Apparently we could actually request this game to be postponed due to having 4 players involved in the international.
I don’t often say this but it’s a bit of a farce this!
The clubs agreed this and have known about it for months and agreed to play a SL round on the same weekend. Now Matthew Shae is saying clubs are refusing to release players and are trying to postpone the game.
Leeds potentially have 5 in the international fixture. Up to 8 could be unavailable due to Covid positive cases (cannot return within 17 days). Not sure whether all the players stood down through track and trace will be available? Walker, Newman, Lui, McLelland, Holroyd, Smith, A. Sutcliffe, Thompson all potentially injured?
Could be 20 players unavailable, how does the Leeds game go ahead?
Yet more evidence of the corrosive effect of letting the SL clubs make major decisions which affect the entire sport.
The RFL indicated this game on this date miles before SL clubs then scheduled games directly opposite it. It was the one chance for the England team to get together before the World Cup build up and face, hopefully decent, opposition.
The clubs undermined their own games by their choice of scheduling, now they are seeking to undermine the England team's game by not releasing players. With the Covid stuff, this would have been a great time for the clubs to all have had a weekend off, enabling the national team to both take centre stage. Instead they've made a mess of both sides of it.
Totally agree and no wonder we are so poor on the international front. They maybe should have played this game on a Wednesday and the SL games on a Saturday/Sunday. I`m sure some players would have been able to back up on the 2 games like they do in Australia.
