Tuesday 28 March 2017

L6VE LIFE


THIS WAS A PIECE I WROTE BACK IN LATE 2015 WHICH WAS PUBLISHED IN '40/20' MAGAZINE AND IS A SMALL TRIBUTE TO LEE NEWTON AND HIS FAMILY.


Recently, I put my boots on in a ‘competitive’ rugby environment for the first time in 15 years as I joined some of my old Reckitts ARLFC team mates to take part in the L6ve Life touch rugby tournament at the home of Skirlaugh ARLFC in Hull.
12 teams of over 35’s, with the odd young ringer thrown in, came together on a beautiful sunny day in an attempt to turn back the years, show that the old skills were still there, have some laughs and reminisce about the good old days.

My main priority was to avoid the need for a phone call to the local ambulance service.
I had trained with the lads a few times, turning my ankle quite badly in the first session which didn’t bode well, but stayed surprisingly free of chest pains and managed to stay the course for the full sessions.

We were actually training for a full contact proper game of rugby league against the current Reckitt’s first team but the majority quickly decided that that would not be too much of a good idea based on our current fitness levels and lack of desire to get our aged bodies battered and bruised – another major concern for me was actually getting my body into a rugby shirt these days, think George Rose and you have the right image.
So, we decided that we wanted to take part in the L6ve Life touch rugby tournament which had been so successful in 2014 and it was a chance for us to do our small bit to help the Foundation.

L6ve Life was founded by former Skirlaugh player Lee Newton who was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) back in 2013 at the age of 42.
This really resonated with me as Lee is just a couple of years younger than me and I played against him in the very early stages of our amateur RL career – he went on to have a very successful career with Skirlaugh and was a skilfull player – people in the local game knew who Lee Newton was.

I bandied around at a lower level and had nowhere near the ability that Lee had.
MND is a cruel and horrible progressive disease that attacks the motor neurones, or nerves, in the brain and spinal cord. This means that messages gradually stop reaching muscles, which leads to weakness and wasting.

MND can affect how you walk, talk, eat, drink and breathe.
The most famous case of MND is Professor Stephen Hawking who has lived with the disease since 1969.

There is currently no known cure, symptoms can only be managed to help you achieve the best possible quality of life.
Life expectancy for about half of the people with the condition, believed to be around 5,000 in the UK at any one time, is three years from the start of symptoms – however, it does vary from case to case and some people may live for up to 10 years and, in rarer circumstances such as Professor Hawking, even longer.

Back to the tournament.
Reckitts Love Life Squad 2015
We headed to the dressing room to get changed into our very nice kit and immediately the banter I had missed for 15 years came back with comments about physique and certain parts of the male anatomy to the fore.

I quickly made sure I got one of the props shirts and I was right about the George Rose image but at least I managed to get the shirt and shorts on without pulling a muscle. Some of the lads had promised to bring a tub of Vaseline along to help me get the shirt on but, fortunately, it wasn’t needed – not for that purpose anyway!!
We headed to the pitches for a warm up and immediately my 6 year old son, Kingsley, pointed out that my shirt was a bit tight!! I tried to tell him that it was designed that way but he wasn’t convinced!!!!

We had been drawn in a group with Hull Isberg, Skirlaugh B and Dukes and our first game against Isberg went OK – by OK I mean there were no injuries sustained and no-one threw up – the game was certainly faster than the one we had been playing in training and Isberg had players who were fit!!! And fast!!!!
But we managed to stay with them OK even though we lost 3 tries to nil – I always felt scoring tries was going to be a problem for us – we had no speed or skill really!!!

Each match was 7 a side and we had a good turn-out of 15 players, each paying £20.00 for the privilege of playing, and we constantly swapped players around to make sure everyone had some good game time and also ensuring that we had an excuse for losing – no continuity, too many changes etc etc etc.
Next up was Skirlaugh B who had some good players on board along with a young runt who really fancied himself – I don’t think he realised he had some grandad’s in the opposition – and it started to get a little bit serious and the referee started enforcing rules – such as play the ball where you were touched rather than 15 yards further on where you had stopped – ‘tacklers’ started putting their hands up on the spot you had been ‘tackled’ and you had to jog back and play the ball in the right places – spoilsports!!!
Some breathing in going on here!!

Skirlaugh B were too good for us but we did manage to get our first, and only, try of the tournament – well done Johnny Carr who managed to pull his hamstring even though he took advantage of the on site masseurs before we had started!!
That always to happen to the ‘fit’ ones – us big lads never have problems with hamstrings!!!

It was good to see a few Hull KR players such Josh Mantellato, Jordan Cox, Dane Chisholm, Dane Tilse and Kevin Larroyer turn up to support the Charity and the tournament alongside Head Coach Chris Chester and they had a mingle with some of the players and supporters.
By the time our 3rd and final game started against Dukes, obviously we had no hope of qualifying for the semi-finals, a few of the lads were itching to crack open the beers and it was a case of just put in the effort and see if we could get at least 1 win from the day.

No chance!!! I blame the ref for missing forward passes.
I’m not sure what score it ended up but we finished bottom of the group.

We took plenty of photo’s before we headed for the showers and we had plenty of family members with us to remind us how old we are and help us get our playing kit off without doing ourselves any permanent damage.
The whole day was really good fun and I hope we, as a team and a group of friends, will be taking part next year.

Lee and his family set the Foundation up to raise funds for those who work every day trying to find a cure for the disease and also for the people that help those already living with MND.
Like I said earlier, this is a cruel disease and it is indiscriminate – it can affect anyone. The sooner we find a cure the better.

To do that, more money is needed to fund research and Lee and his family are doing there bit with his Foundation which has raised over £150,000 since it was launched.
You can visit the Foundation’s website at www.l6velife.co.uk or find out more about the disease at www.mndassociation.org .
RIP Lee.

Friday 30 September 2016

CONTRASTING FORTUNES

Without a doubt it has been a year of contrasting fortunes for the two professional rugby league clubs in the great city of Hull.

Jump back 12 months and the gap between the two clubs wasn’t that great – certainly not insurmountable – FC finished the regular season in 7th place with 22 points whilst Hull KR finished a disappointing 10th but just 4 points behind FC with the pivotal fixture being the 3rd Derby of the season at the KC Lightstream Stadium in July which FC won to guarantee themselves a top 8 spot and a position in Super League in 2016. At the same time they condemned Rovers to a place in the qualifiers and the potential of the Million Pound game.
It was always going to be a struggle for FC to make the top 4 after finishing 6 points behind 4th place Huddersfield Giants and they would go on to win just 1 of their 7 Super 8 games whilst Hull KR won all 7 of their qualifiers to easily maintain their Super League status for the following year.

How the pendulum has swung in the last 12 months.
Hull brought in some quality players such as Frank Pritchard, Sika Manu, Carlos Tuimavave and Scott Taylor to mix with the decent quality squad they already possessed and they have maintained a consistency of positive form that they have not had since they made the Grand Final in 2006.

This weekend the fixtures that the two Hull clubs are facing could not be of a more contrasting nature.
Hull FC, having won the Challenge Cup at Wembley for the first time in their history, finished top of the table after the regular season but dropped down to third after 30 rounds despite having the fate of the League Leaders shield in their own hands in the final game at home to Warrington Wolves – a team they had already beaten home and away in Super League and in the aforementioned Challenge Cup Final.

However, the succumbed to a costly defeat that denied them, not just the second part of the treble but, possibly more importantly, a home semi-final.
Tonight they travel to second placed Wigan Warriors to play for a place in, what would be, FC’s second Grand Final. It is the fifth meeting of these two clubs in 2016 and both teams have won 2 games each with Wigan having won twice at the KCOM Stadium and FC having won the reverse league fixture at the DW Stadium plus the Challenge Cup semi-final at Doncaster a couple of months ago.

The latest fixture in the Super 8s was just 3 weeks ago and the Warriors overturned a 12-4 deficit late on to win the game 18-12 – does that give the Warriors a mental edge in this game?
Without a doubt FC were the better team for 70 mins and should have won easily but Wigan stuck in and showed great determination and spirit to win the game.

FC have been the best and most consistent team all year but the current play off format supports teams that finish the season strongly – FC have won 3 of their 7 Super 8 games and only 1 of 4 post Wembley whilst the Warriors have won 5 of their 7 Super 8 fixtures including their last 3 in a row which included the win at FC, a brilliant comeback with 12 men to win at Warrington Wolves, the eventual League Leaders Shield winners, and a home win over a waning Catalans Dragons.
It’s a difficult match to call and Wigan coach Shaun Wane has started the mind games already by stating that he is without 15 first team players for this fixture – basically he is trying to give his team the underdogs mentality, and himself a ready made excuse for losing the game, but there is no doubt that they will miss captain Sean O’Loughlin and talisman full back Sam Tomkins.

I like the way Lee Radford goes about his business – he has matured as a coach and no doubt it helps when your team is being successful but you can tell that they have a tightknit squad with a good team spirit – things that most people would take for granted but that FC have not always been known for.
Injuries worries to Gareth Ellis, Fetuli Talanoa and Sika Manu have been rumoured this week but they are all named in the Hull squad for tonight and they look to have the stronger squad for this fixture.

It will take a mighty effort from FC to get over the top of the Warriors in a semi-final on their own ground but I make them favourites to head to Old Trafford next week and face Warrington Wolves in a major game for the 3rd time this season.

Over at the Lightstream Stadium in East Hull, 2016 was seen as a celebration of our 10th year in Super League – in reality it has been nothing short of disastrous and has been, quite comfortably, the worst of our 10 seasons back in the top flight.
An atrocious first half performance at home to Huddersfield Giants last week, which saw us trailing 22-4, was the main reason behind us ending up in the so called ‘Million Pound Game’ this weekend and we now find ourselves fighting for our Super League survival against Salford Red Devils.

Whilst injuries have had a huge part to play, as it has with most clubs, the fact is that the vast majority of fans knew that the squad we went into the season with was not strong enough to challenge for a top 8 spot and that we would be playing in the qualifiers again.
Unfortunately, the management either did not see this or could not do anything about it due to the salary cap.

It has been reported many times that our squad is at full salary cap and I have said many times also that if this squad is at full cap then we have some seriously over paid players.
Chris Chester paid for a poor defeat at home to Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in our 3rd fixture with his job, although there seemed to be reasons more deep rooted than just a poor start to the season behind his, at the time, surprise axing.

Former player James Webster left his new job as the head coach at the newly formed City of Hull Academy to take on the position as Interim Head Coach and hasn’t had the easiest of times – he has been with captain Terry Campese for the majority of the season, last year’s Player of the Year, Albert Kelly, has not hit the same heights and is unlikely to play for the club again due to his recent disciplinary problems and he has presided over damaging defeats to Oldham Roughyeds in the Challenge Cup and Leigh Centurions in the qualifiers.

It is difficult to say that the squad has under-performed as I did not expect too much from them this year although I fully expected us to stay clear of the Million Pound game and if we had managed to put Leigh or Huddersfield to bed after a good win at Salford we would have been safe.
We now go into our fourth meeting of the year with a Salford Red Devils team that will be highly motivated to remain in Super League.

The bi-product of their 6 points deduction for breaching the salary cap was a place in the qualifiers rather than the safety of 8th place that their regular season form warranted so they are a good quality side with some top class players although the ramblings of their owner have, at times, made them an unpopular club and even their fans do not turn out to support them – some of their late season attendances have been pitiful.
However, any team can get themselves ‘up’ for one game and I am fearful that Salford have what it takes to win this game despite recently suffering a home defeat to London Broncos and, if I was Ian Watson, I would be using Tim Sheens as extra motivation.

Sheens is on gardening leave from Salford now as he will be Hull KR’s coach next year, whether we are in Super League or not apparently, having recently signed a 3 year deal and it would be quite easy for Watson to use this to gee his players up.
Basically, Sheens thinks he has a better future at Hull KR than at Salford – the Red Devils have a chance to prove him wrong on Saturday and condemn him to at least one season of Championship rugby league.

I really hope that the Hull KR that can take the likes of Wigan, Leeds, Castleford and Warrington to the wire turns up on Saturday and not the one that capitulated in the first 40 minutes against Huddersfield.
If they do then we will be OK – but I am seriously concerned that the Red Devils will have the bit between their teeth and will relish putting some noses out of joint – especially the RFL’s if you listen to Dr. Koukash.

I hope we do it and can look back on this nightmare and learn from it – if not for me then for 2 of my boys and my daughter who love this club as much as I do and know nothing but Super League and Hull Derby’s – if only they knew what would lie ahead in the Championship!!!

Friday 26 August 2016

SIX TO GO – CHALLENGE CUP FINAL SPECIAL

Welcome to my latest column in which I highlight what or who could win the Challenge Cup Final for Hull FC or Warrington Wolves this weekend:

BELIEF
The way Hull FC have played this season and the confidence they now have, which was kick started by their big comeback win in the first Derby of the year at Hull KR on Good Friday, has given them the belief that they can beat anyone. They followed up that Good Friday win with another comeback on Easter Monday at home to…..Warrington Wolves. The Wolves had gone 7 games unbeaten at the start of the year before losing that game and also succumbed to FC in the return fixture in June which was FC’s 7th straight Super League win.

Since opening the season with 7 straight Super League wins to top the table at Easter, The Wolves have never been able to attain that consistency again and have not put in a big winning run of games since.
ADVANTAGE – HULL FC

SNEYD OR SANDOW
Marc Sneyd is the 4/1 favourite for Lance Todd Trophy and wants to banish the nightmare of his 2014 performance for Castleford Tigers which saw him substituted before half time.  Sneyd had a slow start to this FC career with a disappointing 2015 overall and that continued into 2016 which resulted in some FC supporters calling for him to be dropped. Since Easter his form has picked superbly and he is one of the form players in Super League. His kick game is superb, one of the best in Super League this year, and he is dangerous when he is given time and space to take the ball to the defensive line and with the dominant form of the FC pack, he has been in a position to play on the front foot all year.  He will be partnered by Carlos Tuimavave who took the place of the more experienced Leon Pryce earlier in the season. He is much more than a support act and has proved a perfect and solid foil for Sneyd.

Chris Sandow is the 5/1 second favourite. I always knew that Sandow would be brilliant in Super League, the game over here is made for him. Whilst his early season form, which was electric, has not held up he is still one of the most dangerous running half backs in the game and anything can happen when he has the ball. He also has great vision and a good kicking game, although not as good as Sneyd’s and is a great support player as well. If the Wolves are to lift the Challenge Cup then Sandow needs to be at his mercurial best. Sandow will be partnered by the hugely experienced Kurt Gidley. The former Newcastle Knights, New South Wales and Australia player has been in great form whether playing at full back, where he started the season, or since moving up the field to held Sandow lead the Wolves around the pitch.  

ADVANTAGE - WOLVES

STRIKE POWER
The Wolves are the top point scorers in Super League this year and have outscored FC by 123 tries to 106 but that doesn’t tell the whole story.

Jamie Shaul has had by far his best season for Hull FC with many fans calling for him to be the England full back in the end of year Four Nations tournament. Whether this happens or not, there is no doubt that Shaul is an exciting player with pace to burn and this is backed up by his 14 tries which makes him FC’s joint top try scorer along with powerful winger Fetuli Talanoa who has, once again, been outstanding. On the opposite wing, Australia Steve Michaels has shored down his positon despite it looking likely that he will not be at the club next season. Michaels is a firm fans favourite and has scored 10 tries. Veteran centre Kirk Yeaman looked unlikely to get much game time this year and lost his no. 3 shirt to Carlos Tuimavave. However, the 32 years old veteran took opportunities presented to him through injury and has scored 6 tries in 20 appearances plus 7 assists and has looked back to his best whist fellow centre, Tongan international and former Melbourne Storm player, Mahe Fonua has been a revelation scoring 11 tries with 5 assists. In total, this back 5 have scored 55 tries and have 25 assists between them.
Australian Kurt Gidley started the season at full back but was pushed forward to the halves when Stefan Ratchford came back from an early season injury. Ratchford is a skifull and intelligent rugby league player has 8 tries to his name this season with 8 assists, showing that he times his runs in to the line well and can provide the clinical final pass required. Wingers Matty Russell and Rhys Evans are totally different types of players. Evans is recognised more as a centre and does not have the pace to burn like team mate Kevin Penney but he is strong and reliable defensively whilst Russell is a jack in the box and one of the best runners from acting half in Super League. His full back past means that he is also strong defensively and he is a dangerous asset for the Wolves. England international centre Ryan Atkins has exploded back to his best form in 2016 and is the Wolves top try scorer with 17 tries. He is tipped for a place in the England Four Nations squad and he is strong, powerful, skilful and has pace to score from distance, FC will need to keep him under wraps. His centre partner is likely to be the inexperienced Toby King who has made just 8 appearances this season. This back 5 have contributed 39 tries and 22 assists for the Wolves this year.

ADVANTAGE – HULL FC

FORWARD POWER
Scott Taylor, Liam Watts, Chris Green, Josh Bowden, Mark Minichello, Frank Pritchard, Gareth Ellis, Sika Manu. Have I missed anyone? Without doubt this is the strongest pack in Super League and everyone of them have had top quality seasons. Prop forward Scott Taylor is in the form of his life and will be very close to England selection for the Four Nations tournament at the end of the season. Fellow prop Liam Watts has not been far behind but it is in the back row where FC have real power. The impact that Gareth Ellis has on the side is well documented and over the past two seasons Mark Minichello has been one of the form second rowers in the competition alongside him. Former New Zealand internationals Sika Manu and Frank Pritchard have added even more power to the back row with Pritchard becoming a firm fans favourite thanks to his marauding runs and the constant smile on his face.  

Warrington’s pack isn’t too shabby either but they will have to be on the top of their game to match the power of the Hull pack. Captain Chris Hill is one of the outstanding English forwards in the game and has led by example once again whilst Ashton Sims is a real mentor for the rest of the squad and has a massive desire to finally win a trophy in his career. Ben Westwood will not back down against anyone and will undoubtedly be at the forefront of the Wolves attempts to unsettle the FC half backs whilst a back row of Ben Currie, Jack Hughes and Joe Westerman (if fit) is extremely athletic, strong and full of pace and has the skill and ability to cause the FC defence problems out wide.

The most important forward battle though could be at hooker. Danny Houghton has been at the forefront of the FC pack for a decade and his ability to play 80 minutes and easily chalk up over 50 tackles a match, with very few misses, is well known and he is a hugely respected player. The question has been raised in the past whether the amount of game time he plays alongside his insatiable tackling appetite maybe takes away from the attacking aspect of his game. When he first started out Houghton was one of the most dangerous runners of the ball from acting half, he was like lightening and caused huge problems for opposition defences. Whilst not quite as effective now he is still a dangerous player and the Wolves will be making sure he works hard defensively so that his attacking work is minimal. Houghton is currently the top tackler in 2016 with 1130 tackle made.

Daryl Clark won the Man of Steel Award in 2014 in his final season at Castleford Tigers and was England hooker for the 2014 Four Nations tournament. The Wolves paid over £100,000 to take him over the Pennines but they will have been disappointed with their return in 2015. His poor form cost him an England squad place and he failed to settle in to his new surroundings as the Wolves had a disappointing season. However, 2016 has seen a lot of that old form return with his speed of thought and movement from acting half once again causing opposition defences huge problems. FC must close him down, if Clark gets space on the back of his forward unit being on the front foot he is capable of causing havoc in the FC defence. His defensive work load is also much less than Houghton’s, he has made 500 tackles less this year (630).
ADVANTAGE – HULL FC 

COACHING
Arguably, Tony Smith is the best coach in the Super League era.  Smith won two Super League titles at the Leeds Rhinos in 2004 and 2007 and a World Club Challenge Title in 2005 and really kick started the Rhinos decade of Super League dominance before surprisingly leaving to take over as England’s Head Coach at the end of the 2007 season. After less than 2 years away from the daily grind of club coaching, Smith was persuaded to join the underachieving Warrington Wolves early in the 2009 season in place of the struggling James Lowes. The Wolves had always been blessed with talented players that had never fulfilled their potential as a team but Smith quickly changed attitudes and work ethics and took the Wolves to the Challenge cup Final in his first year defeating his old club Huddersfield Giants for Warrington’s first Cup win for 35 years. They successfully backed that up the following year defeating the Leeds Rhinos in the Cup Final and in 2011 they topped the league for the first time in over 50 years. He led the Wolves to the Grand Final in both 2012 and 2013 but they lost out to the Rhinos and Warriors respectively.

Lee Radford is the youngest coach in Super League and has been in charge just short of three years having been promoted from the assistant’s position when Peter Gentle was sacked on the back of a poor end to the 2013 season which included another Challenge Cup Final defeat at Wembley Stadium, 16-0 against Wigan Warriors, and an embarrassing 76-18 hammering at Huddersfield Giants in the play off’s. Radford had a tough couple of seasons in 2014 and 2015 and has had the fans on his back more than once in that time but, fortunately, club owner Adam Pearson has stayed loyal to his charge and the club are reaping the benefits in 2016 as FC have been the most consistent, and best, team throughout the year. Despite his inexperience, Radford will have learnt a lot from his Grand Final winning days at Bradford Bulls under Brian Noble and he certainly seems to have a steadier hand on the tiller this year.
ADVANTAGE - WOLVES

DESIRE
Hull FC have a burning desire to win the Challenge Cup at Wembley Stadium for the first time. Their local rivals, Hull Kingston Rovers, hold this over them and they don’t like it. Head Coach Lee Radford and full back Jamie Shaul recently referenced the fact they want to banish ‘’that’’ song forever. Their army of fans are likeminded and are desperate to end the Wembley hoodoo and I think the players, whether they are from Hull or not, have been made fully aware of this. If Hull could win justy ONE big trophy out of the three on offer this year, it would be this one.  There is one big difference between this year and the previous years in recent times that FC have played in the Challenge Cup Final – this year they BELIEVE they can win, previously they have thought they might have a chance. Hence the big number of Hull fans, over 25,000 tickets sold compared to 13,000 by the Wolves, that are heading down to London.       

Kurt Gidley’s and Ashton Sims desire to win a major trophy in the latter stages of their careers cannot be questioned and the club have an excellent record at Wembley in recent years – winning three times since Tony Smith took over in 2009, 2010 and 2012. However, I do not sense that it is the be all and end all to the club or their fans – they are, like Hull, still in contention for the League Leaders Shield and the Grand Final and if they lose then they will push on for those two trophies. I don’t sense a desperation from the Wolves to win the Cup that FC currently have.
ADVANTAGE – HULL FC

 
MY PREDICTION – HULL FC BY 6-10 POINTS. (IF THEY LOSE I’LL BE PISSING MYSELF) JJJJ

Friday 24 June 2016

SIX TO GO - CAMPO, STATE OF ORIGIN AND A LITTLE RESPECT!!

Welcome to my latest column which covers a number of goings on in the world of rugby league that have caught my eye over the past few weeks:

TIME TO CALL IT A DAY??
Injured again - Terry Campese
Terry Campese has made 22 appearances for Hull Kingston Rovers in his 18 injury hit months with the club and I can honestly say that he is one the best half backs that I have seen in the last 30 years.

The way that he organises a team and the way that the team respond to him is amazing – Hull KR are a much better team when he is playing and he give’s the players and supporters a sense of belief that isn’t there when he is out of the side.
Unfortunately, for the last year he has been largely sat on the sidelines - either heroically fighting back from a third knee re-construction which he suffered against Castleford Tigers last June or recovering from hamstring injuries that have dogged him since he made his comeback against Huddersfield Giants in March.

He lasted 30 minutes in that match before his hamstring gave way and was, rather surprisingly, back in the starting line up less than 3 weeks later against Leeds Rhinos. He lasted just 15 minutes of that match and I recall ranting away at the time that we had rushed him back and his injury must have been mis-managed.
Seven weeks later he was back in the side for the Magic Weekend Derby before being controversially rested for the following week’s fixture away at the Catalans Dragons before returning to some of his best form to oversee the hammering of Wakefield Trinity Wildcats.

The next match against Wigan at home saw him lead the ide to an 18-8 lead before the hamstring injury re-occurred – without him the team lost control of the game and conceded two tries to lose the game 18-20.
It has now been confirmed that Campese will miss the rest of 2016 – a devastating blow for the club, the supporters and especially Campese.

The former Canberra Raiders skipper has played just 5 out of 20 games this season and missed the last 17 of 2015. He has completed just two of the five matches he has played this year.
He is also taking up a huge chunk of the club’s salary cap which, according to Chairman Neil Hudgell, is up to the limit.

So, what does the club do now?
Campese is our captain, he is loved by the fans, the players respect and respond to him, he has an aura and he understands what Hull KR is about – he is definitely our best player.

Does the club stand by him and hope that he can overcome the hamstring problem and play a full part in the 2017 campaign?
Do they look back to 2008 when our captain at the time, James Webster, badly damaged his shoulder early on in the season and was released immediately to be replaced by Michael Dobson.

That decision was ruthless but totally correct – Webbo wasn’t quite up to Super League standard and Dobbo gave us 5 years great service.
Therein lies the current problem. Back in 2008 we had a player lined up that we knew would probably do a better job than Webster in Super League.

Fast forward 8 years and it is difficult to see how we will get a plyer in who will have as big an impact as Campese has had at the club on and off the field.
Personally, and it really hurts me to say this, I think the time has come to call time on Campese – unless he decides enough is enough himself and fretires.

We need a player who we know is going to be available for at least 90% of our fixtures and who can give us good quality service for at least the next 2 to 3 years – if not more.
The salary that Campese is on will probably allow us to sign at least 2 or maybe even 3 good quality players – all of the fans know that the quality and depth of the squad HAS to be improved and quickly.

Campese has a wealth of experience and is a very good communicator and it would be great if we could utilise him in the coaching set up – if not, then I think we need to be ruthless and cut our losses for the long term good of the team and the club.

ANDERSON SACKED
Paul Anderson - undeserved sacking.
I seem to be one of the few people that was surprised by the sacking of Paul Anderson as Head Coach of Huddersfield Giants last week.

Clearly, this season has not gone to plan and no one would have predicted in pre-season that they would be 11th in the league and 6 points off 8th place with just 4 games to go before the Super 8s split.
Anderson was joint Head Coach with Kieron Purtill in 2008, the Giants finished 10th that year, after the sacking of Jon Sharp and was then assistant to Australian Nathan Brown for four fairly successful years with league finishes of 3rd, 5th, 4th and 7th as well as appearing in the 2009 Challenge Cup Final.

When Brown decided it was time to move onwards and upwards to St. Helens, Anderson was the clear favourite to take over the Head Coaching position although, personally, I wasn’t sure at the time that he was the right choice.
To be fair, it was probably because I didn’t know much about him as he kept a pretty low profile under Brown.

How wrong was I though as in his first season in charge he led the Giants to the top of the league as they took out the League Leader’s Shield. It was the first time the Giants had topped the league in over 50 years and was a huge achievement and a great moment for club owner Ken Davey who had pumped a lot of his own cash into the club and revived it after taking over in 1996.
He obviously has a short memory.

Anderson followed up the successful season of 2013 with a 3rd place finish in 2014 and a 4th place finish in 2015 meaning that they qualified for the more streamlined Super League semi-finals.
The Giants have gained a reputation as chokers at the business end of the season and have never managed to qualify for the Grand Final despite possessing an extremely powerful and talented squad – maybe the poor form this season has given Davy the opportunity to clear the decks and bring someone in who he feel’s will take the team to the next level.

Purtill, Anderson’s assistant, was already leaving to head to Leigh Centurions next year anyway so Davey will have a completely new team in charge of his squad.
There have also been rumours for a while now of a rift between Anderson and the Giants star player Danny Brough. Anderson gave the captaincy to Ryan Hinchcliffe whilst Brough was out injured earlier in the year and never gave it back to the Scottish international – a decision he is said to have taken personally.

Time will tell if the Giants have made the right decision but I think that Anderson has been harshly treated and that the under-performing players need to take a long hard look at themselves.
Anderson has proved he has the quality to coach a top level team and it will be interesting to see where he ends up and it will also be interesting to see if any other club owner who may have been holding off sacking their coach takes notice of this decision and swings the axe – watch out Brian and Kieron!!!!

WORLD CLUB CHALLENGE SCALED BACK??
It will be a great shame and a black mark against our game if the NRL send only two teams across to the UK to take part in next year’s World Club Challenge.

I realise that the results have gone against Super League teams in the last couple of year’s and the contest’s earlier this year were competitive for about for 40 minutes in total – that 40 minutes being the first half of the Leeds Rhinos v. North Queensland Cowboys game – and it probably brought back memories of the disastrous 1997 World Club Challenge when Australian clubs tore apart their English counterparts in just about every game played.
It is as clear as day that there is a huge difference between the NRL competition and Super League.

The intensity of the games and the physicality of the players is on a different level to our competition and there is no point trying to deny that.
Players can quite comfortably come from the New South Wales or Queensland Cup competitions (basically Reserve Grade) in Australia and become star players over here – look at the impact Josh Mantellato had at Hull KR last year.

He was one of the top points scorers in the game scoring 21 tries in 27 games, kicking 93 goals for a points total of 270 – not bad for a 28 year old with only 2 NRL appearances under his belt although he was a member of the NSW Cup Dream Team three years in a  row.
I think the six team concept is sound and we should not scale back the size of the competition because of a few one sided results.

The exposure that the game got over here earlier this year with Jonathan Thurston and the year before with Russell Crowe was at a level that we do not normally get with the National press coverage probably tripled for the week leading up to the games.
Our top players also need to be exposed on a more regular basis to the level of competition they get in these World Club Challenge matches.

It is also an extra reward for teams taking out the League Leaders Shield in Super League and winning the Challenge Cup and I think that means something.
I am a big fan of international competition and we need to keep this concept going at it’s current level for a few more years before thinking about scaling it back or expanding it any further.

The NRL were well behind the concept when they were over here earlier in the year – what has made them change their minds and why is it just their decision anyway??
Surely Super League has some say in this decision and isn’t this just the kind of issue that David Collier at the Rugby League International Federation should be sorting out?



STATE OF ORIGIN 2 
Thaiday should have been sent off!!
Thank God State of Origin II lived up to the hype – it was a great game that made up for a tense and dour (boring) first game.

Too often we say these games are great because it’s State of Origin – what else is it going to be but I was completely underwhelmed with game 1.
However game 2 was a different story and was a brilliant game of rugby league and saw Queensland seal the series 2-0 with a 26-16 victory. It was the Maroon’s 10th series victory out of 11 and the first under new coach Kevin Walters.

The best compliment you can give Walters is that you wouldn’t have known the Maroon’s had a new coach – they just went out and did what they needed to do to win the games.
There were a few things that caught my eye in this game.

First off was the tackle by Sam Thaiday on New South Wales skipper Paul Gallen. It was clearly a lift and Gallen was put in a very dangerous position and planted head first – it was a real moment of concern that Gallen would be OK – fortunately he was, it resulted in a few handbags thrown, Thaiday was put on report and he will be banned for 2 or 3 weeks.
Personally, I think he should have been sent off. That kind of tackle has no part in our game and people who believe that the game should be tougher and that a player should be able to get away with a few cheap shots, and worse, that you wouldn’t at other levels ‘’because this is Origin’’ are talking rubbish.

Just think about the Alex McKinnon tackle – in my mind this was worse but just did not have the tragic outcome.
I thought Tyson Frizzell was outstanding. Frizzell is a Welsh international, I’m not sure how long that will be the case though, who has gone under the radar for a number of years and was due to start on the bench on Wednesday.

However, he made the starting line up, scored a try, tackled strongly and was denied a crucial second try by a tiny knock on by Michael Jennings when the ball was loose over the try line and Frizzell was about to drop on it. It would have got the Blues back in the game but Jennings’ fingertip touch saw the try turned down – Jennings definitely owes him a beer.
The last two things that caught my eye were from the brilliant Jonathan Thurston and the both led to tries.

His little kick through, under heavy pressure, for Dane Gagai to score his hat-trick try was sheer perfection and his behind the man pass to Darius Boyd to put in Corey Oates at the corner for the clincher was just breathtaking (I re-ran it many times it was that good!!) – add in his magnificent touchline conversions and I don’t know what other adjectives can be used to describe the man – he is simply one of the greatest players of all time.
People might think that JT is a genius – but just imagine the number of times that those two plays would have been practised in training for them to work at the highest and most pressurised level of the game.

Just like everyone else, JT has to work hard to be as good as he is.
Have a look for yourself at the below link:

POWELL FULLY JUSTIFIED
Daryl Powell - only £250.00 ha!ha!
I’m sure Darryl Powell will be far from upset at his £500.00 fine for criticising referee Ben Thaler in the recent game against Wigan – especially as £250.00 has been suspended and because he got to say what the majority of rugby league people, not just coaches, feel about the refereeing standards.

He probably feels that a weight has been lifted off his shoulders and his wallet is not too much lighter either.
I feel that Powell was fully justified in his criticism of Thaler and the way that he refereed that particular match.

I tweeted on the night ‘’ Ben Thaler could learn a lot about talking to players by watching a RU referee in action. Should be no need to raise his voice and shout.’’
I had the game on in the background whilst I was doing some work and my attention was diverted back to the screen quite a few times by Thaler’s raised voice or by the way that he was speaking to players.

There is no doubt that there is a little bit of insolence creeping into the game from players towards referee’s and I think that the ‘RESPECT’ campaign needs to be ran again but sometimes referee’s do not help themselves.
I haven’t played for 15 years but am involved in coaching in the local Youth Leagues in Hull and even now when I see a referee that I know from years ago or even a young one who has started out in refereeing I still call them ‘sir’ when they are in their official capacity, but that kind of respect needs to be reciprocated at all levels of the game.

I don’t think Thaler showed any respect to any of the players that were under his charge and agree with Powell when he said that the referee ‘’lost his cool and lost his composure.’’
Thaler has a history of, I believe, showing a lack of respect to players on the field but I thought he had got over that and last year, without a doubt, he was the best referee in the British game and received all of the plaudits by being appointed to all of the big games including the Challenge Cup and Grand Finals and two of the three Tests in the England / New Zealand series.

I have made this point previously but the respect shown by RU players to referee’s is in another league at the moment compared to how RL players are starting to treat referee’s and I think that happens because RU referee’s, especially at the top level of the game, are 100% professional and communicate with the players in a respectful and composed way – they do not raise their voices or just simply tell players to ‘’GO AWAY’’ or wave their hands at them.
Respect is a two way street and referee’s need to understand that as much as the players.

BYE BYE ZAK!!
Zak - please let me go!!!
I have no idea why Leeds Rhinos are so desperate to off load 2015 Man of Steel Zak Hardaker or why he is so desperate to get out of the UK but there can be no question that something has gone on.

Hardaker has had a few run in’s with authorities both inside and outside of the game during his 5 years at the Rhinos and was, in my opinion, lucky to be given another chance last year after he assaulted a student on a drunken night out.
Whatever has happened this time it appears that both parties are happier to call it quits than to resolve the situation.

Hardaker signed a new 4 year deal with the Rhinos less than 12 months ago, hence the Rhinos slapping a huge £300,000.00 transfer fee on him when he came to the recently to express his desire to play in the NRL immediately.
The announcement earlier this week that the Rhinos and Penrith Panthers had agreed a swap deal, to take effect immediately, for Hardaker to head over to the NRL in exchange for hooker James Segeyaro certainly seems to suit both parties, certainly in the short term anyway as the agreement is only until the end of 2016, Hardaker remains on the Rhinos transfer list and both players have the option to return to their clubs at the end of 2016.

Without a doubt, the Rhinos need a hooker.
Beau Falloon was signed from Gold Coast Titans and I said at the time that I did not think he was good enough. I believe I have been proved right but he has not been helped by numerous injuries.

Segeyaro will be a big hit.
Segeyaro is a much stronger, quicker and more dynamic player who has previously won the Dally M award for hooker of the year and I think he will lift the Rhinos performances if he can settle in quickly.  It appears that he will make his debut in the Rhinos next Super League match against Widnes Vikings next weekend.
Hardaker meanwhile, who considers himself an out and out full back, has been playing on the wing for the Rhinos but it is at centre where he may be playing for the Panthers.

Their full back spot is tied up by current New South Wales no. 1 Matt Moylan whilst the wings are filled by internationals in Josh Mansour and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak but they have inexperienced players in the centre position with New Zealand internationals Peta Hiku and Dean Whare both currently sidelined with injury.
This is where Hardaker could be utilised as he played centre earlier in his career.

I think it is a brave move by the Panthers. Hardaker has not backed up his 2015 form in a Rhinos side that have struggled throughout 2016 and currently sit at the bottom of Super League having taken out the treble last year.
It has been an unexpected fall from grace for the club and Hardaker’s form has mirrored that of his club side and I think he will struggle to make the Four Nation’s squad at the end of the year.

Back’s tend to struggle to gain recognition in the NRL, look at Joe Burgess at the Roosters, and it is in the forwards that British players seem to excel so it will be very interesting to see how Hardaker fares in the rarified atmosphere of the NRL.
See some of the highlight's of Zak's Man of Steel winning year below:

Thursday 26 May 2016

SIX TO GO – MAGIC WEEKEND SPECIAL

Welome to my latest column which covers the recent Magic Weekend:

Denny Solomona - 18 tries
WEEKEND OF COMEBACKS
The Magic Weekend showed more than ever that making a good start to a game and building a lead does not necessarily mean the two points are yours.

Both Warrington Wolves and Catalans Dragons opened up 14-0 first half leads over Castleford Tigers and Wakefield Trinity Wildcats respectively before succumbing to fightbacks and losing the games.
Hull FC opened up a 10-0 lead over Hull KR before falling behind 16-10 in the second half but then scored three converted tries to take the points.

The two halves of the Wolves v. Tigers game could not have been more different with the Wolves dominating the first 30 minutes of the contest before the Tigers got a foothold in the game towards half time.
In the second half it was all the Tigers as Luke Gale took control of the game and Denny Solomona helped himself to another two tries to take his season’s tally to 18 as Castleford backed up their recent demolition of Leeds Rhinos with 34 unanswered points against the Wolves.

The bad news for the Tigers is that a foot injury sustained in the match by Ben Roberts, in his first match for 10 weeks, will side line the former New Zealand and Samoa international for the rest of the year.
Coach Daryl Powell must be wishing that his team could show more consistency than they have so far this season.

The previously mentioned demolition of the Rhinos was totally out of the blue after they had suffered successive league defeats to Wigan Warriors, against Hull KR in which they conceded 58 points at home and against St. Helens.
This was the Wolves second defeat in a row and deprived them of the top spot.

Yes - we're playing again next week!!
CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS??
Why are coaches so reluctant to admit that they are concerned by their team’s poor form or that they are facing a crisis of confidence?

If I was Denis Betts or, definitely, Brian McDermott I would be gravely concerned about the form of my team and their prospects of improving over the rest of the year.
Betts’ Widnes side have swiftly lost the boring tag of being Super League’s answer to Leicester City by capitulating to 8 straight defeats since they inflicted the Wigan Warriors first home Super League defeat in nearly 2 years back on the 17th March – a week after a huge 46-6 defeat of Hull FC.

Consecutive defeats to Warrington (twice), St. Helens, Catalans, Castleford, Wakefield, Hull KR and Salford at Magic Weekend have sent them tumbling down to 8th place and they would have been in 9th but for Salford’s recent 6 point deduction.
Even worse is the fact they seemed to have stopped scoring tries and are no longer playing the free flowing style of rugby that brought them their early season success and they seem to have a real battle on to stay in the top 8. They were awful last weekend at Hull KR and were not much better against Salford.

Meanwhile, everyone except Brian McDermott and Gary Hetherington can see that the current events at Leeds Rhinos have gone beyond a crisis and are a fully blown disaster.
Just like every other club in Super League the Rhinos can point to injuries as having caused them serious disruption this year. They also lost great players at the end of last year and have replaced them with sub-standard personnel who have come nowhere near to filling the void left by Sinfield, Peacock, Aiton and Leuluai.

Add in the fact that the floods in Leeds over Christmas decimated their training facilities then you can understand that their start to the season may have been slow.
However, to be using that as part of the excuse for such inadequate performances 5 months down the line makes it look like they are not willing to face up to the fact that when the Rhinos team crosses the whitewash they look rudderless, have no leadership and have lost all of the confidence and swagger that they have had for the last 10 years.

The likes of Zak Hardaker and Kallum Watkins were world class last year but are seriously struggling in 2016 – I suppose that’s not surprising when you look at the confidence of the team as a whole.
Their attack is not what it has been for a number of years now and even though they still lead the way in off loads they have scored far fewer tries than any other team and have also made more errors than anyone else and only Hull KR and St. Helens have missed more tackles than the Rhinos.

Twitter was going into meltdown on Saturday night with Rhinos fans severely unhappy with the fact that their team is not even competing let alone winning games and it seems to be this fact above all else that is getting to the Rhinos fans – after winning the treble last year they are not even competing with teams that they should be beating just a few months down the line.
Even though he is a multi-trophy winning coach Brian McDermott has never seemed to be overly popular with the Rhinos fans and after the last 3 weeks where they have been overran by the Huddersfield Giants in the Challenge Cup and by Castleford, embarrassingly conceding 52 points at home, and Wigan at Magic Weekend in Super League then a change in coach may become a reality.

Saints Coach Cunningham!!
SAINTS FANS GUN FOR LEGEND
Another coach coming under pressure from his supporters is Kieron Cunningham at St. Helens.

The former international hooker is a club legend and even has a statue of himself erected outside Langtree Park but that is not stopping a section of Saints fans questioning his ability to lead the club to further glories.
St. Helens, unlike the Rhinos, are at least a competitive outfit and currently sit in 5th place,  just two points off the top 4 and a further two points behind Hull FC and had won three Super League games on the bounce leading into the Magic Weekend.

However, they were extremely poor against Huddersfield Giants and were booed off by a band of their supporters following an unconvincing and disappointing 48-20 defeat to a team that is second from bottom of the league and had won only three games all year prior to their best win of the year on Sunday.
Saints have been a mixed bag all season and have generally been inconsistent and Cunningham has been criticised by Saints fans for some of his team selections with players playing out of position plus his seeming early season reluctance to play Theo Fages in the half backs.

The heavy home Challenge Cup defeat to Hull FC did not go down well with the supporters either and with a real fight on their hands to make the semi finals of the play off’s, Cunningham will have to come up with something special to keep his team’s supporters off his back.
Of all the teams currently sat in the bottom four, the Giants are the most likely to break into the top 8 although any thoughts of another top 4 finish may have to be put on hold until 2017.

The Giants are packed with power and pace and played really well against Saints on Sunday with Danny Brough leading the way and with the ability of the likes of Leroy Cudjoe, Jermaine McGillivary, Ryan Brierley, Michael Lawrence, Jamie Ellis, Joe Wardle and Ryan Hinchcliffe it would be no surprise to see their results improve and them make a charge for the top 8.

Miller celebrates winning drop goal.
WAKEFIELD ON FIRE
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats are really achieving against the odds this season since Chris Chester took over from Brian Smith.

They were odds on favourites to finish bottom of the league this year, even their fans wouldn’t bet against it, and they lost 6 of their first 7 league games to back up the predictions.
Brian Smith stood down as Head Coach and lambasted the club owner Michael Carter and said that the club was in serious trouble due to the supposed cost cutting measures put in place by Carter who, in response, said that Smith was the highest paid Trinity coach ever and was given the biggest playing budget the club had ever had. They had also invested in the strength, conditioning and fitness side of the club.

Then in comes Chris Chester, sacked just months after leading Hull KR to the Challenge Cup Final for the first time in 29 years, and immediately the Wildcats become one of the form teams of the competition winning 7 out of the 8 Super League games they have played under Chester.
In his time at Hull KR he never oversaw a period of such sustained positive league results. Rovers did not win a Super League game outside of Hull last year and the team never looked like challenging for the top 8 in his time in charge.

The Wildcats brilliant 25-24 win over the in-form Catalans Dragons on Sunday, thanks to Jacob Miller’s monster drop goal, was a joy to watch and don’t forget that they trailed 14-0 in the first half and looked like being blown away by the Dragons.
However, they weathered the storm and Miller grew in confidence and completely outplayed Todd Carney and they fully deserve to be in 6th place on the table with 8 wins from 15 games.

Chester has done all of this with the same squad that Smith had and has been quick to tie up a number of star performers to long term contracts in the short period of time that he has been there.
He seems more relaxed than he was at Hull KR and certainly seems to be more confident and is enjoying the fruits of his labours as the expected whipping boys are now looking to challenge for the top 4 places and have an eminently winnable Challenge Cup quarter final tie at Huddersfield Giants to look forward to.

Could Chris Chester be heading back to Wembley to lay some of the many ghosts from 2015?
Unscathed - Terry Campese.
HULL FC TOP THE LEAGUE

Hull FC defeated local rivals Hull KR 28-16 in the final match of the Magic Weekend to finish round 15 at the top of the table for the first time in a generation – and don’t their fans let you know about it!!!
However, it is fully deserved as they are, without doubt, the form team of the competition having won 9 out of 10 Super League matches since their heavy defeat at Widnes back in March and are packed full of talented individuals who are playing at the top of their form and with great spirit and playing good quality rugby league.

I said many times at the start of the season that it was all down to consistency for FC.
They started the season off well with wins over Salford and Catalans and their fans were booking Grand Final tickets before defeats at home to Castleford and Wigan and the hammering at Widnes had them cancelling their hotel rooms, however a scrappy win over Wakefield Trinity and coming back from 20-0 down in the Good Friday Derby to win 22-20 has really given them confidence and kicked their season on and they are very well placed to claim an all-important top four spot and they also have a home tie in the Challenge Cup quarter finals as well.

In an earlier column I called for the need to have a new name on the Super League Trophy at the end of 2016 – only four teams have won it since it’s inception back in 1998 – and the current Super League table see’s a top 3 of FC, Warrington Wolves and Catalans Dragons with only Wigan Warriors of the four previous Grand Final winners looking anything like making a title challenge again.
Are FC good enough to sustain their challenge for a first Grand Final triumph?

I think they are and I would not be surprised to see them contesting a second Grand Final in October at Old Trafford.
For Hull KR, it will be a hard slog for the rest of the season.

They picked up more injuries against Hull, Mitch Allgood has been suspended for one match for making illegal contact with the referee and Josh Mantellato is our for a further 6 weeks as well due to the broken arm he suffered on Good Friday.

The only positive from the weekend was that Terry Campese came through 80 minutes of rugby unscathed for the first time in nearly 12 months.

They were sluggish in attack and struggled to break down a well organised Hull defence – I can’t wait for this season to be over to be honest. 

Everybody's boss - Nigel Wood.
ATTENDANCE ‘SPIN’ HIDES DISAPPOINTING SECOND DAY
I love the way the RFL ‘spin’ moderately decent news and make it sound like the best thing to happen to the game in modern times.

The press release from Nigel Wood regarding the attendance figures from the weekend was just like that: ‘’The Dacia Magic Weekend has been an incredible success this year and once again Rugby League fans have turned out in force, creating an incredible atmosphere and helping to make this one of the most memorable weekends in the events history.

“Magic Weekend is a concept which is unique in British sport and the way in which the fans, clubs, volunteers and staff all embrace the occasion helps to make it a continued success. The stars of the event were, as always, the players, who delivered some unforgettable moments across both days that I am sure will live long in the memory of many fans.
“Results across the weekend show that the First Utility Super League is both extremely competitive and wide open this year, with just two points now separating the top four clubs. It promises to be an incredible end to the season.

There are some valid points in that statement but the big target for this year was for the attendance across both days to break the 70,000 barrier for the first time and after a first day attendance of 39,331 it seemed that that would be done comfortably.
However, I was surprised that the second day attendance, which included the Hull Derby as the culmination of the weekend, attracted nearly 10,500 fans less than the previous day – a total of 28,945 spectators giving the weekend a total of 68,276 – still an all-time Magic Weekend record but an increase of just 488 fans (0.72%) on last year’s event.

I realise that the fixtures on the Saturday had teams that attract bigger away followings – the fans of Warrington, Castleford, Leeds and Wigan always travel in decent numbers as against the fans of Wakefield, Catalans and Huddersfield who tend to have smaller away followings but I was still surprised that the total weekend attendance did not break 70,000 after such a strong first day.
Spin it as positively as you want but I would be seriously disappointed with the Sunday attendance and the RFL need to look at ways of shifting more tickets or changing the fixture format and splitting the best fixtures over both days.