*** Official Rugby League SLXXI Thread ***

[hargi]

They have gotten themselves into that spot. Yes it comes down to one game but they are only in that position because they have been poor all season. How different is it to the bottom team in the league getting relegated? That could also go down to the last game of the season so no different.
TBH the majority of players have superleague contracts so if they do get relegated yes they can potentially be without a job, but they are also free agents so can go anywhere.
There needs to be religations and promotion else things get stale. And leigh coming up will change things up abit.

 

[TonyM19]

Pretty good odds that Leigh's first home game will be Wigan.

 

[physichull]

Well I guess that's me done with this thread for the next few years....

 

[TonyM19]

Golden point is only after 10 minutes extra time in the NRL playoffs. In the NFL you get a chance to respond to a score in overtime. Just seems a bit harsh to get decided on a golden point when HKR hadn't even touched the ball.

Real car crash viewing from a neutral point of view. I can't imagine what it was like for a fan of either club

 

[Kemik]

Golden point is only after 10 minutes extra time in the NRL playoffs. In the NFL you get a chance to respond to a score in overtime. Just seems a bit harsh to get decided on a golden point when HKR hadn't even touched the ball.

Real car crash viewing from a neutral point of view. I can't imagine what it was like for a fan of either club

Yeah, there should be a fixed period of extra time.

In Touch Rugby we do drop-offs. That could make it even more interesting!

physichull, you can stick around and gloat about your walk overs next year.

 

[physichull]

Yeah, there should be a fixed period of extra time.

In Touch Rugby we do drop-offs. That could make it even more interesting!

physichull, you can stick around and gloat about your walk overs next year.

Really? Hmmm. I am not sure thats much to shout about! Despite relegation, there have been a lot of positive noises coming from the club. Going to keep a full time playing squad, no under 23 team and try and keep a strong core of a team left. Still hints of a few super league quality signings too, so hopefully we can attack the middle 8s next year. I cant imagine Huddersfield and Leeds will be in there next year though!!

 

[TonyM19]

HKR will have to beat Leigh at least once in the Middle 8s to get to the MPG. Beat one other current SL side and they'll be straight back up.

I think that HKR can come back stronger from this. Salford, on the other hand, faced oblivion. Koukash would have pulled out and they would end up a part time team like Swinton.

 

[TonyM19]

If somebody had told me after the Widnes game that Wigan would be champions, I'd have laughed in their face!

A memorable victory, and a pleasant surprise. The season turned around on the Ben Flower dismissal v Wire. Wigan just moved away for the really structured way (ie boring) they had been playing and started to offload and back up. If the Wire try hadn't been ruled out by the VR I think it would have been too much for Wigan to come back. You just need a bit of luck to win a GF and they got that 4 years ago v wire and again yesterday.

Wigan will have some key players back next year: both Tomkins, McIlorum (a massive presence in the Wigan pack), Manfredi, Clubb. Let's hope they don't go back to trying to bore teams ****less.

 

[Vanquish-Storm]

If somebody had told me after the Widnes game that Wigan would be champions, I'd have laughed in their face!

A memorable victory, and a pleasant surprise. The season turned around on the Ben Flower dismissal v Wire. Wigan just moved away for the really structured way (ie boring) they had been playing and started to offload and back up. If the Wire try hadn't been ruled out by the VR I think it would have been too much for Wigan to come back. You just need a bit of luck to win a GF and they got that 4 years ago v wire and again yesterday.

Wigan will have some key players back next year: both Tomkins, McIlorum (a massive presence in the Wigan pack), Manfredi, Clubb. Let's hope they don't go back to trying to bore teams ****less.

I really hate Wigan! But taking my wires hat off they really know how to win games. They are nothing special and like you say have had players missing throughout the season but they still seem to churn out wins.

We need to get rid of some deadwood in the offseason. A few sharper decisions in play and we would have won.

I am glad it was one of the top 2 teams that won it anyway instead of some average team from 3rd - 6th winning it.

 

[TonyM19]

That's ok - we're used to it

 

[Vanquish-Storm]

That's ok - we're used to it

Haha! I hate but respect Wigan. They are a well drilled team. Where as I hate saints full stop

 

[TonyM19]

Once, just once, can we go into the last 10 minutes of a close Test match against NZ or Aus and win? I'm sick of being a plucky loser. Just once, can we be jammy winners.

 

[hargi]

Problem with England is you have a few players that want to play for themselves rather then the team.
Thought widdop was poor again stopping a lot of plays. In particular the second half when we made a break and he choose to throw the ball to the wing instead of going through the hands.
Also Hodgeson tried to do a lot on his own rather then the "structured" play which would have been better.

 

[TonyM19]

If Johnson had played for us, we'd have won by 20

 

[hoppyintheuk]

Good evening from the Championship! Currently -8 and doing fine.

 

[TonyM19]

Was wondering if we were having an RL thread this season. Pretty solid start for the season in terms of games on TV etc. Could have done without an unscheduled trip to Widnes a couple of weeks ago, but it is what it is.

SL hasn't settled down yet with some unexpected results. I worry about Leeds. They look like Wigan in 2006 when they nearly went down after a lot of big names left all at once (Andy Farrell mainly - read Kevin Sinfield here). Cas look really good.

 

[hoppyintheuk]

We will be stuck in the Championship for the next few years and so will KR if they dont go straight back up this year.

 

[physichull]

Do you know what, its actually quite enjoyable being able to support 11 teams in the Super League rather than just one!

Been some really corking games this year. Stand out being any time Castleford have been on the tv! They have been amazing so far. Really surprised with Wire, can't quite believe what's going on there.

Oh well, Rovers are doing alright in the Championship. 6 from 6 so far with a pretty ropey game against Rochdale. We quite simply have to get out of this league. Its dire in so many ways. I honestly don't know how clubs survive here with a couple of hundred fans. Rochdale for instance, there was a crowd of 1900, with about 1700 Rovers fans! The rugby isn't as bad as a lot make out, there are a few teams who will give it a go, but so far Rovers have crushed pretty much everybody. You would think that would be great from a fans point of view, but it just isn't. The fans just turn up, the atmospheres are usually pretty drab and unexciting, especially when Rovers are 40-0 up and the result has been decided. Celebrating yet another try, it just feels dull. Its like the whole season is just one massive protracted pre-season leading up to the middle 8s. We simply have to get out of this league.

The other thing that is constantly perplexing about this league is that teams rosters tend to change so much. Most clubs has a large quantity of players on dual reg, here one week, gone the next. There's no continuity and its got to be one of the problems with this league. Its obviously a symptom of the small numbers of players actually playing the game and progressing.

All that being said, this team we have now has a feeling of being so much better than the one that got relegated. We have some decent forwards and some great backs, especially Andrew Heffernan. I am optimistic about the 8s and we will definitely be gunning for whoever is struggling. Now that we are down here though, we have so much more incentive to get out/stay out of this league, perhaps more than some other teams like Widnes or dare I say it Huddersfield and I hope that acts as an advantage to us. We've seen how bad it is and hopefully more desperate/enthusiastic than an unsuspecting SL team.

 

[hoppyintheuk]

We at Bradford are stuck in the championship until at least the end of 2018 and maybe even longer than that. Quite simply the cost of operating Odsal (even with effective management) is simply too high and reduces the overall playing budget. The chairmen of Dewsbury, Featherstone and Batley rub their hands when we turn up in numbers, yet they don't fetch more than a couple of hundred to Odsal, on game day.

To be honest if KR dont go straight back up then they will be stuck in the Championship, until franchising is reintroduced, or 2 up 2 down is restored.

Either way for teams like KR/Bulls and perhaps Leigh, they need cash injections on a monthly basis to stand any chance of promotion. The system is so stacked in favor of the existing superleague teams, whilst giving the illusion of promotion. You might say Leigh was proof of the concept, but only because Beaumont spent a fortune to get them there.

 

[TonyM19]

I can only imagine how tough it must be to get back into SL. The only light at the end of the tunnel is that Widnes look really poor. I fancy HKR to bounce staright back up. Its going to be a longer stretch for Bradford but I hope they get back up at the earliest opportunity - it seems like 5 minutes ago when Wigan were about 30 points down at HT in a GF to them. These things go in cycles.