RU has come a long way but I think it’s gone as far as it can mow in terms of a spectator sport.

Problem is it really needs to replace the mauling and the line our. It could also do with reducing the number of players on each side. That of course is impossible because it would then be RL.

I’m hoping this year for a fairly balanced league. Saints will be a cut above but not unbeatable with the normal suspects chasing them.

I can’t see an obvious whipping boy with probably places 12 - 4 pretty much up for grabs in almost any combination.

I see Saints, Catalan and Warrington as the main contenders.

That hopefully will look good on C4, tight leagues usually do. Fingers crossed.

I watched it and I enjoyed it too.
RU has some awful moments, the constant stop/start and second row forwards who run like a tree trunk with no legs and fall at the first stride. All part of their game of course! BUT what I do like about it is that a try can come out of nothing and lets face it, if their forwards are alien to us their backs certainly aren't - many of those we see on tv would walk into any SL team.
The two codes are miles apart though. RU is far too complicated for me - what I find farcical is that when the attacking team are pressing the defence in their quarter you can bet you last dollar the ref's arm goes up at some stage for a penalty!
I'll stick to league

I can't watch Oonion as I find it too frustrating for the same reasons as you 1315, the so-called technical infringements are just too baffling to understand as you can get 2 identical rucks (or are they mauls ??



), and one team will get penalised in the first one and the other will get penalised in the second and don't get me started on "phases" when they have 23 of them to end up 2 yards further back from where they started and then just kick the ball into touch

Clearly I'm a league man and have sent many days converting my union friends but I played Union for a long time and can appreciate the game, especially the forwards.
There is a lot to learn in rugby league from union.

Those phases are all about forcing a mistake. They are not trying to get yards, they are trying to commit players to the ruck so that there is a space elsewhere.
A good scrum half will know when the time is right to move it.

No different to a league prop running it down the middle at waiting tackles. He isn't making yards he's trying to tie them in and get a quick ptb so there are gaps elsewhere.

The game is too complex in some ways as, like you say, they can have a penalty for anything, but equally they don't fuss with technicalities that we do. A knock on in league is judged to a nanometre. They judge it in metres to just let the game flow.

Union supporters think league is stop start because of all the play the balls. In union, the forward play is slower but they don't actually stop the game to recycle the ball.
It's what you get used to.

Back to C4, I liked the coverage and the people with the Mike.
I hope they give league the same respect and don't go for a northern cloth cap image like others do.

Not that it matters much, but C4 is a publisher, they don't create their own content. Production companies will be competing against each other to get the right to broadcast RL on C4.

One reason why the programming on their channel is so good, the production companies need to be on their toes to keep getting paid.

All very positive for rugby league, I'm excited to see what the end product is. Skys coverage is a little stale imo and it could give them a kick up the you know what.

It will be interesting to see who forms the presentation team.
Sky's team have become predictable and offer very little, a good knowledgeable presenter can bind the programme together.

It will be interesting to see who forms the presentation team.
Sky's team have become predictable and offer very little, a good knowledgeable presenter can bind the programme together.

So long as it isn’t Johnathon Davies I’m happy.

Wilkin ex saints man for me.

Don't think he likes us, but there are a few decently literate players out there these days.

Mark Wilson is very good on the radio IMO I would like to see him have a shot as the lead commentator.

Does any one ,If the new Stadium gets built (getting nerves) it will be interesting to see if there atitude change towards us

Yes of course it will, people are snobs.

Just seen that David "Bumble" Lloyd has left Cricket on Sky - what about Bumble commentating on RL!

Bad news for me said it as it was ,like the rest who have left, Sky have now got a bunch of yes men and women who will make excuses for the way they are playing instead of the truth .

Nailed on he'd get sacked, I'm next to go in March when my contract runs out, don't want or need Sky sports ramming this black lives matter down my throat all the time on the screen.

The problem is where can you go?

I totally agree with you but there are no options.

I thought GB News was the answer and to some degree it is but it still falls into all the race and gender traps.

The media in the UK is an utter disgrace.

Could not agree more with the media, there's not even any subtlety in they're bias, especially Sky news and her from Wigan Ms Burley.

With regards to Sky sports, I understand the need to remind people of racial discrimination but they simply ram it down your throats at every opportunity even to the point of putting it on the screen during an event, I don't need Sky to preach right from wrong, that was done in my schooldays, basketball, netball, women's super league amongst others plus the hike in subscriptions, not for me thanks, I'd get rid now if I didn't have Sky Q.

GB News how can anyone take a station that considers Nigel Farage to be vital for its survival seriously. It loses and replaces presenters on a monthly basis. It is trying to be the U.K.’s Fox News pandering to the right wing or in the USA Donald Trump and his conspiracy theory supporters which includes Farage.
It is not surprising its appeal is limited and I hope you actually receive real news and not just a bunch of obsessives bemoaning the fact that we are no longer Great or an Empire. The world has moved on but unfortunately the likes of GB news and Jacob Rees Mogg have been left far behind.
This is just my opinion but the few I know who actually watch it sadly fit into the blame everyone else rather than looking at the problems closer to home.

What about Clare Balding she works for the Channel.

She's not a commentator.

She'd be good hosting programmes but I think she's too big a name.

She is currently the President of the RFL

She comments on crufts

INOUT

That doesn't make her a commentator.
It's nothing to do with knowledge,, she's excellent on everything she does, but commentating is a particular skill.