theres a recession on, the same 2 teams have competed the final for 3 years, and this year both teams were only known a week ago, whereas previously one team had 2 weeks to sell tickets.

it was only 5,000 down on last year, which isn't surprising considering the factors I've just mentioned.

we do desperately need at least 1 new team to make it next year though

guess which final had the highest attendence??



the grand final has become stale and tired with the same two teams for the last 3 seasons, the salary cap maybe working for 10 or so teams but it hasn't had much affect on saints and leeds

sallary cap whatever



How many alternatives to the salary cap have side's found to pay let's say over the top as with any sport money talks your not going to give however or whatever time in your life to sport without making money thats what your in it for.

Is it time we got rid of the video ref?

challenge cup at wembley for me,cant beat it.

to me the best team in the league are the ones who finish top at end of regular season,b-llocks to the play offs.

i personaly think the video ref is a waste of time slow's the game down and basically may as well do without the ref as they seem to be unable to make a decission on there own. how many variables can you ask the video ref to make !!! onside offside forward pass , grounding ect ect

No the video ref is a great tool ...... or is it just BENTham that's a tool?

utter b0ll0x....ask bentham to give you a lift when he goes to specsavers today.

boring final poor atmosphere (like everyone had seen it all before) was hoping for plenty of biff and saw nothing!
worst call iv ever seen by the video ref for the last smith try.
And that stupid moving camera angle p'ssed me right off!!!
END OFF

your full of cr@p mate

he should of never been allowed even the leeds fans near us were shocked

What utter tripe, Smith was clearly off side, the only person who failed to realise it was Bentham. To make matters worse, his decision making was totally based on guess work as your explanation clearly states.

I don’t claim to know every single technicality in the RL rule book, but hearing Bentham’s explanation last night left me gobsmaked “Smith was behind the ball” !!! What ever happened to having to be behind the kicker?

If a player was going for a 40-20 and he had a grounded foot inside his teams 40meter zone, but the ball and kicking foot were airborne, but in front of the 40 meter line, it would be his grounded foot that would determine weather it was a 40-20 or not. Similarly, when McGuire put the kick through yesterday, Smith was clearly in front of his grounded foot thus putting him in an offside position. To make matters worse, there was not a single video shot that showed Smith behind the ball as there was a saints player in the way. Through pure guess work and unquestionable incompetence, Bentham got the call wholly wrong.

I would also question why Bentham did not call for the sin bin, maybe even a red card for Webb when he looked at the Gardner no try. Webb clearly led with the knees and was lucky to only have a penalty given against him imo.

Agree. Thought Webb was a dirty little $od all last night and Leeds their usual niggly selves when they were unable to thwart Saints for the best part of the match.

Webb should also have been sin-binned when he attempted to removed Long's head and dreadlocks when he "tackled" him off the ball under Leeds' sticks.

Well.... my heart wanted him to be offside but my head meant I had to understand the rule: "both feet behind the ball as it kicked". I haven't looked the rule up but I think, based upon that explanation, Bentham had every right to call him onside. All we need now is for every video ref to call it in the same way.... hem hem

not a patch on the cold empty galpharm i bet

I'll be the boring fart:

From RFL Rules of the Game:

SECTION 14
OFF SIDE
When off side 1. A player is off side except when he is in his own ingoal
if the ball touches, is touched, held or kicked, by
one of his own team behind him.


Would appear to indicate that the player in offside in relation to his position to his own team member, not the ball.

By that rule - Smith is clearly in front of his man regardless of the ball and is, indeed OFFSIDE.

Shame the final had to be decided on such a controversial passage of play. First the alleged playing at the ball when it was kicked and another set of 6 was awarded. To me it seemed as though the player turned his back on the ball and the ball played him rather than vice versa.
Then the offside decision, from every angle i saw it looked offside.

Saints made too many silly mistakes and were the masters of their own downfall

So - checked the rules and can't find a direct reference to a player having to be "behind" "the ball" in general play. I found a reference to "both feet" being "behind", and a reference to defending players not advancing in front of the ball at kick-offs and 20m restarts. I found it difficult to cross-refer so I might have missed something. Anyone help with a more straightforward wording in the rules somewhere?
OFF SIDE as applied to a player means that he is temporarily out of play and may be penalised if he joins in the game (see Section 14.)
KICK means imparting motion to the ball with any part of the leg (except the heel) from knee to toe inclusive.
BEHIND when applied to a player means, unless otherwise stated, that both feet are behind the position in question. Similarly “in front” implies “with both feet”. When applied to a position on the field of play, “behind” means nearer to one’s own goal line than the point in question. Similarly “in front of” means nearer to one’s opponents’ goal line.
OUT OF PLAY: 10. (h) Any player who is in front of the kicker in play-the-ball general play is not permitted to advance beyond the point of the play-the-ball until the ball has gone past the off side player.
SECTION 8 - THE KICK OFF AND DROP-OUT
The ball may be kicked in any manner and in any direction and is immediately in play. Opposing players shall retire ten metres from the 20m line and shall not advance until the ball has been kicked. Defending players shall not advance in front of the ball before it is kicked. Any deliberate offence by either team shall incur a penalty to be awarded at the centre of the 20m line.

Correct. In all my years watching and playing rugby, I have never heard the question asked "is the runner behind the ball" in relation to being off side it is simply a question of staying behind the kicker. It seems that Mr Bentham may have invented a new interpratation of this rule.

, the problem is though, I am not surprised.

Worst camera work i have seen for a final.Kept going to the camera in the sky for no apparent reason.Tried to copy the Aussie grand final presentation but i am afraid it didn't work.And why does Phil Clark have to babble on and on,all we want from him is common sense summaries.

The camera in the sky was shocking as some of its vision was constantly blocked by the roof structure.

As for Phil Clarke, I actually like the guy and value his contribution and knowlege, but where he let's himself down is when he tries to copy the Aussie presentation. He tries desprately to be a UK version of Gus Gould, but ends up making himself look stupid.

Couldn't agree more. I almost turned over due to the camera work. AWFUL. That plus Barry and Terry after every try on camera giving pointless analysis.
Sky boobed for me last night. Eastmonds try would have looked so much better with the usual camera angle and not the moving camera from the back of the stand.

As for the vid decision at the end, with the exception of Bentham and Bighead it has made the RL look stupid. Is it any wonder that Soccer do not want video ref when we can't get simple decisions correct. It has happened far too often this season and I am starting to question the honesty of the sport.

For me Smiths try was spot on and the VR got it right

that sky track camera angle is crap just like it was last year. i find it hard to tell where on the field they are when they use that shot, i remember in the past james graham scoring and not having a clue how close hewas until he was going under the posts. the blimp shot was used far too often as well.

and while i'm at it... why did they keep showing mcdermott from an angle that showed the thousands of empty seats in the away end? no other sport would allow that when the majority of the rest of the stadiums pretty full

and the ball was kicked by mcguires foot, part of one of smiths team members

Well i enjoyed my day out!