A reasonable game, badly disrupted by the lengthy Barrow injury (although we were well on top when that happened. When we tried a few moves we scored a few tries, when we carted it down the middle in one man drives (especially when we had numerical advantage!), we made little progress, when we took advantage of our overlap and moved the ball out wide we scored! No rocket science involved, but our need for leadership and organisation remains! A solid defensive performance to be fair. Referee seemed a bit out of his depth, giving a flurry of decisions to one side and then the other, we seemed to get the benefit of Barrow being offside and Barrow had the benefit of seemingly endless sets of extra tackles!
A very convincing win and some really good tries, well made and well executed.Thought all had a good game and a few standouts like Lloyd and Max Roberts. Defo a professional foul on Ince which started the card sagas, not sure about the second yellow as he showed it number 12 who refused to go off!!! I know everyone has a team of their own in their head but this side clicked so maybe AC was right after all and have to give him full marks for that. Really, really disappointed with the attendance of 1758 which is over 1100 less than last years first game, not going to average 3000 this season for IGM. Swinton next at home, Dewsbury away and Halifax at home could be a dream start and top of the league for the first month.👍👍
Burke is fine and being released from Hospital I believe👍
Lowest home crowd for a first home game in many,many years.Around 3400 last season and the season before.Shocking.
I actually thought that myself Martin. We might gain a quarter of a point this year for improved performance yet lose a half a point for lower attendance. Wouldn't that be ironic given the calls for a better team to boost attendance?
sinbad not just the lowest crowd for a season opener, it's probably the lowest home league crowd since the late 90s.
Dwindling numbers in the stands are a direct consequence of a growing disconnection between the club and fans. Poor performances since relegation/financial crisis and a lack of quality recruitment over the last 7 seasons make it difficult for the fans to be optimistic about the future of the club. It’s becoming more apparent that we need heavy investment to get back up to super league and $22 for a ticket is too much for championship rugby
The only thing that will put 'bums on seats' is a winning team. Win more games, gain more spectators. Gain more spectators, sell more pies and beer. Revenues increase, bring in better players, win more games, etc etc etc.
A promising start, win the next 3 and the crowds will start drifting back.
Paulie xx
Pleasantly surprising margin of victory today and a very good start.
Good Friday is an opportunity to try and get people back in- need to push sales from Monday morning onwards.
IMG is an interesting thing because, in a way, who cares about the attendance point as a casual fan because you know we aren't necessarily going up automatically even if we win the league.
We have not had a good league season since 2016. We have a management off field that divide opinion. If this was the first time in a while then I would be more sympathetic. Actually it is groundhog day and I feel the perception around the club is hard to shift.
If I was a casual/lapsed fan- why should I go and pay £22 to watch mid table Champo when I can watch Man U v Liverpool for free?
Indeed, you can watch all SL games for free if you have the Sky sports package so why bother with going out at all? After all how many eager Liverpool fans actually go to games?
It all comes down to the individual - are you a supporter of a club or not? A 'supporter' would, in my view, want to see their team live, anything else is just like going to the pictures and seeing something for amusement.
A quick note to add from yesterdays game is that I think Lloyd in the centres is a millions times better then flem. Solid defence strong running game and actually got involved and produced his best game for us since coming from Swinton, hopefully he’s stays there.
Agree with this, showed plenty of enthusiasm.A quick note to add from yesterdays game is that I think Lloyd in the centres is a millions times better then flem. Solid defence strong running game and actually got involved and produced his best game for us since coming from Swinton, hopefully he’s stays there.
That's why I think Good Friday is really important, it is clear that around 1000 people have not been enthused to come back to the game this season so far- a number of them may be tempted to come back for a Good Friday game and if we play well then a good proportion could come back.
But I also don't think it should be underestimated that IMG is basically licensing mark ii which isn't going to float many people's boats...
The only thing that will put 'bums on seats' is a winning team. Win more games, gain more spectators. Gain more spectators, sell more pies and beer. Revenues increase, bring in better players, win more games, etc etc etc.
A promising start, win the next 3 and the crowds will start drifting back.
Paulie xx
Spot on Paulie! Regardless of what people say about free/cheap tickets it all comes down to winning on the pitch to get fans in and ultimately to get the revenue in. The statement from Fev today should be a wake up call to all fans to support their clubs.
Didn't get for a second why people were whinging about lyodd in the centres ..pretty clear it was to counter barrows outside/fringes that are pretty big units ...he's also a very mobile forward and there's not a great deal of difference nowadays playing 2nd row/centre ..same hysteria around Roby being omitted ..while I think it's harsh I also think it was fully vindicated in the result..also like to add that those that panned the signing of langtree must be embarrassed..class player..class performance and will be that level pretty much all the time..only one game in but not a bad start
