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| Rangi Chase produced in a moment of magic. |
1.
What a
difference a win makes. Prior to Saturday night’s 32-28 win over Hull FC I
think it would be fair to say that the Salford Red Devils were suffering a bit
of an early season crisis. A heavy home defeat by champions St. Helens, the ‘’I
have had enough’’ tweet from Marwan Koukash immediately after the Saints game
that set Social Media alight, Gareth Hock IS banned for 6 weeks for two separate
kneeing offences in the same game and then has his contract terminated, injured
star full back Kevin Locke is, reputedly, offered to Scottish Rugby Union,
coach Iestyn Harris’ position is under scrutiny in the media and the Red Devils
go into Saturday’s match without Hock or Locke plus star signings Michael
Dobson and Cory Patterson against a Hull side that had conceded only 1
try in the first two rounds and was in a positive frame of mind. What happened
next?? Rangi Chase put’s his hand up, creates 4 tries and produces a piece of
sublime magic for one of them that is doing the rounds on Social Media, local
youngsters Niall Evalds, Liam Hood and the Walne brothers have stand out games
and the Red Devils have their first win of the year. Australia coach Tim Sheens
is over to help the club out and the smiles are back in place…..but for how
long??? Take a look at Rangi's magic play here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/31694225
Another coach in a slightly stronger position after the weekend results is Chris Chester at Hull KR – two opening defeats in which they conceded over 80 points knocked a lot of the early season expectations and after 41 minutes of the 3rd round match against Wigan, which saw Hull KR 20-6 down, it looked like it was going to be a long hard year. But a great second half performance, inspired by skipper Terry Campese, saw them rattle the Warriors and take the game by the scruff of the neck to record a surprise 22-20 win. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRMDfMXdsSQ
2.
At last the
dates and venues for the England v. New Zealand Test Series have been
announced. The 1st Test will take place at the KC Stadium in Hull, a
town with a strong connection with NZ Rugby League going back to the mid-80’s,
on Sunday 1st November and the 3rd Test will take place
at the DW Stadium in Wigan on Saturday 14th November. The 1st
Test will have a very healthy crowd as will the 3rd Test, as long as
the series is competitive going into that final Test, but it is the 2nd
Test on Saturday 7th November that was the exciting part of the
announcement. Rugby League will make it’s debut at the Olympic Stadium in
London and the RFL must do everything that they can to make sure the venue
sell’s out. The capacity of the stadium has been reduced down from 90,000 to
54,000 since the Olympic’s took place in 2012 and that is a stadium that we
should be able to fill. There were over 60,000 fans at Wembley Stadium for the
last game in the UK between the two teams in  |
| Shaun Johnson scores THAT try in the World Cup semi final |
Test.
I am sure that the RU will ensure that all of the fixtures at the Olympic Stadium will be sell out’s and even though 3 of the matches are against minnow nations (France v. Romania, New Zealand v. Namibia and South Africa v. USA) I am certain that the crowds will be very healthy. Our game needs to project itself positively and ensure that this Test Series is not ‘’drowned out’’ by the RU World Cup – the Marketing campaign needs to start NOW and, even more importantly, the RFL need to make sure that the ticketing prices are right and that they promote the game in the South to attract rugby fans of all ages, particular attention needs to be given to Junior Rugby teams with special deals put in place and maybe even a cashback scheme that rewards the number of tickets sold at each club and we need to get the star players from each side promoting the game as well – there is a lot of support for this Test Match in the northern heartlands and many will make the journey down to this new venue for Rugby League but it will be in the South that the Marketing campaign will have to be at it’s best. If we can sell all three venues out for what should be an exciting Test Series on the back of a Rugby Union World Cup then the Marketing campaign will have been successful and the game will have projected itself in a very positive light. All we need after that is to make sure England win the Test Series.
3.
The drugs
scandal that has engulfed the Gold Coast Titans in the last week or so made
it’s way over to our Super League competition when it was made public that Hull
FC’s Australian centre Steve Michaels, signed from the Titans in the off season
on a one year deal, has had a warrant issued for his arrest by the Queensland
Crime and Corruption Commission in relation to his alleged involvement with a
cocaine smuggling syndicate that has already implicated a number of current and
former players. The warrant issued cannot be acted upon until Michaels steps
foot on Australian soil which, if reports coming out of the FC camp are true,
will not be anytime soon as he appears set to be named in the FC team to play
Leeds Rhinos on Thursday night. Michaels has not made any comment and I am all
for ‘’innocent until proven guilty’’ but it just does not seem right to me that
he is being selected when he is under suspicion of being involved with a
cocaine smuggling syndicate. The club themselves do not need something like
this hanging over them for the rest of the year, the player will not be fully
focused and, more importantly, I believe there is a moral responsibility that
all clubs have to their younger supporters to ensure that the club’s, and the
players themselves, are seen to be doing the right thing. If Michaels is
innocent then he should have no fear in returning home to speak to the
Commission in the hope that this can be sorted out relatively quickly rather
than sitting it out overseas like a fugitive until the end of the year.
4.
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| Jarryd Hayne |
5.
Referee’s!!!!
Most fans like to have a dig at referee’s don’t they!! Am I any different?? I
like to think I am and every time my 11 year old son screams at a referee from
our seat in the stand when a decision goes against our team, Hull KR, I have to
tell him that it wasn’t the ref who ripped the ball out of the tackle or went
too high or was a yard off side and it still amazes me the number of fans that
place the reasons for their teams loss solely at the door of the man in the
middle. I guess it is all about perceptions and interpretations. We perceive
all referee’s to be useless and the rules are interpreted differently each week
by whatever referee is in charge of the game. Being a ref is no easy job and
they should be applauded for putting their heads above the parapet and allowing
themselves to be shot at each week by the snipers in the stands and in the
media. I was at the Hull KR v. Wigan game on Sunday and I thought Robert Hicks
did OK – it was a tense, scrappy and niggly affair and it boiled over a couple of
times but nothing major and I thought he controlled it OK – other people had a
different idea and thought that players from both sides should have been dealt
with harsher than they were and, at the least, should have been charged by the
RFL Disciplinary Committee. Like I said, the game was niggly and Rovers got in
the Warriors faces and players like
Michael McIlorum and John Bateman don’t
like that – so you get the odd push and shove, a little dig here and there but
to me that is Rugby League – I don’t want to see players penalised or sin
binned or charged for playing the game at the toughest and rawest edge of the
rules – if they go over the top then they should be punished but let’s not
forget that this is a tough sport for tough men and we, the fans, like it to be
played tough and like a bit of biff. The one thing we don’t like is
inconsistency and that is all we are getting at the moment in regards to the
high tackle. Patrick Ah Van was dismissed by James Child in round 1 for a
swinging arm on Josh Charnley and in the very next round the SAME referee did
not send off or sin bin Castleford Tigers Justin Carney for a very similar but
slightly worse challenge on a Catalans Dragons player – that made me shout at
the TV screen. Warrington’s Ben Westwood was sin binned for a horrendous
challenge on one of Walne twins in round 1 against Salford and should have been
sent off – the St. George Illawarra winger Eto
Nabuli was not even spoken to by
Ben Thaler for a serious attack on the head of Kevin Penny in the first game of
the World Club Series last week – he should have been sent off as well and
Benji Marshall should have been sin binned for his high tackle in the same game
– we are talking about consistency AND player welfare. Does a player need to be
seriously hurt this year before we have some consistency in the on field
punishment for a high tackle – maybe the rules need to be made clearer so that
they cannot be interpreted so differently by each referee – ‘’any contact with
the head – 10mins in the sin bin’’ – would that be clear enough????
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| McIlorum - niggly. |
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| THAT tackle!!! |
6.
 |
| Josh Hodgson |
A bit of
extra time thinking:
I hope Leigh
don’t regret signing Gareth Hock. He needs to keep his head down and work hard
to be fit for when his suspension is up. Leigh have been criticised in some
quarters this season for their overly aggressive play – I am sure Hock will be
a calming influence!!!
Before
Sunday, part of my six would have been a quick high five to James Webster about
what a good job he is doing at Wakefield after two wins out of two. They then
go to Widnes and get mullered and leave Webster exasperated and shocked at
their performance. One bad performance does not make a coach rubbish and I
believe that Webster will be a high class coach.
Leeds Chief
Executive Gary Hetherington has hit out at Sky’s coverage of the recent World
Club Series – in particular the commentary teams consistently referring to the
first two games between Warrington Wolves and St. George Illawarra Dragons and
Wigan Warriors v. Brisbane Broncos as friendly’s or trial games. Hetherington
feels this played down the two matches which he wanted to be portrayed as
serious contests between sides as committed as the two teams competing for the
title of World Champions. It’s a good job the players on the field were fully
committed because the two ‘’trial games’’ were certainly a lot more fiery and
competitive than the game that had the title riding on it. I think if the 6
teams that compete next year have earned the right to participate rather than
receive an invitation then it will receive a more serious portrayal from the
games paymasters.
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