Fair point.

Depends in the manner in which we lose. The match preceding the Salford Semi, where the young lads gave it a go and came up short was a loss I could happily stomach. A loss similar to the Huddersfield home a few weeks ago would make it very hard to digest!

If some people are happy regardless of performance, good on them. To each their own I guess

Yes I remember the Salford game well. On paper we had a very weak team and expectations were pretty low. We got points on the board but just got pipped. Riley Dean played well and Latu had a rare appearance and looked OK. Loved the effort.

Absentees or not, its a typical summary of our recent times if we beat Saints then lose to Leigh....

There's talk of the England game not going ahead now. Apparently clubs are currently having a 'crisis meeting',

Is the crisis meeting being chaired by McManus and just about Warrington faking injuries and the momentum rule not being used for Makinson's try, thus cheating Saints out of a well deserved two points?

Where's the All Stars squad?

They're still ringing round to see if anyone wants a game.

Shocking

I'm washing my hair Friday night, so that's me out.

I think it's a reflection of just how poor the standard of SL is this year.
On paper we arguably have a team to compete with any other, BUT......
How many of our players are playing near or at their potential?
Widdop, King, Coops, Hill, Mamo possibly Ratch - and none of them consistently.
That's a coaching issue for me.

Agreed.

Putting a bunch of players from different clubs together for warm up game, noting recent Covid outbreaks in SL teams, is pretty shocking too.

According to Dave Woods a number of clubs are refusing to release their players to appear for the All Stars. They've all known about this game for months.
Another example of the clubs having way too much power.
Could this happen in any other sport but RL?

[urlhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/57561652[/url

It makes the point that the dates of the England fixture was known before all of the clubs signed up to the revised SL fixture list.

The game will be nothing like an international match.
Some clubs are taking huge hits and it is as if the League is not that important.
The clubs should never have agreed to this in the first instance.

If the idea was to give England a proper, competitive hit-out, why not arrange a game against one of the other home nations, rather than have them play a scratch side that seems like it's being put together at just a few hours' notice?

Cricket only survives in the UK because they have well attended international matches that bring in large amounts of dosh. Rugby Union is in a similar position, heaven knows how much they rake in from the six nations and Autumn tests. We desperately need the same sort of set up and hence we must prioritise our international games in my view. As it stands the club chairmen seem intent on rearranging their own deckchairs whilst the whole ship sinks.

Well that’s hardly an equation Einstein had to figure out, just obvious from JP.
Almost every team that is 12 down early on isn’t going to turn it around!

you've answered your own question there mr speculator

Huh?
Ok, which other home nation would you recommend is going to be a better test of England ahead of the World Cup?

Whether or not you consider this fixture to be important - this is what I can't understand. The clubs knew that this fixture was in place and that two teams of 17, plus a couple of reserves each, would need to be drawn from the 12 SL clubs. That's an average of 3.16 first choice players per club, more like 3.5 when you consider that Leigh are unlikely to be asked to release anyone.

It didn't take the foresight of Cassandra to know that clubs were going to be without their best players for this weekend. Why on earth did they agree to hold a round of SL fixtures?

I love this idea that England need more games against home nations/France/All Stars because a "hit out" will somehow improve them and stop them falling short in semis/finals against superior teams.

Does the same logic work for Warrington?
Wire have about 30 "hit outs" a season before they play playoffs/finals against Wigan, Leeds or Saints and still lose.

I wonder if Wire played an extra fixture mid season against an international team like France if it might help prepare them for the cauldron of the big end of season games.

Sally! Sally!! Sally!!! A little bit beneath you IMO can't see you catching anything with this bait

Maybe they were in too much of a rush to take the Sky shilling, and read the detail sometime afterwards.

Hmmmm far be it for me to comment[size=50 but I think someone’s grades may be revised[/size