Just how they would have fared without Lenehans regular cash injections is a moot point. Our mangement that led to administration has, rightly, been heavily criticised. But management is not good if it exists only because it is regularly bailed out. Saints are apparently finding that competing for players on the open market is getting difficult. Lets face it even Premier soccer lives on massive debt at many clubs. You have to question just how long the RL game in the UK can move on without some very serious reorganisation. Decisions are needed regarding the game’s level in the grand scheme of things. How many teams can truly afford full time status. Very few without a Sky contract and even a reduced one might be doubtful in the future.
Professional sporting clubs all over the world have been forced into serious amounts of debt due to the pandemic, and Rugby League clubs are no different in that respect.
The one thing that does differ is that, unlike other sports in the UK, Rugby League has been skating on thin ice for decades.
The pandemic has just accelerated the decline.
The only sport I watch is rugby league
As a youngster I loved test match cricket
I can't stand football.
I do think my own sport is the best in the world but what really gets up my nose is when so called fans and journalists continually slag the sport off.
The only sport I watch is rugby league As a youngster I loved test match cricket I can’t stand football. I do think my own sport is the best in the world but what really gets up my nose is when so called fans and journalists continually slag the sport off.
People tend to criticise the way the game is run, rather than the game itself - there’s a difference.
I think the game has changed over the past 40 years, and not for the better, there is too much that is homogeneous about it these days and the art of being a ‘good footballer ‘ has been painted out of the game. That said, there’s still nothing to beat (in the sporting world) watching a live game of League.
The picture changed when clever Aussie coaches studied the game in detail and organised defence and attack to the 'n'th degree. Wigan bought in Aussie coaches and the rest is history.
Prior to that the clever players could and would change things on the field on their own initiative. The McCue's and Murphy's etc ran the game and beat the defences.
The thing that impresses these days is the slickness of moves that the teams such as Storm or Saints can put on. Just as clever, but in a more organised way. As Sheens said, do anything you like but practice it first!
The picture changed when clever Aussie coaches studied the game in detail and organised defence and attack to the ‘n’th degree. Wigan bought in Aussie coaches and the rest is history. Prior to that the clever players could and would change things on the field on their own initiative. The McCue’s and Murphy’s etc ran the game and beat the defences. The thing that impresses these days is the slickness of moves that the teams such as Storm or Saints can put on. Just as clever, but in a more organised way. As Sheens said, do anything you like but practice it first!
Jack Gibson went off to America to learn about defensive patterns from American football and took the ideas back to Australia where they shifted the emphasis in RL to stopping the opposition from scoring rather than focussing on attack. Then they bolted on dietary management and a scientific approach to training and by the early 80’s (1982) they came over on tour and pulverised everything in their way. I remember a couple of things that were reported at the time about the team: Wayne (Junior) Pearce, Mitchell Pearce’s dad for anyone who is under 30 and watches NRL these days - the Aussies were based in Leeds but trained outside of the town. After each training session, rather than get back on the team coach Pearce would run the 5 or 6 miles back to their hotel. The other thing was that in the discussion leading up to the third test it was that in training leading up to the match the Aussies hadn’t dropped the ball once in training for a week. It may have been put out by the Aussies just to ‘psyche out’ the British but it worked - the third test was just another massacre.
That’s when we finally gave up playing our game and went full out trying to copy them.
Widnes were a glorious exception at the end of the 80’s but the squad we had was the last of a dying breed. Unfortunately we were, inadvertently, the prototype for the professional game over here. sadly, we bought on the never, never and are still paying. Wigan took up the professional theme with Maurice leading the way and getting a stranglehold on the game. As was known at the time he didn’t like us because we had beaten them at Wembley when they were on the rise and he didn’t help our cause and tried to put one over on us whenever he could. The rest, as they say, is history.
Sorry, rant over 😊
Not a rant its history!
Two stories: re no dropped balls. Bellamy made the Storm do press ups if the drop the ball. One prop dropped a ball in a game and immediately di his press-ups. Bellamy's comment 'I don't believe this!!!!'( expletives deleted)
Re NFL training. Larder, shortly after he stopped playing and took up coaching, went to US to check it out. He challenged their hulk big lads to a sprint and he only just won! He recounted the story at a coaching clinic that my son taped!