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Pieman 
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Re: Did Covid kill Rugby League? : Fri Apr 03, 2020 7:45 pm  
MorePlaymakersNeeded wrote:
As I said in my earlier post, it will survive this crisis, but only if it adapts to the circumstances that we are all going to face post Corvid19.
The planet may well be facing the biggest recession ever known, and there are going to be shortages of some kinds of food and provisions, in the short term.

SL going back to part time does not seem a far fetched proposition as things stand.


if it does the standard will die as you cant have the athletes on part time money
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Re: Did Covid kill Rugby League? : Fri Apr 03, 2020 7:54 pm  
IMO, the standard of RL has been plummeting for the past 20 years. The game is a pale shadow of itself, with so very little creativity left in it.
Athletes they may be, but the skill factor and excitement our product had has long gone. Which (pre Covid19) had led us to a state where the next Sky deal was very likely to less than the current one.
Who knows what our next TV deals going to look like now. Like I said before, a semi pro SL isn't that far fetched as things stand today.
Pieman 
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Re: Did Covid kill Rugby League? : Fri Apr 03, 2020 8:11 pm  
MorePlaymakersNeeded wrote:
IMO, the standard of RL has been plummeting for the past 20 years. The game is a pale shadow of itself, with so very little creativity left in it.
Athletes they may be, but the skill factor and excitement our product had has long gone. Which (pre Covid19) had led us to a state where the next Sky deal was very likely to less than the current one.
Who knows what our next TV deals going to look like now. Like I said before, a semi pro SL isn't that far fetched as things stand today.


Sam Tomkins, Lomax, Hastings, Wiliams, Gildart, Lockers, Long, Farrell, Scully, Dallas, Lyon, Senior, Peacock, Morley, Craig Smith, Cunningham, Matt Gidley, Ben Barba.....non creative or exciting? Give over
Ruddy Duck 
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Re: Did Covid kill Rugby League? : Sat Apr 04, 2020 7:24 am  
MorePlaymakersNeeded wrote:
IMO, the standard of RL has been plummeting for the past 20 years. The game is a pale shadow of itself, with so very little creativity left in it.
Athletes they may be, but the skill factor and excitement our product had has long gone. Which (pre Covid19) had led us to a state where the next Sky deal was very likely to less than the current one.
Who knows what our next TV deals going to look like now. Like I said before, a semi pro SL isn't that far fetched as things stand today.


Correct, but trying telling it to those who have only started watching the game in more recent times.

You only have to watch some of the games on Wigan TV Match Archive to see how there was more creativity and skill by not just the odd two or three in a team, but most of a team which in many cases included top players at their peak from both the NRL like Brett Kenny, Mel Meninga, Gene Miles, Wally Lewis etc from the NRL and Billy Boston, Lewis Jones, Tom Van Vollenhoven, Jonathan Davies etc from Rugby Union.

Most of those players were playing at a time when the game was Semi Professional and in front of far bigger crowds and better atmospheres than what there is now.

As the song goes, things ain't what they used to be!
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Re: Did Covid kill Rugby League? : Sat Apr 04, 2020 9:35 am  
I think one of the biggest difficulties football of all codes has endured has been the shift in working practises & varying match days. With modern day flexible working & perm any 1 from 7 match days it is very difficult to get regular support anyway. Going back pre super league ,matches were either Saturday or Sunday & most people still worked Monday to Friday with optional weekend overtime. Maybe more regular weekend matchdays would help a post covid fightback.
Pieman 
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Re: Did Covid kill Rugby League? : Sat Apr 04, 2020 11:10 am  
Ruddy Duck wrote:
Correct, but trying telling it to those who have only started watching the game in more recent times.

You only have to watch some of the games on Wigan TV Match Archive to see how there was more creativity and skill by not just the odd two or three in a team, but most of a team which in many cases included top players at their peak from both the NRL like Brett Kenny, Mel Meninga, Gene Miles, Wally Lewis etc from the NRL and Billy Boston, Lewis Jones, Tom Van Vollenhoven, Jonathan Davies etc from Rugby Union.

Most of those players were playing at a time when the game was Semi Professional and in front of far bigger crowds and better atmospheres than what there is now.

As the song goes, things ain't what they used to be!


the level of defense then though was very poor compared to today, plus you are talking about a star studded Wigan team, go watch Paris v Sheffield from 1996 and tell me that was a skillful game
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Re: Did Covid kill Rugby League? : Sat Apr 04, 2020 11:37 am  
Ruddy Duck wrote:
Its not me that need to take the blinkers off, but those who it would appear like yourself, who cannot face the reality of the current situation in which the longer it goes on will result in far bigger financial straits for our way of life which are far more important than the game of Rugby League.
'


:WALL:

I’ve never once underestimated that. This is a RL forum, hence the discussion around the financial perils our clubs will face. If you want to start one about the wider society then fine, let’s do that.
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Re: Did Covid kill Rugby League? : Sat Apr 04, 2020 11:46 am  
Pieman wrote:
the level of defense then though was very poor compared to today, plus you are talking about a star studded Wigan team, go watch Paris v Sheffield from 1996 and tell me that was a skillful game


Correct. The 5Live RL podcast this week has Shaun Edwards on discussing the 85 Challenge Cup Final. Now I know he isn’t exactly a populous figure anymore but what he did say did make sense; the creativity that day was unbelievable but the defensive structures of both teams poor which gave rise to that creativity.

Modern day RL is a whole world away. There are far superior defensive structures which in turn affect the offensive structures. They have to be more robust, planned and executed well to break down those structures. Would a 1980’s Andy Gregory, Brett Kenny or Ellery Hanley break down modern day defences as easy as they did back then? The answer is no. That’s not to say they weren’t unbelievably talented players because unquestionably they were but we can’t keep harping back to yesteryear longing for its return. The game has moved on. You either move on with it or stay stuck in your JJB/NorWeb top crying out for Andy Gregory.
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Re: Did Covid kill Rugby League? : Sat Apr 04, 2020 12:23 pm  
100% Warrior wrote:
Correct. The 5Live RL podcast this week has Shaun Edwards on discussing the 85 Challenge Cup Final. Now I know he isn’t exactly a populous figure anymore but what he did say did make sense; the creativity that day was unbelievable but the defensive structures of both teams poor which gave rise to that creativity.

Modern day RL is a whole world away. There are far superior defensive structures which in turn affect the offensive structures. They have to be more robust, planned and executed well to break down those structures. Would a 1980’s Andy Gregory, Brett Kenny or Ellery Hanley break down modern day defences as easy as they did back then? The answer is no. That’s not to say they weren’t unbelievably talented players because unquestionably they were but we can’t keep harping back to yesteryear longing for its return. The game has moved on. You either move on with it or stay stuck in your JJB/NorWeb top crying out for Andy Gregory.

Don't disagree, but its part of the problem. Defence has improved, but there's no creativity anymore, and the game is just a series of players running into each other. The trend of most SL clubs is a diminishing number of punters through the turnstyles, with the next Sky TV deal being widely reported as being less (and that was pre Covid9). For me, the product we have now is just boring, and we need to find a ways of livening it up. The shot clocks and other tweaks have not really made any difference, and the lying on with three defenders is killing the game.

If you're happy with the way things are, that's great, it's your choice and I don't have a problem with that.
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Re: Did Covid kill Rugby League? : Sat Apr 04, 2020 12:25 pm  
100% Warrior wrote:
:WALL:

I’ve never once underestimated that. This is a RL forum, hence the discussion around the financial perils our clubs will face. If you want to start one about the wider society then fine, let’s do that.


Are we as individuals and the game of RL not part of a wider society, where one affects the other?
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