*** Official Rugby League SLXIX Thread ***

physichull

physichull

physichull

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Here's the new thread for the Rugbly League Season SLXIX and as usual we start it off with a bit of Q&A:

1. Your team?
2. Your highlight of last season?
3. Your expectations this season?
4. Your most anticipated new signings?
5. Who you think will win the league leaders shield?
6. Who will be the dark horses of the competition?
7. Any updates from your club, new ground etc?
8. Final league position of your club?
9. What (or who) will be your clubs weakness next year?
10. Here's what the bookies think, is it fair on your team?

Warrington Wolves 3/1
Wigan Warriors 10/3
Leeds Rhinos 9/2
St Helens 11/2
Huddersfield Giants 6/1
Hull FC 14/1
Salford City Reds 16/1
Catalan Dragons 20/1
Hull KR 40/1
Bradford Bulls 66/1
Widnes Vikings 100/1
Castleford Tigers 150/1
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 150/1
London Broncos 200/1

FORUM MEMBERS AND THEIR TEAMS
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  • physichull - HULL KR
  • Evil^ - BRADFORD
  • kidloco - WARRINGTON
  • Fuggan - LEEDS
  • Wonder_Lander - HULL KR
  • TonyM19 _ WIGAN
  • PudWud - WIGAN
  • hoppyintheuk - BRADFORD
  • kefkef - WARRINGTON
  • Dave26 - WIGAN
  • Viper2 - WIGAN
  • cheets64 - WIGAN
  • hargi - CASTLEFORD
  • Vanquish-Storm - WARRINGTON
  • Landy - CASTLEFORD
  • Xinn - LEEDS
  • Lefty - WARRINGTON
  • Serverman - WIGAN
  • SMN - WIGAN
  • gumbald - HULL KR
  • ristac - LEEDS
  • Gilly - LEEDS
  • Kemik - WIDNES
  • Funktopus - WIDNES
  • shawsy109 - BRADFORD
Click to expand...

My answers:

1. Hull KR.

2. Probably beating Huddersfield, Leeds and Warrington at home, along with 3 wins over Saints, albeit they knocked us out when it really counted!

3. Hard to say at the moment, but I think we have signed well and have a good pack.

4. Kris Keating, you don't guide a team to the NRL Grand Final without a being a good player so I am REALLY looking forwards to seeing him play. Of course he has some massive shoes to fill with the departure of Dobson to the NRL. Michael Weyman, J Walker and Langley are also some really great signings. Although not a new signing, I really am looking forwards to seeing Eden play again. He was magnificent last year.

5. Tough one to call. Wigan and Warrington have lost a few influential players but I still expect them to be up there. Saints have a good shot this year too.

6. Dare I say it...Salford? They have signed well, but will it be enough, will they gel quickly enough?

7. 3 new directors on board that are able to help support the club better financially and increase revenues given the new north stand (yes its open now!). There are also plans in the pipeline for a south stand too, possible with hotel. RL doesn't bring in massive income so other streams are required to support the club. Bit more investment in medical facilities and rehab staff which should help a lot as we have suffered massively with injuries lately.

8. Target should definitely be 6th.

9. The backs haven't changed much, we've lost Micky Paea, arguably the standout prop in the SL last year. Also we have lost Dobbo which is a big loss, but I think we have more than replaced with an experienced half in Kris Keating.

10. Personally I think we can do much better than the 9th place that the bookies have put us down at. Maybe fan bias but I really think we have one of the best squads that we have had for a long time, with a lot more strength in depth with the likes of Poore, Cockayne, Costigan and Larroyer.

11.

1. Dixon
2. Sio
3. Goulding
4. Blair
5. Mantellato
6. Campese
7. Kelly
8. Weyman
9. Boudebza
10. Allgood
11. Larroyer
12. McCarthy
13. Burke

Subs: Green, Donaldson, Bailey, Cockayne
 
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It of course goes without saying that Wigan were a better team with Tomkins in it. Without fail, he tore Rovers apart whenever he played against us. He will also be a big loss next year?
 
Just noticed on the Sky Sports website that they have switched the Rugby League coverage from Saturdays to Thursdays! Bit annoyed about this as I am likely to miss the Thursday games. Gutted.
 
kefkef said:
9. What (or who) will be your clubs weakness next year? Moving on from the Morley/Carvell era might take a few games to get over and for the forwards to gel. Also the move of Ratchford into 6 to replace Briers may take a few games, though it is a step forward for us a club.
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Remind me again who will play at full back for the Wolves next season?
 
willems said:
less of that this year please
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No guarantees! ;)

Fuggan said:
I just don't get it at all. Keep last seasons format, top 5 play-off, promotion and relegation introduced. Job done?
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Agreed. This to me seemed like the best approach. Maybe their thinking is trying to integrate the lower leagues a little more, therefore helping the sport to expand a bit more if the teams further down the pecking order have something more attainable to gain.
 
Another thing that I'm not really pleased about is the Magic Weekend. On the one hand, I like that it is a derby and its a good day out/atmosphere. On the other hand, its not a very fair way of dishing out the fixtures. If they did 1v2, 3v4 etc then I think that would be the fairest way to do it because at least then you make the league positions a little more interesting, with the opportunity to perhaps overtake the person above you or stretch out that lead. All of the games would probably be decent match ups too, with teams of similar ability facing each other. However, I think this may impact upon attendances, but Huddersfield v Salford was hardly fair to the rest of us was it, same with Catalan v Broncos.

And finally! A sponsor has been announced, First Utility will now sponsor the SL.
 
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Saturday, 17 May

London Broncos v Catalan Dragons (12:30 BST)

Widnes v Salford (14:45 BST)

Hull KR v Hull FC (17:00 BST)

Wigan v Leeds (19:15 BST)

Sunday, 18 May

Wakefield v Castleford (12:30 BST)

Huddersfield v Bradford (14:45 BST)

Warrington v St Helens (17:00 BST)


A gimme for the Dragons then...
 
Does anybody know how the salary cap system works with the three of eight?

Still not exactly impressed by the restructure. I think it was the wrong choice. It seems the "rebel" clubs all voted no and the Dragons abstained!!! Hmmmmm.
 
First taste of RL for 2014 for me today. Hull pre season derby. I fully expect a decent first half with both teams fielding a near full strength squad followed by a anticlimatic second half when the subs and youngsters will come on.
 
Our game was on. Rovers lost 20-12. A decent first half, ending 4-6 to the Robins, then Sandy basically fielded the academy sprinkled with a few first team players and the game was put to bed by Hull who kept a slightly stronger side out for the last 40.

Nobody who started that second half will start against Leeds in the opener. But nevertheless it was a good hit out and blew the cobwebs off. Its difficult to judge or be impressed by anyone in the first friendly on a blustery, wet day, but Justin Poore impressed me and put himself about. I have higher hopes for our defence in the coming season. With the likes of him, Costigan and Weyman, hopefully we should be stronger in the middle.

Next game out is against the Giants at the John Smiths stadium. I expect the playing squad would be trimmed to maybe 20 players and it would be more of a first team game, slowly ramping up for the start of the season.
 
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According to Premier Sports twitter page, they will no longer be covering the Championship games and have had to pull out of any deal. They will still bring all of the NRL, NRL playoffs, SoO, RLWC2017 and the RL 4 Nations.

To be fair to SS, I really don't mind Eddie, he may winge a little about the decisions and labour the point sometimes, but Stevo is a boob.
 
Yeah, mine ran out a couple of weeks ago. Its a pretty good deal. ~£35 for the year including full replays of every single match plus other weekly features. I've always enjoyed it. Will renew soon but it was a total pain renewing last year.
 
I believe it is a dreadful commercial decision to be agreeing in 2014, with 3 years still to go on the super leagues current deal, a new deal for super league tv rights for the 5 future years 2017-2021 at only 30% increase and without going out to tender and allowing BT sport to compete.

There are other very welcome elements for championship and championship 1 tv rights and for the community foundations, but the deal for Super League tv rights is only increased by 30% for the future 5 years 2017-2021 compared with the current remaining 3 years deal 2014-2016.

Publically available figures show the football league achieved a 37% increase for an extention from their 3 years to 5 years (not 8 years!). They made available extra TV games where super league has offered a complete restructure of the competition.

Super league should have achieved considerably more than that from committing the next 8 years, or should have extended for 2 years only, leaving us then able to renegotiate leading upto 2016 for 2017-2021 in what appears to be an increasingly competitive market in favour of sellers.

To make it absolutely clear, Sky is a great broadcaster for rugby league and I would hope they would have won any tender because of what they do for Rugby League. They have been wonderful partners for the game over many years and none of my comments are aimed at them. As another club owner hinted they have achieved a great tv deal for their shareholders.

However for the RFL to recommend the selling forward of super league for 8 years with the clubs only given 24 hours notice of the meeting, a limited amount of time to discuss the details and to be forced into an immediate take it or lose it vote, is a complete failure of corporate governance by the RFL and a condemnation of the way Super League is managed by them.

Such a key decision should have been discussed in detail over a reasonable period of time with support from an independent tv expert as all other negotiating rights holders do.

Whilst I understand fully the financially desperate position of some clubs and well understand them voting for any deal which on the short term helps their difficult circumstances, it is the responsibility of the governing body of the super league to make sure the right decisions are taken in the interest of super league and the game as a whole.

Unfortunately these two entities are largely the same people (the dreaded duality seen only in rugby league with the chairman and chief executive of both bodies being the same individuals). Also in my opinion, the chief executive in particular is too closely involved in driving his own personal view of the restructuring of the super league competition rather than the inclusive and open-minded approach which a CEO should lead with.

Decisions taken in haste have a habit of being repented over a long period. I, for one regret immensely that, under the pressure of time and a stated desire for some unanimity, I voted Wigan in favour of accepting the deal because it was clear financially challenged clubs would support it.

I awakened the next day and regretted immensely my voting which - given time to consider properly - would have been strongly against this particular deal since I believe super league could have achieved a different and more structurally sensible deal with sky preferably.

I also resent being coerced into taking an immediate position on something so vital for the future of our game. We are now shut out of any increases in the value of broadcasting rights over an 8 year period. BT sport are very serious competitors and they are in it for the long term yet Super League did not even go out to tender to give them an opportunity to bid for rights. To go with another 5 year contract, 3 years hence from now, without giving others the chance to bid is surely crazy commercially.

I am not suggesting that this tv rights decision should be challenged or reversed since the clubs (including Wigan) voted democratically for it.

However I hope that clubs, fans and players will recognise that the process followed by the governing body throughout this whole process - whilst resulting in welcome and much needed money for SL and championship clubs- has been seriously flawed and should result in a major review of the management structure of Super League and the dual involvement of the RFL

Ian Lenagan
Chairman, Wigan Warriors
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Hear hear.

Neil Hudgells response to the deal:

@NeilHudgell: Cautious optimism over tv deal. 8 years is a long time. Could have done with more than 2 hours to consider the detail #indecenthaste?
 
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