Is it true that Samkins is on his way back to Wigan?
Wow, never saw that coming.
Was it mentioned during last night's game?

If they are retiring, the major upside is not having to listen to them ing off to Sam Tomkins every time Wigan are on Sky.

That's the thing that amazes me too.

For ex-players with so many international appearances to their name, their grasp of basic techniques, patterns of play and strategies is alarming.

Every try scored out wide is because the opposite winger "was in no-man's land" as an example.

Only Wells seems to have any input of merit from a technical perspective.

I think that's partly to do with how much the game has changed since Stevo's day. The game is different to how it was played back at the start of SL and I've always thought you should have fresh faces every so often in the commentary/pundit box with recent history of playing the sport. It's no coincidence that the two most liked (Wells and Carney) are the most recently retired players. Similar with football, Gary Neville played the game recently, not some guy who was playing in the 80's trying to compare his day to the modern game. And Neville has really won fans over with his punditry even those who hated him as a player.

This annoys me most about sky's coverage of rl, I've only properly watched cricket for the past couple of years but feel comfortable following the game re the commentary because it's informative and straight forward if I was a newcomer to rugby league I don't think I could say the same listening to Eddie and Stevo.

Firstly, I'm no Stevo fan but think people are being a bit unfair here (never thought I'd type that sentence). Those questioning his knowledge are coming from a very knowledgeable place, I.e. most of you lot watch games week in week out.

What Stevo does is create and environment where newcomers can pick up the basics. I've watched games with many mates who aren't even what you would call casual fans and they really take to his energy and 'colour' commentating.

He provides a type of commentary you don't get in football. Whether that's good or bad is up to you but slamming someone for not digging into the real detail of tactics when 90% of it would be lost on many members of a growing audience misses a vital point.

Careful what you wish for, chances are we will be listening to Clarke crack one out on his spreadsheet and posters of Wane soon.

I don't think Stevo is ignorant of the modern game but I think the whole format of "mates ribbing each other" isn't enough, listen to the other major sports football,union and cricket there's still a lightness of touch to the commentary but the basics of explaining what's going on the pitch are key.

Sadly we'll still be stuck with the rest of the Wigan mafia burning through the kleenex , in fact expect it to be mentioned more than once tonight ..

They can have John Wilkin next year - I'm done with him and he can spake.

If Eddie says "He's going for a 40/20" when the ball is kicked straight down the middle one, I might have to write a strongly worded letter. He seems to get one in every game and every time its when the ball is going straight towards the posts.
I'm always intrigued what position they are actually in and if they have a monitor which is on a few seconds delay, so they can review the footage before spouting rubbish. Also Cummins is starting to wear a bit thin for me.

Before the kick off last Eddie Hemmings comments saying "it is just wrong that Kevin Sinfield was on the bench" . Now I know is the greatest Leeds player of the summer era and probably of all time, but that comment was completely cringeworthy

In the last few weeks on the games I've seen Cummings hasn't been talking as much, so I wonder if they've noticed the complaints about it.

Agree on the Eddie "he's going for a 40/20" thing.....does my head in that he thinks nearly every kick downfield is an attempted 40/20 when 90% of the time they clearly aren't.

Stevo's man on man vs sliding defense argument is another gem.

Cummings was again ridiculously open in his desire for every decision to go against Leeds. He was almost Clarke-like when the video ref took more than one look at Saints's first try.

A glimpse of the future today from Sky for the Leigh-Salford game.

Rod Studd on lead commentary with Terry O'Connor and Brian Carney. And then they went and spoiled it all by having Angela Powers on sideline duties. Took her about five minutes to summarise the half-time team talks. I thought she was going to start telling us how nice the baby changing facilities are at LSV at one point.

Plus his ' Johnny on the spot and the coach will be furious comments'

Natalie Quirk (premier sports world cup coverage)does a better job than Angela Powers,like to see her given a gig with Sky.

Good lord I hope not. Studd & O'Connor were terrible.

It reminded me of all the fake drama WWE wrestling has, it was hard to watch, i had to turn the sound off.

I still think Vossy and Noble are the best option, both have the 'fun' aspect for the new guys, Noble loves the biff and Vossy is always good for an analogy or two.
They both also have a technical know how, call the plays and see through a professional eye.

They are the perfect blend of fun for the new/neutrals and knowledge for the regulars.

I really enjoyed Studd's commentary.

I can live without O'Connor.

O'Connor is McDermott without the knowledge, humour and delivery.

He's the Paddy McGuinness to his Peter Kay.

Yep. I like O'Connor, I've met him a few times and he's seemed a nice enough bloke who I'd happily spend a couple of hours with in the pub chatting about the game.

But he comes across really badly on TV.


Maybe terrible was a bit too far, but I just thought he kept going on about things that weren't happening on the pitch instead of commentating. Probably not helped by having the random cliche generator that is Terry O'Connor sat next to him.

Stevo makes me want to put my foot through the tv screen (on a par with the late Bill McLaren and Ray (Mr St Helens) French. Now watch games with sound turned off! Clarke is unbearable.

I would like to thank Stevo for a lot of what he has done for the sport in his career. But both he and Hemmings have more than had their day and become a bit of an embarrassment. Stevo's good work in service of a sport he loves is in dire danger of being forgotten amidst his buffoonery in the commentary box.

Phil Clarke remains an embarrassment, mainly to himself. He seems to enjoy his "professor" role despite not having the brain power to back it up and his abuse of statistics makes me cringe.

I quite like Brian Carney and Jon Wells though. Barrie Mac is good value, but probably in small doses.

I assume there is still no confirmation/link to their supposed departure and all this is just hope rather than reality?

However,I desperately hope it is true.