Peter Hood has written to the RFL asking if their postponed game at Harelquins can take precedence over Manly's warm up game against Quinns that weekend.

Is this an appalling effort by Hood to undermien the event or does he have a point that a SL fixture should take precedence over a warm up game?

On this occassion he has a point.

Yes he has a point.

they should make the bulls go to quins on the wednesday before good friday

To be honest, I did wonder how well moving a SL fixture to accomodate a friendly would go down. I would therefore wonder whether this might be testing the RFL's patience a little further. I suppose a lot will depend on how much the RFL were involved in brokering the Manly game, and what agreements were put in place with Manly.

In short, if it was a Leeds gae being shifted so another club could play a friendly, I'd be a bit miffed.

Bulls want Manly to have no match practice before WCC, fine by me

They should just schedule it for Challenge Cup semi-final weekend - neither of them will have anything else to do...

If Leeds were to win, would this undermine our victory or would people not be bothered as long as we pick up the trophy?

We could blame Bulls

He does right.

Since when has a friendly been more important then two league points.

I'd personally rather win knowing the opposition have no excuses.

You know the Aus pres will make a meal of it if we win and Manly' warm up game was cancelled etc. They'd call it a fix.

Some people may not be bothered though so....

Cant see it happening (although his point is valid) as Quins will object. I think they will get a good crowd by attracting the Aussies down in London to the Manly game. It will also bring out a lot of neutral RU supporters why might fancy seeing the best attacking team in the world play.

Who wants to go watch a poor Bradford team

Neither will Leeds so we could play you and Quins?

Manly arent a bad side either though you know

On the same weekend Mick? Why not, you might as well get two defeats out of the way at the same time I suppose.

That'll never happen as long as it's Aussies that are losing.

That is never going to happen while the match is played here in winter with a only home support. A warm-up doesn't make a difference to the Aussies opinion of this event.

Or Bradford to pick up four points and move eight clear at the top

I'm guessing Bradford would have been consulted re starting their season a week early. If they agreed to this, they get little sympathy from me. No good complaining about fixture congestion now; had their game not been called off they'd've had a less congested season than many of their rivals.

very true but we know ourselves that these excuses will go on forever as long as the competition is 'unfair' on the aussies. nothing we can do about it, but it would appear Manly are taking the competition more seriously than most so lets see what happens.

Good point well put!

As much as it pains me to agree, the Bulls have a strong case. I wonder if the Quins share similar feelings? Rather than having a fixture pile up, a re-arranged game with the Bulls would sort the problem out, but they would have to forfeit the Manley game. The RFL will ideally like Manley to have a run-out trial game against SL opposition, as it acts a useful tool to show that NRL are taking the WCC seriously. But if Quins do dodge the game, what about the leftovers from last week? Wigan or Wakie, as they should have a free week. They may fancy taking them on, I mean when would they get another opportunity? Manley may see Wigan as worthy opposition and Wakefield would fit logistically.

It could be argued that the Bulls seem to have had their plans disrupted as Quinze need a leg up in promoting their club. If Bradford find themselves playing two games in a week in a few months, there could be a detrimental effect on their season. It will be interesting to see how it pans out, but I wouldn't object to Hood sticking to his guns.

No we were'nt hense the article in the T&A with Peter Hood going mad as we lost out on a match against Hull KR.

Also Peter Hood hasn't complained about this friendly he actually said in the T&A and I qoute:

“We’ll talk to Red Hall and see what comments they have got on the situation,” he said.

“If that Manly friendly wasn’t going ahead, maybe something could be sorted, but as far as I know I’m sure it still will.

“Just because this game has been called off because of the weather, it doesn’t change the rationale for setting up that Manly game in the first place.”

[urlhttp://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sportbulls/sportbullsheadlines/4110666.Bulls_must_find_new_Quins_date/[/url

I would suggest that stating that the rationale for setting up the friendly isn't changed just because of the game at the weekend was called off isn't exactly an attempt to undermine anything.

Slightly different slant in the [url=http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/rugby-league/Bird-and-Bulls-face-anxious.4962980.jpYP[/url. Hood seems to be asking the RFL to change the fixture. I'll give him this, he's being a lot more circumspect and canny as opposed to his past approach of foot stamping and dummy spitting.