Physichull
Does this mean that we get a more active SL thread next year
OK. I've been sulking for wayyyyy too long and I'll be honest I've not even looked in the Sports pages here recently.
Totally satisfied with the way the season went. Managed to get to a fair few games over the course, Rochdale, Halifax, Swinton, Leigh x 2, Salford and Warrington. Our whole season has been fairly straightforward albeit we weren't going into the Middle 8s with great form having lost to Toulouse and were shakey against Featherstone. With Carney and Masoe signed we scraped through our first M7s game against Fax (with a Scruton last minute try). It could have been a bit different had he not crossed then. The rest of the games were relatively straightforward, the Leigh game at LSV was massive and it was an awesome atmosphere and another vital win.
The Widnes game was a bit edgy but I think with Sheens he has got us playing ugly rugby but a brand that wins matches, and that's exactly what we did to Widnes. Was absolutely over the moon when we saw Wire had also beaten Leigh, the rest of that night is a bit of a blur!!!!
Chuffed to be back in SL and even with our reserve team we ran Catalan close and Wire was just an end of season dead rubber (with the particular highlight of Rovers and Wire fans stood outside the Rodney pub whilst a bus plastered in Saints guff pulled up next to us! Cue unrepeatable chanting from both fans!
There will likely be rumours about who we will sign over the next few weeks as we still have a lot of cap to work with but I wouldn't be surprised if they were all wrong. The latest signings have all come completely out of the blue and Sheens has a tight lipped staff at the club.
Feel sorry for Leigh but frankly I can't see any other way than returning to franchising with at least a 14-16 team competition. Leigh need chance to develop an academy and support base which they can't achieve during a one season wonder. It's so damned difficult for the relegated clubs. You only have to look at Bradford to see how devastating that was. Fatal in fact. I wonder if Salford had gone down instead of us last year whether they would have still existed as a club? I don't think so, not with 1000 ish fans and no academy. Its fortunate for us that we have an excellent set of owners and fans who have really galvanised since that dreadful day last year. I think if we hadn't have made it this year we would still have been strong next year. Wrongs have been righted and we are now back in SL, the derbys are back, but we can't be complacent. We have merely repaired the damage. We need to kick on from now and I believe the club is actually in a much, much better state than had we not been relegated. We had chance to clear out and literally start again, and what better coach to do it? We have some quality, quality players now, particularly Andrew Heffernan (centre). He's been immense this year.
Watched the MPG last night. What a dreadful occasion. It really has to go. Its just jeopardy for the sake of it and leaves little time for clubs and players to plan their futures. Sure it would work if the sport was awash with money, but it just isn't and its jobs and livelihoods on the line. I see plenty of comments from fans of bigger clubs like Leeds and Saints praising it but ultimately they will never been the ones threatened with the abyss, they sit on high towers. Sam Moa was spot on with his comments.
The only way has to be a bigger comp, 16 teams ideally with Toronto (8000 interested fans is better than 1000 barely bothered Salford fans, frankly), Bradford (if they can ever sort themselves out), Toulouse and Leigh (and potentially London if they can prove they meet licence criteria, which they won't given terrible crowds and an unstable home).
On the other hand, those Super 8 semi finals were absolutely outstanding, particularly the Cas Saints game. Wow! Not seen a game as exciting as that in a LONG time! I can't imagine how it must have felt when Saints took the lead Landy! (actually I can, when Salford took the lead last year!!! Its going to take me years to get over that trauma). Stunning, stunning game. Good luck for the Grand Final, hope Cas win! (still can't really believe how many ex-Rovers players in that team, Cook, Eden, Webster - the latter I can't believe is still going, he had glass shoulders when he played for us)
