Didn't we go with a very similar sort of team against Wigan in 2017?

Leeds: Walker, Briscoe, Keinhorst, Sutcliffe, Newman, Goldin, Lilley, Garbutt, Jones-Buchanan, Baldwinson, Ormondroyd, Ablett, Mullally.

Replacements: Oledzki, Jordan-Roberts, Smith, Whiteley.



What was the point of Saints V Wigan last night, ask those kids that got their debuts if there was any point, one of the (not very many) positives of this season is surely that some of the kids will get a chance to play?

Teams like this have happened from time to time. I remember Laughton sending a kids team to Saints. Graham Murray sent a weaker team to Halifax. The Cas and Wigan games mentioned.

It doesnt damage the sport, its not all going to collapse as people have threatened for 40 years that ive known.

All these people moaning and groaning about the sport being a farce offer no alternatives. The game is 3 days before a Cup semi final so what other options are there for the club?

People want kids to play and then when they do the sport is a farce. Personally im looking forward to seeing how they go but fully expect it to be hard going for them

Precisely, those calling it a farce what is their alternative?

Bearing in mind cancelling the season isn’t a viable option

Because the sport has no alternatives doesn't suddenly upgrade the quality of the contest or increase its legitimacy. Whilst it might have been great for those kids and their parents that they got to play for Wigan first team it does little for credibility of the sport when one of its prime fixtures is treated with such scant regard.

People want to see kids integrated into the first team in a way that the overall standard isn't diminished to a farce.

Teams in the NRL seem to be able SOO on a Wednesday and their stars manage to play 3 days later in the competition. Even by the deluded opinions of some on here neither a SL game nor a CC semi comes anywhere near close to the intensity and physical attrition of a regular NRL game never mind a SOO game.

The integrity of the sport if the only thing it has - lose that and you lose everything. The games involving these 4 clubs should have been moved or cancelled - teams only have to play 15 games!!

Not worth Catalan coming over for this game with their special dispensation.

I meant lockdown like the initial one btw Sal. Businesses could've coped with a 1 month hit then Chris, but people don't care to see the big picture.

My impeccably behaved teacher wife is terrified.

Big up to Parkrun, who are allowed to reopen, but aren't doing so to protect people from themselves!

I call it a farce, not on tonights game, that happens in other seasons, but simply because the current season is worse than a farce.

I completely dissagree on your second point. Of course there is a viable option. Cancel the bloody season, it should have been done in June. That was the only viable option in reality. The fact that greedy chairmen thought they could get crowds in at some point, just showed how out of touch they are with the real world.

Good luck with having a full league of teams being able to compete next year without having the Sky money from this year, cancelling simply wasn't a viable option, why don't you just take it for what it is, some rugby league being played when there's little much else going on and the teams fulfil their obligations to Sky so we can get paid.

Whatever damage you feel this season is having on the game, not getting money from sky this year would make that pale into significance.

Businesses coped because of massive amounts of money injected to them by the government, that will not be available if we lock down again, I'd say you are failing to see the big picture, businesses have been decimated and a lot gone to the wall, another lockdown will be the nail in the coffin for those just hanging on. What happens when we reopen again and cases spike, another lockdown? rinse and repeat?

Can I just ask, what is your wife terrified about? My wife is on the 'frontline' and because of a lack of PPE is going to work in what can only be described as a Gas mask, she has had Covid (she wasn't ill) which I presume means I have had it, she isn't terrified, she's bloody sick of it granted. Yes this virus can be a killer but in the vast, vast majority of cases it just isn't.

Thanks, do season ticket holders of other clubs have a code to watch? Mother in law whos a saints member has offered hers.

What makes you think businesses can cope with a further one month lockdown - hospitality is already struggling with 10 shut down. Who pays their rent, business rates? The last lockdown 80 of my employees lost their jobs - I haven't taken any pay since March and you have the audacity to suggest more of the same - you haven't got a clue. No doubt you work from home in the public sector - nice safe job. There will 4m unemployed in this country by December - that would increase significantly if we had another extended lockdown

Perhaps she needs to wear a Hasmat suit whilst teaching to protect herself given she is so vulnerable and terrified - personal responsibility.

Toosmooth, what do you do for a living by the way?

We have a condensed and crazy season here due to COVID. Nothing else could have been done.

I'm not sure how cancelling the season could have been viable in a practical sense. How would you square your liabilities (Leeds' new stadium debts, wages) with no income? Also what about the reputational damage with broadcasters when other sports have carried on? What about the loss of interest from the fan base? Loss of talent to the NRL potentially, or RU? Maybe further losses of youth players in particular, which God knows the club has worked hard to re-establish over the last 3-4 years.

I can agree that this season has descended into farce, but for completely understandable reasons and everyone's just doing their best in a terrible situation.

The main threat to the sport has and always will be you and I, the supporters. While the sport is well supported, everything flows from that: sponsorship, TV deals, media interest, better player pool... Collectively the fan base needs to look in the mirror and take some accountability.

That isn't to say all is rosy in the exectuives' garden because it's not: the sport lacks leadership in my view and has been hijacked by vested interests and small minded club rivalries. All sports are riddled with egos and politics of course, but RL cannot afford it.

This season is now a tactical proposition: you cannot play your first grade squad every fixture (although I think we have a run after the cup Semi until Hull). Clubs with deeper squads should have an advantage, and yes some fixtures will be thrown but clubs will make their own decisions on selections and take those chances.

As for living with this virus; probably easier to say that if you or your loved ones aren't at risk. There look also to be some long-term health effects from many who have contracted it and "recovered" - it's not straightforward at all. Having said that, it's a natural pathogen and there are times where you have to accept that living carries risk.

that will let you watch sts matches

Thanks. But not other clubs as well then?

Come on man you honestly believe this sport could survive without the TV money coming in? There was no alternative but to try and fulfil the fixtures. The clubs are just trying to survive if you see that as a farce fine.

Seth as Doc says the Saints code will only allow you to watch Saints mstches live. You will need a Leeds code.

Thanks Marty. On the other point, i agree theres no other way than to continue, however challenging, for the points mentioned but also the damage done to the development of players not playing for what would have been around 10 months

There is no other way but it doesn't give the sport increased credibility - in fact quite the opposite.

Increased or decreased credibility with who?

I seems to be only the actual fans of the game that are constantly moaning about it and doing the sport down.

Unprecedented times, nothing about this season will be 100% perfect or fair for that matter but the sport is trying to get through it as best as it can.

I don't disagree - but other sports at the elite level i.e. TV money reliant sports - I don't mean Champion 1&2 soccer - have had the same issues/challenges but don't seem to have had to change the format by which the season is decided? That is what I mean by credibility.

Did the Championship and PL finish their seasons and have play offs as they were intended - did snooker change the world championship - did cricket change the international 5 day, 50 over or 20 over competitions. Other than no crowds everything was as it was intended.

Did those other sports restart at the same point as us? (As in just short of halfway through the season?)

Credibility hasn’t been lost within the wider sporting community most of them wont have a clue about the change in format (but that’s another discussion)

Also do you not think cancelling the season might have lost us even more credibility when other sports haven’t cancelled their top tier leagues?

Trouble is Marty, that too many people, and I am including you here due to the comment, automatically believe what the Chairman says, rather than what in reality can happen. Don't believe it all, and look at other things said, and you can balance this properly. There very much was an alternative. The problem is, that the so called clubs you think might have gone out of business, will in all likely always be the perennial club always fighting closure. The clubs paramount to the competition would have continued as normal.

You missed my point - other elite leagues have continued as originally intended without crowds which is what RL should have done. Ensure each team plays each other twice so 20 games - start a fresh cancel everything pre-Covid including Toronto. Cancel the CC - it is not a big income generator especially as there will be no crowd at Wembley apart from Ralf and his mates. Have a 5 team play off and a GF.

The competition then has integrity and balance.

So basically you want to cancel the season forfeit the sky money and if some clubs go bust then its tough and their own fault? How is that a better alternative to trying to get through this season?

You’re then left with a SL next year a few clubs down, how do you replace them?

That isn't what I said. Only part of that is what I said. You are just sticking to your own fixed view of believing what your told, rather than balancing it. I don't believe your version of outcomes, and mine, are in anyway similar.