SIX TO GO – MAGIC WEEKEND SPECIAL

Welome to my latest column which covers the recent Magic Weekend:

Denny Solomona - 18 tries

WEEKEND OF COMEBACKS

The Magic Weekend showed more than ever that making a good start to a game and building a lead does not necessarily mean the two points are yours.

Both Warrington Wolves and Catalans Dragons opened up 14-0 first half leads over Castleford Tigers and Wakefield Trinity Wildcats respectively before succumbing to fightbacks and losing the games.

Hull FC opened up a 10-0 lead over Hull KR before falling behind 16-10 in the second half but then scored three converted tries to take the points.

The two halves of the Wolves v. Tigers game could not have been more different with the Wolves dominating the first 30 minutes of the contest before the Tigers got a foothold in the game towards half time.

In the second half it was all the Tigers as Luke Gale took control of the game and Denny Solomona helped himself to another two tries to take his season’s tally to 18 as Castleford backed up their recent demolition of Leeds Rhinos with 34 unanswered points against the Wolves.

The bad news for the Tigers is that a foot injury sustained in the match by Ben Roberts, in his first match for 10 weeks, will side line the former New Zealand and Samoa international for the rest of the year.

Coach Daryl Powell must be wishing that his team could show more consistency than they have so far this season.

The previously mentioned demolition of the Rhinos was totally out of the blue after they had suffered successive league defeats to Wigan Warriors, against Hull KR in which they conceded 58 points at home and against St. Helens.

This was the Wolves second defeat in a row and deprived them of the top spot.

Yes - we're playing again next week!!

CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS??

Why are coaches so reluctant to admit that they are concerned by their team’s poor form or that they are facing a crisis of confidence?

If I was Denis Betts or, definitely, Brian McDermott I would be gravely concerned about the form of my team and their prospects of improving over the rest of the year.

Betts’ Widnes side have swiftly lost the boring tag of being Super League’s answer to Leicester City by capitulating to 8 straight defeats since they inflicted the Wigan Warriors first home Super League defeat in nearly 2 years back on the 17^th March – a week after a huge 46-6 defeat of Hull FC.

Consecutive defeats to Warrington (twice), St. Helens, Catalans, Castleford, Wakefield, Hull KR and Salford at Magic Weekend have sent them tumbling down to 8^th place and they would have been in 9^th but for Salford’s recent 6 point deduction.

Even worse is the fact they seemed to have stopped scoring tries and are no longer playing the free flowing style of rugby that brought them their early season success and they seem to have a real battle on to stay in the top 8. They were awful last weekend at Hull KR and were not much better against Salford.

Meanwhile, everyone except Brian McDermott and Gary Hetherington can see that the current events at Leeds Rhinos have gone beyond a crisis and are a fully blown disaster.

Just like every other club in Super League the Rhinos can point to injuries as having caused them serious disruption this year. They also lost great players at the end of last year and have replaced them with sub-standard personnel who have come nowhere near to filling the void left by Sinfield, Peacock, Aiton and Leuluai.

Add in the fact that the floods in Leeds over Christmas decimated their training facilities then you can understand that their start to the season may have been slow.

However, to be using that as part of the excuse for such inadequate performances 5 months down the line makes it look like they are not willing to face up to the fact that when the Rhinos team crosses the whitewash they look rudderless, have no leadership and have lost all of the confidence and swagger that they have had for the last 10 years.

The likes of Zak Hardaker and Kallum Watkins were world class last year but are seriously struggling in 2016 – I suppose that’s not surprising when you look at the confidence of the team as a whole.

Their attack is not what it has been for a number of years now and even though they still lead the way in off loads they have scored far fewer tries than any other team and have also made more errors than anyone else and only Hull KR and St. Helens have missed more tackles than the Rhinos.

Twitter was going into meltdown on Saturday night with Rhinos fans severely unhappy with the fact that their team is not even competing let alone winning games and it seems to be this fact above all else that is getting to the Rhinos fans – after winning the treble last year they are not even competing with teams that they should be beating just a few months down the line.

Even though he is a multi-trophy winning coach Brian McDermott has never seemed to be overly popular with the Rhinos fans and after the last 3 weeks where they have been overran by the Huddersfield Giants in the Challenge Cup and by Castleford, embarrassingly conceding 52 points at home, and Wigan at Magic Weekend in Super League then a change in coach may become a reality.

Saints Coach Cunningham!!

SAINTS FANS GUN FOR LEGEND

Another coach coming under pressure from his supporters is Kieron Cunningham at St. Helens.

The former international hooker is a club legend and even has a statue of himself erected outside Langtree Park but that is not stopping a section of Saints fans questioning his ability to lead the club to further glories.

St. Helens, unlike the Rhinos, are at least a competitive outfit and currently sit in 5^th place,  just two points off the top 4 and a further two points behind Hull FC and had won three Super League games on the bounce leading into the Magic Weekend.

However, they were extremely poor against Huddersfield Giants and were booed off by a band of their supporters following an unconvincing and disappointing 48-20 defeat to a team that is second from bottom of the league and had won only three games all year prior to their best win of the year on Sunday.

Saints have been a mixed bag all season and have generally been inconsistent and Cunningham has been criticised by Saints fans for some of his team selections with players playing out of position plus his seeming early season reluctance to play Theo Fages in the half backs.

The heavy home Challenge Cup defeat to Hull FC did not go down well with the supporters either and with a real fight on their hands to make the semi finals of the play off’s, Cunningham will have to come up with something special to keep his team’s supporters off his back.

Of all the teams currently sat in the bottom four, the Giants are the most likely to break into the top 8 although any thoughts of another top 4 finish may have to be put on hold until 2017.

The Giants are packed with power and pace and played really well against Saints on Sunday with Danny Brough leading the way and with the ability of the likes of Leroy Cudjoe, Jermaine McGillivary, Ryan Brierley, Michael Lawrence, Jamie Ellis, Joe Wardle and Ryan Hinchcliffe it would be no surprise to see their results improve and them make a charge for the top 8.

Miller celebrates winning drop goal.

WAKEFIELD ON FIRE

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats are really achieving against the odds this season since Chris Chester took over from Brian Smith.

They were odds on favourites to finish bottom of the league this year, even their fans wouldn’t bet against it, and they lost 6 of their first 7 league games to back up the predictions.

Brian Smith stood down as Head Coach and lambasted the club owner Michael Carter and said that the club was in serious trouble due to the supposed cost cutting measures put in place by Carter who, in response, said that Smith was the highest paid Trinity coach ever and was given the biggest playing budget the club had ever had. They had also invested in the strength, conditioning and fitness side of the club.

Then in comes Chris Chester, sacked just months after leading Hull KR to the Challenge Cup Final for the first time in 29 years, and immediately the Wildcats become one of the form teams of the competition winning 7 out of the 8 Super League games they have played under Chester.

In his time at Hull KR he never oversaw a period of such sustained positive league results. Rovers did not win a Super League game outside of Hull last year and the team never looked like challenging for the top 8 in his time in charge.

The Wildcats brilliant 25-24 win over the in-form Catalans Dragons on Sunday, thanks to Jacob Miller’s monster drop goal, was a joy to watch and don’t forget that they trailed 14-0 in the first half and looked like being blown away by the Dragons.

However, they weathered the storm and Miller grew in confidence and completely outplayed Todd Carney and they fully deserve to be in 6^th place on the table with 8 wins from 15 games.

Chester has done all of this with the same squad that Smith had and has been quick to tie up a number of star performers to long term contracts in the short period of time that he has been there.

He seems more relaxed than he was at Hull KR and certainly seems to be more confident and is enjoying the fruits of his labours as the expected whipping boys are now looking to challenge for the top 4 places and have an eminently winnable Challenge Cup quarter final tie at Huddersfield Giants to look forward to.

Could Chris Chester be heading back to Wembley to lay some of the many ghosts from 2015?

Unscathed - Terry Campese.

HULL FC TOP THE LEAGUE

Hull FC defeated local rivals Hull KR 28-16 in the final match of the Magic Weekend to finish round 15 at the top of the table for the first time in a generation – and don’t their fans let you know about it!!!

However, it is fully deserved as they are, without doubt, the form team of the competition having won 9 out of 10 Super League matches since their heavy defeat at Widnes back in March and are packed full of talented individuals who are playing at the top of their form and with great spirit and playing good quality rugby league.

I said many times at the start of the season that it was all down to consistency for FC.

They started the season off well with wins over Salford and Catalans and their fans were booking Grand Final tickets before defeats at home to Castleford and Wigan and the hammering at Widnes had them cancelling their hotel rooms, however a scrappy win over Wakefield Trinity and coming back from 20-0 down in the Good Friday Derby to win 22-20 has really given them confidence and kicked their season on and they are very well placed to claim an all-important top four spot and they also have a home tie in the Challenge Cup quarter finals as well.

In an earlier column I called for the need to have a new name on the Super League Trophy at the end of 2016 – only four teams have won it since it’s inception back in 1998 – and the current Super League table see’s a top 3 of FC, Warrington Wolves and Catalans Dragons with only Wigan Warriors of the four previous Grand Final winners looking anything like making a title challenge again.

Are FC good enough to sustain their challenge for a first Grand Final triumph?

I think they are and I would not be surprised to see them contesting a second Grand Final in October at Old Trafford.

For Hull KR, it will be a hard slog for the rest of the season.

They picked up more injuries against Hull, Mitch Allgood has been suspended for one match for making illegal contact with the referee and Josh Mantellato is our for a further 6 weeks as well due to the broken arm he suffered on Good Friday.

The only positive from the weekend was that Terry Campese came through 80 minutes of rugby unscathed for the first time in nearly 12 months.

They were sluggish in attack and struggled to break down a well organised Hull defence – I can’t wait for this season to be over to be honest. 

Everybody's boss - Nigel Wood.

ATTENDANCE ‘SPIN’ HIDES DISAPPOINTING SECOND DAY

I love the way the RFL ‘spin’ moderately decent news and make it sound like the best thing to happen to the game in modern times.

The press release from Nigel Wood regarding the attendance figures from the weekend was just like that: ‘’The Dacia Magic Weekend has been an incredible success this year and once again Rugby League fans have turned out in force, creating an incredible atmosphere and helping to make this one of the most memorable weekends in the events history.

“Magic Weekend is a concept which is unique in British sport and the way in which the fans, clubs, volunteers and staff all embrace the occasion helps to make it a continued success. The stars of the event were, as always, the players, who delivered some unforgettable moments across both days that I am sure will live long in the memory of many fans.

“Results across the weekend show that the First Utility Super League is both extremely competitive and wide open this year, with just two points now separating the top four clubs. It promises to be an incredible end to the season.

There are some valid points in that statement but the big target for this year was for the attendance across both days to break the 70,000 barrier for the first time and after a first day attendance of 39,331 it seemed that that would be done comfortably.

However, I was surprised that the second day attendance, which included the Hull Derby as the culmination of the weekend, attracted nearly 10,500 fans less than the previous day – a total of 28,945 spectators giving the weekend a total of 68,276 – still an all-time Magic Weekend record but an increase of just 488 fans (0.72%) on last year’s event.

I realise that the fixtures on the Saturday had teams that attract bigger away followings – the fans of Warrington, Castleford, Leeds and Wigan always travel in decent numbers as against the fans of Wakefield, Catalans and Huddersfield who tend to have smaller away followings but I was still surprised that the total weekend attendance did not break 70,000 after such a strong first day.

Spin it as positively as you want but I would be seriously disappointed with the Sunday attendance and the RFL need to look at ways of shifting more tickets or changing the fixture format and splitting the best fixtures over both days.

SIX TO GO - FOUR NATIONS, SALARY CAPS AND INTERNATIONAL ELIGIBILITY

Welcome to my latest column which covers a number of goings on in the world of rugby league that have caught my eye over the past few weeks:

FOUR NATIONS

At last we can all book our tickets for the 2016 Four Nations tournament after the fixtures and venues were released recently.

I am really pleased that Hull KR’s Lightstream Stadium is hosting the Australia v. Scotland match up –the opening game of the tournament – as this will give me the opportunity to take my Skirlaugh U7s side to an international match that will have on show some wonderful talents from the NRL and Super League – I am sure that match will be a sell out.

Alongside the Lightstream Stadium in Hull hosting Scotland’s fixture with the Aussies it is fantastic to see Cumbria hosting a Four Nations match also. The Scots will head up to Workington Town’s Zebra Claims Stadium (give me Craven Park and Derwent Park any day, please)  for their final group match against New Zealand on Friday 11^th November.

I am sure the Cumbrian public will sell out the 10,000 capacity stadium as they have an affinity with the Scottish National RL team already having hosted two of their 2013 World Cup matches against Tonga and Italy – both matches drew crowds in excess of 7,000 – and their 2014 European Championship victory over Wales.

The only slight disappointment for me is that one of the Scot’s games could not be held in Scotland.

I am sure there are some Scottish Football League grounds up there with the right capacity and facilities to take a game on.

I am confused by some of the other venue choices, in particular the holding of the final at Anfield – home of Liverpool FC.

Without a doubt it is a wonderful stadium but has hardly any Rugby League pedigree in it’s history nor is it in a development area. It currently has a capacity of only 45,500 – although work will take place at the end of the football season on a new stand that will increase the capacity to 54,000.

Down the road we have Old Trafford which holds the Super League Grand Final every year, is a marquee venue and has a capacity in excess of 75,000 – either it is unavailable or, more likely, the RFL are concerned that England may not reach the final and the attendance would not be suitable for such a big stadium.

I kind of understand that so my choice to hold the final would have been the Olympic Stadium which has a capacity of around 60,000 – surely an Australia / New Zealand final would have sold that venue out and with the prospect of a strong England team coached by the legendary Wayne Bennett then I am sure a large number of tickets could have been pre-sold anyway.

As it is, that stadium will host England’s game against Australia and there really needs to be a big push to ensure that the stadium is sold out for this fixture, so that means the ticketing prices need to be at a level that fans can afford. We also need to get an atmosphere in that ground because it was as flat as a pancake for the Test against New Zealand last year – although, hopefully, the match against the Aussies will be a bit more exciting.

This is the last group game before the final and could pivotal to whether England will contest the following week’s big match at Anfield.

The choice of venue for the double header of New Zealand v. Australia and England v. Scotland on Saturday November 5^th is, for me, slightly bizarre.

I know Coventry have a semi-professional team and the RFL will be trying to promote the sport in the Midlands but the choice of the Ricoh Arena does not sit well with me for some reason – Coventry and rugby league just do not go together.

I would have much preferred to see the double header held in somewhere like Newcastle where I believe there is a far greater opportunity for the sport to grow – but I guess that the RFL have looked at Coventry as a central location and it is easily accessible by supporters from the South West also – I hope it sell’s out.

Semi the Australian.

SEMI RADRADRA IS A FIJIAN

It’s a representative weekend over in Australia and Semi Radradra, the huge Parramatta Eels wingman, should be getting ready to represent Fiji against Papua New Guinea.

Instead, by the time you are reading this he will have made his test debut, as Kangaroo representative no. 805, for Australia against New Zealand in Newcastle.

I am afraid that the decision by new Australia coach Mal Meninga to select Radaradra on the wing for the Test makes an even greater mockery of international rugby league than it already is.

Fijian Radradra has, in the last 12 months, become one of the best and most destructive wingers in world rugby league.

He is 23 years of age, Fijian born, is extremely patriotic towards his home country, is heavily involved in raising funds to help the island that was devastated by Cyclone Winston back in February and has already played 4 Test Matches for the Bati.

Now, all of a sudden he has decided that he wants to play for Australia at international level.

Can you find anyone who is less Australian than Semi?

The Aussies are breaking no laws or rules - he is now eligible as he has lived in the country long enough to gain residency.

I am a huge believer that we need international rugby league to be much bigger than it is now to realise the potential of this sport and the Pacific Islands, in particular, breed wonderfully talented and physically dominant players that are constantly picked off by Australia and New Zealand.

The Pacific Islands of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and the Cook Islands especially constantly produce top class rugby players for both codes and the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) need to look at ways of increasing these islands exposure to international rugby league and assisting them financially.

The majority of the people on these islands are not rich and generally leave them to move to Australia or New Zealand in search of a better life and more money and, should their children become talented sportsman they are already eligible for the Kangaroos and Kiwis and, if good enough, are picked off at will.

Radaradra is different – he lived on Fiji until 4 years ago when Parramatta scouted him at a sevens RU tournament in Dubai and took a chance on him – his parent’s still live on Fiji and he is an archetypal Fijian who loves his family and country.

But this comes down to money – by playing for the Kangaroos he will earn more money than he would if he continued to play for Fiji and this is a big motivating factor for Semi because it enables him to look after his family on Fiji much better.

He will get paid by the Kangaroos, he will be able to force through a bigger contract with the Eels, or someone else in their current predicament, and his endorsement potential will go through the roof.

But it leaves poor old Fiji without one of the best players they have had in the last decade.

Bear in mind as well that if Radradra is jettisoned by the Kangaroos after May’s Test Match against New Zealand he cannot play for the Bati for 2 years under the current eligibility rules, meaning a world class player would be in the international wilderness in the prime of his career.

Do Australia need Semi Radradra to play on the wing for them?

Haven’t they they got enough talented Australian born wingmen at their disposal to choose from?

Shouldn’t Radradra continue to play for his home island and make them a stronger and more competitive outfit?

I am not against players earning a decent living but it just seems wrong to me, and damaging to the credibility of international rugby league, that a player as high profile as Radradra can change his allegiance from his home country to another in order to boost his career and earnings.

This has been a long term concern in the sport and the RLIF really does need to clear up the eligibility rules and stop players swapping back and forth between countries – it has been ridiculous for far too long and needs sorting out.

The Eels owe Watmough.

6 POINTS ISN’T SO BAD, DOC!

I mentioned the current financial predicament of the Parramatta Eels above and I hope that Marwan Koukash is thanking his lucky stars that his club is not in the NRL.

The 6 point deduction and paltry £5000.00 fine that Salford received for breaking the Super League salary cap is a slap on the wrist compared to the 12 points deduction that Parramatta Eels have received for breaking the NRL salary cap in 5 of the past 6 seasons.

They have also been stripped of the Auckland 9’s tournament that they won earlier this year and fined A$1,000,000.

Koukash admits he may have made mistakes with the Salford salary cap and individual player payments back in 2014 and 2015 but will not admit any wrongdoing and therefore decides he can declare war on the RFL, again.

The RFL can now sanction the deduction of up to 20 points for breaking the cap so he should have a good look at what has happened at the Eels, keep his mouth shut, pay the fine and get on with re-building his club. He probably spends at least £5000.00 on his horses daily.

The Eels have overspent by A$3m over the last 3 years and are currently A$500,000 over the cap this year. They have been warned numerous times but they have constantly denied any wrongdoing and have not put their house in order.

Every competition point the Eels have gained this season has been docked, leaving them bottom of the table and they cannot begin to accrue points until they can prove that they are back within the salary cap. (This decision has now been overturned and the club CAN accrue points whilst legal action is being taken buy their Board of Directors)

My major concern is why it has taken so long, with the Eels in particular, for them to be punished. Surely. The NRL should have acted sooner and should not have allowed the Eels transgressions to get so out of hand.

The club will owe a great amount of gratitude to Anthony Watmough if he goes ahead and retires to take himself off the salary cap because it will save them having to make some difficult decisions on players contracts. Watmough is one of the top paid players at the club, currently injured, and the loss of his salary will take them back below the salary cap for this year.

There is no doubt that the management of the Red Devils has improved greatly in the last few months – probably because Koukash has inwardly accepted that he has done wrong and, in particular, since the arrival of Tim Sheens on the rugby side.

Contrast that to the Eels who have clearly disregarded the rules of the salary cap to a major degree over a number of years and with a management team of 5 people that need to resign immediately rather than try to defend their own reputations.

If they have any kind of feeling for the club, players and fans they will resign and allow the club to get back on track with new and better management.

The Red Devils and the Eels have been much more competitive outfits in 2016 then they have been for some time and have played some great rugby league and it is such a shame that incompetent management, or just plain egos, has made life so much harder for the players out on the field.

I have a lot of time for Koukash but his war against the RFL is becoming tiresome and it is now time for him to be man enough to hold his hands up, accept responsibility and continue on with the task of re-building the Red Devils.

The points deduction may condemn them to the qualifiers for the second successive season but they have a much improved squad and they will have no problems securing their Super League place for 2017, whereas the Eels have 15 games left to rescue their season and need at least 12 wins to make the 8, although it does not sit easy with me that if they make the 8 they will Have a chance of winning the title in the same year that they have been proven to be cheating the salary cap.

Josh Chsarnley

JOSH CHARNLEY – WHERE HAS IT ALL GONE WRONG?

Two days after scoring a match winning hat trick of tries for Wigan Warriors against Hull Kingston Rovers on Easter Monday it was announced that Josh Charnley had signed for Sale Sharks and will switch codes at the end of the Warrior’s Super League season.

We never want to lose any of our top players but I understand that sometimes a player needs a change of scenery or a new challenge – whether that’s with a new club, a new country  or in a new sport.

It has been clear to everyone that Charnley has not been playing at the high level that we expected from him for some time now although he seems to be getting back to his best form in 2016.

I expected him to be a shining star of rugby league for years to come and a fixture on the Warriors and England wing for many, many years.

I remember back to 2010 when he was starting out at Wigan and was taken on loan by my club, Hull KR, for a few weeks.

Justin Morgan was our Head Coach at the time and he had seen Charnley playing at Academy level and recognised a special talent. He had an outstanding loan spell with us scoring 5 tries in 5 appearances including a try in the Hull Derby and a hat-trick against Castleford Tigers – he quickly became a fans favourite.

Morgan wanted to sign him permanently but Wigan knew what they had and he quickly became a phenomenal success for the Warriors on the wing and has scored at around a try a game in around 150 appearances for the Warriors in all competitions and has also scored 8 tries in 7 international appearances for England.

He seemed to lose his way somewhat in 2015 through injury, loss of form and the emergence of both Joe Burgess and, in particular, Dom Manfredi who kept Charnley out of the 2015 Grand Final defeat to Leeds Rhinos.

12 months earlier you would never have thought that Charnley would not be part of a Warriors Grand Final squad or would be dropped completely from the England squad.

He has regained his place on a regular basis in 2016, due mainly to Joe Burgess signing for the Sydney Roosters but, ironically, appears to be performing as well as he has ever done for the Warriors.

The big question is what will he achieve in Rugby Union?

The last Wigan player to swap codes with the Sale Sharks was Jason Robinson and he became a legend in the Union game as well – winning the World Cup in 2003 when he scored England’s only try, making 51 international appearances, including a spell as Captain, making 5 appearances for the British and Irish Lions and winning the Guinness Premiership with the Sharks in 2006.

Those are some boots to fill and at just 25 years of age (by the time he get’s to Sale anyway) he will have a bit of time to settle in at either wing or full back but he will find it very difficult to break into an England squad that has just won the Grand Slam for the first time since 2003.

A change of scenery is sometimes required to give a player back the necessary fire to forge ahead with their career’s and I sincerely hope that this is the case with Charnley and that, should he comeback to Rugby League one day, he will return as a successful and well respected dual code international.

Widdop in St. George colours.

WIDDOP FOR ENGLAND – NO THANKS!!

If I was Wayne Bennett, the new England Head Coach, I would be looking at different options to fill the stand off berth in the end of year Four Nations tournament.

I do not rate Gareth Widdop as a world class stand off.

I thought he was average playing for England in the Test Series against New Zealand last year and his form this season for St. George Illawarra Dragons has, so far, not been what I would expect of a Test half back.

At his best he is a decent player with an average kicking game who plays well intermittently for the Dragons.

I think we have better options in Super League that can open up an opposition defence much better than Widdop can.

Bennett should talk to his newly announced assistant coach Denis Betts about the Widnes Vikings skipper Kevin Brown.

Brown was in the form of his life back in 2014 and still did not get selected for that years Four Nations by then Head Coach Steve McNamara. He had a dip in form in 2015 which meant he did not have a chance of selection for the aforementioned Test Series against the Kiwis.

Prior to the Easter fixtures this year, which injury prevented him from taking part in, Brown had been back to his imperious best and was the inspiration behind the Vikings rise to the top of the table – it is noticeable that the Vikings have crashed back down to earth whilst he has been in and out of the side through injury since Easter.

It was back in 2010 when McNamara had just been appointed England Head Coach that he surprised everyone by calling up a young 21 year old Halifax born lad who had made just 2 NRL appearances for Melbourne Storm and was back up full back to the legendary Billy Slater.

Widdop has gone on to play stand off for the Storm before a big money move to the Dragons at the end of 2013.

He has now earned 18 England caps and seems a permanent fixture in the side, so how likely is it that an NRL coach like Bennett will look elsewhere in the Super League for an alternative to Widdop?

Brown is an extremely skilful and creative half back with a wonderful dummy and brilliant passing game who is good enough to play at international level and deserves an opportunity.

But he isn’t the only stand off pushing for Widdop’s spot.

Wigan half back George Williams made two test appearances against New Zealand last year at scrum half alongside Widdop and was inspired in the First Test win at Hull before a disappointing performance in the 2^nd Test meant he lost his place to team mate Matty Smith for the decisive and ultimately successful Third Test at Wigan.

Williams has missed the start of the 2016 season due to injury but is definitely a player, when fit and on form, that could do a very good job for England.

The legendary Mick Sullivan.

THE LOSS OF LEGENDS.

I can’t write this column without mentioning the recent loss of two Hall of Famers – Mick Sullivan and Roger Millward.

You can read my tribute to Hull Kingston Rovers legend Millward, who passed away earlier this week, here http://rugbyleaguelife.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/roger-millward-mbe-legend.html .He was a player, and man, so revered and respected at the red and whites and throughout the game of rugby league that Hull KR have taken the wonderful step of retiring the number 6 jersey with immediate effect.

Mick Sullivan, who died on April 5^th aged 82, made a record 46 appearances for Great Britain before retiring in 1966.

That record has since been equalled by Garry Schofield but it has never been overtaken.

He scored 41 tries for Great Britain and played in a record 36 consecutive Test Matches from his debut against Australia in the 1954 World Cup.

He began his professional career with Huddersfield and was transferred to Wigan for a then world record fee of £9,500 in 1957 before St Helens broke that record by paying £11,000 to take him to Knowsley Road in 1961.

Mick played an important part in four Ashes triumphs – in 1956, 1959, 1960 and 1962 – and was only 20 when he helped Britain to victory in the inaugural World Cup in France in 1954.

His speed and power helped him score 342 tries, including a chart-topping 50 in the 1957-58 season and a phenomenal 120 in 102 matches for Yorkshire, England and Great Britain on the representative stage.

He scored tries in Challenge Cup Final victories for Wigan against Workington in 1958 and against Hull in 1959. He was also a member of Wigan’s victorious championship squad in 1960.

He scored a hat trick in the decisive Ashes Test victory against Australia in 1958 after playing in the infamous international in Brisbane known as the “Rorke’s Drift” Test.

Mick also had stints with York, and as player-coach with Dewsbury, before going to Australia, where he was captain and coach of Junee in New South Wales from 1966 to 1968.

He was one of 25 members of the Rugby League Hall of Fame.

RIP to two legends of rugby league.

ROGER MILLWARD MBE - LEGEND!!!

Roger with the Challenge Cup at Wembley in 1980.

This morning the great rugby league city of Kingston upon Hull, so often divided by intercity rivalries between the East and West, the Red and Whites and Black and Whites, will stand together to mourn the passing of a true rugby league legend.

Roger Millward MBE, it has been announced today, has passed away at the age of just 68.

Poetically, it is 36 years ago to the day that Millward was celebrating his greatest professional triumph and giving Hull Kingston Rovers, the club and fans, the greatest day they have ever had.

May 3^rd 1980 will forever be remembered as the greatest day in the club’s history as Millward captained Hull KR to a 10-5 victory over fierce local rivals Hull FC in the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium in front of the Queen Mother, over 90,000 fans inside the stadium and millions watching on TV.

Although winger Steve Hubbard scored 9 of Rovers 10 points that day and prop forward Brian Lockwood took home the Lance Todd Trophy as man of the match, Millward typically performed his own heroics and played the majority of the match with a broken jaw and even dropped a goal.

It was his last first team match in his adopted red and white.

Leap forward 36 years and May 3^rd 2016 will forever be remembered as one of the saddest days in the club’s history.

Without a doubt, ‘Roger the Dodger’ was the clubs greatest ever player, captain and coach.

Never before or since has or will ANY player or coach bestride the club in the way that Roger has.

A few come near to his status within the club, Colin Hutton and Phil Lowe spring immediately to mind, but none equal or surpass it.

Be it the club record 207 tries in just 406 games, that magical day at Wembley that he had craved throughout his career, the three League titles, one John Player Trophy, two Premiership titles, one Floodlit Trophy, one Yorkshire Cup and the Second Division title – no man will come close to what he achieved for Hull Kingston Rovers.

Roger Millward took Hull Kingston Rovers to the greatest heights in it’s history and gave supporters, myself included, innumerable memories that will live with us forever.

But if you saw a photograph of Roger, or met him face to face, you would never have thought that this man was one of the greatest rugby league players of all time.

More than anyone, Millward proved that a good little ‘un will always beat a good big ‘un.

He was short in stature and lightweight, yet he had the heart of a lion.

He thought nothing of throwing himself at opposition forwards and his tackling technique was superb, he had the speed of a gazelle that would take him through the smallest of gaps without a hand being laid upon him and he had one of the best rugby brains that, invariably, had him one step ahead of his opponents and, sometimes, his team mates as well.

It was this rugby brain that made him one of the best coaches of his time as well.

Roger also won 46 international caps (29 for Great Britain and 17 for England) to make him one of the most capped players in the history of the game, he was awarded the MBE in 1983 for his services to rugby league and was inducted into the rugby league Hall of Fame in 2000.

Roger joined Hull KR from Castleford 50 years ago, back in 1966, as an 18 year old who had already showed tremendous skill and ability when playing scrum half for Castleford when they won the inaugural BBC2 Floodlit Trophy the previous year.

Rovers paid only £6,000 to take him from his hometown club – a decent sum in those days for a young player – but, over the next 25 years as player and coach he would repay that figure handsomely.

To the supporters of Hull Kingston Rovers he is seen as a legend – pure and simple – but he was also a gentleman who played the game in the right spirit and ensured that his teams did also – although with players such as Len Casey, Mark Broadhurst and Chris Burton that wasn’t always possible.

The club was relegated in 1989, something that he could never have comprehended, and although he won promotion straight back to First Division in record breaking style the next year it was the beginning of the end and he left the club in 1991 and had a short spell as coach at Halifax before leaving the game for good.

Speak to any Hull Kingston Rovers fan, young or old, and they will have nothing but good things to say about Roger.

Even if they did not see him play the stories and memories have been passed down from generation to generation and Roger Millward, MBE will forever be remembered not just in East Hull but in the world of rugby league.

My condolences to his family and close friends.

RIP Roger – it is a sad day.