We Have the Technology

Deep in the bowels of Red Hall, the Rugby Football League super computer has finally finished compilling it's 'randomly' drawn fixture list and the The 2007 Super League fixtures have finally been released to the great unwashed.


After two months anticipation, fans can start bombarding the websites of Ryanair, Jet2 and bmiBaby for their sojourn to the Mediterranean.

It's also been confirmed who each side will now play at the 'Millennium Magic' weekend. Not surprisingly, the RFL have kept it to 'derby' fixtures.

For the event to prove the sceptics wrong, the RFL needs to attract a crowd, both from the North and from Wales and so to do that, they've put their flagship games on parade. Leeds will play Bradford, Wigan will play St Helens and the two Hull sides will also meet each other by the River Taff.

And that all seems fine. If you want fans to embark on a 500mile round trip, you've got to make it seem their while. But unfortunately, the RFL have shot themselves in the foot.

For the sides that face each other on that May weekend, it will be just one of four times they'll go toe to toe in the regular Super League season. That's four Leeds vs Bradford games, four Wigan vs St Helens clashes and four Hull derbys.

For a neutral and for Sky Sports, that's like Christmas and Birthday in one. Sky love the big games and so they'll be rubbing their hands with glee.
But for the rest of us, it's overkill.

Three times is enough, after you've factored in possible cup and play-off games but four, with a feasible possibility of seven games between two sides is doing nothing for the credibility of Super League and taking the excitement and anticipation away from what should be the stand-out fixtures in the calendar.
Derby's are more than just two local sides. They have a rivalry and intensity which makes them special. By having two sides play each other so frequently means that grudges don't have time to grow and the whole build-up to the game becomes shorter. They essentially become just like any other game.

And lets look at fairness. Whilst Leeds, Bradford, St Helens and Wigan are all likely to be taking points off each other, Hull FC can sit back, quietly confident of eight points against relegation fodder in Hull KR. Wakefield coach John Kear is fairly happy as well, knowing that whilst he's got four decent looking games against Huddersfield, Hull KR's draw means that they will probably be rooted to the bottom from rounds one to 27.

The game needs to revert back to the simple 'home and away' format. Playing sides three times is excessive, four times is overkill. Forget the arguments about making a free weekend for internationals, just do it for the games credibility.
Unfortunately, it's the small clubs that are the barrier to this, those who fail to realise that match days are not the only day to create revenue. Take a look around the 12 Super League grounds and you'll find a hotel, a University campus, an NHS clinic, an upmarket restaurant, an athletics stadium, a Rugby Union club, three football clubs and a multitude of conference and function facilities. Some clubs make use of them, some don't and instead, wait for a bumper pay day from the visit of one of the 'big four'.
But anyway, that's another argument entirely.

The RFL were onto a winner with the Millennium Stadium weekend but they've let themselves down. Would a supporter who reluctant to make the long journey south at first be tempted now, knowing that they'll have three more opportunities to see the same two sides in the other 26 rounds?

Nothing can be done now, the fixtures computer has spoken. Lets just hope the RFL take head for 2008.

Stacey Jones to Retire from International Rugby - No Really

Kiwi ace Stacey Jones goes into Saturday's Tri-Nations final with Australia for what will probably be the last time he will wear a New Zealand test jersey.




I'm not kidding, really!

OK, so he might have "retired" in 2004 and "retired" again after he announced he'd joined Les Catalans in 2005.

But now he's stated that Saturday's clash in Sydney will "probably be his last" game for New Zealand

Who am I to doubt that?

Another Year, Another Failure

For the second year in succession, Great Britain are the first side to bow out of the Gillette Tri-Nations after yet another year of failure on the International stage.



Saturday's 33-10 defeat in Brisbane highlighted how far ahead the Australians are and showed just how little the British game has actually progressed in comparison.

The debates raged long into the night at Suncorp Stadium as to why the Lions were once again shown to be toothless. Scheduling, injuries, travelling, team selection and basic abilities were raised as factors in the Brisbane and Wellington defeats but what reasons actually hold any water?

Problem 1: The Talent Pool.
Phil Clarke, the recently resigned Great Britain team manager raised a point in Sky Sports' after match analysis which I felt was extremely pertinent:

It's no good saying that "we tried hard". Twenty years ago, Brian Noble "tried hard" against Australia and lost. Today, Great Britain "tried hard" and lost again. That tells you that the problem is not one of effort, but one of ability.

You just have to look at the two squads to see where Clarke is coming from. The likes of Jamie Peacock, Paul Wellens and Gareth Ellis could make a strong claim to be amongst the best players in the world but once you look past that, you start to see where the differences apply.
Once Sean Long departed the Great Britain set-up, not only did he leave the side without a recognised goal-kicker, but he also left the side without an experienced half-back. Both Richard Horne and Rob Burrow, as talented as they undoubtedly are, are not battle-hardened on the International stage. Asking an untested partnership in McGuire and Horne to go into a must-win game against the combination of Thurston and Lockyer is the personification of Rugby League suicide.

The talent pool in Britain is light years behind the NRL set-up. You could take any one player from that Australian side and come up with a raft of players suitable to fill the void.
In the full-back position for instance, aside from Paul Wellens, there was only the injured Richard Mathers who could make a realistic claim for a test jersey. The Australians on the other hand, have Karmichael Hunt, Billy Slater, Anthony Minichello and, if push comes to shove, Darren Lockyer.
It's the same story at scrum half. North Queensland's Jonathon Thurston became the Kangaroo's natural successor to Andrew Johns but even if he had he failed to make the grade, the likes of Matt Orford, Brett Finch, Brett Kimmorley or Scott Prince would no doubt have been able to fill the void.

Part of that problem has been fuelled by Brian Noble's decisions to persist with the tried and failed players instead of blooding young, upcoming players in warm-up and exhibition games but the problems also lie at home. The pressures imposed by the threat of automatic relegation coupled clubs' insistence on importing overseas talent prevents the talent pool from growing and forces players from the Super League academies into the National Leagues, where they then lose the benefit of full-time coaching.
This brings me onto the next point;

Problem 2: Maros Kolpak
Never again will a Slovakian handball player from the German second division have such an impact on British sport.
The 'Kolpak ruling' in 2003 opened the floodgates for players from Tonga, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and South Africa (amongst other nations) to ply their trade in Super League without being subject to the overseas quota.
Just as an EU resident is able to work freely in the EU, so now is a member of a state which has a trading agreement with the EU.
Whilst this has meant the Super League fans have been thrilled by the skills of David Solomona, the power of Lesley Vainikolo and the personality and flair of Maurie Fa'asavalu, the quality of the imports has at times left much to be desired.
The fear for fans and supporters of Great Britain is that the overseas player are driving talent away from the Super League. In the round 27 clash between Bradford and Wakefield, just 16 of the 36 players on show were available for the watching Brain Noble to select. Such statistics show just how slim the talent pool is and it soon becomes little surprise why injuries and player withdrawals spell disaster of a touring GB side.
Rugby League isn't the only sport that has suffered from this. The same rules apply in Rugby Union but that too is to the detriment of Rugby League. Already we see the RFU, struggling to maintain a competitive England side with what is currently has, "importing" British talent from the 13-man game. Andy Farrell may not have been such a loss given his age, but perhaps the same could not be said for Chev Walker and Karl Pryce.

Problem 3: Scheduling
For the past three years, whilst Australia and New Zealand get two week-long breaks, Great Britain are asked to play four times in four weeks (five times had the made the final).
In such a physical and intense competition, such a schedule is difficult enough on home soil. On tour however, the problems are multiplied. The GB players are typically used to one hour drives across the M62 for away games and are, at worst, asked to endure a 90 minute flight to the south of France. To then ask those players to travel to the other side of the globe and then take no less than six domestic flights between venues is putting undue pressure on already overworked players.
The situation worsens when you factor in the number of games the players are asked to play domestically.
Any St Helens player in the GB squad that was lucky enough to play every game for his club would have played in 28 Super League games (two of which were in France), Five Challenge Cup games, including the final and two play-off fixtures (although this could possibly have been four had they finished lower in the table). That amounts to 35 domestic games in total from a possible 37 (excluding friendlies). In addition, add four Tri Nations matches and a mid-season international to give you 40 games in just ten months. Such a season is far from workable in such a physically intense sport and if GB are have the opportunity to prepare for success and prevent such a difficult international itinerary from occurring again, the the RFL needs to ensure that the number of Super League fixtures are cut.

Problem 4: Team Selection
A stand-off on the wing, a second row in the front row, a complete liability at loose forward, one of our most creative players sat on the couch at home and Sean Long at scrum half.
This years Great Britain team selection, like every other year, has been a mismatch of players picked on reputation being played out of position just so that they can all be accommodated.
Some selections paid off in the sense that they were one of few positives to emerge. James Roby and Gareth Hock played superbly and certainly staked their claim to be Lions regulars in the future.
But there were plenty of negatives. Leon Pryce was taken away from the area of the field where he is dangerous. He is a competent winger, but his talents are wasted there. The selection of Martin Gleeson was questionable to begin with but then his recall in place of the inform Kirk Yeaman suggested that Brian Noble had lost the plot and his persistence handing Sean O'Loughlin the number thirteen shirt showed quite simply that Nobby was indeed nuts.
Elsewhere, Andy Coley must have been wondering what he'd done wrong, after seeing Stuart Fielden keep him out of the side and Rob Burrow will also be questioning if he'll ever don a GB shirt in a test arena.

For many years now, we're constantly being told that we are catching up to the Australians. Those at Red Hall have been quick to point to British performances against NRL clubs in a pre-season friendly as an indicator that we are starting to get the better of the Roo's.
The results speak for themselves though and the past three decades have proved that the Australians are better in every facet of the game. Their infrastructures are better, their talent pool is better, their club game is better and their organisation is better.
Changes need to be made, not just to GB but to the British game in it's entirety, otherwise the Kangaroo's will continue to be leaps and bounds ahead of some very poor competition.

So Long, Farewell

After Sean Long landed back in Blighty on Tuesday and was quickly led away by a St Helens official, the British media were still pondering what actually happened as the Lions returned to their Sydney base after the defeat in Wellington.


As the official line of "personal problems" is still maintained by the GB management, a line supported by the need to be with his expecting wife, rumours of mid-air shenanigans on the flight from New Zealand still persist.

But in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Long claimed that his decision to leave the Tri-Nations early had nothing to do with the alleged drinking or gambling incidents, but was due to him believing that he had "nothing left to offer" the Great Britain side.
The man-of-the-match in the victory over Australia in Sydney reverted back to his usual GB standard in the 34-4 thumping at the hands of the Kiwi's and now it seems that the 30 year old has had enough.

So for Long, it will remain just one Test standard performance in eight years of International rugby. After making his debut in the 1998 series against the Kiwi's, Long has been consistently floundered once he comes up against notable opposition. The pin-point kicking game, clinical passing and devastating support play that has made him a favourite at Knowsley Road suddenly go AWOL as soon as he steps out into the International arena.

It also emerges on BBC Radio Five tonight that Long has retired from "tour rugby", effectively ending his International career.

At least now, Great Britain can move forward. Talented individuals such as Hull's Richard Horne, given the Number 7 shirt for Saturday's must win clash in Brisbane and Rob Burrow of Leeds will be handed their chance whilst Salford's Luke Robinson and of course, Lee Briers will be waiting for their chance come 2007 and for the 2008 World Cup.

It is of course, a far from ideal end for Long's International career but like Keiron Cunningham who announced his International retirement before him, few will bemoan the loss of a Great Briton.

The Chris Moyles Stadium?

Featherstone Rovers have made the headlines tonight with news off a major coup.






Apparently, the club's Post Office Road ground will now be named after BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles, according to a statement on the club's website.

The Leeds-born motor-mouth, who broadcasts to almost 6.8m listeners on Radio 1's flagship show often celebrates his West Yorkshire roots and his support for Rugby League but is more commonly known for his support of Leeds United.

Most of us will put this down to a belated April Fools Joke but the Rovers seem dead serious about this.

Perhaps more will emerge tomorrow morning on the Chris Moyles Show. Until then we'll just laugh at the inventiveness of the Featherstone marketing office.

A Long Flight Home

After Great Britain's capitulation in Wellington, scrum half Sean Long has left the Tri-Nations squad and returned to Blighty.








Saturday's 34-4 defeat to New Zealand means that the Lions must now go to Brisbane and at the very least, avoid defeat. That would be a tough task, even with a full strength squad but it then emerged this morning that the architect of GB's win over the Kangaroos in Sydney is heading back this morning.

The official line that came out this morning was that Long had asked permission to return home for "personal reasons" but rumours have been abound since the revelation.

The theory which most fits the reason and the one most of us will accept, is that Long has returned to be with his pregnant partner but more sinister claims have emerged both from the press here and in Sydney.

One story being banded about claims that Long had flouted an alcohol ban on the GB team's Sydney bound flight from Wellington, gambling exploits have also been mentioned - something that earned him a three month ban in 2004 and there is also the claim that Long had become unsettled after reportedly meeting with Australia coach Ricky Stuart over a possible move to Cronulla Sharks.

The Sydney Morning Herald has also put forward the notion of unrest in the GB camp surrounding the hooking role. The SMH has put forward that Long, amongst other players in the camp are unhappy at coach Brian Noble's insistence on starting Terry Newton at hooker, rather than Long's Saints team-mate James Roby.

Whilst I would suspect that the various theories are the result of the press looking for a story that isn't there, I suspect that we haven't heard the last of this. The SMH's "unrest in GB camp" story is the perfect paper seller and look out for plenty of follow-ups to that one leading up to the Brisbane clash.

Grounds for Celebration

With 2009 just over three years away and deadline day for Super League franchises fast approaching, clubs are eagerly sprucing up their grounds or upping sticks altogether.

Last week, Salford City Reds finally saw an end to their long-running planning saga as a Government equiry finally granted permission for the club to move to the 20,000 capacity City of Salford Stadium at Barton.
The £130m project next to the M60 wil include retail units a hotel and resteraunt, will finally allow Salford to move away from the notorious Weaste area which is often bemoaned by visiting supporters who have been witness to vandalised property and assaults on supporters by local youths.
Invariably, the Salford club and their supporters were unfairly tarred with the same brush as the local dellinquents and this stadium will go a long way to restoring their reputation amongst supporters.

Some 70 miles away in Doncaster, the Dragons are all set to move into their new home, the Lakeside Stadium.
The 15,000 seater facility, which will be shared with Doncaster Rovers FC, will give South Yorkshire a geniune Rugby League stadium and will certainly be the envy of the National Leagues and possible even in 2009, Super League.

Not only that, but both venues are further possibilities for RFL events. Hopefully well no longer see Challenge Cup semi-finals at Odsal.

With Castleford and St Helens both pushing plans for new grounds forward, Leeds and Bradford undertaking refurbishments of their homes, the future looks much more comfortable for a Rugby supporter.

But whilst the story may be a possitive one, it serves as a stark reminder to other clubs to get their act together. With clubs outside the elite showing progress, the less progressive in Super League need to get their act together or risk being left behind.

GB Unchanged for NZ Clash

Great Britain coach Brian Noble has stuck with the same 17 that saw off Australia in Sydney for Saturday's decisive clash with New Zealand in Wellington.





After the 'grannygate' affair which saw the Kiwi's docked two points for fielding an ineligible player, a draw or better will see the Lions qualify for the final against the Roos in Sydney. New Zealand on the other hand, have to win and then hope that Great Britain lose to Australia in Brisbane if they are to sneak through to the Sydney showdown on points difference.

The saying often goes that you don't change a winning side, but concerns must surround Brian Carney. The Irish winger left the field on Saturday due to a suspected hamstring injury - problem that has plauged much of his career.
If Carney is fit there can be no complaints, but questions need to be asked as to why the current Great Britain squad only has two recognised wingmen amongst it's ranks. Leon Pryce has played wing before and Lee Gilmour performed well in that role in Sydney but one must still question the why the likes of Mark Calderwood or Stuart Reardon haven't made the trip.

Time will tell. I assume that Carney is fit but I'd expect the Kiwi's to be making numerous moves towards the GB No2.

Let's all Laugh at Willie Mason.

Ha Ha Ha!

So Aussie big gob Willie proved to the Rugby League world that he's all mouth and little action.





Not content with mouthing off in the press all week, disparraging the haka trying to batter anything that wore a white shirt, he then went and cost the convicts the game against Great Britain, winding up the GB side and bombing the ball when presented with a gap wider than the Mersey tunnel.

The result, a 23-12 victory for the Lions, their first on Australian soil since 1992 and a RLIF disciplinary for Mason in the coming week.

Let's not get carried away mind. The odd Great Britain victory over the Roos isn't as rare as people might make out, it's just two consecutive wins that happen to be the problem.

That said, it's still bloody funny!