A Great Night to be a Hull KR Fan

Albert Kelly scores against St. Helens

Friday was a great night to be a Hull Kingston Rovers fans and believe me it has not been often that I have wanted to write those words in the last few years, but last night it certainly was a case of the feel good Fridays as we sent St. Helens spinning to their first defeat of the year, Travis Burns got a kicking on his first return to the KC Lightstream Stadium and missed a last second kick to give the Saints what would have been a thoroughly undeserved point, Hull FC got beat at Castleford and it was announced we have signed the legendary Jamie Peacock as our Football Manager from next year as he takes the next step in what has been an outstanding career.

Let’s start with the match against St. Helens.

Saints went into the match on the back of 6 successive league wins. They have not really hit their straps though, apart from the round 2 demolition of Salford City Reds and against the Wolves last week. They have struggled to get past Catalans Dragons, Castleford Tigers, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats and Widnes Vikings but a winning run breeds confidence and I can tell you that most Hull KR fans were not expecting a win last night.

It’s common knowledge that St. Helens have struggled in East Hull since they beat us in our first year back in Super League in 2007 – since then they have drawn one and lost 6 Super League games and have also lost a Challenge Cup tie as well – so last night was there 8^th defeat in 10 visits to Craven Park / KC Lightstream Stadium in league and cup games in the Super League era.

As I said, most of us Hull KR fans (me included) were not expecting a win last night as our form has been so inconsistent this season and we have run hot and cold.

When we have been hot we have been scolding with Terry Campese and Albert Kelly splitting Leeds Rhinos apart in the first half of the round 1 game and absolutely demolishing Catalans Dragons with 46 unanswered points in our last home game in round 5 – but in between we have suffered a debacle of a defeat at Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in round 2 and lost a game that we really needed to win at Widnes Vikings in round 6.

Adam Walker

We are running short on props at the moment with the retirement of Mick Weyman, the suspension of Mitch Allgood (although he will be back for the Derby next week) and the loss announced this week of former Leeds Rhinos star Ryan Bailey, released for personal reasons, and it was thought that a Saints pack including the imposing figures of Kyle Amor, Mose Masoe and ,one of the players of the year so far, Alex Walmsley backed up by James Roby at hooker would steamroller a Rovers pack with just two legitimate props in James Green and Adam Walker and backed up by James Donaldson, Kevin Larroyer and Aaron Ollett who was making his first appearance since a major knee injury suffered last year. All of these 3 normally play back row and are nowhere near the physical size of the aforementioned Saints forwards and when you add in Atelea Vea and Louis McCarthy-Scarsbrook to the mix it was headed for a tough night for the Rovers forward pack.


But the Rovers pack, in particular the front row of Walker, Green and outstanding new signing Shaun Lunt at hooker got through a mountain of work and really stood up and took the fight to the Saints pack and they were superbly backed up by the back row of Graeme Horne, Maurice Blair and Tyrone McCarthy. Larroyer and Donaldson came off the bench and provided some much needed quality hard working support.

But it was half back Albert Kelly who was the star of the show, particularly in the first half with two 90 metre tries that really set the tone for a great team performance and got the crowd roaring the team on after the set back of an early Jon Wilkin try for the Saints.

With luck on his side he could have ended with 4 tries and he was a constant thorn in the Saints side and his half back pairing with Terry Campese is turning into one of the best in Super League – Campese is currently on a 1 year contract and the club need to get that sorted quickly as there are rumours flying around about interest from Wigan Warriors in the former Canberra Raiders legend.

The defensive effort was also the best of the season by far. Lunt made 47 tackles and his front row partners 30 each whilst the starting back row of Blair, Horne and McCarthy made 27, 33 and 37 tackles respectively and with Larroyer and Donaldson contributing 28 and 23 tackles from the bench.


Saints pounded the Rovers line at times and just could not break them down until the frantic final few minutes when two tries were scored off the back of forward passes from Burns. Fortunately, Burns missed the final conversion to level the scores and Rovers got the win they fully deserved for a superb and committed performance.

Tough Night for Travis Burns

Talking of Burns and he will certainly know this morning that he was in a tough game of rugby league last night. He was on the end of some big hits and rough treatment and, to be fair, he put a couple of good shots in himself, he was booed by the home crowd constantly and missed that last second conversion to give his side a point – not the most joyous of returns for the former crowd favourite.

The really big news of the days was that the club has pulled off the massive coup of signing Jamie Peacock to the newly created position of Football Manager from 2016.

Peacock will end a stellar career of over 500 appearances that started with Bradford Bulls in 1999 and will end at Headingley after 10 years with the Leeds Rhinos and has included 3 Super League titles, 2 World Club titles and 2 Challenge Cup winners medals with the Bulls and 5 Super League titles, 2 World Club titles and 1 Challenge Cup winners medal with the Rhinos – a phenomenal 15 major medals won as well as a superb international career with England and Great Britain and being awarded the Man of Steel trophy in 2003.


Jamie Peacock

Peacock is hugely respected in the game and is an intelligent man and accomplished motivational speaker and his role is expected to include contract negotiations, club strategy, recruitment and pre-season training camps amongst other things.

There is no doubt in my mind that having Peacock’s experience at the club will help Hull KR improve from top to bottom both on and off the field and I am very excited about what he could bring to the club. It certainly is a massive show of intent by the club and could draw in the best of young English talent as well as being a draw card for top class players as well.

Leeds Rhinos are one of the most successful sporting organisations in the game and are an extremely professionally run outfit and Peacock has been exposed to the inner workings of the club for a long time and will bring tons of experience with him and he has also been studying towards a degree in sports management.

The fact that the Rhinos offered him a role with the club which he turned down to look for a fresh challenge is typical of the nature of the man – he could have quite easily stayed in his comfort zone and probably had a job for life with the Rhinos but now he can use all of the experience he has gained on and off the pitch to help Hull Kingston Rovers become a challenger for the major titles.

Chairman Neill Hudgell

Hull KR Chairman Neil Hudgell should be hugely congratulated for getting this deal across the line and I, along with thousands of Hull KR fans, cannot wait for the arrival of this modern day legend of the game. The move has been universally welcomed in East Hull and he will leave the Rhinos at the end of the year with the full support of the Rhinos fans who appreciate everything he has done to make their club the most successful in the Super League era.

The night was topped off by Castleford Tigers beating Hull FC 20-14 at The ‘’Mend a Something Jungle I’m a Celebrity’’ stadium and the Robins will go into next Thursday nights Derby against Hull at the KC Stadium on a huge high – but we all know that form counts for nothing in these kind of matches.

Bring it on!!!!

Community Use of Schools budget cut by Hull City Council

I have been involved in junior rugby league in Hull now for over 4 years but my involvement with Rugby League locally through open age rugby goes back 26 years – I have played, administered, fund raised and now I coach.

Not many clubs in the Hull area have their own training facilities let alone their own clubhouses or grounds and lots of clubs, including some of the biggest such as Skirlaugh Bulls, who my eldest son plays for at U12s and whose U6 team I help to coach, rely heavily on school facilities - be that an indoor sports hall or an outdoor all weather pitch – particularly for training purposes as few clubs, if any,  have floodlights on it’s playing grounds and need training facilities during the dark winter months.

For many years our local authority, Hull City Council, has borne the full cost of the use of school facilities for all youth clubs through the Community Use of Schools budget.

A few weeks ago a petition was doing the rounds on social media to be delivered to the Council to show them the public feeling against the proposal to cut this funding and charge clubs for the use of school facilities, the potential of which had been made public earlier in the year.

I signed the petition and passed it on to as many people as possible via Twitter and Facebook and the last time I looked over 3,000 signatures had been garnered – it appears that this has been meaningless and that the people’s voice has not been listened to.

A letter was distributed last week that states all youth clubs will now be charged for the use of school facilities and the affected clubs were given just 10 days to advise whether they wished to continue using the school facilities that they so desperately rely on. I am not sure of all of the costs but I believe that one all weather training pitch (the size of a football pitch) will be around £30.00 per hour.

My eldest son’s team use such a facility two nights a week for the majority of the year (apart from school holidays) – this means his team alone will have to pay £60.00 a week for, say, 40 weeks a year and that equals £2,400.00 per year – Skirlaugh run teams at all age levels from Shrimps (5 year olds) up to U18s and I am assuming that the majority of these teams will utilise school facilities at some time of the year somewhere in the city.

That’s 14 teams that will be forced to pay out a lot more money than they currently are and means that they will have to look at alternative training venues (which there are not that many of) or, more than likely, reduce the amount of time they spend training together.

Some smaller clubs that do not have the organisation or financial backing of the likes of Skirlaugh Bulls or West Hull Rugby League teams may even be forced into extinction altogether – meaning that young kids will have nowhere to go to learn about respect and good manners, to keep fit and make friends and learn social skills amongst many other things.

Kingston upon Hull has one of highest rates of childhood obesity in the country and it is already difficult to get many kids to leave behind their Xbox, IPad and IPhone to take up an individual or team sport.

Hull City Council are the last authority in the country to start charging youth clubs for the use of school facilities and they should be applauded for the work they have done in supporting youth sport and activities – but now is not the time to be removing this funding.

Parent’s are already struggling to make ends meet and it is at their door that sport’s clubs will more than likely have to divert the additional costs that they will be paying out through increased subscriptions and membership fees.

Some parent’s will not be able to afford increased costs and may decide to remove their children from sporting or youth clubs and some clubs could disappear altogether.

This would affect hundreds of children who are kept off street corners by the work carried out free of charge by thousands of volunteers throughout hundreds of sports clubs in the city across sports such as rugby league, rugby union, football, cricket, boxing, judo, hockey and gymnastics amongst others.

We should be ensuring that our youngsters have the best possible opportunity to enjoy sport and make friends and learn some valuable life lessons rather than being stuck in front of a TV or IPad watching sport rather than participating in it.

I urge everyone to contact Councillor Rosie Nicola at Hull City Council, who is the portfolio holder for learning, skills and safeguarding children, to show the strength of feeling against this decision.

SIX TO GO - Saints, Centurions and FuiFui.

Welcome to the fifth edition of Six to Go, looking at some of the things that have caught my eye over the last week or so in the great world of Rugby League.

1.       Can Saints go back to back?



St. Helens Captain - Jon Wilkin

We are 6 rounds into Super League XX, over a quarter of the way to the Super 8s, and reigning champions St. Helens are top of the pile with 6 wins from 6. They have gained wins over Catalans (18-7), Salford (52-6), Castleford (21-14), Wakefield (20-16), Widnes (30-20) and Warrington (32-24) although it can be argued that they have not played one of the top dogs of the competition until their round 6 clash with the Wolves but they have proved their resilience with all of their wins being hard earned apart from the round 2 demolition of the Red Devils. The big question is can the Saints win back to back titles?? St. Helens have qualified for 10 of the 17 Grand Finals played since their inception in 1998, winning and losing 5 each including a run of 5 consecutive losses between 2007 and 2011 and last won back to back titles in 1999 and 2000 under Ellery Hanley and then Ian Millward. Saints won the League Leaders Shield and the Grand Final last season with the likes of Jonny Lomax and half back Luke Walsh amongst the long term injured and they lost Lance Hohaiha very early in the Grand Final against rivals Wigan Warriors – but they found a way to win their first Grand Final since 2006 and have started well under new coach

 New coach - Kieron Cunningham

Kieron Cunningham despite still being without Walsh and having to play back rower Jon Wilkin at scrum half with a new half back partner in Travis Burns, signed in the off season from Hull Kingston Rovers. Saints have a good mixture of tried and tested experienced players such as Wilkin, Hohaiha, Burns, Lomax hooker James Roby, Paul Wellens, winger Tommy Makinson, Jordan Turner and Mose Masoe amongst others mixed in with some outstanding youngsters like Adam Swift, Mark Percival, Alex Walmsley, Luke Thompson, Greg Richards, Josh Jones and the stand out so far in 2015 Joe Greenwood. Despite beating the Wolves at the weekend, St. Helens have not fully hit their straps yet and have struggled to put most of their opponents to bed and it will be interesting to see how they perform with Walsh back in the team in the next few weeks and against other likely title rivals Leeds Rhinos and Wigan Warriors. They take on struggling Hull Kingston Rovers away in round 7 at a ground they have not win at since 2007 and it may prove a real test to their title credentials leading into crucial Easter fixtures at the Warriors and home to Hull FC. I tipped the Wolves for the 2015 title and I am not going to change my mind just yet.

 2.       Are Leigh the real deal?

Paul Rowley

In the second tier Championship Leigh Centurions are the early pacesetters having won their first five league games including wins against former Super League outfits Bradford Bulls (36-24) on the opening day of the season in front of nearly 7,500 fans at the Leigh Sports Village and London Broncos (25-12) and supposed promotion rivals Featherstone Rovers (40-6). Add in wins at Halifax (18-6) and Doncaster (54-18) and you have the perfect start to a season that gives them the opportunity to gain a Super League place in the Super 8’s competition later in the year. Outstanding coach Paul Rowley has built a squad that won last year’s Championship Grand Final and now looks likely to cause major problems for the four Super League teams that finish outside of the top 8 after 23 rounds. Leigh are led superbly round the park by half back pairing Martin Ridyard, only the fifth player in the clubs history to score more than 1,000 points, and free scoring Ryan Brierley who has 7 tries (5 in the League and 2 in the Challenge Cup)this season and exactly 100 in 95 appearances for the Centurions. Their left side three quarter pairing of Liam Kay (10 tries) and Tom Armstrong (6 tries) are causing opposition defences all sorts of problems and then you have Parramatta Eels legend FuiFui MoiMoi causing havoc in the pack. They also have Super League experienced players such as Oliver Wilkes, Sean Penkiewicz, Michael Platt, Andrew Dixon, Jake Emmitt and Martin Aspinwall and have yet been unable to unleash the beast that is Gareth Hock on the Championship because of the 6 week suspension that he received that forced his departure from Salford Red Devils. The Centurions were this week drawn at home to the Red Devils in the prime tie of the 5^th round of the Challenge Cup and this match will really show if Leigh are the real deal and if they have the fire power and quality to make a serious bid for Super League. I believe they do an d will prove against Salford.

FuiFui MoiMoi

3.       Leigh are in love with FuiFui

Talking about Leigh and FuiFui MoiMoi, the Rugby League world was shocked when the Centurions attracted the iconic MoiMoi to the North West of England to play outside of Super League and it appears it is a match made in heaven. MoiMoi has been made to feel very welcome by the Centurions and won a legion of fans and has brought big numbers through the gates at the Leigh Sports Village with their first two home games of the year drawing crowds of 7,449 (Bradford Bulls) and 4,531 (London Broncos). MoiMoi and Leigh must be happy with each other as the New Zealand and Tonga international has extended his contract to the end of 2016 when he will be 37 years of age.

Anyone who is uncertain of his popularity and happiness at Leigh should see his celebration after he scored his first try for the club in the 64-12 defeat of the London Broncos in the Challenge Cup last weekend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1eHJ0jxC4c

4.       Overseas stars

Campo and Alby

There have been some stand out performers in the early part of the year and from the new overseas players that have ventured into Super League for the first time this year and you cannot look too far beyond the new Hull KR half back pairing of Terry Campese and Albert Kelly. They have really gelled together quickly and when they are on song the Robins look awesome in attack – see their first half performance against Leeds Rhinos in Round 1 and their second half demolition of the Catalans Dragons in Round 5 in particular. Former Canberra Raiders legend Campese has really turned the clock back and is producing some outstanding rugby league and is organising and dictating play well for his new club whilst Kelly, signed from the Gold Coast Titans, can be absolute dynamite and his pace and strength are something to behold when he is in full flow. Former Parramatta Eels flyer Ken Sio is reaping the benefit and currently has 6 tries to his name but it is the half back pairing of Campese and Kelly that is getting all the headlines. Consistency is the key though and the whole team needs to lift itself to match the quality and ability of these two players if the Robins are to make the top 8 before the Super 8’s split.

5.       Cuthbertson for England?

Adam Cuthbertson

Another new overseas player to make a massive impact at his club is Adam Cuthbertson who has joined the Leeds Rhinos from Newcastle Knights. He has been an outstanding acquisition and has already drawn great praise from his fellow front rower at Headingley Jamie Peacock. Not only is Cuthbertson a hard working and strong running front rower, he is also an outstanding ball handler and has found his way over the line for 3 tries already having scored only 8 in his whole NRL career dating back to 2006. He currently tops the league with the most ball carries (120) and off loads (30) and has a try assist to add to his try tally as well as making 220 tackles. The interesting thing about Cuthbertson is that he qualifies to play for England as his father was born in Warrington and the question now being asked is whether England coach Steve McNamara will look to bring him into the England squad for the end of year Test Series against Four Nations champions New Zealand. There is no questioning Cuthbertson’s undoubted ability and the fact that McNamara will look wherever is necessary to gain a winning edge – as shown by him calling up New Zealand born Rangi Chase and Australian born Chris Heighington during his reign as Head Coach. There will always be an opposite view that you should only play for the country of your birth but the fact is that just about every country in every sport are represented by players who qualify through residency or by parental / family birth and why should we be any different – if Cuthbertson makes himself available and his form warrant’s a call up, then why not, but it is the also the case that the English front row is probably the strongest in the world with the likes of the Burgess twins, Tom and George, from South Sydney, Canterbury Bulldogs captain James Graham and Warrington Wolves outstanding prop Chris Hill all in the prime positions for the end of year Test Series.

6.       Young, talented and English.

Now we need to concentrate on some young English talent that has shone through in the first 6 rounds of the competition. Front rowers Brad Singleton (Leeds Rhinos) and Alex Walmsley (St. Helens) have really caught my eye as

Brad Singleton

has the barnstorming early season form of young Saints back rower Joe Greenwood. Singleton is a Cumbrian born former England Academy captain who was the 50^th player from the Rhinos Academy system to play for the first team and represented the England Knights against Samoa at the end of 2013. This year he has been used from the bench and always seem to make an impact as soon as he gets on the field – whether by scoring a try or making an important tackle. Fellow prop forward Walmsley took a longer route to Super League and actually started his career in amateur rugby league with Dewsbury Celtic with whom he won the National Conference player of the year in 2011. He then signed for Championship club Batley Bulldogs where he won the clubs payer of the year award and the League’s young player of the year award in 2012 before St. Helens saw the potential

Alex Walmsley

and signed him. He made a big impact at Saints at the start of 2014 and I would not have been surprised if he had been called up to the England Four Nations squad at the end of last year. He came off the bench in the Saints Grand Final winning team last year and his form at the start of 2015 has been even better. At 6’5’’ (196cm) and 17st 9lbs (112kgs) Walmsley is a formidable figure and takes some stopping when he is in full flow as highlighted by the fact that he is the competitions top metre maker after 6 rounds with 926 metres gained from 120 carries (av. 7.72m) and has off loaded a respectable 18 times. Former Saddleworth Rangers junior Joe Greenwood made his Saints debut in 2012 and made a name for himself with a last minute winning try against Wigan Warriors in 2013 but his form under new coach Kieron Cunningham in 2015 has been a revelation. The tall, rangy second rower has caused all kinds of problems to opposition defences in Super League XX and has already

Joe Greenwood

crossed for 4 tries. Cunningham was contemplating sending him on dual registration before the season started but his pre-season form was so good that he kept him with the first team squad and the youngster has repaid that faith. Singleton (22), Walmsley (24) and Greenwood (21) are still young men making their way in the game but these are just three of the many talented youngsters that we need to ensure improve sufficiently to give us the opportunity to compete for World Cups and Four Nations titles in years to come.

 

A bit of extra time thinking….

I was looking at a few stats at the weekend and it was clear to see that the Rhinos are playing some good rugby league at the moment. They currently head the league stats in most metres gained (8730) by nearly 800metres from the Wolves (7955) and have scored the most tries (32) and points (181). The Rhinos are currently second in the SL table with 5 wins from 6 games, there only defeat is at the hands of the Wolves, but the most amazing statistic for me was the amount of off loads they had completed compared to other teams. The Rhinos have off loaded the ball a total of 126 times in 6 matches (averaging 21 per game) and their nearest competitor is bottom club Wakefield Trinity Wildcats on 78 – 48 off loads less in 6 games. Former Knights prop Adam Cuthbertson leads the way with 30 off loads – 18 more than anyone else in his own team and 12 more than the next best off loader, Alex Walmsley of St. Helens.

Huddersfield Giants full back Scott Grix became a Super League record holder at the weekend when he scored a hat trick of tries against Wakefield Trinity Wildcats. It’s nothing unusual for a player to score a hat trick obviously (although I only ever scored one try in the whole of my amateur playing career!!!) but Grix scored all of his tries within 8 minutes 51 seconds of the KICK OFF. Even that’s not a world record – Huddersfield assistant coach Chris Thorman scored a try hat trick for the Giants within 6 minutes and 54 seconds of a game against Doncaster back in 2002.

http://www.superleague.co.uk/sltv?QUpLb_Q4E5Q

Four Super League teams who finished outside of the top eight last season, Salford Red Devils, Hull Kingston Rovers, Hull FC and Wakefield Trinity Wildcats all entered the Challenge Cup draw at the 5^th round stage on Tuesday night. The draw was made by Hull FC and Hull KR legends Johnny Whiteley and Phil Lowe and the four Super League teams have not been given easy rides. Only the Wildcats have a home tie and they will play Halifax in a West Yorkshire derby. Hull FC, finalists as recently as 2013, will be confident of getting past Sheffield Eagles but both Hull KR and Salford have been handed the toughest ties possible at this stage of the competition.  Rovers have to go to Odsal and play relegated Bradford Bulls whilst the Red Devils have to travel the short distance to early season Championship pace setters Leigh Centurions. The Bulls and Centurions will love the opportunity to prove their Super League credentials and will be going all out to win these games. Add in the fact that the Centurions should have former Red Devils forward Gareth Hock in their side and there could be some upsets. All the ties take place on the weekend of Saturday and Sunday 18^th/19^th April and the top 8 Super League teams from last year will then enter the competition in the last 16 (Round 6).

Connor Lynes

A 15 year old young man called Connor Lynes played Rugby League at the weekend for his junior club Lambwath Lions in Hull and ended up in a coma when he was found slumped on his bedroom floor the next morning. It was found he had blood clot on his brain stem caused by a blow he had taken in his match. The good news is that the doctors looking after Connor have managed to remove 95% of the clot and he has now regained consciousness, has full movement in his limbs and is talking and smiling. Connor is a massive Hull Kingston Rovers fan and has received well wishes from all over the world – a truly heartwarming case of the Rugby League family coming together to provide support to Connor and his family. Hopefully the young man will recover fully and be home soon. All the best Connor from someone who’s eldest son plays the greatest game of all and who’s youngest son is about to embark on the same journey.

SIX TO GO – COLUMN 4

Welcome to the fourth edition of Six to Go, looking at some of the things that have caught my eye over the last week or so in the great world of Rugby League.

1. WHERE ARE THE FANS??

Rangi Chase - star player.

Reading some reports this week, there was some concern that the South Sydney Rabbitohs v. Sydney Roosters game last Sunday attracted a poorer than expected attendance at the ANZ Stadium. A crowd of over 27,000 attended one of the biggest games in the NRL calendar between the two of the clubs expected to challenge for the 2015 Premiership. On the same day on the other side of the world in Super League the Salford Red Devils home game with Wakefield Trinity Wildcats attracted only 2,712 spectators – a pitiful attendance for a team that are improving and were looking to go three games unbeaten and have the likes of Rangi Chase, Ben Jones-Bishop and Michael Dobson on their team.  Salford’s owner Marwan Koukash said last week that the club would lose £15-20,000+ per home game with attendances around the 3,000 mark and that they would need much more than that just to break even as their ground rent is currently amongst the top 3 highest in Super League. Koukash says it will be the most expensive next year as it increases as per the contract agreement and the year after that it will 40% more expensive than any other ground in the competition.

The AJ Bell Stadium was built at a cost of £26m in 2012 and is co-owned by Salford City Council and Property Investment firm Peel Holdings and is shared by Salford and Rugby Union side Sale Sharks.

Marwan Koukash - losing money!!

The question remains is how long will Koukash be prepared to lose this kind of money and support a club that do not have many supporters willing to put their hands in their pockets and back the club even when they are showing signs of improvement. The home hammering in round 2 against champions St. Helens attracted less than 5,000 fans and their next home game against Hull FC less than 4,000 and both of these teams have strong away followings – something Wakefield Trinity Wildcats don’t which resulted in an even lower attendance.

What makes it look even worse is that on the same day 2 attendances in the lower tier Championship were not that far behind as Batley Bulldogs v. Bradford Bulls drew a crowd of 2,223 and the main event of the day saw Featherstone Rovers v. Leigh Centurions watched by a crowd of 2,695 – both the Centurions and Bulls have drawn crowds in excess of double the attendance at the Red Devils on Sunday this season and Featherstone had a crowd of just short of 6,500 for the visit of Bradford Bulls as they opened their new stand a couple of weeks ago.

If the Salford public don’t start supporting the team soon they might see Koukash concentrating more on his dreams of buying an NRL club which appears to have moved a step closer this week as he is reported to have advisers in contact with the troubled Gold Coast Titans who are currently under NRL administration.

2. TOUGH IN LONDON.

Talking about the Championship and relegated London Broncos are finding life tough in the second tier of the game and are by no means having things their own way – in fact I think it is clear to see that sides are relishing the prospect of knocking off the former Super League side and are doing so pretty successfully. The Broncos have won only 2 of their 5 league fixtures so far – those wins coming at home against Doncaster and Workington Town – but they are yet to taste success away from home and have lost all 3 away games to Sheffield Eagles (40-6), Leigh Centurions (25-12) and, last weekend, Whitehaven (18-16).

They attracted only 300 fans to their last home game against Workington and have already lost their coach, Joey Grima, who was released from his contract to return home to Australia for ‘personal reasons’ and this week they have been hit by a triple blow.

Brian Noble - London bound??

Overseas signings Josh Cordoba, formerly of the Cronulla Sharks, and Liam Foran, brother of the Manly Sea Eagles and New Zealand half back Kieran, have both been released from their contracts just 5 games into the year and now full back Richie Mathers, who has tons of Super League experience, will be out of action for 3 months after ankle surgery and this all comes on the back of losing co-captain Nick Slyney for 8-12 weeks as he recovers from surgery to repair a pectoral injury.

The club are talking to experienced Super League winning coach Brian Noble with a view to him having a role alongside interim Head Coach Andrew Henderson – even with Noble’s undoubted talent and experience the Broncos will find it very tough to get in to the Championship top 4 to play in the Super 8’s tournament and have any chance of winning back their Super League place. It doesn’t get any easier this weekend as they have to travel back to Leigh in the Challenge Cup competition.


3. HARDAKER IN TROUBLE....AGAIN!!

Zak Hardaker - could this be the end??

Is Zak Hardaker becoming too much of a distraction and, maybe, a liability for Leeds Rhinos? Hardaker missed the defeat at Warrington Wolves last week because he attended a local police station voluntarily and was questioned regarding an alleged assault on a student in Leeds in February. Academy player Elliott Minchella was also arrested and questioned over the same incident and was stood down from the U19s. Ashton Golding stood in for Hardaker and performed admirably with only 48 hours notice.

Now, Hardaker is a world class full back but his coach Brian McDermott admitted that it was disruptive having to pull him from the squad at such notice and for the reasons they had to do so. Hardaker and Minchella have now ADMITTED the assault but are free to play this weekend as they will not be charged by the Police as they and the victim have come to a community agreement that means that although they will not be charged, they will each pay the student £200 and write a letter of apology!

The victim of the assault must be a Rhinos fan if he is allowing two of their players to give him a kicking and he is willing to accept a letter of apology – obviously the £400.00 he will be getting in compensation will give him a good few nights out on the lash and that will be a cause for a major celebration.

Elliot Minchella

Minchella is a young 19 year old kid who was out with a Rhinos first team player in a massive Rugby League playing town and both are fit and good looking boys so will get their fair share of attention – he needs to be counselled and looked after by the club but Hardaker is 24 years old, has been around professional rugby league for a while now and should know better.

This is not the first time he has been in trouble – he was kicked out of the England World Cup squad in November 2013 and was fined £2500.00 and given a written warning by the Rhinos after they carried out an internal investigation and found that he had acted unprofessionally while on England duty and last year he was banned for 5 games for a homophobic comment whilst playing for the Rhinos against Warrington Wolves.

The fact that Hardaker, and Minchella, have acknowledged the assault took place is BAD and the Rhinos should throw the book at their star full back rather than make him available to play this weekend in their big game against the Warriors. Head Coach Brian McDermott has told the media today that the club will not brush this under the carpet and are taking the matter very seriously indeed with Chief Executive Gary Hetherington now heading up the internal investigation after returning from a scouting trip in Australia.

The Rhinos must take a hard line on this and even though no charges will be brought the club’s punishment must send out the right message to young supporters that this kind of behaviour is unacceptable and they cannot hide behind the fact that no charges have been brought by the authorities – the FACT is that both players have ADMITTED the assault and the club must judge on this fact above all else.

Remember that Hetherington tried to block the Catalans Dragons signing of Todd Carney because he had been photographed trying to urinate into his own mouth in Australia last year, an act that led to his sacking by Cronulla Sharks, and in his alleged words ‘’We’d be appalled if the application is granted because it would damage the integrity and profile of Super League.’’

I couldn’t agree more Gary now let’s see you meat out some just punishment at your own club.

4. CARNEY TO THE NRL??

Todd Carney was sorely missed by his new team Catalans Dragons at weekend at Hull KR, in the second half anyway!!! His team led 20-4 after 35 minutes with half back partner Scott Dureau running the game before the home side went on to hit the Dragons for 46 unanswered point to lose the game 20-50. Carney missed the game with a broken rib and will be out for another few weeks but at least he had some good news this week.

Todd Carney - talented!!!!!

It was announced earlier in the week that the talented half back had won his case for unfair dismissal against his former employers, Cronulla Sharks, who were ruled to have not followed due process in the events leading up to his sacking for the ‘’bubbling’’ photograph that was published last year (apparently there is a word for trying pee into your own mouth!!!! – Who knew???)

This decision could lead to Carney suing Cronulla and could also lead to his return to the NRL - something which seemed impossible after his latest misdemeanour and after having been sacked previously by Sydney Roosters and Canberra Raiders. This was brought into focus by Manly coach Geoff Toovey who admitted Carney was in his thoughts after it was confirmed that Kieran Foran would be following Daley Cherry Evans out of the Sea Eagle door at the end of 2015 after signing a 4 year $4.7m deal with arch rivals Parramatta Eels.

With those 2 contracts off the books it will leave the Sea Eagles with a significant amount of money to throw around and they will want to show their fans some intent and make big name signings – they don’t come much bigger than Sam Burgess and it could be worth a pop if he fails to make the England Rugby World Cup squad at the back end of the year. New Manly CEO Joe Kelly knows Burgess personally from his time at the Rabbitohs and Sam’s older brother Luke recently signed on at the Sea Eagles until the end of 2016.

5. KEEP PLAYERS SAFE.

I caught the North Queensland Cowboys v. Newcastle Knights game at the weekend which has obviously provided one of the major talking points of the sport this weekend. Now, I am not going to go on about the rough treatment of Jonathan Thurston throughout the match because as far as I am concerned playmakers are fair game as long as the treatment they receive is within the rules of the game.

However, the FACT is though that THAT tackle was not within the rules of the game and what has amazed me this week is the fact that all of the attention has centred on Beau Scott whilst his team mate Chris Houston has been forgotten about.

Jonathan Thurston

The incident came about when Thurston stole the ball in a one on one tackle and was quickly into contact with Houston and then Scott – it is Houston who lifts Thurston’s right leg and at the same time Scott has his left arm on the back of Thurston’s neck meaning that the international half back, although not lifted beyond 90 degrees and with his left foot still on the floor, was placed in a dangerous position and the combination of the Houston leg lift and Scott’s arm behind JT’s neck meant that when Scott took him to ground, with force, he was only going to go head first – there was nothing JT could do to prevent it, he was going to get hurt – fortunately he was not hurt seriously and carried on in the game.


This is a link to the tackle on Thurston:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYHqdbvYNWE

Chris Houston - played his part!

A bit of a scuffle ensued, the incident went to the judiciary committee and they have ruled that although the tackle was ‘dangerous’ and put Thurston at an ‘’unacceptable risk of injury’’ they would only charge Scott with a ‘Grade One Dangerous Contact’ and that Houston would not be charged at all. For me, it is clear that the tackle would have been nowhere near as dangerous had Houston not lifted Thurston’s leg – so how he gets away without a charge makes no sense to me, he played a major part in the tackle going from tough to dangerous.

However, Scott has avoided suspension and he and Houston are free to take their places in the Knights team to play on the Gold Coast against the Titans.

I must admit I had my heart in my mouth when I saw the tackle and my immediate thought went back to the Alex McKinnon tackle and the devastating aftermath that that created – another tackle that included a leg lift and drive but that did not take the player beyond 90 degrees. Remember, Melbourne Storm forward Jordan McLean received a 7 week ban for his part in the McKinnon tackle which I don’t think was anywhere near as bad as Houston’s and Scott’s and the Knights management also pushed for Jesse and Kenny Bromwich to be charged as well for their part in the tackle.

This is a link to the tackle on McKinnon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-BmKXU12yE

More recently, Parramatta’s Junior Paolo received a 9 week ban for a Grade 3 dangerous throw on Manly’s Matt Ballin in round 1 of this year’s competition.

This is a link to the tackle on Ballin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KMlsoWp1rc

I also realised that the Knights players had ‘Rise for Alex’ emblazoned prominently across their shoulders in relation to their injured colleague and this incensed me even more that players from the Knights club with all that they have seen their team mate go through could put an opposition player in a dangerous position by lifting his leg and driving him head first in to the ground – I would have thought that the club management would have sent out an edict to it’s players never to put an opposition player in the position that has caused so much carnage to a friend’s life.

I know the players involved have officially been dealt with but I would hope that someone at the club, be it management, coaches or team mates, would have a word with them and tell them to make sure that kind of tackle does not happen again.

6. RFL RED FACED AT RED HALL!!

Sport England, the Government and Lottery funded body that provides grants and funding to enable sports governing bodies to, amongst many other things, increase participation numbers in sport threw a bit of a shot across the boughs of the RFL this week when it cut the amount of money provided DIRECTLY to the governing body for failing to meet targets agreed with Sport England in 2013-14 – the target, primarily, involved increasing the number of people who were actively involved in playing Rugby League.

The RFL were awarded just over £17m in the award period for 2013-2017 and the decision has now been made by Sport England to remove 10% of the remaining funding for the period, £573,133.00, away from the RFL to be used on local community projects supported by Super League clubs using their facilities and staff – basically Sport England are not happy with the work done and the initiatives that the RFL have put in place since the award was made. The money to the sport has not been reduced but it is clear that Sport England do not have full confidence in the administration at Red Hall, the RFL Head Quarters, to deliver the targets that have previously been agreed.

The RFL have reacted positively to this slap in the face, as you would expect from the masters of positive spin, but it is clear that they have a lot of work to do to regain the trust of Sport England and to ensure that there is not another major cut to the funding received in the next award period from 2017 to 2021. The RFL’s funding from Sport England was £29m in 2009-2013 and was cut by £12m in the most recent award period for missing 13 agreed targets.

In this day and age it is very difficult to get young children away from their comfort zone of warm bedroom, TV, Sky, Xbox, IPad and IPhone onto a cold and wet playing field getting bashed about by kids bigger than them and more emphasis must be put on physical fitness, discipline and respect, self-confidence, life skills and above all else friendship to make this great sport of ours more attractive to youngsters and the right image MUST be projected onto their TV screens, IPads and IPhones.

A bit of extra time thinking..

A massive congratulations to Adrian Morley who made his 300^th Super League appearance at the weekend in Salford Red Devils win over Wakefield Trinity Wildcats. In total Morley has made over 500 career appearances which include 149 for Leeds Rhinos, 113 in the NRL with Sydney Roosters, 6 during a short Grand Final winning stint with Bradford Bulls, 173 for Warrington Wolves, 30 for Salford City Reds and a huge 47 international matches for Great Britain and England making him the most capped British player of all time – he really can be counted as a modern day legend of rugby league and he celebrated last Sunday with a 50 metre break against the Wildcats. How the like of Morley, Jamie Peacock and Kylie Leuluai can get themselves out of bed after playing a top level rugby league match at their ages is beyond me – I was glad to retire from amateur rugby league at 30 – but maybe that says more about me!!!!!

Here's a few links to some of Morley's greatest moments:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOdKzxAxhU0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWqvmGddkyw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqBZa1HLvQ8

Some chatter about player movements and Canberra Raiders former Queensland State of Origin and Australia prop David Shillington is on the radar of Hull Kingston Rovers to replace the recently retired, and former Canberra prop, Mick Weyman. Shillington is vastly experienced with nearly 200 NRL appearances for the Roosters and Raiders, 8 State of Origin appearances and 14 international caps. He is currently out of favour at the Raiders but broke his thumb at the weekend playing for the Mount Pritchard Mounties in the New South Wales Cup competition. His contract is up at the end of the year and he is one of the highest earners at Canberra and that may be a stumbling block – I think it may also depend on whether Hull KR can off load Ryan Bailey.

New Zealand international centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall, currently at the Roosters, is reported to have signed for St. Helens from next year and Kiwi international prop forward Sam Rapira has announced he will be leaving New Zealand Warriors and heading for Super League – as yet he has no deal tied up but it is expected Leeds Rhinos, who could be losing Jamie Peacock and Kylie Leuluai and St. Helens, who could see Mose Masoe ask for a return to the NRL, will be the front runners for his signature.

 

 

 

 

 

  


























 

 

SIX TO GO - COLUMN 3

Welcome to the third edition of Six to Go, looking at some of the things that have caught my eye over the last week or so in the great world of Rugby League.

1. BURGESS DROPPED

Joe Burgess

It looked likely to happen and it did. Young Wigan winger Joe Burgess was dropped for the Warriors Round 4 visit to Castleford Tigers after a series of high profile errors in the opening weeks of the year with his spot going to Dominic Manfredi. Obviously, it made no difference to the Warriors as they were crushed 42-14 in the Jungle by the rampant Tigers. It is usually British forwards who make a success of things in the NRL and our backs have not made an impact on the other side of the world since the likes of Garry Schofield, Ellery Hanley, Martin Offiah and Shaun Edwards, true British Rugby League legends, were running around impressing our Antipodean friends 25 to 30 years ago. It was going to be hard enough as it was for the young man to gain a first grade spot at the Sydney Roosters with the calibre of player they already have in their back line – but now he could find himself playing for the Warriors dual registration partner Workington Town in the Championship less than 12 months before he moves across to the other side of the world. Burgess is a player of undoubted ability. He scored 20 tries in 23 appearances in his first full Super League season in 2014 and earned a non-playing spot in England’s Four Nations squad at the end of the year. He has scored two Super League tries this year plus the brilliant full length effort in the World Club Series game against Brisbane Broncos – but the errors he has made have cost his team tries against Widnes, Brisbane and, most recently, Hull KR. He is by no means the finished article and he will get back into the Warriors side this year but the Roosters will have a mountain of work to do to make him ready for the NRL.

2. SUPER LEAGUE DOESN’T MEAN THE END

The general assumption is that most players leave the NRL and come to Super League on something of a downward curve in their career and want to earn some major cash on the back of their reputation or simply because they are not good enough to be a 1^st grade regular in the NRL anymore, if they ever where, and disappear into retirement when they leave the UK.

95% of the time that is correct but there are a few exceptions and some players come over here for the right reasons, improve their game and end up back in the big time. Gavin Miller re-built his career at Hull Kingston Rovers in the mid-80’s and went home and became a World Cup winning Australian international whilst Jamie Lyon came over to St. Helens as a major name, had two great years at the Saints and went back to Manly Sea Eagles an even better player and his career has carried on an upward trajectory and he is the current Manly captain.

The latest player to buck the trend is Pat Richards. Richards made his name on the wing in the Wests Tigers 2005 Grand Final winning side when he scored 20 tries in 28 appearances including a try in the Grand Final off THAT Benji Marshall pass. He joined Wigan Warriors the following year and, at just 24 years of age, was in the prime of his career. He struggled to assert himself or tie down a regular spot in 2006 and was dropped to reserve grade for a while as the Warriors struggled against relegation. From 2007 onwards he became an automatic choice and won many games for the Warriors with his wonderful goal kicking and his ability to pick high balls out of the air to score valuable tries. He ended his Warriors career at the end of 2013 having won two Super League titles, two Challenge Cup winners medals and two League Leaders Shields but even more importantly he had scored 167 tries (tied 10th in Super League history) and 899 goals (incl. 4 drop goals) in just 224 appearances for an individual points total of 2462 and holds the Wigan club record for points in a season with 462 in 2010.

Pat Richards kicks the winning drop goal v. GC Titans.

He was 32 years of age when he set foot back in the NRL in 2014 for the Wests Tigers and scored a respectable 9 tries in 20 games and kicked 54 from 63 goals. He was brought back to my attention with his last minute field goal that gave the Tigers a round 1 19-18 win at Gold Coast Titans at the weekend and the fact that a couple of media types mentioned that he would not look out of place in Origin – now that would be something at 33 years of age.

 3. CAN’T CHILD GO AS WELL??

Tim Roby and that beard.

Super League Match Official Tim Roby announced that he and his partner were moving out to Australia after he was offered a positon as a Match Official in the NRL. Firstly, why they would want any of our officials is beyond me – surely they have enough Australian and New Zealand officials making errors as it is without bringing in a Pom who has sometimes ran around with the most ridiculous child like looking beard I have seen. When I saw he was taking his partner, I was praying that he was in a same sex partnership with James Child and the Aussies would be getting a 2 for 1 - it appears that that is not the case and we are stuck with Child. Good luck Tim, you are probably one of the better ones – that’s not saying too much though.

 4. MANLY WOES

DCE - Titans bound.

Round 1 of the NRL has just been completed and already you’ve got to feel sorry for fans of Manly Sea Eagles. Not only did they lose their opening game of the year against Parramatta Eels but it has now been confirmed that star half back Daly Cherry Evans has signed a 4million dollar four year contract with the troubled Gold Coast Titans from next year. Evans, who was off contract at the end of this year, has played all of his first grade Rugby League with Manly scoring 28 tries in just over 100 appearances but you certainly can’t blame him for taking the money that the Titans are throwing at him as it will certainly secure his family’s future – whether he will get anywhere near winning a Grand Final with the Titans is another thing. 

Foran - Eels bound??

Now Manly’s other off contract star half back Kieran Foran is reported to have signed an even bigger four year 4.7million dollar contract with Parramatta Eels. Foran has also played all of his first grade career with the Sea Eagles and it must be galling for a club like Manly to lose such high quality players on the back of the losses of club legends Glenn Stewart (Rabbitohs) and Anthony Watmough (Eels) at the end of 2014.

Evans had a contract offer taken off the table by the club last week and also revealed that he had agreed a new deal, in principle, with the old management team at the club last year. It appears that since the new management came in the club seems to be falling apart. It could be a long hard year for the Sea Eagles and their fans.

5. BUSY BOY NIGEL

Nigel Wood

Nigel Wood is a very busy boy has had a hectic week. As the boss of the Rugby Football League AND Super League he has been setting out his 7 year plan to grow the sport and make England World Champions and as the Chairman of the Rugby League International Federation he introduced the organisations first CEO this week.

Wood revealed ambitious plans last week for the period up to 2021 and they included increasing the games turnover from £118m to £146m, increase spectator numbers from 2.3m to 3m with an increase of TV viewers from 17m to 22m per year and he also expect the total number of registered players to rise from the current 46,636 to 65,929 – I love how these player numbers are SO specific, how do we know the EXACT number of people that will be playing the game in 6 years time??

But his main objective, and the one that he has the least control over, is that he wants England to win the World Cup in 2017. Yes, just two years down the line AND in Australia / New Zealand he is expecting the England RL squad to win the World Cup, something we have not done since 1972 when the late great Clive Sullivan went the full length down the wing in front of not many supporters somewhere in France.

Don’t get me wrong because I and probably everyone who reads this will want England to win the World cup in 2017 – the one question that Mr. Wood will not be able to answer is HOW we will do that – it is OK making it an aim or an objective but you have also got to put a plan in place of how to get to where you want to be – ’A’ IS WHERE WE ARE NOW – ‘B’ IS WHERE WE WANT TO BE – WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO TO GET FROM ‘A’ TO ‘B’? Sounds simple, but we all know it’s not that easy and we don’t even know who the coach will be as Wood admitted that no talks had taken place with incumbent Steve McNamara although he will definitely be in charge for the New Zealand series later in the year.

David Collier - new RLIF CEO

Earlier this week Wood introduced David Collier as the very first Chief Executive Officer of the Rugby League International Federation – Collier has a wealth of experience of top level sports administration after spending 10 years as head of the England and Wales Cricket Board and he has also worked for the International Cricket Council and the International Hockey Federation so there is no doubt he is a major catch for the game of Rugby League.

His brief is to expand the game worldwide and with more new countries gaining membership status with the RLIF, including Serbia and Spain recently, he is coming to the game at a good time and it has got to be hoped that he is listened to and that his recommendations are acted upon.

6. SAD ABOUT MICK / HELLO SHAUN!!

Mick Weyman

My team, Hull Kingston Rovers, had an up and down day on Wednesday. Everyone who supports the club will have been sad to hear the news that former Canberra and St. George Illawarra prop forward Mick Weyman has decided to retire immediately due to a knee injury. We heard last week that he had had a clear out of his knee and that he could be out for 10-12 weeks but the big man has now taken the best decision for himself and his family and decided to end what has been an outstanding career in professional Rugby League in which Weyman has represented New South Wales and Australia. I will always remember Mick as a hard working never say die prop forward who gave everything he had every time he wore the red and white of Hull KR. Whenever we scored a try and Mick came back to the North Stand for the kick off he always got a big round of applause and cheers because we could all see the effort he was putting in and he would give us a cheeky little grin in return, especially if he had just scored himself. Good luck Mick, it’s been a pleasure watching you perform.

Shaun Lunt

On the same day the club released the news that we have signed Huddersfield Giants hooker Shaun Lunt on loan for the rest of the year. I am deliriously happy about this – we desperately need a hooker to replace Josh Hodgson and we were all hoping that we could have bagged him in the off season. That didn’t work out and coach Chris Chester has given early season opportunities to Keal Carlile and Frenchman John Boudebza. Carlile has not worked out and has been dropped for the last two games whilst Boudebza’s form has been encouraging and there is light at the end of the tunnel for this inexperienced player. However, we have been lacking in good work out of dummy half this year – Hodgson gave us a great attacking option from that position that we have just not had so far this year but with Lunt we will now have that in spades. He is also strong and rugged defensively and is still only 27 years old. The Giants loaned him out for the season to the Rhinos in 2012 and he won a Grand Final ring with them – I’m not suggesting the same will happen in East Hull but I guarantee he will make us a better team.

Rumours also in the last 2 weeks that Ryan Bailey has or will be leaving the club because he has failed to settle. The club are officially giving us information regarding injuries and that he will be back soon but there is just too much smoke on this one for there not to be any fire – I wouldn’t be surprised if an announcement was made shortly that we had off loaded him to somewhere closer to his West Yorkshire home (I’ve heard Wakefield and I’d like Danny Kirmond in exchange please!!) – either way, we need him out of the door or on the field soon because he is eating up a decent amount of salary cap for us and he needs to start earning it or let us free it up for someone who wants to play for Hull KR.

A bit of extra time thinking:

The Catalans Dragons v. Salford Red Devils match last Saturday was a hell of an entertaining game wasn’t it – there was no tough defence, apart from the Junior Sau hit on Todd Carney  but there was some lovely Rugby League played and some great tries scored – it was perfect Saturday afternoon entertainment. Talking about the Carney hit – as far as I am concerned it was all above board, the main problem was caused by the fact that Carney did not see him coming and could not brace himself for the tackle – it’s a shame because Carney looked to be settling in well and was forming a good link with Scott Dureaux. The main controversy was the last minute penalty awarded to Salford by Phil Bentham – Dragons full back Morgan Escare was tackled but didn’t hear his call and got up and played on. A couple of years ago that WOULD have been a penalty but everyone thought that the player was now brought back to allow him to play the ball – true, but not on this occasion and Bentham awarded the Red Devils a kickable penalty in the last minute that they converted to earn a Super League record 40-40 draw. Referee’s again having a major impact on a game and getting the full backing of his boss, Jon Sharp, who stated that the decision was correct. A full explanation please!!!!!

Obviously, St. Helens aren’t as bad as everyone has been thinking in the last couple of weeks as evidenced by South Sydney Rabbitohs 36-6 demolition of Brisbane Broncos at the weekend. The Rabbitohs are currently on another planet.

As second half blow out’s go, Hull FC’s was pretty spectacular against the Rhinos last Thursday. They played really well in the first half and led 12-0 but the Rhinos upped their game in the second half, much to the delight of us Hull KR fans, and destroyed the black and whites with 43 unanswered points. Social Media was awash with FC fans venting their anger at that second half performance and who can blame them with the amount of money they invest in their squad added to the fact that they only conceded 1 try in the first two rounds but have now conceded 13 in their last two games. Is their coach, Lee Radford, under pressure already??