopping. I certainly wouldn't like to try....

Pleased that Ben Fisher has got a 2 month loan at Catalan, he deserved to be signed by a SL club in fairness and I think he was very unfortunate not to be picked up by another SL club such as Wakey, Cas, Widnes, Salford. He really could have done a good job for them.
 
Its the Widnes players who will suffer most - they're on it every week. With the amateur game now mainly in summer, grass burns like that will be the norm for players on bone-hard, unwatered council pitches. Strap up your knees and elbows and get on with it ffs.

Maybe clubs should aim for a pitch like Headingley :)
 
That looks nasty from Mathers, Widnes are claiming that it was more due to the freezing conditions as to Mather's injuries. They are probably right to be fair.

Dissappointing defeat for Rovers but they fought really hard against the current SL champions and did themselves proud in their display. In control up until the 65th odd minute. Craig Hall did a good job moving to 6 in attacking sets then back to the wing for defensive sets.

Mickey Paea again had another great game. All in all a fairly good night, despite the result. The MAJOR downsides were:

1. The cold, it was bloody freezing!
2. The Leeds traffic. Missed kickoff and I left Manchester at 6! It all started before Kirkstall road and took AGES to get to the stadium, then I had to park which was pretty impossible so ended up parking miles away from the stadium and had to pretty much run, but missed the first 10 minutes. Getting out was an absolute nightmare aswell, took SOOOO long. Managed to floor it on the motorway and managed to catch last orders at a pub in Hull. It's amazing what the determination for beer can do.


Is Sky Sports showing an NRL highlights show this year? Thought I saw an ad for it, but I've googled and can't seem to find anything.


Other disappointing news is that the council are p***ing about with trying to secure us funding for our new north stand with Neil Hudgell publicly stating that the unless urgent action is taken for the new north stand he may have to stop bank rolling us next season as he no longer has the appetite unless they get the new stand. From the sounds of it, the MP for Hull and John Prescott are trying to push the issue higher into the European Regional Development Funding council to try and get the funding released.

It's more than just a stand, it will have many community facilities, business enterprise initiatives, a health clinic, offices, restaurant, matchday hospitality etc, that we are badly lacking and is crucial for Rovers to at least break even each year. It's more than just some seats and a roof, its crucial for Rovers long term survival.

Hopefully the issue can be sorted soon though. :(
 
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What a struggle getting back from Hull!! Motorway shut, b roads iced up, nearly crashed!

Fun times though! I am so glad Super League is back!!! :D

Two big announcements coming soon regarding the RL Round Up app..... those without windows phones keep your peepers on it ;)
 
physichull said:
Meant to say before, but I don't have a Windows phone, only Android.

Why did Lee Briers not play for Wire if he was fit?
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Keep your eyes on it then wink wink! Announcement soon! Also the main app will not be out untill mid season so it will most prob be available free to all (maybe with adverts) untill the end of the season then will be released fresh as a new version for the season after!!

I feel like i am working with the team that made the Rugby League game, releasing games a year late!!



As for Briers several rumors going round; out on the syrup with Joel Monas, Golf during the week, was not training as hard as Myler & Ratch, ext.

From what i have read he chose his own punishment and now people are saying he just did not want to play in the cold! :D

Either way i hope he is back soon!
 
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Terrible game against Wakey today, lacking in quality almost everywhere. Mostly down to the pitch, hard as rock on the wings and bogged in the middle. Rovers put in a massive defensive display to win today, nothing more than that. Thanks goes as always to the ever dependable Peter Fox who dropped a ball from a dropout which then lead to our last try which sealed the win.

Further bad news is that we have now lost Dobson for a prolonged period of time due to a suspected broken collarbone. Great. Just what we needed. Now that makes Dobson, Green and Galea all out, as well as O'Hara. That's like Leeds losing Sinfield, Burrow and McGuire. Really couldn't have hard more bad luck at the start of this season, losing our talisman Dobson, our player of the year 2011 Green and the very experienced second rower Ben Galea. :(

Good win for Wigan on Saturday. Nothing flashy, but fantastic defense and really won the battle of the forwards to comfortably beat Leeds. Leeds just seemed to try to force every single move and I lost count of the amount of times they bombed opportunities on the Wigan line through forcing the risky pass etc. Tough defense from Wigan though and that's what wins games.
 
Wigan were transformed from the Huddersfield game. As you said, Leeds weren't on the top of their game, but Wigan looked pretty good. McIlorum took a bit of stick on the Wigan forums following Round 1, but he was bristling with controlled aggression all game this week.

I wonder what Manly will make of the Leeds pitch on Friday? I predict a Manly win by 10+.
 
I found it incredibly difficult to listen to (I live in Reading) the full 80 minutes of the Huddersfield v Widnes game. I understand we're going to get beaten a fair bit this season but it sounded like they were making mistakes that under 10's are taught not to make.

The players were all saying on Twitter afterwards that "90% of the fans are great but 10% started booing near the end. Give us time to gel." I totally agree that booing is out of order but fans have every right to be annoyed. 'Gelling' won't stop penalties and easy tackles. I really hope the rest of the season doesn't carry on this way. If we get beat by Salford next week I really don't know what to say.

We really are relying on the two good team-makers that are back next week.
 
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