After the challenge cup final wet bore match and most of the season seeming to lack fluent rugby i feel after a number of years of advancement within the game as a whole the brakes have been firmed slammed on and now were going backwards entertainment wise. I have always been a season ticket holder with the Wolves since the first year of the Wolf pack at Wilderspool and remember days of sharing the terraces with no more than 2-3000 fans. Freezing cold in a falling down stadium. Then the advancement of summer really lifted us and suddenly the professionalism really came through, the pace of the game was amazing huge forwards fast backs dynamic play.
Just a shame we were between inconsistent and then massive underperforming for most of this time. Then Tony Smith came in and restructured the club and brought in fast risk tacking rugby with discipline off it totally changing Lee Briers game within a few months of shipping him to the reserves and then cup wins !

I would say the last 3 years though the brakes have been applied not to our club so much but more to the game - we seem to have gone backwards and have a game resembling the Union version with stop start games and knock ons littering the matches so as I have seen this worrying trend i have thought ill shame my views online before the decline starts to bite and hope some of you can constructively help the club rather than turning your back on it ?

This might seek out the long awaited sponsor but also get us better coverage media wise

I have listed below some of the issues i can think of in order of importance and my opinion on how to fix things.

1 Play off's - the structure has devalued the regular rounds and become a lottery won by the club next door to Red Hall. - // Cut the play offs down to 5 or 6 in my view means more scrapping for places and the top team gets another chance the rest dont.

2 Promotion and relegation / has resulted in the clubs who would would have been in the mix to go down going bust instead. Bring back P&R with those in championship vetted on ground suitability and business plan. -

3 Speed up the play the ball back to how it was in 2009 2010 -ban wrestling technique tackle once player is grounded , teams must release and if player walks forward from attacking side or off mark its a penalty

4 Bring back the shoulder charge - or "the big hits" get the players to sign disclaimer to say they wont sue the league but can sue each other if they cause damage - the rule to be governed by the high tackle rule. So go for the big hit but if you make contact the head and cause injury your off - sin bin or red card

5 Change the Rhino ball its like a plastic water melon having kicked it about in the wet this week i experienced it first hand what a huge hinderance to our game it is ! Its the same as a tyre with a nail in it for a F1 car!


How this hasnt been sorted yet is beyond me . Rhino have had all year lets try out all their union balls and maybe swap it to the best one or just get a Steeden one and print the Rhino name on it - its an embarrassment to them as a company I wouldn't buy another one trust me.

6 Daft kick off times which are inconvenient for Familys - Sky and the RFL must give 6 months notice for all games IMO - or bring out a scheme where if your ticket ends up being moved last minute you can sell it to another fan through a ticket website. Or get a ticket for a play off match for free or something.

7 Warrington dont do any promotion i am aware of - Wigan do a fantastic job with the Big One and the Hudds game attendance was great were well behind their sales and marketing team. - Lets just ask them.

8 Bring back the 2nd team - end partner clubs its been a disaster.

9 The RFL are like a school governors team and unable to run it properly need to be reformed

10 Make more benefits for season tickets like free play offs extra time for final tickets etc

Any other comments welcome but it would be good to feed something back to the club to get them to push the RFL a bit more to make vital changes? I know its not everything but its a start!

Good luck.

Every team should be made to play with 3 fat blokes and 3 who are under 11 stone.

Sorry then we’d have to change the name of the game to rugby union!

The opposition coach should decide who plays in which position.

On a serious note, cut the play offs to top 5.
Expand the WCC to four clubs: LLS winners and GF winners to be the teams entered, unless of course the same team wins both. In that instance then the second-placed team plays.

I'd experiment with a rule where only two players can get involved in a tackle unless its within 20 metres of either try line. I'm not sure that third and fourth man in contribute a huge amount to the game as a spectacle, except when a side is repelling their own line or battering f*ck out of a team trying to escape their twenty.

High tackle rule changed to a dangerous high tackle rule. Far too many penalties for the most inoccuous offences at the moment IMO.

Extra point for a try scored by going through hands on the last.

1. Remove the silly monikers that have been added. None of this Wolves, Warriors, Rhinos rubbish.
2. Reinstate the shoulder charge as a matter of urgency.
3. League winners to be 'Champions'.
4. Separate end of season play off tournament called 'the sky sports cup'. This can have the biggest windfall for winning it, that way sky still get a hugely competitive competition with lots of fireworks.
5. Abolish the salary cap
6. promotion and relegation to come back, 1 up, 1 down.
7. Great Britian team to be brought back.
8. BRING BACK THE BIFF.

That should do it.

Just bring back the two pinters

How does fixing each game like a WWE wrestling match sound to you...? That would be more entertaining, but it wouldn't be sport.

Middle of the season the previous years Gf winners, finalists, CC winners and highest placed in the league 4 teams in total go to Australia or NZ and play in a champions league series, to stop a backlog of fixtures they could play a SL fixture against one of the teams that travelled, even double header it with the other 2 teams. Show the Aussies a sl game, likewise we get to see an Aussie fixture when they come over here. They could be over there for 6 weeks.

I second that.

Agree with the views here love the play the Aussies idea but why would the Aussies want to do it ?

Their game has become even more superior to ours and I'm not sure our sides would give the a game ?
I'd personal like the rfl to at least sort the problems out on the pitch with speed , rubbish Rhino Ball and stuff they can reasonably effort as a starter !!

I'm sure next year our club will be losing a good few K from the season ticket sales and this attitude of ohh Sky can do what they want should be challenged , if we lose fans because of it then the clubs should show back bone . Andy G & Simon Moran need to tell them straight to do one or be really awkward

Horatio yed thats actually a good idea mate. Send it to the rfl.

Ban skin tight jerseys, so at least there is something to get hold of in the tackle, Bradford started this,and it was obviously thought some advantage could be gained by this

Have it, i'm all about sharing

So much of this makes sense and as similar posts can be found elsewhere, its clearly a reflection of what the fans want. The problem is how do we get the
message to the people who run the game?

in total agreement

I believe we should bring back the Great Britain team to give us dome true identity like the British Lions.
The playoff system sucks but whilst SL is ran as a business it's all about making money and squeezing every pound possible of of the paying folk.

They don't care. SKY Sports run the game, they are in the business of selling a TV product not a live spectacle and their viewing figures and revenue are rising year on year so why should they consider our views?

12 teams, 6 team playoff, promotion/relegation, reinstate the shoulder charge as a legitimate 'hit'.

The 12 team league splits after 22 games into 3 groups of 4. Top group playing for top two places and a bye into the playoff semi-finals. Middle group playing for the last two (away) playoff spots. Bottom group playing to avoid 'the spoon'.

A team can only be promoted if they finish top/win their GF and meet qualifying financial criteria. Once promoted a team will be given a two year immunity from relegation. If Widnes (or any other team) finish next to bottom and the bottom team is immune then tough, they go down (precedent has been set for this!)

Shoulder charge to be reinstated with the proviso that contact with the head will result in a substantial ban - from 6 games for accidental/careless up to 12 games or more for deliberate/malicious.

I am absolutely against abolishing the salary cap. I think that is a ridiculous idea

May be an email to Brian Barwick would do the trick.

As for the shoulder charge & other seemingly rough & sometimes dirty play ,we could kit the players out in padding & crash helmets ,call it American football (this would also eliminate forward passes at a stroke ) & remove offences for rough & dirty play from the rule book thus restoring extreme biff to RL.