SIX TO GO – Monsoons, Kiwi legends and conspiracy theories!!.

Welcome to the latest edition of Six to Go, looking at some of the things that have caught my eye over the past 7 days.

1.       New shirts – the good, the bad and the ugly 

Great Shirt - HKR / PNG for SGF!

Warrington Magic Weekend Shirt

A couple of new shirts were launched this week, one top quality (the good) and one pretty awful (the bad and the ugly). Hull Kingston Rovers have launched a shirt inspired by their connection with Papua New Guinea and which is a collaboration with the Stanley Gene Foundation. Stanley is a Hull KR legend and one of the greatest ever PNG players. His foundation not only raises money for children in PNG but they also collect essential items and send them over to PNG. Items such as books, writing equipment, desks and chairs, clothes, toys, and sports equipment are all items that we take for granted but others are not so lucky to have readily available to them. Hull KR have supported the SG Foundation in the past and many rugby teams in PNG play in old Hull KR shirts. £5.00 from each of the new shirts will go to the Foundation. Stanley came over to England after the 1995 World Cup, with team mate John Okul, and scored 104 tries in 166 appearances in 2 spells with Rovers and is one of the most popular players in the clubs history. He also played 25 times for PNG scoring 9 tries. The other shirt launched this week was the Warrington Wolves Magic Weekend shirt. There isn’t too much to say about this shirt except that it reminds me of the Gotye music video for his no. 1 single ‘Somebody that I used to know’!!!! It’s not a good look!!!!

2.       Where is everybody?

Only 3978 hardy souls went out in Sydney on Monday night to watch reigning Premiers South Sydney take on Cronulla Sharks. Now this attendance would normally be a great cause for concern but I think you actually have to congratulate the spectators for getting to the match and also the players and officials for getting the game on. The game was played in atrocious monsoon conditions with 87km/h winds and surface water at one end of the Remondis Stadium. The press box was flooded and some of the crowd were decked in full length wet suits!! The NRL gave both clubs the option to postpone the game if they were at all concerned about player welfare but they went ahead and got it on. Even though the Sharks were missing Paul Gallen and Andrew Fifita they fought the hardest and claimed their third win in a row, 18-10. This, after losing their opening four games of the year. It wasn’t a good night for the Rabbitohs and they have now lost 3 out of their last 4 matches. The crowd for the match was the lowest NRL attendance since 3362 spectators turned up to watch North Sydney take on North Queensland back in 1999 – the year before the Bears were kicked out of the competition.

See highlights of the Sharks v. Rabbitohs match below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5SY3E66olg

3.       Kiwi Legends

Legend 1 - The Beast

Legend 2 - Dean Bell

Legendary Kiwi winger Manu Vatuvei has signed a new 3 year deal with New Zealand Warriors. The 3 year deal will take him to the end of the 2018 season meaning he will have served 15 seasons at the Warriors and will join some of the most illustrious one club names in the game. That list is led by Andrew Ettingshausen who played 18 seasons for Cronulla, the legendary Darren Lockyer played 17 seasons for the Broncos, Jason Croker 16 at the Raiders and Nathan Hindmarsh did 15 years at the Eels. If Vatuvei completes the deal he will go beyond Cliff Lyons and Steve Menzies who both played 14 seasons at the Sea Eagles and winger Hazem El Masri also completed 14 seasons with the Bulldogs. The giant Kiwi winger made his 1^st grade debut as an 18 year old in May 2004 and is on track to overtake Stacey Jones’ club record 261 games. He has scored 141 tries in 201 appearances including 6 in 2015 already. He is a true modern great and is New Zealand’s record Test try scorer with 20 tries in 28 Test Matches. He was voted the RLIF Rookie of the year in 2005 and Winger of the Year in 2008. Whilst Vatuvei continues with the Warriors another Kiwi legend leaves. Football Manager Dean Bell, the captain of the original Warriors, has left his post and is looking for a new challenge elsewhere.  Bell re-joined the Auckland-based club in 2007 as manager of the Under 20s side and went on to become the football manager of the NRL side before moving through various development and recruitment titles.

Below is an interview with the Footy Shows Beau Ryan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJvDrqZRUM8

Manu Vatuvei - The Illusive Beast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDKsa1RJ_B8
 

4.       Challenge Cup draw

The draw for the 6^th round of Challenge Cup draw may have been relegated to the backwaters of BBC News and had a dodgy ball  but there is no doubt it has thrown up some interesting ties . The BBC has chosen Leeds Rhinos v. Huddersfield Giants and Wakefield Trinity Wildcats v. Leigh Centurions as their TV games. They are heading to Wakefield in the hope of seeing another cup upset by the Centurions who knocked out Salford Red Devils last weekend. Other all Super League ties see multiple winners Wigan Warriors entertain Hull KR and Castleford Tigers visit Hull FC. I predict here and now that Wakey will beat Leigh and Hull KR will get over the Warriors on their home patch. I’m not really a fan of the new format that sees the top 8 Super League teams from the previous season entering the competition at such a late stage. The Cup is all about romance and upsets and this format leaves much less opportunity for smaller clubs to get a big draw, earn some money and upset the big boys. All Super League clubs should come in at the 5^th round stage if not earlier in my opinion.
 

5.       No conspiracy theories and a comeback!



3 match ban - Cory Patterson.

Some Salford fans have amused me this week with their whingeing on twitter. They are not too upset that they lost to Championship side Leigh Centurions in the 5^th round of the Challenge Cup in front of the Sky TV cameras – most seem to have accepted that – but because they have had another 2 players suspended from the aforementioned match.  Cory Patterson has been suspended for 3 matches and Darrel Griffin 1 match which means the Red Devils now have 4 players under suspension. Rangi Chase is serving a 7 game ban for ‘that’ tackle on Brett Ferres and Weller Hauraki a 4 game ban for a couple of misdemeanours and because of this some Red Devils fans think there is a conspiracy by the RFL against their club. It was a good job that ref Phil Bentham forgot his red card on Saturday because Patterson deserved to see it inside 10 seconds for his abysmal head shot on Leigh full back Greg McNally and, in my eyes, he is lucky to get away with a 3 game ban. Patterson had disciplinary issues in his year at Hull KR and I think most Red Devils fans will know there is no conspiracy, just poorly disciplined players! On the opposite side of the pitch, Leigh duo Tom Armstrong and Jake Emmit were lucky not to receive anything worse than a penalty for a lift that put Salford’s Carl Forster in a dangerous position. The fact is though that add these suspensions to the injuries they have and Salford are struggling for this weeks fixture against Castleford Tigers although, ironically, they should have Kevin Locke available. However, they will be missing Michael Dobson and Junior Sau. With both half backs being unavailable they have registered 38 year old assistant coach Ian Watson just in case he is needed. Watson played his last game for Swinton Lions back in June last year and holds the record number of caps for a Welsh international with 30 – this, I think, would be his 3^rd Salford debut!!!

6.       Stick to the contract

Definitely a Titan - DCE.

The Round 13 rule in the NRL is a strange one and should be scrapped. This has been in the news this week because of speculation over star half back Daly Cherry Evans move from Manly Sea Eagles to Gold Coast Titans from 2016. DCE agreed a 4 year multi-million dollar contract just as the 2015 season started and the week 13 rule is designed to give players AND clubs the opportunity to ‘backflip’ on an agreed deal before the paperwork is lodged with the NRL. Constant speculation by the press unsettles the players and the clubs they have signed for and I think that this rule should be abolished along with allowing players to agree a contract for the following year when they already have nearly 12 months of their existing contract with their current club still to run. I know I would not be happy, as a supporter of a club, if our star player had agreed a deal with a rival club in the same competition just as the current season had started. It would be deflating and I would be questioning his commitment and loyalty and he probably wouldn’t get the support that the rest of the team would get and, to be brutally honest, would the player himself be that concerned about results – his own performance maybe, but results?? I think a player should have to wait until at least 2/3 of the season has been completed before they can start negotiations on a new contract and I definitely believe that if you shake hands on a deal, that is it! There should be no room for manoeuvre on EITHER side and this would stop all the press speculation and disruption that hit’s a player AND a club. Is it difficult to understand why Manly are having such a rough time on the field this year when Head Coach Geoff Toovey already knows he will be without DCE and his half back partner Kieran Foran from next year. It must be unsettling and the sooner the NRL discards this rule the better.

A little bit of extra time thinking: 

It’s good to see Brian Noble back in the game. Noble is the most successful coach in the Super League era and his experience, on a part time consultancy basis, will be invaluable to new London Broncos Head Coach Andrew Henderson. Noble has huge experience from his time at Bradford Bulls, Wigan Warriors, Crusaders, Salford Red Devils and as coach of the Great Britain national side.

A great story this week about Brighouse Rangers U16s who raised over £70,000 so that they can tour Australia for 2 weeks later this year. They came up with the idea 2 years ago and the players and their parent’s have really bought into this idea and have made a dream a reality. Lots of fund raising has gone on over the last couple of years and the club will head to Sydney for 2 games and then Brisbane for 2 games in August. The club will also organise sight-seeing trips for the players and, hopefully, they will get the chance to see some NRL games. This will be a trip of a lifetime and shows everything that is good about youth rugby league and also shows how important having the support of parent’s is to a club.

Some more rumours flying about this week:

Newcastle Knights are apparently looking at bringing in Test back rower Greg Bird whilst they may be losing long serving utility Kurt Gidley to Super League.

Cronulla full back Michael Gordon and Canberra prop David Shillington have been linked with moves to Hull KR next year. As far as I am aware there are no overseas spots available at Rovers for next year so I’m not sure how this will work out. Albert Kelly is continually being linked with Manly, to the point of boredom at the moment, but I understand that the Sea Eagles have got a few more irons in the fire before they look at Kelly.

I keep hearing that Rob Burrow will be joining either Castleford Tigers or Hull KR – this has been about a while but won’t go away. I can’t understand why the Rhinos would even contemplate letting this diamond of a player go anywhere.

I hope everyone has seen the brilliant piece of skill by Wests Tigers Kevin Naiqama to set up a try for James Tedesco against the Bulldogs earlier today. If not, have a look here - it is a brilliant price of athleticism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLqnneiZf8A


Ryan Bailey has joined Castleford Tigers until the end of the season after leaving Hull KR with a solitary substitute appearance under his belt. Along with the majority of Tigers fans, I will ask the main question – WHY??

You can follow me on Twitter @sharpster69.

SIX TO GO – The Challenge Cup, Wigan bias and some heroes.

Welcome to the latest edition of Six to Go, looking at some of the things that have caught my eye over the past 7 days.

1.       Challenge Cup – Super League v. Championship

There are 4 tasty looking Super League v. Championship ties in the 5^th Round of the Challenge Cup this weekend and whilst I expect all of the Super League sides to prevail I would not be surprised to see at least one of them get knocked out. The bottom 4 teams in Super League in 2014 enter the competition a round earlier than last years top 8 as the competition is seeded for the first time in it’s history – a concept I am not too keen on as it will give the lower league sides less opportunity to face and upset their Super League counterparts. The Challenge Cup has always been about the romance of small clubs taking on the big guns and beating them or giving them a run for their money. The 4 big ties this weekend see Hull Kingston Rovers travel to relegated Bradford Bulls, Hull FC travel to Sheffield Eagles, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats entertain Halifax and the TV tie of the round sees Salford City Reds travel to local rivals and runaway Championship leaders Leigh Centurions. Everyone will be interested to see how Leigh get on against Salford and this will be seen as a barometer for their Super League hopes in the Super 8’s later in the year. They will certainly be fired up with former Red Devils forward Gareth Hock likely to play for Leigh even though Salford say he signed an agreement not to play against them until the end of 2016. This has played out across twitter this week in a will he won’t he be allowed to play farce between the two clubs. That needs to be forgotten about and put to one side for the good of the game. Let him play and may the best team win. This game will be one hell of a battle – the Leigh Sports Village will create a great atmosphere and Salford are without the banned Rangi Chase. I think Salford will edge this but don’t be surprised to see Leigh win the game – they are in a confident mood having won 20 consecutive games going back to last season. In the other fixtures the two Hull sides should win against Bradford and Sheffield but both sides will put up a big fight and with Wakefield Trinity on a horror 8 game losing run and with injuries galore they will have their work cut out to get over local rivals Halifax but I expect them to gain a 6^th round place….just.

2.       The refs from where????? Why?

Phil Bentham

Talking about the Leigh v. Salford cup tie and you have to wonder what formula they use to decide the referee appointments on a weekend. Phil Bentham is, probably, the best referee in Super League at the moment and is used to handling big games and will not have a problem looking after what is a potentially feisty encounter between two local rivals with a committed and vociferous home support roaring their team on to cause an upset. There is also the added pressure of a national TV audience as well. So far so reasonable before you learn that Bentham was born in…..Leigh. Now we all know that referee’s should be impartial and probably are but there is no reason for the RFL to put their man under more pressure and scrutiny then he is already. There are 4 other full time match officials that could have been given this appointment and none of them have an affiliation with Leigh or Salford. This is a tie that could go down to the wire and let’s hope there isn’t a last minute controversial decision that gives Leigh an upset victory.

3.       Justin Carney injury

Carney injury v. Hull KR

Many people who saw the Justin Carney injury against Hull KR on Saturday night can be forgiven for thinking that the injury wasn’t that serious but I am also sure there were a lot of people who had to look away from the TV screen and realised the how bad it was. Carney dislocated his elbow but you wouldn’t have guessed it by the way he reacted. A dislocated elbow is a horrible and painful injury but Carney just laid their calmly waiting for the physios and walked off as if he had been substituted and was heading for a rest – the only positive for me was that he didn’t get the ball down for the try as it would have been an even worse score line for my team!!!! In all seriousness, Carney is great rugby league player and the Cas fans love him to bits – he is all action, hustle and bustle and full of power and raging aggression and he is the kind of player you love to have in your team and the type opposition fans love to hate but have a grudging respect for. He has been a great signing for the Tigers, has scored 54 tries in 54 games and his contract runs until the end of the 2019 season – giving him plenty of time to cement his position as a Castleford legend. I hope he isn’t out too long this season as he is great to watch whether you love him or hate him. Can you imagine the fuss a professional footballer would have made with the same injury!!!

 

4.       To dive or not to dive!! Just keep it quiet!

Diver? Glenn Stewart.

The big controversy over in Australia this week was South Sydney Rabbitohs forward Glenn Stewart admitting he took a dive so that a North Queensland try was disallowed. The incident occurred with the Rabbitohs leading 12-4 with less than 30 seconds left on the clock to the half time hooter and incensed the Cowboys players. Who could blame them? The try and conversion would have got them right back in the game and as it was they trailed by 8 at the break. However, they obviously used all their pent up aggression positively and severely kicked the Rabbitohs backside in the second half scoring 26 unanswered points to secure a surprise 30-12 victory against the reigning Premiers. The win was their third straight win coming off the back of three consecutive defeats at the start of the year and whilst you can understand the furore in the press it wasn’t as if Stewart wasn’t obstructed in the first place. OK, maybe he shouldn’t have gone to ground so easily but either way it was a dead set obstruction by the Cowboys player and it was the right decision to disallow the try. Obviously, we don’t want football type diving coming in to our game but I think it was far enough away from that type of thing not to worry too much about it. Have a look for yourselves at the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR4WSYNeSWs

5.       Flower returns for Wigan – so what!! (and so does Sam Tomkins)

The ovation Ben Flower received as he ran onto the pitch for his return to the Wigan team after his 6 month ban for assaulting Lance Hohaiha in last year’s Grand Final made me cringe. Flower is an average rugby player who will forever be best known for his Grand Final thuggery. You would have thought it was the return of Sam Tomkins the way the crowd reacted not to mention the fits Eddie and Stevo were having ‘’This is for Ben Flower’’ said Eddie as the crowd rose to their feet – embarrassing on both counts. At half time the Warriors announced the ‘surprise’ news that they had re-signed Sam Tomkins from New Zealand Warriors on a 4 year deal at the cost of a £200,000.00 transfer fee, giving Sky even more reason to fly the Wigan flag. In fact the whole of last night’s commentary for the Warriors win over Warrington Wolves was so full of Wigan bias that the positions of Eddie, Stevo and Phil Clarke should be called in to question.

6.       Keith Senior and Paul Sculthorpe complete Marathon Des Sables

Paul Sculthorpe and Keith Senior

Now to some people who deserves ovations. Rugby League players aren’t just heroes on the pitch and some carry that into their lives off the pitch and two such former players have done just that in the last week or so. Former internationals Keith Senior and Paul Sculthorpe, seasoned extreme eventers and fundraisers, have this week completed the gruelling 6 day Marathon des Sables through the Moroccan desert in blistering heat. In addition to running over 150 miles, competitors also had to carry their own food and medical supplies with them throughout the race, weighing approx. 15kgs. Scully was raising money for the Steve Prescott Foundation – which benefits Christies Hospital in Manchester, Try Assist which helps seriously injured rugby league players and the Oxford Transplant Unit which is where Steve Prescott was treated whilst Senior was raising money for military charity ‘Walking with the Wounded’. Both men undertook extensive training for the challenge including training in heat chambers at Liverpool John Moores and Sheffield Hallam University’s. The first three days of the race saw the competitors completing a marathon a day whilst on day 4 they were expected to complete a 92km run in 24 hours to enable them to have a rest day on day 5. Day 6 is another marathon and on day 7 the competitors get to run an extra 10km as they take part in the Unicef Charity day. All of this in 40deg heat and on SAND!!! These men need to be recognised for what they have put themselves through for some great charity’s and proves that rugby league has some wonderful people associated with it.
                                                                 Give these guys a medal……….and a few beers!!!!


A bit of extra time thinking:

Great news for Super League that St. Helens impressive prop forward Alex Walmsley has turned down offers from the NRL to sign a 3 ½  year contract extension with the champions. Walmsley is an outstanding player and has had a great start to 2015 and if he continues his current form throughout the year he will challenge for a place in the England squad for the Test Series against New Zealand at the end of the year.

It was good to see last week that Leeds Rhinos didn’t leave troubled full back Zak Hardaker high and dry after he admitted he had anger issues and wanted help to work through them after he assaulted a student on a boozy night out. I don’t think he will be to upset that he has lost a month’s salary, will have to attend an anger management course and will also have to work for 20 hours a week for the club’s foundation for the rest of his contract – at least he is surrounded by supportive long term colleagues and living at home – I hope Eliot Minchella is receiving just as much help after being carted off a far as he could possibly be sent - on loan to the London Broncos!!!!!

A few rumours flying about again this week:

England forward Tom Burgess recently signed a one year contract extension at Souths and, apparently, turned down a major long term contract offer from Manly so that he can test the waters and see if any NFL clubs would be interested in signing him. He is a big unit and a great athlete and he has seen what Jarryd Hayne has done and the earning potential is huge.

 

Manly need half backs for next year and it keeps coming up that they are looking at Hull KR half back Albert Kelly who has a good start to the Super League season having scored 7 tries in 10 games. I hope this goes away and it might be helped by the news that Queensland and Australia half back Daly Cherry-Evans is thinking about reneging on the 4 year multi-million dollar contract he recently signed with the Gold Coast Titans. Apparently he is big mates with Test colleague Nate Myles and he was a big reason for DCE signing for the Titans. Now, the news is that the Eagles are set to sign Myles and this has created a dilemma for DCE and he now wants to stay at the Eagles. Under the NRL rule, any player who has signed a contract with another club has until round 13 to change their minds – why?? If you’ve signed a contract, honour it – except in this instance it’s OK as the Eagles might leave Albert Kelly alone!!!!!

 

Talking of Manly and earlier today they cemented their place at the bottom of the NRL ladder as they lost their 6^th game out of 7 this season, 28-16 to last years losing Grand Finalists Canterbury Bulldogs. St. Helens Grand Final winning coach Nathan Brown is being marked out as the man to replace under fire Head Coach Geoff Toovey although the fact that former Manly and Australia coach Bob Fulton, an Immortal of the game, is being brought back to the club in a consultancy role may help Toovey’s cause. Toovey played under Fulton for the Se Eagles and the two are still great mates. Brown is currently working on a consultancy basis with Melbourne Storm and has this week been appointed as assistant coach to the New South Wales Origin squad under Laurie Daley.

 

On his recent run out to Australia, Hull FC’s Director of Rugby Motu Tony was apparently very keen on talking to the Parramatta Eels out of favour half back Luke Kelly with a view to bringing him over to the UK from 2016.

Last week it was Gareth Widdop that was reportedly leaving the Dragons because of salary cap issues, which he has since denied, and now this week it is the turn for the rumour mill to hit his half back colleague Benji Marshall. Apparently, the Dragons are touting the ex New Zealand captain to other clubs as they are desperate to get his sizeable salary of their books as they need to get them balanced quickly and don’t think they are receiving value for money since they took Marshall away from his nightmare stint in Rugby Union. Any takers in Super League??

 

You can follow me on Twitter @sharpster69.

KEEP THE FAITH IN WEBSTER

It wasn’t a good weekend for Wakefield Trinity Wildcats was it!!

A Super League record margin equalling 80-0 defeat at Warrington Wolves on Saturday afternoon came on the back of their U19s Academy team losing 74-0 at home against Hull FC on Friday night.

Wakefield have now lost 8 successive Super League games after winning their opening two fixtures at Castleford Tigers and at home to Hull Kingston Rovers and they have a paper thin squad that is crippled with injuries.

James Webster - not too happy at the moment.

I have a huge amount of respect for their coach James Webster. He made his name as a player in the British game at my club, Hull Kingston Rovers, after he was brought over by our former coach Harvey Howard in 2005 from Parramatta Eels. Webster actually took over as player coach at Craven Park for 9 games in 2005, acting as the bridge between the sacked Howard and the newly appointed Justin Morgan, and we won all of those 9 games which included the National Rail Trophy victory over Super League bound Castleford Tigers that convinced Rovers fans that the club was on the up once again.

Webster was an excellent and hugely respected player for Rovers and he was one of the guiding lights in putting us back in the big time. He led us to victory in the 2006 National League Grand Final and into Super League in our first full season under Morgan and he also won the National League’s player of the year award.

As well as being a quality player he was an outstanding ambassador for the club and played a major part in consolidating our position in Super League as we avoided relegation in 2007, a fact that was eventually guaranteed with a thumping 42-6 victory over our local rivals Hull FC at the KC Stadium.

However, there was always a nagging doubt in my mind that Webster would struggle long term in Super League as the players got bigger and faster. He had the skills and the brain to match it with the best but didn’t quite have the physical attributes needed to be a major success at the higher level.

Webster is a man of slight build but he had a winning attitude and mentality that rubbed off on the rest of the Rovers squad and his bravery and commitment compensated for his lack of size to a certain degree.

It was injury that ended his time at Rovers as a bad, season ending shoulder injury suffered against Leeds Rhinos early in 2008 meant that the club had to go out looking for a new scrum half and Webster’s contract was paid off.

It was a sad end for a great servant who came to the club at a difficult time in our history and brought us back in to the top league after 12 years. Rovers signed Michael Dobson from Canberra Raiders and the rest is history. Dobson had the physical attributes that Webbo didn’t and was an instant hit at Craven Park and had 5 ½ great years at the club.

Webster moved into coaching at Hull FC under Richard Agar, after a spell on the playing staff at the KC Stadium and back in the National Leagues at Widnes Vikings, and followed him to Wakefield before taking up the hot seat when Agar left the West Yorkshire outfit last year.

He had an immediate impact on the Wildcats and led them to wins over Leeds Rhinos, Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves in the second half of the year and although they didn’t make the play offs they improved a lot under his guidance and continued that form early this season before the injuries struck and reduced his playing squad to the minimum.

The recent competitive performance at Leeds Rhinos on Easter Monday was destroyed by the result at the Wolves last weekend and this week they go into a tricky Challenge Cup 5^th round tie at home to Championship club Halifax – that is a game Webster really cannot afford to lose.

Wildcats Chairman Michael Carter

 

The Wildcats Chairman, Michael Carter, has come out this week and backed him but the fans are starting to grow restless and a loss to Halifax could be the straw that breaks the camels back. Webster did not help himself by saying this week that he was already concentrating on getting his squad fully fit for the Super 8’s split after 23 rounds and that his goal is simply to keep the Wildcats in Super League.

Whilst that is undoubtedly the honest and realistic point of view, it would probably have been best to keep it in house. It’s another thing entirely to come out and say it in public  – it will hardly entice fans through the gates for subsequent games if they know they mean nothing to the club and the season ahead and I am sure the season ticket holders and sponsors were not too enamoured with his public comments either.

I hope that Carter is true to his word and keeps his faith in Webster as I believe he is one of the outstanding young coaches in the British game today and, if he is given the time he needs and he gets all of his players back fully fit, the Wildcats will become competitive once again. This Super League season has been one of the most competitive in it’s 20 year history and it would be a shame if one of the clubs is seen as an easy beat and guaranteed two points as London were last year.

Heavy defeats like the Wildcats suffered at the weekend and long losing streaks undermine what is a great competition in 2015 but I don’t think any other coach would be doing a much better job than Webster.

The Wildcats need to stay strong and keep the faith.

SIX TO GO - Tomkins, Whitehead and bad tackles

Welcome to the latest edition of Six to Go, looking at some of the things that have caught my eye over the past 7 days.

1.       Tomkins to Wigan?.

Sam Tomkins

As discussed in last weeks column it has now been confirmed that England full back Sam Tomkins will leave New Zealand Warriors at the end of the 2016 season and return to the UK. Even though Tomkins has admitted he has nothing definite lined up it appears that everyone thinks it is nailed on that he will return to Super League, although some media types have a belief that if he does he is not guaranteed to return to his former club Wigan Warriors. I think this is rubbish and I would be genuinely shocked if he returned to another Super League club – if he did he would lose a huge amount of respect from Wigan fans and I don’t think this is something that he will want to do – he loves the club too much and will not want to be seen as just a mercenary who is chasing the money. He has confirmed that he will not be playing rugby union next year and I would put money on him replacing Matty Bowen as the Wigan Warriors full back next year, a mpve that will probably see the retirement of the outstanding Bowen. I don’t think the Kiwis will be too upset as they have pre-empted this decision and signed New Zealand international Roger Tuivasa-Scheck on a bumper 3 year contract from Sydney Roosters worth A$800,000 per year.

2.       Canberra have got a star

Elliott Whitehead

Just after the Tomkins announcement came the news that Catalans Dragons English international forward Elliott Whitehead has signed a 2 year deal with the Canberra Raiders in the NRL. I am gutted about this as he is a player that I enjoy watching and it would have been great to see him in the red and white of my team Hull Kingston Rovers. I would have liked to have seen him stay in Super League but if he has the desire to try his hand in the premier competition in the world then good luck to him – I believe he has the skills and athletic ability to be a success in Australia aligned with a strong mental attitude that will ensure he succeeds. He had an outstanding 2014 season in which he finished as the leading try scoring forward in the competition and made the England Four Nations squad. Undoubtedly he should have been given far more game time than he did and lost out to Joel Tomkins – a decision which I found ridiculous. Whitehead will join fellow England international Josh Hodgson in the Australian capital and hopefully he will settle in as well and as quickly as Hodgson who has impressed everyone with his performances in the green of the Raiders.

3.       Chase banned for 7 games for ‘cowardly ‘tackle’

Rangi Chase - 7 game ban

Salford Red Devils have been hit hard by the RFL disciplinary committee this week. The Red Devils found form over the Easter weekend with wins at Huddersfield Giants and at home to Wigan Warriors but they will now be without two of their form players for a while. Forward Weller Hauraki has been banned for 4 games for two offences over the weekend including being sent off for striking against Wigan on Easter Monday but the big news this week has been the Rangi Chase ‘tackle’ on Huddersfield Giants forward Brett Ferres. The Giants England international was stood in a tackle with two Salford Red Devils defenders holding him up when Chase came in from behind and hit his standing leg behind his knee – a so called ‘cannonball’ tackle – and the full weight of Ferres himself and one of the defenders went on to Ferres’ ankle as he was bent backwards due to the effect of Chase’s tackle. Chase did not affect the tackle with malice but he should have been fully aware of the potential damage he could do to a fellow player when hitting the standing leg behind the knee and he deserves this severe ban. It’s likely that Ferres will miss at least 4 months of action. Giants coach Paul Anderson was left fuming at the challenge and called Chase ‘cowardly’ whilst Red Devils coach Iestyn Harris called the Grade E charge against Chase ‘ridiculous’ – it’s amazing how two people can see the same thing so differently. A lot of Salford fans reacted angrily to the ban on social media whilst the rest of the rugby league fraternity agreed with it and some thought it should be even harsher. It will be interesting to see how Salford cope without their talisman starting with the visit of league leaders Leeds Rhinos on Sunday. You can see the tackle at the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw7FQlLUFyQ

4.       James Graham banned for 4 matches

On to another ‘tackle’ now that has caused controversy on the other side of the world and this time I have to say that I cannot agree that the James Graham challenge on South Sydney half back Adam Reynolds was illegal. The Good Friday match between Canterbury Bulldogs and the Rabbitohs was a tight and physical affair and the Bulldogs led 17-16 going into the final 2 minutes of the match. Graham had made a tackle and saw that the Rabbitohs had set up for a drop goal to level the match and charged at Reynolds in the hope of putting the kicker off. It is clear from the video that Graham’s head was down and he was not aware of the position of the kicker and just wanted to exert as much pressure as possible to ensure his side won this massive match in front of a 40,000+ crowd. Reynolds got the kick away but the pressure from Graham worked and the attempt was well off target – however, Graham hit Reynolds standing leg and it appears Reynolds has suffered a nasty knee injury. The Rabbitohs trainer was already on the pitch and Graham

Angry Jammer

immediately called him over to look after Reynolds and received a mouthful from the trainer which seems to have put Graham in a bad mood instantly. The fact he was penalised for the challenge added to his rage as he knew the Rabbitohs had a simple goal kick to take the lead with not much time left. For what it’s worth, I don’t think the challenge should have been penalised – Graham did not intentionally attack the standing leg of Reynolds but his momentum took him through and he made contact with the leg at a vulnerable moment. Players get injured in every match whether it’s from an intentional challenge or not and we do not penalise based on injuries. It is a shame that a player of Reynolds calibre will be missing from the game for a while but I do not think Grahams challenge was illegal.  Graham was obviously ‘pumped’ because of this decision and it’s ramifications and he has a huge amount of passion but that does not excuse his actions towards referee Gerard Sutton. Along with team mate David Klemmer he harangued and verbally abused the referee continuously using foul language and pointing and warrants a ban for these actions. His actions helped to incite the Bulldogs fans who were already furious at losing the game in such controversial circumstances and they started throwing bottles at the officials as they left the field, leading to one of them slipping and breaking his collarbone. Graham is the captain of a great club and quickly issued an apology for his actions in the aftermath of the game but I think this all stemmed from a challenge that was unfortunate for Reynolds but one that should not have been penalised – however, Graham’s subsequent actions ensured he deserved some censure. You can see the manic end to the match at the link below and make your own judgment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34meqI68iJw

5.       New Zealand to play Leeds

Hull and NZ legend - Gary Kemble

Leeds Rhinos announced recently that they will take on the New Zealand tourists on Friday October 23^rd as a warm up for the Kiwis prior to the three test series against England and to mark the 125^th anniversary of the Headingley stadium. I think it is very poor that they are playing this match to celebrate a stadium (however old and great it is) when 65 miles up the M62 Hull FC are marking the 150^th anniversary of this founder member of the Rugby Football League. I know the 1^st Test will be held at the KC Stadium 9 days later and they probably want to spread the games around a bit but this is an important anniversary and Hull FC have a lot of history with Kiwi players including current New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney. In the mid 1980’s they signed New Zealand internationals James Leuluai, Gary Kemble, Dane O’Hara and Fred Ah Kuoi and these players have become legends of the club and are fondly remembered 30 years later and in more recent times they have signed Kiwi captains Richard Swain and Kearney amongst others. I know the club have plans for a celebration to coincide with the 1^st Test but I think it would have been very fitting to award this tour match to Hull FC to mark their anniversary (and I’m a Hull KR fan)!!

6.       Brad Thorn retires

Brad Thorn

It was announced this week that Brad Thorn will retire from professional rugby at the end of this season at the age of 40. I have not really followed the career of Thorn and was surprised he was still playing, but I’ve done some research and this guy must be the greatest cross code player of all time. When we think cross coders we primarily think of Sonny Bill Williams in the modern age, Wendell Sailor, Matt Rogers, Lote Tuqiri and Jason Robinson a bit further down the line and I always hark back to Jonathan Davies and Martin Offiah going back to the 90’s. But all of those mentioned played in the backs (although SBW was a RL forward) and it is very rare for a rugby league forward to succeed in a rugby union pack. But Thorn has. Thorn was born in New Zealand but relocated to Australia with his family at the age of 8 and player junior rugby league played in Queensland. He was signed up by the Brisbane Broncos and played 200 games for the club in two spells (1994-2000 and 2005-2007) winning Super League and World Club Championship titles in 1997 and 3 Premiership titles in 1999, 2000 and 2006. He also played for Queensland in 14 State of Origin games and represented his adopted Australia in 8 Test Matches. In Rugby Union he made 59 Test Matches appearances for the legendary New Zealand All Blacks which included winning the 2011 World Cup, he won two National Provincial Championships in New Zealand with Canterbury, the Super 12 competition with Crusaders and the European Cup with Leinster and thus became the first player to win a Super 12, European Cup and World Cup. Thorn was a hard working consistent back rower in league and he made the transition to lock forward in union without too much trouble. He is currently seeing out his stellar career in England with Leicester Tigers and will finish up at the end of the season. He may not be as high profile as SBW or Sam Burgess but there is no doubt both is those will struggle to have a career as successful as Thorn’s. Below are some highlights of Thorn's rugby union career:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgfMbb3RLTs

A bit of extra time thinking:

Talking of Sam Burgess and he will make his first starting appearance at flanker for Bath at Newcastle Falcons this week. All of his previous 1^st team appearances have come at outside centre and it is a big move to put him in the pack although he does have the size and athletic ability to play in this position. It’s a much more technical game when you play in a RU pack and it will be interesting to see how he gets’s on. It’s probably pretty clear now that he won’t make the England World Cup squad and we’ll see if that affects his short term plans as a lot of clubs will be looking at him for next year if there is a hint of a chance he might turn his back on rugby union.

Congratulations to Leeds Rhinos legend Kevin Sinfield who became only the 4^th player in the history of the game to break the 4,000 point barrier after legends of the game Neil Fox, Jim Sullivan and Gus Risman. Sinfield is now on 4,011 points and will go past Risman’s 4,050 points to go in to 3^rd place on the all time list before he retires at the end of the year.

A few rumours flying about at the moment including the potential of Gareth Widdop and Mickey Paea signing for Leeds Rhinos in 2016. I don’t think there is a chance of Widdop moving to the Rhinos as they probably  could not afford him, he is under contract at the Dragons and the Rhinos have a readymade replacement for Kevin Sinfield in youngster Liam Sutcliffe who was outstanding whilst Sinfield was out injured recently. Paea is coming to the end of his 2 year contract at Hull FC and has history of going to the highest bidder. At the end of 2013 Hull KR offered Paea a contract extension but he went over to the darkside of Hull for more money and hasn’t that been a successful move?? ;) The Rhinos are losing Jamie Peacock and Kylie Leuluai at the end of the year and are on the look out for props.

Warrington Wolves are struggling at the moment and have lost 4 games in a row and there half backs are being constantly criticised. The rumour is that they will make a major play for Melbourne Storm, Queensland and Australia half back Cooper Cronk for 2016 and beyond. They have a millionaire backer in Simon Moran and if Super League brings in a Marquee Player rule then anything is possible. The final rumour is of a player going the other way with Todd Carney pushing for a release from Catalans Dragons to return to the NRL with the club that sacked him just last year, Cronulla Sharks. Both of these would be major moves if they came off.

You can follow me on Twitter @sharpster69.

SIX TO GO - CAMPO, TOMKINS AND EASTER DERBY'S

Welcome to the latest 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.

Lots of things have been going on this week at Leeds Rhinos and Hull Kingston Rovers this week amongst other things:

1.       Jamie Peacock to Hull KR

I covered this in my last article http://rugbyleaguelife.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/a-great-night-to-be-hull-kr-fan.html so won’t go in to great detail here just to say that this news came out of the blue and has come as a massive boost to the supporters of Hull Kingston Rovers. To attract a man with the reputation that Peacock has in the game to the newly created role of Football Manager is a great coup and it will be interesting to learn more about the responsibilities he will have within the organisation but there can be no doubt that if things are handled correctly, that roles are clearly defined and that Jamie is given the support and assistance he needs then he could greatly improve both the image and professionalism of Hull Kingston Rovers and make them a more attractive and successful proposition. Good luck Jamie.  You can see him here talking about his move. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0cvfu3J8ek

On a minor note but certainly not negative, Hull KR announced they had agreed to release former Rhinos prop Ryan Bailey from his 2 year contract in the week. Bailey has suffered an Achilles injury and has turned out just once in 44-24 defeat Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in round 2 – a match in which he scored a try. ‘Personal reasons’ have been given for him leaving the club. This means we are 2 props down from the start of the season following the retirement of the popular Michael Weyman and that there is a decent wedge of salary cap available to bring in a top quality prop forward – the  question is who and when?

Dane Tilse - new Hull KR signing

That question was answered on Tuesday night when it was announced that long serving Canberra Raiders prop Dane Tilse has signed a 2 ½ year contract and will move to the UK in the next few weeks once the necessary paperwork has gone through. Tilse is a big boy at 6’7’’ tall and over 17st and has made nearly 200 NRL appearances for the Raiders and at 30 years of age is coming into his prime as a prop forward. Other than that, I don’t know much about the player as he has certainly gone under my NRL radar (which is not that significant to be fair) but club skipper Terry Campese will know him very well from their time at Canberra and hopefully he will have given him a ringing endorsement – we certainly need him as quickly as possible.   

2.       Kevin Sinfield to RU

Even bigger news came out of Headingley on Tuesday lunchtime with the huge announcement that another Rhinos legend, club captain ‘Sir’ Kevin Sinfield, will retire from rugby league at the end of the year and join the Rhinos sister club Yorkshire Carnegie to play Rugby Union. Sinfield is 35 years old now and although he signed a 5 year contract in 2012 part of the agreement was that he could leave at the end of any season as long as he told the club at the start of that year. This he has done and he has decided to take up the challenge of trying to help Carnegie gain promotion to the top division of English Rugby Union. This is another massive loss for the Rhinos but if anyone has earned the right to decide on his own future it is Sinfield – he is the most successful captain in the clubs history, the Rhinos most successful goal kicker (1664) and the club’s record point scorer (3706) which includes 85 tries and 38 drop goals. During his near 18 seasons at the Rhinos he has won 6 Super League titles, 3 World Club Titles, 1 Challenge Cup, the Golden Boot award as the best player in the world, 1 Lance Todd Trophy for the man of the match in the 2005 Challenge Cup Final, 2 Harry Sunderland Trophys as the Grand Final man of the match in 2009 and 2012, has been awarded an MBE as well as earning 34 international caps (21 England 13 Great Britain) and he also captained England in the 2013 World Cup finals.

Legend - 'Sir' Kevin Sinfield

He is a much maligned figure and people are split in to two camps over his abilities – Leeds Rhinos supporters think he is God and all other RL fans think he is overrated and has been lucky to play alongside a special group of players at Leeds;)

Whilst the news came as a massive shock to Rhinos fans it will be interesting to see how he fares in Rugby Union where he will be playing fly half for Carnegie (there is nowhere else in a Union team he could play) and he will be 37 years of age at the end of his 2 year contract.

What must not happen is that we lose Sinfield to the game of rugby league long term – we need to keep people like him in the game – he is a hugely respected and intelligent individual and Leeds Rhinos Chief Executive Gary Hetherington must ensure that at the end of his 2 year stint in RU he is brought back to the Rhinos in some capacity or that there is some position within Rugby League that is suited to his abilities – we cannot have another stand out rugby league player lost to the game like Andy Farrell, Shaun Edwards, Joe Lydon, Billie Jon Mather and Mike Ford have been in the past few years.

Kevin Sinfield - England's General https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EFbltXURAc

3.       Terry Campese extends stay

Campo is happy in East Hull.

On the same day as the above announcements a big week got even bigger for Hull KR as it was announced that club captain Terry Campese had extended his contract to the end of 2017 with an option included to extend to the end of 2018. Campese has been brilliant both on and off the pitch for the club and seems to be really enjoying his rugby and his life off the pitch and with rumours flying about that Wigan Warriors, amongst others, where sniffing around Campo. It is absolutely fantastic that he has chosen to stay with the team that gave him an opportunity after he fell out of favour at Canberra Raiders. Campo is a great leader on the pitch and is a very intelligent player and has formed an outstanding half back partnership with former Titan Albert Kelly that will only get better with time. All we need to do is fight off the attention that Kelly is attracting from Manly Sea Eagles to ensure that, what could be the best half back combination we have had for a generation, stays intact and leads us up the Super League table. Things are starting to come together for the club off the pitch and now the players just need to add consistency and start winning away from home – starting with the Hull Derby at the KC Stadium this Thursday. Come on you Reds!!!!!

4.       Sam Tomkins on his way home?

Sam Tomkins

There are big and fairly solid rumours flying about that England and former Wigan Warriors full back Sam Tomkins is missing the meat pies of home and is looking for an early release from his 3 year contract with New Zealand Warriors. This has prompted a fair bit of social media interaction with various questions flying about and the main one seems to be – where will he go?? I think there’s a pretty obvious answer isn’t there?? Whilst Salford Red Devils owner Dr. Marwan Koukash would probably break the bank to sign Tomkins, I think the only Super League club he will ever play for is Wigan Warriors. Super League clubs are due this week to discuss, once again, the possibility of introducing a rule to allow one ‘marquee player’ signing per club whose salary is not included within the clubs salary cap and it looks more likely than ever that it could be approved – if this is the case then the Warriors will not allow themselves to be outbid by another Super League club and, anyway, as I mentioned above I don’t think Tomkins would sign for another Super League club just for more money – he would lose a huge amount of respect from Wigan fans if he did. It would be great to see a talent like Tomkins back in our competition and Wigan coach Shaun Wane could do to pull this one out of the bag as it may give him some breathing space as the Warriors form has been very patchy going in to the Easter Weekend fixtures against St. Helens on Good Friday and Salford Red Devils on Easter Monday. Two under par performances in these games will really put pressure on Wane whilst a win against Saints on Good Friday will give him a ringing endorsement to continue – such is the fickleness of top level sport. The only other viable option for Tomkins would be to take the riches of English or French Rugby Union as I have no doubt that there will be a few RU clubs keeping a close eye on this situation OR maybe he can just see out the very generous contract that he signed with the Warriors less than 18 months ago – wouldn’t that be something!!!!

5.       Marquee players.

Marwan Koukash has been calling for some time now for a Marquee Player ruling to be brought in to the game to prevent our best talent being lured to the riches of the NRL or, dare I say it, Rugby Yawnion and, after having his previous attempts de-railed by other clubs, the word is that Super League clubs are once again set to discuss this rule change. It appears that there has been a bit of a wind change and that there is a strong possibility that the rule could be brought in. The fans of clubs like Salford Red Devils, owned by billionaire Koukash, Leeds Rhinos, St. Helens, Wigan

Marwan Koukash
 

Warriors, Catalans Dragons, Hull FC and Warrington Wolves would probably welcome this kind of move as they have the financial clout to pay out big money for the top players in the world but what about the other clubs – Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, Castleford Tigers, Hull KR, Huddersfield Giants and Widnes Vikings would not be able to compete at the same wage levels as the other richer clubs. These clubs currently compete in the Super League competition without sometimes hitting the full salary cap anyway so it would be difficult to see where the additional big wedge of cash would come from without creating some kind of financial problems somewhere down the line. The obvious concern is that the rich clubs will grow richer and more successful and an even bigger gap will grow between clubs who can afford to pay out big wages and those that struggle to currently hit the salary cap. My other query would be who can the clubs spend this money on?? Will clubs target big name overseas players at the expense of giving opportunities to English youngsters?? That would be detrimental to the game further down the line or would they use it to keep the best of British in Super League (or away from Rugby Yawnion) – having said that, would the likes of Sam Burgess and his 3 brothers, James Graham, Sam Tomkins, Kyle Eastmond etc etc have stayed in Super League for the extra money rather than test themselves personally in a new environment in the best rugby league competition in the world or have tried to break into the more high profile world of Yawnion?? Maybe, maybe not – I think some players would stay for the extra cash but there will still be some players who think about personal pride and testing themselves to their limits rather than just how much money they are being paid. I’m not sure that the Marquee Player rule is best for the game in the long run – I think there should be a hike in the Salary Cap but at the minimum we need to keep the competition between the clubs on as even a keel as possible and not give a handful of clubs a massive advantage because of the size of their owners bank account. Super League is not the be all and end all and there are some players who think more about testing themselves rather than just cold hard cash – players will always come and go and we need to ensure that we have a fair and exciting competition without giving some clubs a bigger advantage than they already have.

6.       Easter Weekend

Hopefully Hull KR fans will be celebrating tonight!

Easter is here and that means the first big Derby’s of the year. St. Helens travel to Wigan Warriors on Good Friday on the back of their first defeat of the year at Hull KR last weekend and Hull KR travel over to the dark side on Thursday night to take on an under pressure Hull FC. Saints have had a good start to the year and are currently joint top of the table but they have not won on Good Friday since 2009 and go into this game with a number of high profile injuries. Travis Burns fractured his cheekbone at Hull KR last week, Atelea Vea damaged his shoulder and this week Jonny Lomax had his season ruined again as he has to go under the knife due to a knee injury. Add in the fact that Luke Walsh is still unavailable and it looks like there maybe a few tough weeks ahead for the Saints. Rovers go into the Hull Derby on a high after the defeat of Saints last week whilst FC lost at Castleford. Rovers have also been boosted this week by the signings of Jamie Peacock and Dane Tilse and the news that skipper Terry Campese has hung his flag to the mast of the Robins until the end of 2017 at least – so confidence is high in East Hull at the moment and I expect us to come away with the win. We have to back up the Saints performance and we need to start winning away games, which we have not done yet this year, if we are to be taken seriously as a top 8 or even top 6 contender (top 4 is wishful thinking – isn’t it?).

The Hull Derby - 'The Writing's on the Wall'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frp0WzbPN-w
 

 A bit of extra time thinking…

Talking of Easter and Saints skipper Jon Wilkin came out this week and said that the Wigan / St. Helens Derby was the biggest in the game. Well he would say that wouldn’t he – he is the Saints skipper for Gods sake. Some people may not realise that Jon is a Hull boy and played for Hull Kingston Rovers in their pre-Super League dark days and has not experienced a Hull Derby at it’s current magnitude as a player. If he had, he would not be making such ridiculous statements!!!! He talks about passion and intensity – he needs to be at the KC Stadium TONIGHT because believe me there will be no more passionate and intense sporting arena anywhere this weekend. Add in the fact that two teams from the SAME city are competing against each other and I think he would soon change his mind. The players who have not experienced this atmosphere before are in for a treat.

Widnes Vikings coach Denis Betts stated last week that we should kick Sunday rugby league in to touch. I can understand his comments coming on the back of a heavy defeat at Salford Red Devils last Thursday just 4 days after they beat Hull KR but I cannot agree with him. Thursday night rugby league has been thrust at us by Sky and it is playing rugby league on this night of the week that needs doing away with. Away fans struggle to get to games, people work nights and clubs should not be asked to play on a Thursday if they have played the previous Sunday. Most importantly it clashes with the Premier League darts – I want the best of both worlds and instead of binning Sunday Rugby League put the second Sky match to a Sunday night – that way you are only moving a fixture by a few hours rather than days – doesn’t that make more sense???

The tie of the Challenge Cup 5^th round, Leigh Centurions v. Salford Red Devils, will now be televised live on Sky  but it looks like it will be without star attraction Gareth Hock. Hock left the Red Devils earlier in the season after picking up a 6 match ban and signed for the Centurions shortly after. He is due to make his debut for Leigh on Easter Monday but it has now become public that Hock signed an agreement when he left Salford that stated he would not be able to play against them until the end of 2016. Leigh, and Hock, are now saying they knew nothing about this clause. I think that is rubbish and the clubs are now fighting a battle over whether Hock can play or not. I don’t understand why he was asked to sign this sort of agreement but the fact is that he did, apparently, or didn’t he????? Who knows?  Hock doesn’t seem to know what he has signed. He will have served his 6 match ban by the time the Cup tie comes around and that is punishment enough. This has got to be worked out so that Hock can play and a big game can be played fairly and neither side should have an excuse at the end of it because one player is or is not playing. Think about the game for once.