Thoughts on This and That

I should be pretty excited at the moment, tomorrow Bradford Bulls play St Helens at Odsal, the most successful clubs of the SL era, and two of the best teams in this years competition go head to head, but I just can’t build up any enthusiasm for the game at all, it’s doubtful that I’ll even watch on television.

It’s not just this game, SL as a whole just isn’t appealing to me at the moment, Rugby League is still my favourite sport and I can’t put my finger on the problem exactly, I guess it will pass - but you never know.

No-one can doubt that RL players in SL now are fitter and more athletic that they have ever been before, however I do wonder if this has been to the detriment of the skill level, and taken away some of the unpredictability of the game, to me the game is becoming more and more “run into tackle x 6 then kick” and there seems to be less and less imagination and freedom in the play.

Maybe that was always going to be a consequence of professionalism, maybe we have to wait until the competition is truly even before skill can again start to come to the fore on a more regular basis but, for now, I think I’ll stick to watching some lower league and amateur action, where players aren’t half as fit and athletic, but have a bit of time to try something out, you still have the spectacle of little guys running round big tired forwards, and there’s still a bit of the “biff” that sanitised Superleague has cleaned out.

I’ll give it about six weeks, then Superleague will probably have never seemed more appealing!

I was hoping to bring a little report about a trip to Batley, to see the derby with Dewsbury in the Northern Rail Cup, this afternoon - unfortunately I forgot to check the kick-off time, only finding out it was a 2 o’clock start (rather than the standard 3), as I was about to leave the house to jump on a bus there!

Typically it sounds like it was a bit of a cracker, Batley winning 19-18 with a last minute drop goal. Note to self: Do your research next time.

So, Superleague is back from tomorrow, so I thought I’d stick my neck on the line and make a few predictions about how it will all pan out, after all it’s better to have an opinion that’s wrong, that to not have an opinion at all…..

The competition will be termed “the best ever” and described as “the most unpredictable ever” by SKY TV and the RL media, regardless of whether this is the truth or not. There’s no doubting the lesser lights in the league have improved in recent years but, personally, I think this has been at the expense of the teams at the top - though in the long run it may prove to be a necessary evil - once the majority of clubs are at a high standard, then all will have to attempt to improve further, if they want to see success.

Warrington fans will claim that this is their year, though their coach will ensure it isn’t, Saints fans, and their media sycophants, will label anything in the redvee as the best in the worl, Wakefield fans will whine incessantly and Bulls fans will go off on one anytime a media story doesn’t blow smoke up the clubs arse, no changes there then.

Anyway, my totally wrong prediction for this years final table is as follows…

1. Leeds - I believe they have the best combination of quality and depth, and should come top of the tree, though we cannot be sure the effect a new coach will have.
2. Bradford - The depth in the squad should see a decent finish, whether the quality is there to win the big matches remains to be seen.
3. St. Helens - A favourable fixture list helped them to top spot last time, but they were shown up in 3/4 games with Leeds, key players are ageing, becoming more injury prone, which means their star is on the wane.
4. Wigan - Would have finished fourth in the league without a points deduction last year and, providing nothing similar transpires, they should have the depth to match that.
5. Warrington - Some very good players, but a very questionable coach, on paper they should easily make the six, but I wouldn’t be too keen to put money on it.
6. Hull F.C. - Peter Sharp seems to have assembled a solid, if unspectacular squad, and a few experienced NRL heads should see them into the play-off spots.
7. Huddersfield - Made the play-offs last year, but Brad Drew will be a massive loss, and others may have overtaken them with smarter recruitment.
8. Wakefield - Their progress under John Kear is undoubted, though I think they lack the quality to trouble the play-offs, their main concern will be securing a licence for 2009.
9. Hull K.R. - They’ve recruited massively, and may take some time to get going, should be capable of giving anyone a game on their day and have too much about them to get dragged into the battle at the bottom.
10. Les Catalans - Stacy Jones is a big loss, but maybe not quite as massive as some would like to make out if Aaron Gorrell is able to recapture the form he showed before his injury last season.
11. Harlequins - Quins’ recruitment for this term hasn’t been inspiring, and a thin looking squad could well struggle all season.
12. Castleford - Cas’ main priority will be ensuring a license for 2009 and beyond, the signing of Brent Sherwin could be crucial in helping the club develop a good crop of youngsters as they are exposed to SL level.

Last year I managed a whole 3 out of 12, so we’ll see if I can better that this time! As for the Grand Final winners, I believe any of Saints, Leeds and Wigan have the ability and matchwinners to do it on the day, but it’s a long time until October, and anything can happen before then!

Leeds suing Bulls for £3.2m is the title of that particular post on the Red, Amber and Black forum, which is typical of todays media reporting of Bradford chairman Peter Hood’s comment that “If we had to pay £3.2m within 14 days, we could not do it.”

Funnily enough, neither could I.

No documentation seems to exist saying Leeds want £3.2m in compensation over Iestyn Harris’ move to Odsal back in 2004, and Leeds themselves have refused to comment on the case, as it is currently subject to legal proceedings, all of which allows this story to rumble on and the momentum to build, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

Or maybe, there is, forum topics across Rugby League websites like rlfans.com have sprung up with most fans attacking Leeds for their supposed claim, even a large proportion of their own fans aren’t too happy about it and, to me, it all adds up to the Bulls getting what they wanted from letting this story slip at a fans forum on Tuesday, sympathy and making the Rhinos look like the bad guys.

I can honestly say the story, now almost 4 years old, has bored me now and I’m just hoping it can come to an end, sooner rather than later. If the Bulls are found to have induced Harris to breach his contract, then they will have to take their medicine, if it is as severe as £3.2m then they will be, for the want of a better expression, screwed but one thing is for sure, the lawyers and media will win whatever way, and rugby league won’t.

Former Great Britain Rugby League captain Mike Gregory died today, aged just 43, after a four year battle with a form motor neurone disease, picked up from an insect bite while coaching the Great Britain academy side on a tour of Australia, the disease cut short what looked to be a promising coaching career for Gregory, who had led Wigan to a Super League Grand Final from 3rd place, and a Challenge Cup final in only a year in charge of his home-town club.

I’m not one of these professional mourners who comment on anyone and everyone who passes away but this one has struck me a little, he was one of the first RL players I can recall from when I started following the game on television and he’s one of those rare people involved in professional sports who you will struggle to find someone who’ll say a bad word about him.

Mike leaves a widow and two children, one five years old and the other nine - no child deserves to lose a parent at such a young age and if thoughts should be with anyone at the moment, it should be them.

Funnily enough I watched this clip during my youtube day yesterday, Mike is the last try-scorer on the compilation, which harks back to the days when GB used to produce a few more skilful players…

As a British Rugby League fan, and one who is far more concerned about the game as a whole rather than my own solitary club, I should be ecstatic at the fact that we’ve won our first test series since 1993 by beating New Zealand 3-0 over these last few weeks and, in some ways, I am - but I’m not so ecstatic about how some people are getting ridiculously carried away by the whole thing.

Maybe it’s just a reaction to being success-starved for so long, and people just want something they can crow about but, if you scratch beneath the surface a little I’d say there isn’t too much to get excited about just yet.

New GB coach Tony Smith is being hailed as some kind of coaching genius for inspiring the series win, yet in the 5 previous tests on home soil against this opposition GB have won 4 of them, so it’s not exactly out of the blue that we’ve been able to defeat them so convincingly, and that’s before getting started on the “strength” of the side that was sent over.

The Kiwis always seem to have problems of one kind or another when trying to put an international outfit together, suffering from multiple withdrawals and clubs not wanting to release players, and they were further hampered this time out by the retirements of two true Kiwi RL legends in Ruben Wiki and Stacey Jones, the sides biggest two players and leaders over the last few years, and it has shown on the pitch - not only over here, but before that when they were thrashed 58-0 by Australia, who were missing one or two of their top stars themselves. This year they have also been hit by the departure of coach Brian McClennan, with the inexperienced Gary Kemble having to come in and try and pick up the pieces.

Another thing that has to be questioned is the commitment of some players to the Kiwi cause, we’ve seen players unwilling to battle their clubs to be allowed to play in test matches in the past and, with the world cup coming up next year, we’ve now got a succession of players who have played for the Kiwis deciding that they actually want to play for Samoa, where they have roots either themeslves, or through family, though I wonder if that will change if Samoa don’t qualify, no doubt it will and the likes of David Solomona will come crawling back, but you can hardly expect such players to be relied upon when they are willing to chop and change their loyalties every other year.

It was a real boost for the game when the Kiwis defeated the Australians to win the tri-nations back in 2005, but it’s all been downhill from there with only 2 wins in 13 tests subsequently for the sake of themselves, and for international RL hopefully they’ll be able to get themselves back on track in time to ensure next years World Cup is truly competitive.

Although the Kiwis were bad GB can obviously take some positives and, if nothing else, our players should now have a bit more confidence after experiencing success on the international stage but the brigade saying “now bring on the Aussies”, “Tony Smith is an international coaching guru” and “Rob Burrow is the scrum half we’ve been lacking for 20 years, if only he’d been playing against the Aussies these last few years” are obviously a lot easier to convince than I am. Let’s see how a half-back pairing of Rob Burrow and Leon Pryce cope with the Australians, when they won’t be playing with the momentum GB have been able to build against this poor Kiwi outfit, let’s see how Jon Clarke does at dummy half in a similar situation, and let’s see how we can respond to letting in soft early tries against them and a stronger Kiwi side before we declare that Tony Smith has turned a team of also rans into world beaters.

For those of you who understand these internet abbreviation thingies, please accept my apologies for the language used.

Further to my blog yesterday, it appears Bradford Bulls chairman Peter Hood wasn’t joking at all, and he has now instigated legal proceedings against the RFL, where this is all going to end I don’t know.

Over the past few years I have found plenty of things embarassing when it comes to supporting the Bulls, whether it be incessant whining about decisions, bizzarre conspiracy theories about the whole RL world trying to do us down or the fact that everyone from Bradford Council through to Morrisons Supermarkets via every national and local newspaper has it in for us and is trying to do us in, but this is something else, and a large part of me hopes that this ends up having some serious negative consequences for the club.

The Bulls copped a couple of very bad calls from the ref at the end of Sunday’s game against Leeds, these things happen for and against every team from time to time, most of whose officials have a bit of a moan and let off some steam - then forget all about it. In those circumstances you can pretty much forgive coach Steve McNamara’s misguided rant about being cheated in the heat of the moment after the game but, when I first read our chairmans demand that Leeds hand us the two points, I was mortified and, as a Bradford supporter, embarassed.

Then I thought about it and realised that he was just joking, wasn’t he? He can’t actually be serious - the problem being that such whining does nothing for the sport, enhances the opinion held by some about Rugby League being full of small-minded, petty and parochial people and further confirms the (not totally unjustified) repuatation Bradford have of being serial whiners.

So Mr Hood, in the unlikely event you are reading this, please shut up.

So, the rugby starts this weekend. You probably know that already what with all the press coverage and hype, television adverts and big publicity drives ahead of the opening clash between Huddersfield and St Helens. No? Or did you think I was talking about something else?!

Anyway, so this can be brought back up and me mocked in October, here are my predictions for Super League 2007……

1st St Helens - as much as I hate to say it, they have the best team and the best squad. I can’t see beyond them defending the title.

2nd Hull - a solid squad, but noone who makes you think “wow” with that extra bit of class, a favourable fixture list should see them into 2nd spot.

3rd Leeds - a great team on paper, some concern over forward power and squad depth and they may struggle against the other big teams.

4th Warrington - always seem to underachieve compared to what they have on paper, but they have strengthened for this term and may benefit from others getting weaker.

5th Bradford - this years squad is the weakest we’ve had for some time, only the one eyed fans think we’ll do anything, though this does account for 90% of our fan base.

6th Wigan - they lack squad depth, but should have enough about them to sneak into the play-offs, although a few injuries could cause them big problems.

7th Salford - they’ll battle all the way with Wigan for the last play-off spot but may just fall short.

8th Huddersfield - not good enough to challenge the top six, too much about them to be worried about relegation.

9th Les Catalans - this years imports should be an improvement on those from last term, and the rest of the players, and the club, now have a year under their belts to know what it’s all about.

10th Harlequins RL - should be safe enough, though the squad doesn’t have the exciting look that it did at the start of last year, where they underachieved.

11th Wakefield - some strange signings have been made by John Kear, but they still have a fair bit of quality and should be able to keep their heads above water.

12th Hull KR - they’ve been waiting a long time for this and won’t lack heart or passion, but like all promoted clubs they are up against it from the start, and just don’t seem to have the quality.

According to this article in the Rugby League section of the BBC website, there is “a new curiosity about the goings on at Twickenham” amongst Rugby League fans due to the fact Andy Farrell is set to make his england debut this weekened, in a team also likely to feature Jason Robinson.

Though the author, Dave Woods, acknowledges that “Faz is good, but he’s not good enough to make generations of League fans forget all the reasons why they don’t really like English rugby union” he goes on to claim that “at least we will be watching”.

What a strange comment to make, I wonder who he claims to be speaking for, I certainly won’t be tuning in to watch union all of a sudden - and not for “historic, cultural and social reasons”, but because the sport is tedious shite, and I’d rather spend my afternoon sticking needles in my eyes than watching it, former Rugby League players in the team or not.