GF at OT

I’m not going, was going to support saints, but after what’s happened im going to support Leeds now.

Saints by 10. Leeds will put up a good fight though.

Not a classic, but Saints (again) showed perfectly how to play eighty minutes of football in a major final.

Leeds to their credit, never threw the towel in, but I thought the score-line flattered 'em a bit.

Liam Moore must've had a good game, coz you hardly noticed him.

Spelly.

Be interesting to see what IMG do with our game as, personally, I think the last few GFs have been flat as a pancake. You wouldn't watch that tonight and be inspired to follow the game would you?

Posted by: @gpo1971

Be interesting to see what IMG do with our game as, personally, I think the last few GFs have been flat as a pancake. You wouldn't watch that tonight and be inspired to follow the game would you?

But what would / could / will they do?

We're in the entertainments business, of course we are, but (and particularly finals) a results business as well.

Which is more important? If you're a neutral, it's the former, but.........

I don't think any Saint tonight will be the least bit bothered that it wasn't a classic.

Spelly.

But, I'm not a Saint. If it was Widnes winning 4 GFs on the run, of course you wouldn't be hearing this. But, despite some tasty moments, it was a bit flat.

I don't know mate, given the standard of our players and the effort they put in, I think we could do better. Maybe I'm wrong. Even the montage of older GFs from early 2000s, they just looked better games.

Posted by: @gpo1971

1) But, I'm not a Saint. If it was Widnes winning 4 GFs on the run, of course you wouldn't be hearing this. But, despite some tasty moments, it was a bit flat.

2) I don't know mate, given the standard of our players and the effort they put in, I think we could do better. Maybe I'm wrong. Even the montage of older GFs from early 2000s, they just looked better games.

1) Neither am I mate, and if you substitute Swinton for Widnes in that text of yours, I'd be gloating too, but...............

Not many finals are classics, coz too much is riding on 'em, so.........

No matter what these new guys come up with, the result(s) will always be more important than the entertainment, if it's your team battling for that glittering trophy!

2) I'm not sure I agree about the earlier finals being better (and I've attended every one of 'em) but that is an opinion to which you're more than entitled to hold.

Spelly.

Apathy is clearly an issue, crowd of less than 61k.....

Honestly, I couldn't care less about Super League, the RFL or the 'game' at this point, yet 15 years ago, even though we were not in SL, I would avidly watch almost all of the Tv games and definitely the GF.

I think a lot of people are in the same boat, love their team but have lost wider interest.

The game has been set back immeasurably by charlatans who have tried to run it like Football or RU....

Also, licensing pitted club against club based on almost anything except the 80 minutes on the pitch. 

IMG could be the cure, or the poison that finishes the game off for the likes of us, based on their highly subjective questionnaire....

Also, it was not lost on me that apparently RL at Old Trafford started in 1998: there was me thinking we and Wigan had won numerous matches there prior to that.

@cj91 

As an older supporter the 'showbiz' aspect of the final leaves me cold. The game, the moves, the exhibition of rugby skills is all that I need tbh.

I can see that some young bloods need something else to persuade them to put their pones down, and that's OK too but if you look at the NRL's Finals with Tina Turner's 'Simply the Best' etc and you can see that we are well down the list of attractions other than rugby.

I can remember an old end of Season attraction, long gone sadly, of GB versus Other Nationalities. Maine Road was the venue then and you had to be there before 2.00pm or the gates would be closed!!!Always great rugby with all the stars on show.

So, is the question the presentation or simply the attractiveness of RL in the UK?

@sandgroper 

I'm in my early 30s and all I can remember is the SL era and the GF.

I genuinely think the period from say 2000-05 had higher quality players playing better rugby.

Saints, however, are undoubtedly an excellent side to be fair to them.

I think the GF could have done with Hull, Salford, Catalans or even heaven help us, the Wire, winning it to give it a shot in the arm away from the Saints, Wigan, Leeds hegemony. 

Haven't had a 70k plus crowd since 2017, got to be a concern: perhaps indicative of the wider RL fan being less willing to go compared to previous years.

@cj91 

But if you think about it, we sold our souls to TV for a few shekels, then we moaned until the TV was better technically and had a wider coverage.

Nowadays there are many 'supporters' who, as with soccer, watch the game at home or in the pub!

Part of the magic draw for Aussie tours was that we had never seen their stars, they were just names, and we wanted to see them in the flesh. Now we are as familiar with Aussie stars as we are with ours so that bit of magic has gone.

I thought the game was ok, but lacked running open play. Mind you, is RL a running open game, or has it become too predictable with five drives and a kick for position or for a repeat set.

There are few stars in the game these days, who fans would pay to watch, with the possible exception of Field and French at Wigan.

As for tv, I hope that Sky take away Wells’ latest toy with the never ending flow of largely meaningless statistics.

Took a group of 43 from S Yorkshire, no Eagles fans just sports fans looking for a good day out. They were absolutely blasted by the product, the physicality and the presentation. Not suggesting everything is ok but maybe we are a little hard on ourselves sometimes. Be sure the Worcester situation will be decided Monday but if Wasps falter the domino pack is poised.