Five minutes played with only one correct play the ball and no penalties or warnings.

I just love it is back!!

20 mins and already a send off - hopefully banned for 2 weeks ha ha

Outcome expected once send offs took place, however, the play the ball rucks are a total disgrace allowed to prevail with inept readings by the ref right from the start ! - - if the rfl have told the refs to clean up this issue then it shows that the refs are not up to it !!!!

Well, if that standard of gamesmanship is allowed to prevail, then more people will get frustrated & turn off watching, pretending to be on the wrong side getting up, pushing down on player getting up, holding down looking at the ref till he says ok rather than the ref shouting early to prevent these actions of slowing down, smoothies got away with more facial actions & arm across the throat of the neck to the point of got ridiculas, the game of speed & skills ruined by pure " Gamesmanship ".

I thought it was a belting game. I agree that the "foot on the ball" message was completely ignored, but equally the apparent gamesmanship went largely ignored too. Kendall made some errors but they evened out and it started the season off in great fashion. Plenty of movement, speed, quick game, and a bit of snarl.

Burgess had a ball up his shirt tonight, bigger belly than mine

He looked dreadful and was dreadful. I wonder whether he thought Super League was such a step down that he could slum it. Tonight was a fast game, perhaps faster than a lot of NRL games (because their defences are better), and he got found out.

Good to see sloppy PTB's being given against the attacker though and wasn't falling for any clamping nonsense. I think as long as people make some sort of motion with the foot above the ball its ok for the PTB. No one wants to watch a pen fest

Exactly what I said Slugger, played 16 minutes and was blowing like an old steam train, different side when he went off.

Get yourself to specsavers BLM.......

"Kendall made some errors but they evened out"

Sorry but since when has a high shot been more serious than leading with the elbow...other than when a player gets sent off for one but another doesn't even get penalised, which allowed Wigan to gain a foothold in the game as it came in the tackle before their 1st try...shocking

It really should be a simple rule though shouldn’t it? Play the ball with your foot or it’s a penalty?

They don’t seem to have any problems doing that in the NRL..

Why bother with even mentioning a rule change though because despite Kendal setting his stall out in the first set of six in the game telling the player to play it with his foot he just went on to ignore it and there were countless ones where no effort was made?

What if some coaches and teams have been working hard in training to drill it into players and then they see that tonight...it’s open season to just carry on standing over the ball and making no effort...how can any other ref penalise anyone for it this week now?

As for the game...for a round oner I thought it was pretty decent...French and Hastings look like they could be an outstanding pairing but have Wigan got the pack to complement them...I’m not sure, especially back row...

Thought Warrington were unlucky to say they played with 12 for so long...will certainly be challenging come the end of the season...just glad rugby is back...roll on tomorrow...today in fact!

The NRL did a lot of work in the pre-season a couple of years ago, including sending out correspondence to all clubs telling them of their intention to enforce the PTB rules with particular emphasis on rising to the feet, placing the ball on ground and playing the ball back with the foot. This was reinforced by refs working with the teams during the pre-season.

The effort has created a most gratifying improvement in this area since.

Today there was no improvement on attempts by the referee to enforce basic play the ball rules and I can recall only 2 or 3 instances where the ball was played correctly.

Hence a problem if teams/coaches in SL are told that there must be an improvement in the PTB area and referees,as today, completely ignore the basic enforcement rules.

If we can play with half the intensity of the game last night I’ll be pleased .If the wires can keep a full team on the park for the full 80 they’ll be a tough team to beat ,didn’t seem to lose any steam over the full 80

Burgess showed in graphic detail what I’ve beiieved for years.

Steer well clear of NRL players with big reputations and big price tags. There is s reason these players are available to SL, they are no go longer NRL standard! Not even Titans level.

Even the ones who do OK never and I mean never reach there NRL standards. If they could they would still be playing in the vastly superior Aussie comp.

Very occasionally one gets through but counting them takes one hand.

Gut aside just look at Burgess he has everything required to make it, everything except the desire, something he’s never going to find on a cold wet British evening.

When dear god are we going to learn and start investing the games cash in young British players instead of going for cheap fixes.

The only Aussies etc worth going for are the nearly men, the second chance brigade. They have desire, they have something to prove and many will travel hear for relatively small amounts. Yet even these should always be second choice to Brits.

I reckon there are have been dozens of young British players who given the chances and time lavished on these imports would have made it. But patience isn’t our thing I’m afraid. Very sad.

Bit early to call this one I think as he looked way off in fitness terms ,will reserve judgment until he’s got a few more games under his belt.

Not a bad game - considering it was the season opener; although I too was dismayed at the gamesmanship on display from both sides.

Anyone else wondering if 'trapping in' is going to be this season's attempt at cheating around the ruck? It was certainly a feature last night - one which I hope is stamped out quickly, although I somehow doubt it will be.

FC's point is still right though.
If the Aussie imposts weren't available, clubs would have to develop the young British players, instead of discarding them too soon.
Anyone with an antipodean accent seems to be elevated up the pecking order, regardless of ability of commitment and clubs still go for the quick fix player, rather than "their own".
Thankfully, Trinity have improved massively in this area and despite our injury ravaged season last time around, the improvement has been there for all to see.
Young Crowther is a great example of what happens when a lad is given time to develop and is getting better and better each season.

I have to say, the now defunct "franchising" era, did see an increase in the numbers of young British players getting their chance and maybe there needs to be a tweak in the rules to force clubs to include more club trained players in their squads.

Wire looked sharp all over the field all the game and were unlucky not to come away with something, I don't get the it evens it self out crap, wire were 6 down! down 2 men at the time in the wigan 10m last kick play by wire wigan player grabs for the ball drops it, it should have been wire ball kendall waves on, Forth official (thaler) should straight away tell him he's f**K up and this goes for all games we've seen it on non-tv games happen when the linesman has corrected the ref which is usual in kendalls games so why not just do it and get the correct call given instead of hoping it will even it self out.

That sort of fitness and pace in a game is what we should be thriving for constantly getting the opposite team on the back foot




Up The Trin

Burgess isn’t an import He’s English

Not only is he English he’s from Wakey and if he were any more English he’d walk round waving a St. George’s Cross while singing god save the queen

But Kendall didn't see it, and in real-time it wasn't obvious. It was only on the reply that it was obvious, but it can then only be penalised if it warrants a yellow, and it seemingly didn't. I'm not sure there was any intent there. He was just pushing away but got it higher than expected.

I'm not sure there was any intent from Hill either, but it was incredibly reckless and took a player out of the game.

I think there were problems before each of the early tries. The first Warrington try followed a very dubious call on a fumble by Hardaker, when it was clearly a strip, and the first Wigan try came the tackle after a seemingly clear obstruction.

But Warrington scored first because Burgess was hopeless, and Wigan scored because Hill and Clarke let Bevan skip through them. It's not always about the refs.

I confess, however, I couldn't see much difference in the play the balls from last year. But then again, I don't watch RL to see men heel a ball back. I watch it for what happens after it's cleared the ruck.

He's not from Wakefield.

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No, it doesn't show that the refs are not up to it, it shows that this particular ref did not police the play the ball as we expected. Let's see how the rest of the round goes before getting the pitchforks out.

That wasn’t the point and you know it. Do I need to be more specific, not for most people I don’t but as your not most people.

He is an import, he’s an import from the NRL, that’s the point. 99.999% of the time these players are Aussies:Kiwis hence the generalisation. All the same the bulk of his family now live in Oz so he may as well be an Aussie.

He’s no longer good enough for that comp or do you think he came here for the weather? Why are we happy with cast offs?

He may come good but I doubt he’ll ever trouble the NRL again. Yet due to that badge he now has he’ll walk into the England team whilst gaining inflated contracts for the rest of his career regardless of his actual form.

You may think being pedantry makes you look smart, it really doesn’t.

My point stands.