It all may not be that well thought through but he's got a few points. The games in a frustrating state at the moment full stop with how it's structured and what's happening with the academy Compatitions being major issues.

His last point is the real winner. The Stobart deal has been done to death but how could we seriously enter in to that arrangement? The clubs were meant to have voted on it but somebody must have had the final call or at least took it seriously enough in the first place to put it to the clubs. That person shouldn't still be in a job it was that bad.

The sports crying out for investment. Teams are making cutbacks fighting not to go to the wall. They're scrapping their academy teams to save money yet we take a deal where we basically got paid in magic beans! Sadly they were dud.

Don't get me wrong of he feels he can be more secure elsewhere then fair play and good luck to him. You have to respect that.

I just don't think players are treated that badly at all (are they comparing themselves to footballers?) and surely the Bulls case highlights that! He even says himself clubs would love to pay them more etc etc, they just can't!

The Stobart deal has indeed been done to death, but frankly, the handling of that alone should be enough to convince anyone of the gross incompetence at the top.

The most terrifying thing about the Stobart deal was not the deal itself, but that people could come out and claim it was worth millions. Either those people are cynical liars (bad), or they actually believed what they were saying (worse).

The sport has simply got to get rid of the RFL leadership, it's too pathetic for words. League needs a ton of stuff doing to make it the best it can be (and yes, that's all we ask for - the best it can be. It's no good talking c**p like "we'll never compete with Union, etc." I don't care - I just want to look at the leadership and think, yep, good professionals doing as good a job as anyone could do to get the best out of our sport.)

The problem is that its no good coming up with good ways for the sport to move forward because whatever the idea, its going to be implemented by people not up to the job.

Has Wood got a job for life? Can the clubs vote him out? How long do we have to watch this shambles?

This.

A not untypical parting shot from someone who has made a personal decision to move on; it happens all the time in every industry and always will.

I don't see anything particularly 'damning' in there about anything other than the people who ran Bradford Bulls into the ground; he makes a valid point about the Stobart deal, but only the same point that a million and one other people have already made, including many on here.

I wonder when his book comes out?

He is an end user not dissimilar to a gas fitter working for British Gas.

He won’t be any more familiar with RL strategy than any of us. Even if the RFL had received money for the Stobart deal it wouldn’t have directly impacted upon him.

The RFL have a strategy?

In the latest fashion

' This '

Same old people trying to use whatever, even when completely irrelevant, they can to back up their same old vested interests.

I bet he wasn't bashing the RFL when they were paying his wages?

I'm not sure how RL can ever recover from loss of the great Bryn Hargreaves!

The entire game is on the verge of meltdown, hargreaves can see what's coming.

When this is over, only the big fish will be able to cling onto life.

I think its a tricky choice.

There are lads in the squad who make the minimum or close to.

Early on you will have ambition to be the best and its a great wage for a young lad living at home.

Once you get into your mid twenties and you realise that's as far as you can go there are other financial pressures.

And if they go into their 30s their job prospects may be limited and bodies knackered.

But more than that - when players sign contracts they expect to be paid in full - as does any salaried worker.

And yet if a club goes bust then this isnt going to happen.

I can totally understand him questioning why he does it.

A good mate of mine played SL and plays NL now.

I often tell him Id like to be good enough to play one SL game.

Bryns had a career we would all be happy with. Enjoy your retirement.

You roll your eyes because you know your club won't survive. It's a ticking time bomb and when the dust has settled some club may even apply to become a rugby union club to save their business.

Oh dear. The joke went sour after your 4th post.

Indeed. A lot of posters here seriously don't understand what a bad shape the game is in. In the short term its only getting worse too. Once we assume that Wood et al aren't going to freely resign, the best hope left is that the pending disasters happen quickly and all at once, for a "short sharp shock" to get those clowns out. Worst case is slow decline with a "Bradford" ( or Crusaders, London, take your pick ) every season, accompanied by ever more moronic statements from the RFL telling us what a great job they're doing.

Yeah the game is in terrible shape - record crowd numbers, record TV money, viewing figures increased. The financially bankrupt game has just spent a tidy sum on quite a large marketing campaign, the world cup is coming next year, all but 4 clubs are in modern (or at least acceptable ie Headingley) stadiums, with at least one of those almost ready to start contruction of a new stadium.

Woe is me.

If you think that's a large marketing campaign you belong at the RFL. Nowt wrong with it for what it is, but come on.

World Cup? A pending debacle which will humiliate the game with half empty stadia.

Lets see if he still thinks RL players are treated badly when he goes from 6 hours training sessions to a 9-5 normal job. Does he really think he isn't going to be treated like meat in a normal job? Or that it is secure? Hasn't he heard of redundancies? The guy has no clue of the real world and doesn't realize how good he had it in RL. I respect his decison for leaving the sport and choosing a job more secure than RL and wish him well. But think he is going to have a shock if he thinks he is going to be all "pally" with the top boss and never have the threat of redundancies. He won't get protected like the Bulls players did.

The sky is falling too!!

Shocker: Bulls fan upset by the views of a former player

I'm fairly relaxed about the sky. Whilst I can't prove it *won't* fall, I take comfort in the fact it hasn't done so previously.

However, I take no comfort from the history of Rugby League 'World Cups' and from the fact that even if by some miracle it turns out to be well organized ( don't build up your hopes on that one ) there'll still only be three competitive teams in it.

The WC will be a tremendous success




























Mr Wood will say so

RLWC for it to be a success or failure , the Public will have had to notice it happened in the first place, so the fat controller will be safe.

how is the sport to recover from such a loss to the game