I kept flicking over the channels when Stains v HKR so didn't really listen to the comentary much. But were they trying to build up HKR? I am almost trying to stick up for them (cant believe i am doing this) but are hey just trying to build a bit of look at the underdogs, and would they have done this if for arguements sake Sinfield punched Hill?

But the commentary is shocking a very good example would be Magic Weekend, as a neutral I think the best match was the Salford v Widnes match and that was down to the commentary of the B team as Sky put it. No niggly stuff no mention of someone being offside 79 minutes later after the incident. Yet when the finale Wigan v Leeds was on the usual suspects came on and for me ruined which was a very good match.

No I didn't as I said I am normally very placid

Thanks for the info on the Briers incident re the ref chaps.

Maybe the sky commentators have been instructed to sensationalise what happens on the pitch & be controversial ,but they do come across as a gang of bellends from the odd time i've seen a match on sky.

The problem is whenever something remotely controversial comes up, these boards are full of posters who don't have the imagination to either come up with their own opinions, or even reword Eddie or Stevos comments. So many times I have come home from a game, read either our or our opponents forums and I know virtually word for word what Stevo said about 'that forward pass' or 'the controversial video ref decision' before I even bother to watch the game back on TV.

Why is a four year old kid not allowed to be a City fan?

Who was your favourite team when you were four years old was it someone in Division Three or let me guess it was one of Forest, Liverpool or Villa wasn't it.

ps I agree with you about Iestyn Harris I used to think he was boring but I think he talks sense about rugby league and seems a good bloke.

I think the same. I'm with you Eddie. It's a sheer lack of concentration I believe the coaches have to get the message out that it's stick it up the jumper time and as for Johnny on the Spot time. For any youngsters posting.This is T R Y time my friend terra ferma and I just don't understand why they don't go for the one pointer. Tomkins is class and Briers should be banned until at least Christmas.

Not bad for a first stanza.

It was a bit of a schamozzle but to be fair there was no one at home and the sliding defence was caught out by the forward pass that wasn't forward because of the momentum rule that doesn't exist.

I particularly enjoyed, after all the tosh about momentum rule, and needing to be a scientist to work it out, Tomkins' "I don't care what you say, it was forward" comment. It goes against every fibre in my body to say this of the little pie-eating twerp, but I like the guy-he's exciting to watch, and comes across well In front of the camera. He's put his early petulance aside, and I'll be sad to see him leave SL.

As for the numpties on Sky: they were winding me up rotten re Briers. There's a good chance they've talked him into a ban. And as for the 'momentum rule', don't get me started!

Was it Stevo that said we should go for the one pointer when we were 14 points up against leeds?

Not the sharpest tool in the box.

I dont think any of them are biased though.... just a bit 'slow around the ruck'.

The problem for Eddie and Stevo is they have been doing it for so long and they don't have any competition from anybody else. Similar can be said about Ray French too. They have just gone stale (they probably went stale 15 years ago) and have become caricatures of themselves.

I know Sky will probably say "rugby league fans want continuity" but continuity with a commentator is OK if its someone like Richie Benaud in the cricket that everybody regarded as a national institution but to get that status Benaud had to be interesting, Eddie and Stevo do not add any value to the televised rugby league, they just detract from it by making it seem silly.

It's the only weakness of the Sky coverage because over the years the camera work has improved, the general production is good its just weak and boring commentators letting them down.

You can guarantee that Stevo will call for a 'little chip over the top' when a team is about 40 metres out on the last at least once a game.

Childs apparently 'forgot' to do the signal on the pitch but did report the incident via his intercom ..... probably with a little bit of prompting!

As for why Briers took a swing at Ablett - maybe because he's always coming third man into the tackle with a snidey little dig or knee into a player who's being held down. I know he's not the only one but think back to last years CC and GF .... how many times was there a bit of 'handbags' off the ball between Wire players (Briers, Hill, Woody, Benny) and Ablett after a tackle?

Funniest part was the little hokey cokey that followed Briers punch - when Bailey arrived, I'm sure even some of the Leeds players took the opportunity to threw a punch his way .....

You need a shellacking

My problem with Sky commentators, is that there's just TOO MANY OF THEM.

On Saturday, you had

Eddeh
Stepho
Fatty McRea
Clarke
and half time/full time blood pressure explosions from Wells.

It's too much. Do we really need 5 people's opinions on one game?

Sky probably have nearly as many RL commentators/pundits as they do football ones.

Surprised to see people genuinely shocked at the fact E&S are employed as entertainers in as much as they are commentators. What people forget is that whilst the likes of ourselves will watch the vast majority of RL output on sky, there are an awful lot of casual viewers, particularly down south which the production has to cater for. Contrast that to Premier Sports where people are paying a tenner a month specifically to watch RL.

If you look into it, Neville Smith has done a brilliant job with rugby league over the years, with Eddie and Stevo playing an intrinsic part in that. The casual viewer may flick over on a Friday night and not know a single player on the field or where on earth places like Warrington and Wakefield are, but they will recognise the dulcet tones in the background.

This is something I only really started to pick up on when I moved away, southern mates at uni would know very little about what was actually happening but E&S made it entertaining for them, you can listen to them quibble about the intricacies of the offside law and not have a clue about said law, yet still find yourself laughing along.

Like it or not they have been the voice of rugby league for over 20 years, much in the way that Eddie Wearing was. For mine, it is a case of you'll miss em when they are gone.

My only complaint about them is that Hemmings acted as judge and jury over the Briers affair.

And if he had his way, executioner too

One addendum, I have been saying this here and elsewhere for many years- how Stephenson is yet to receive an MBE for services to rugby league is utterly beyond me.

Early Guilty plea, straight beheading instead of being hung, drawn and quartered.

I have just caught the second half of the football tonight and was going to turn off after the match but I was genuinley Interested in Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville's after match discussion. Both not neccessarily agreeing with each other but both making very interesting comments on the match just played, the season so far, and other points.
Two very good media friendly individuals....... despite the Manc and Scouse accents

normally I wouldnt give a monkeys about after match discussions but their genuine passion and knowledge for the game was quite refreshing...........and not an ounce of gibberish or gobtery....it was very good TV.

compare that to the crap we get served up there is not a chance I can agree with any of your above comments on the fecktards I wish them an early retirement.............

I've heard this argument put forward before, and it might (just) have held for Waring, but why does consistency f commentators on Sky attract southern/non-RL fans exactly? I'm not sure why you think they would appeal to that particular audience more, or why you assume they want to hear an argument about the offside rule.

Now I don't know the demographic of Sky viewers for SL games, but I'd take a punt most are RL fans in the heartland. If you are trying to appeal to your minority audience at the expense or your core you're surely doomed to fail, rather than grow your 'product'.

Contrast the NRL guys on PS, or EPL men on Sky, and they enhance and complement the coverage; they are not a sideshow it themselves. I think that's the point that's being made here.

Maybe the Queen, as one of the casual southern viewers E&S are supposed to appeal to, has actually heard his commentary, and disagrees that taking one point at any opportunity is a valid play in modern RL?

Those are good examples. With ex players its always a risk because you get guys like Shearer who just talk up their personal friends in the game and give boring cliches, Savage who just wants to be controversial for the sake of it, and then players that have interesting insights that reveal things to the fans, like Neville, Carragher and in the international coverage Clarence Seedorf.

I think RL is lacking this. Tomkins is OK. I remember once (and I think only once) about 12 years ago Martin Masella did a stint in Sky and came over as a good articulate and interesting voice about the game, but they never had him back, which was a shame.

Laughing along is about right, especially in Eddie Waring's case. He may have been a good guy and a great servant to Rugby League but I would suggest that his style of commentating perpetuated a certain image of the game and its roots and not always in a positive light. At the end of his tenure perhaps aided and abetted by the Mike Yarwood "OOOOP and UNDERRR" vocab he may just have held us back?.

I don't have a problem with Ray French the follow up 'act' but he is similarly parochial.

Perhaps we need to accept what we have and get on with it and in time as ex players become more media savvy Tomkins etc then things will improve.

BTW despite the "biased SKY commentary" we won the bloody game