League Express Podcast #53: League Express - Saints sign Feldt as Brad Arthur stays on with Leeds

all right guys welcome back to another episode of The League Express podcast my name is Jake Keenan and joining me is always is the editor of League Express Martin Sadler Martin this week we do have uh the rugby league world's 500th issue on the desk pull it up and show the listeners issue number 500 yeah a great issue congratulations to lorine Maren the editor who's done a wonderful job uh looking back over the history of Rugby League World magazine of course it started as open rugby in 1976 that's 48 years ago Jake Cy it's a long time isn't it but we've reached issue number 500 it's a terrific issue you can get hold of it by going on to the total arl.com webbsite and going into the shop and ordering a copy and you can win a a great um prize this uh with this issue of a a trip to Peron three-day trip to Peron next year courtesy of catle and uh Sports tours and um I think it's it's it's you know it's some wonderful reading in here and quite a few people have phoned us up to congratulate us on um you know on on this issue so um if you've got um a bit of time and you fancy a bit of rugby league reading get hold of a copy is my advice when do you think would be the ideal time to to schedule that match down in per or that trip down to per young well they can do it it it it's it's open to to you to go on any of the trips that they organize depending on which team you support So if you're a leads fan you'll go when leads are there if you're a Saints fan or Wigan fan or warington fan you'll go when your team your team goes so you know but uh first thing you've got to do is to enter the competition yeah absolutely we encourage all our listeners and readers to buy the magazine and then enter the competition yeah definitely absolutely but uh mate we had some interesting action take place over the weekend lots of rugby league to get into uh um we start on Friday night we had Warrington defeating Castleford 28 points to six a good win for Warrington yes with a very notable try our try of the week Kai Taylor Ray this young teenager who um came in to fill in for Matt Duff's absence and scored an absolute Humdinger of a try didn't he so uh if you've seen that one that's absolutely fantastic and he looks to be a real star in the making we've got a lovely um interview with him by the way in um in League Express this week um thanks to our reporter Steven ibbertson who spoke to K after the game and you know he looks like a a really level-headed smart young kid I've got to say you know and uh you know he's I think he's going to be a future star of our sport I was going to ask you just looking at that Warrington backline are they going to struggle to keep him I'm sure they'll be heaps of clubs circling after that performance well I I don't think they'll struggle to keep him from an English Club but they might in the longterm struggle to keep him from an NRL Club I would suggest you know depending on what his ambition is of course so you know but um I always say with with young players who burst through into the first team let's enjoy them while we can and uh I think you know that try was the first you know his first Super League try but I suspect it won't be his last and it looks like Matt duy he could be on the sidelines for a few weeks yet um he had surgery over the weekend I saw a post so on that knee I believe it was so um plenty of opportunity for um Kai going forward and absolutely very excited to see how he goes very much so yes um but we'll move on to the leads matchup so leads defeated catalans 18 points to six yeah isn't it an interesting battle for the top six at the moment because you've got Lee in seventh and Lee Leeds in eighth who are now just one and two points behind the top six um you've got St helin and catalans just ahead of those two clubs then Salford two points further ahead and you know those those clubs particularly Saints and and catalans are just showing a degree of vulnerability really aren't they at the moment and it wouldn't be at all surprising to see Lee and and Leeds overtake them I mean Leeds are at London this weekend so which will be London's final home game so that's you know likely to be a win for them Lee have got a much more difficult game at home against Warrington which will be an absolute fabulous game I'm pretty sure so I can't I can't wait to see that one and uh you know it's it's it's really building up to a great climax I mean you know if you if you if you sort of use an an an analogy of a of a horse race you've got Le and Leeds coming up on the rails as they enter the final furong haven't you and um who knows you know they might get there and I think they probably will yeah but the question is who's going to drop out that's right and you look at both competitions at the moment in the southern hemisphere there's a an intense race for that final uh final spot George aaar just fell didn't they against against the Bulldogs yes and you've got four teams they ver canella I think no yes they fell against Canal that's right it was at um Wallen gong wasn't it you're right um but you've got four teams immediately outside the top eight and two points behind obviously Brisbane the Dolphins you've got the um the Raiders and you know it incredible race for that uh and the Knights of course so you know amazing and it's it's great to see such a tight competition on both sides of the world as we enter the final stages no definitely uh moving into Saturday's matchups we had hkr defeating Saints 42 points to six four Tri to Joe Burgess our player of the week because of that of course League Express player of the week um and yes incredible um performance by h i mean against a very weaken and Talons it has to be said who were playing you know a number of real young kids you you got um George Whitby making his debut tric scoring debut incidentally uh which was great to see but um you know very very under strengths and Talon side so they'll be desperately hoping to get some players back before the end of the season but um Hulk just keep rolling on you know um interesting watching the sky coverage of that game I think um John wilin and and um Sam Tomkins was saying that a lot of people have been watching Hulk this season and they keep expecting them to you know slip at some point but they aren't doing you know they're they're if if anything they're getting stronger as each week goes by which is remarkable isn't it and uh you know You' you've got to say that um you know they are absolutely outstanding they're leading the table at the moment and who's to say they're not going to be leading it by the end of round 27 well I had to look at the the last few games they've played and I'm pretty sure uh it's the last six matches they've played they've won every match by more than 30 points which is just phenomenal they've got a tough running though um I mean they play Salford wig and lean Leeds who are all contenders so you know there were no easy games for hkr you know in the remainder of the season um and you know that that makes it particularly interesting doesn't it you know if they if they can beat all those four sides then they will really deserve to have won the league leaders shield and it would be great to see them at Old Trafford for the first time ever and you know the weekend it wasn't a one-off performance for Joe burges he's been doing this for the past three or four weeks as well yeah um yeah some of the tries he scoring some of the work he does bringing the ball out of their end it's interesting look at you know hul's you know Wing Wings spots Joe Burgess and Ryan Hall I mean Ryan Hall has broken some records this year but um and has tended to overshadow Joe Burgess a bit because of that but Burgess is a really fine player and they picked him up from sford didn't they earlier this season and he's proved to be a great a great signing for them and like the the combination between him and petu I know hiku sort of got him into space a few times over the weekend they seem to be jilling uh really really well and um again we spoke to Peter hiku um last week and uh he's enjoying life in in you know in Hull and uh he's very settled at hul K and you know it's it's everything's going well for them and you've got to give you've got to give um Willie Peter's enormous credit for what what he's doing I mean I've said in my column this week that he's the coach of the year almost no matter what happens from now on you know if if if Hulk lost every game from now on you know he'd still be a contender for coach of the year but the way things are he's he's the number one pick as far as I'm concerned yeah no I agree who would you say is uh second in in in that running well that's I would say some Burgess actually I would say some Burgess is um you know Sam's nobody quite knew how Sam would handle it uh I mean a lot of people thought that you know do very well because obviously he's such a competitive guy but it's one thing being comp itive it's another thing having the skills to you know pilot a team like Warrington you know into the top two or three um as the season unfolds and he's he's done a fantastic job and uh you know it's certainly between those two as coach of the year obviously Matty Pete you can't overlook him either at Wigan you know but but you almost expect Wigan to be up there don't you yeah and it which is probably a bit unfair on on on Marty and the players at Wigan because people sometimes Overlook how great they are um you know because of the expectations that come with them but but I don't think many people expected h k to be right up there um before the start of the season it's kind of like how Ivan clear and Craig Bellamy are often overlooked for Coach of the Year they're just always successful so yes they are um yeah it's a tough one to judge sometimes um just in that match made uh the Tommy minson red card uh sent off it looks like he's going to get three games for that high shot on t May yeah um just watching that one live I thought it was interesting watching ton and May's actions cuz it almost looked like he was telling the ref let's keep playing like don't hold up the match yes and then the ref sort of had to have a look at it um three games do you think it's a bit harsh well Tommy makinson is not a player who deliberately you know goes out to tackle anybody high or you know it's a it's a bit harsh in a way although he's he's been sent off previously this year as well as Tommy um perhaps he just needs to I mean he's an you know an incredibly competitive player and he puts everything into his tackles and maybe just needs to stand back a bit and look at his own technique and just adjust it a little not much but just a little to avoid making that contact with an opponent's head yeah oh it looks like um cuz if he does get the three games I believe that's is that set in stone now I think it might be but I think it might be um but that could be his last game with St Helens um at home if they don't if they don't qualify for the playoff yeah yeah yeah well we'll see we'll see he going to Catalan next year uh we'll move on to the next matchup uh we had sford defeating hutsfield 60 points to 10 gosh wasn't that embarrassing for hutsfield and for their coach you know who um Luke Robinson who who would like to become the the full-time coach at Huddersfield but that that game won't have done him any favors of course and nobody's quite sure who the new coach is going to be at Huddersfield and and there are actually very few rumors about who who it will be but um you know it was obviously deflated was was Luke and the funny thing was for the first 10 minutes Huddersfield looked quite threatening they they set the pace of that game but once Salford scored they just run away with it three tries to Ryme Bry for example you know and uh he was back to his best and you know they sford just controlled the game without a great deal of difficulty and Huddersfield looked absolutely Shattered by the end of it you know it was a sort of game uh Jake that sort of suggested to me that you know by the time you get to game 23 in the season you know The Season's too long really and um ERS feel look as though they can't wait for it to end to be honest yeah and um just watching huford that they've been a frustrating team to watch all year long because you just don't know what hesford you're going to get on the day and there's been uh many times where there's been I guess upsets and times I've I've tipped against them and then tipped with them and then they've been blown out you just it's so hard to pick it was a problem for them on Saturday when Jake Connor had to leave the field late in the first half and didn't come back and that seemed to deflate them and you know they they never really seem to recover from it I'm afraid yeah that's right but we will get into um your in your column you mentioned shortening the season and we we sort of touched on it last episode but we'll get into that a little bit later um right we'll move into Sunday's matchups we had our Lee defeating London 32 points to 12 well that was a really evenly contested game for about the first 65 minutes wasn't it you know it looked as though it could go either way but then Lee ran away with it with three tries towards the end of the game and uh obviously the that that that win was expected um by Lee uh and it consolidates them just outside the top six but London it was their final no it wasn't their final home game their final home game is this weekend but you know you sort of saw Josh Rock again playing very well a lot of London London's team were playing very well and it just makes me so sad to think that they you know are not going to be in Super League next year we need a London team in super league is the quite simple fact as far as I'm concerned and and they won't be there and that's just so so sad and because that it's sort of uh hard to predict how they're going to go in the championship next year because you'd have to expect they're going to lose some of these players to the Super League clubs next year um so yeah interested to see how they go and fingers crossed they don't lose too many uh for their sake absolutely uh moving into the final match up the weekend we had Wigan defeating hfc 22 points to four well I thought that Wigan would win by a greater margin than than than 18 points so in that sense it was it was a successful game for Hull wasn't it um and Wigan I think didn't have to get out of third gear to win that game uh they're still missing some key players aren't there there was no Harry Smith no Bev French jayfield had a very good game for them at fullback though and um you know they had Cruz Leeming at um hooker instead of Brad O'Neal who's who's out for the season and Beyond um so you know it was a satisfactory win for Wigan not a thrilling win I don't think um but um you know whole uh what can you say about Hull that we've not said already so far this season you know there've been a a major disappointment and it and it comes to something doesn't it when you say that a defeat by 18 points is actually not a bad result for them that's right that that's not so great yeah um just a couple of other talking points following the weekend's actions I just wanted to touch on uh Jaden nicara who is also on the front cover of this week's League Express hasn't he fit in really well with sford since his midseason and haven't catalans missed him I think anyway catalans are completely missing an attacking threat really I mean jayen nicara is a a running standoff half Y and he's fitted in really well with Mark Sneed in my view at at sford because Sneed is a kicking halfback nicara is a running half back that so they they combin together well and um in the meantime Catan's dragons are are missing that particular skill they they don't seem to have anybody who can you know be a threat near the opposition line in the opposition half and um no I mean sufur sufur do have the habit of making some pretty smart signings Jake and you know they've they've got a limited budget but what they spend it on they seem to work quite well that's right and N McDonald here's another perfect example well another another wonderful example of a of a player who was more or less sacked by his previous Club leads um because he fell out with the coach at the time he wanted to go back home for personal reasons to Australia and wanted to stay a bit longer than the club wanted him to be there uh so they gave him the push and he ended up at sford and has had an absolute brilliant season for them and Nica's similar you know did a foolish thing went to a concert instead of going to um the international game into loose and uh you know claimed to be injured but you know hopefully learned his lesson and was given a second chance by stford and he's taking it no absolutely and uh the other talking point Lee set one point uh out of the playoffs yes well I think I think Lee will get there in the end but again interesting to look at that remaining games because they've got Warrington at home this weekend then Castleford away which won't be easy but they should win then hul are at home and St Helens at home you know that final game against St Allens that could be a massive game with you know qualification for the top six being at stake potentially and you know wouldn't that that would fill the lead Sports Village I think amazing an amazing Prospect to be honest and uh yeah a lot riding on this week match up with Warrington so there's no doubt about it yeah we see how they go um all right we'll take a quick look at the Albert gold Thor medal table um not much change again with the top three so that means there's a few other players slowly climbing the ranks but the top three Still Remains um Mark sne number one um with 26 on 22 and we know Matt won't w win it now because of course he's out for the remainder of the regular season I think so yes it's um it it it's it's looking pretty static at the moment yeah um obviously the only uh people who got points this week tomam Mo got a point for Lee and Ryan reallyy came into the top 10 with um a point for uh sford so sorry three points for Salford so and that was it that's that's the limit of it so a lot of players are earning points who perhaps haven't sted much earlier in the season yeah no it's going to be a tight race it looks ites I mean you know if Mikey Lewis gets a few points between now and the end of the season he could close in from third on Mark's KN he certainly could and it would be a great time to start doing that wouldn't it I mean they they they play against each other this this this weekend um all KV sford that's going to be an interesting one oh yeah absolutely uh moving on mate to some of the things you spoke about in your column uh one of the things you touched on was your uh proposition for shortening the season um now we talked about this a little bit last episode I think someone might have left a comment in the under the YouTube vide saying that we can't shorten the season due to uh the Sky Sports uh funding but we sort of more or less talk about shortening the season from uh focusing on other areas like International fixtures and and player welfare and things like that um but yeah what was what was some of the things you touched on in your column this week well I I think the thing is that a lot of um people who um you know say that the season shouldn't be shortened make the point that the clubs need 13 home fixtures in order to pay the bills and obviously in order to pay the players but the thing is that that ignores the point that if you if you did shorten the season each game would appear to be more vital than than it does at the moment and I think you'd you know if you if you shorten the SE at the moment we play 13 home games let's imagine that we played 11 home games instead of 13 that's so in other words you're you're only playing 1113 of the total number of games you're playing now my suspicion is that the crowds would rise probably by 20% or so which would more than make up for the loss in fixtures and I think it would make the whole season far more vibrant it would it would give room for other competitions too it would give room for international games so you know I I I I I would go for that and the clubs need to stop being so timid about it I think because the other the the other argument Jake is that if if the clubs need 13 games to pay the bills and so on they might as well if if if if the answer is always playing more games they might as well play 52 weeks a year and have 26 home games you know and that that's just obviously ridiculous but you you can't do it it rugby league is the most demanding Collision sport in the world I think more demanding than grid iron football and you can't we're just seeing how many players are out injured at the moment uh for a whole variety of teams and it it it inevitably detracts from the competition when so many players are picking up knocks you know because the you know the sport is so Collision based and um ultimately we're going to have to do something about that I think and you throw in challenge Cup fixtures abut you know playoffs you look at a team like Wigan who has you know made it all the way to the challenge Cup Final and one they've played playoffs rugby in the past couple of years some of their players be playing you know well over 30 Games a season throwing preseason matches International matches as no doubt um so but you also touched on potentially introducing um a conference sort of Base system well the thing is i' I I I study qu I mean I'm I'm quite a a bit of a nerd really in the sense that I like studying um how different football competitions of various codes of football are organized throughout the world and you know trying to find out which would be the best to apply to um British rugby league and I think the right structure you can find it in Major League Soccer and I won't going I've talked about this before I won't go into it in in great length there but basically Major League Soccer puts the Primacy of the competition above the above the clubs above the club's interests you know the the competition is everything and it's thrived and gone from strength to strength as a result of that but I also think that if if you're going to have a viable League system uh at an elite level I think you probably need at least 16 clubs to give you the variety that you need you know the range of clubs that are competing and so on and it's no surprise that if we look to Australia the NRL has thrived since it went to 16 and now 17 clubs and similarly the AFL thrived when it expanded out of Victoria and Incorporated clubs from the rest of Australia and they've now got 18 teams you know you've got the you know grid iron the NFL in America has 32 teams Major League Soccer now I think it's got up to about 30 teams in the days when it start they started in 1996 with 12 clubs as we did with super league and for several years it wasn't very successful but it started being successful when it expanded the number of clubs took took more clubs in and then it really took off we've stayed at 12 clubs since 1996 apart from a a short period or so when we had 14 so you know we wonder why rugby league isn't taking off don't we in this country despite it being in my opinion the best board of all to watch the best code of football to watch and one reason is that it's it's we we don't have enough clubs at the elite level so I think we ought to be thinking about having at least 16 and one of the concerns I always raised with the NL before they expanded was do we have the talent and are we going to see the product um diminishing in quality well if yeah I don't think that's been the case at all since I don't think it has at all and the thing is if you if you if you've got more clubs you give more opportunities then you will naturally generate more young people wanting to play their game so you know I think that's a false argument personally I guess uh some of the clubs may be opposed due to losing um their cut or or a decreased cut in the but but but you know there is there is a saying isn't there short-term pain for long-term gain and that's true of um you know professional sport um it's true in this particular sense as well you know that um they might get a lower cut of the of the share of the money but in the long term I think the money would rise as um as as the competition grew in popularity um there's another sense by the way in which that short-term pain long-term gain is quite an important um you know quite an important truism for for rugby league and that is and and it it comes back to cellin you know cellin have have had all these um injury problems this year and they've given outings to a lot of youngsters as we saw again Su on on um on the weekend and and obviously the shortterm pain for them but Paul wellins makes it clear in League Express this week that um actually there is long-term gain for S Talons in doing that because it gives him a far greater insight into how these players can perform when they do come into the first team and we are seeing the futur cellence aren't we when we when we see those young players making a breakthrough yeah and the thing is I've noticed this season is the amount of debus we've seen come in and and succeed has been incredible I think like it's not often a debutant plays and we go oh I'm not sure if he's quite ready for Super League yeah it's been quite the opposite this season absolutely um so I mean har coming in for St Allens you know to to replace Jack welsby at fullback looks looks A Real Fine Prospect doesn't he for example that's right even like Kai Taylor Ray we've seen Leon Hayes come in this year ABS killed it so there's a lot of talent there um that's just waiting for their opportunity and maybe another team into Super league would uh help uh get them the opportunity to showcase it I think so um moving on to some other news mate Roger tuasa Sheek has elected to represent Samoa yeah is that great which means we should see him over here at the end of the year yes and my goodness you know think about a center Partnership if you if you play center with Steven kryon uh that's going to be really quite interesting to say the very least isn't it and um s will be a real threat this this year and I think you know there's I really hope that the two the the the the two test matches at Wigan and Leeds are packed out with people because they deserve to be and they are going to be two really great games I think a real a real challenge for England you know and for for Shawn Wayne it's going to be a hell of a a hell of a to hell of a contest yeah and just to think that you know I I doubt this will happen but Joseph suali he represented Samar as well um at the last World Cup I believe it was and then you obviously throwing Brian Toto kryon Lei you know that's a hell of a backline if they were able to get all those players in spenc lenu who you mentioned in your column as he'll be in the pack so um it's shaping up to be an exciting two games coming of the year is it is and you know we've got some pretty good players ourselves so I think we're I just hope they're all not injured by the end of the season that's the only trouble yeah and I guess England will be out for blood to sort of get revenge for that last time they faced off disappointing was that some more World Cup semi-final yeah you know England just I hate World Cup semi-finals because we seem to we seem to um blow it so frequently the only one we didn't quite blow was in 2017 when we played Tonga in the World Cup semi-final and even then they had a try toow that would have won the game for them so it you know we um we came pretty close to blowing that one so you know for goodness sake let's let's hope that doesn't continue yeah and I mean there's going to be heaps of players competing for spots in Shawn Wayne's side there and I'm excited to see what what he goes with um in other International Rugby League news Mel meninga looks set to be staying on as the head coach of the kangaroos going forward yes a two-year extension you know and the thing is that um I mean his last game was in the um final of the Pacific championship last year when Australia lost 30 nil to New Zealand which wasn't um obviously wasn't the best result from his point of view um we still don't know the full details of this year's Pacific Championship do we we've seen the New Zealand leg of it sort of you know we know that Australia playing Tonga in Brisbane but um you know the NRL seems to be very slow at getting these details finalized and it it's it's a real shame that that that that they are but um I would imagine that we'd see I mean Australia playing New Zealand in um I think it's is it Christ Church they're playing playing them I think they are and New Zealand playing Tonga in Oakland um so you know we'll we'll probably see Australia and New Zealand I would think playing in the final of that um of the Pacific cup and again that's going to be a real incredible game isn't it yeah I can't wait uh and hopefully uh come the end of the season we have a healthy side to pick from as an Aussie uh because you know a lot of players do tend to opt for offseason surgeries and the like so well it's going to be very interesting to see how New Zealand play isn't it because last year they were coached by Michael Maguire and Maguire um was sacked because they didn't want him to coach both New Zealand and New South Wales I thought that was a bad decision by New Zealand if I'm really honest about it and and Maguire has shown what sort of a coach he is by winning the state of origin series um Stacy Jones is going to take over from him with New Zealand and we don't really know you know how that's going to work at the moment but um you know if if Stacy could come anywhere near to doing what Michael achieved that would be quite a feat wouldn't it even being in this sort of awkward period of the Season you know state of origin feels like months ago now to me so to think that he couldn't uh focus on you know New South Wales for a 6 to8 week period and then you know come back to Absol ridiculous yeah absolutely ridiculous especially with you know we still got a few more weeks left in the regular season than finals so plenty of time for him to prepare New Zealand fixture but yeah unfortunate I wonder if they're regretting their decision um moving on to some other news mate back up here in Super League Brad Arthur he's going to stay on as head coach of leads for next season only for one season yeah yeah which which is caused a bit of consternation for my colleague Gary scoffield in League Express who sort of questions why why it's only one year and you know what's behind that decision um and obviously you know we don't know really do we but but I've got to say I I think Brad a has made a significant impact at Leeds particularly on improving lead's defense Le leed's defense looks a lot harder than it did um under Rowan Smith um and we saw you know with the win against the catalans last Friday night that they came from a sixn deficit at half time to win the game and they are slowly improving and obious viously they're not guaranteed to finish in the top eight but they've got a fixture list that certainly if you look at the fixture list they've got London away and Hull at home as their next two games now those are clearly winnable games while other teams above them might be playing games that are not not so winnable but then they've got Wigan away and hulkar away so you know they finish with the two hardest games they could possibly possibly pick and on that basis you might think they'll struggle to finish in the top six but everything is so fluid at the moment that you can't be sure can you does his appointment um sort of reflect what the the free agent coaching environment is like at the moment do you think people or do you think Leeds as a club they're struggling to attract the right coach or the coach they want I I can't imagine that Leeds would struggle to attract anybody really but the the really interesting thing is that they didn't go for Paul Rowley you know a lot of people thought that um you know they would go for Paul Rowley um but they''re sticking with Brad Arthur for next year and uh you know that that was a surprise to me uh it will be a massive relief to sford fans of course um and Paul will presumably stick with sford next next year and I'm delighted to see that because I've I've got quite a a soft spot for Salford I like to see Salford doing well battling against the odds and you know I hope that they'll continue to do that M when you look at uh the way that the lead Squad is currently constructed you have to think the players in in that Squad would significantly benefit from rally system the way they like to throw the ball around and constantly attack yeah but yeah maybe Ry is just happy at sford and wants to stay there well hopefully so yeah hopefully so certainly seems happy anyway that's one thing for sure and he'd be a lot happier after that win at the weekend wouldn't he oh definitely uh moving on to some champ ship news mate Wakefield have secured the league leaders Shield which probably at the start of the Season didn't come well doesn't come as a surprise I think everybody thought that would happen but um you know it's great to see them you know hopefully heading back to Super League next year um to to replace London of course uh which which I'm not so glad about but it's you know it's good to see I mean I'm as everybody knows I'm an old Wakefield supporter from many years past and um you know I've obviously got a soft spot for Wakefield and it's it's you know I I think Matthew Ellis has been an absolute Boon to the club it's the first time in the history of Wakefield that they've had a very wealthy owner and um Matthew has put his money where his mouth is and has really invested in um in the team and in the coaching staff and so on and uh it's onwards and upwards for them they're they're going to be very ambitious next year if they are if they are in super league as we expect them to be um I don't think they'll be content with being a bottom half Club put it that way just I guess looking at their squad do you expect them to sort of keep that Core group of players together coming back to Super League or do you think they'll look to Splash on some uh free agents no I think they'll be looking to um you know to sign some you know players who will you know be experienced Super League quality or even NRL quality players I mean they've already got players like Mike MCM coming haven't they which um is going to be a real asset to them next year um and they've signed quite a few others uh one or two have not been announced yet but no I think I I I think they will um I I think they will approach Super League with a you know very realistic frame of mind knowing you know that what was good enough in the championship won't be good enough in Super League yeah no definitely and uh it must be um you know rewarding for matth so I guess he probably feels like he's made the right decision investing in that club that performance this season about it yeah yeah yeah well it was interesting that last year when he was buying the club he deliberately didn't announce that he'd bought the club until the club had actually been relegated because you know if he if he denounced his um ownership you know at this time a year ago while the season was still ongoing his first achievement with the club would have been to see them relegated and he clearly that would have been very bad PR as far as he was concerned so he held off a bit and um it was announced after that and uh you know since since his announcement as being the new owner it's been success following success and that's absolutely marvelous for the club isn't it definitely uh moving on to some signing news mate Cole felt it's been announced today that he has signed with St Helens on a 2-year deal I believe um exciting signing exciting signing for well who will ever forget that try scored in the 2015 Grand Final won't forget just before just before the 80th minute and um just when Brisbane looked as though they were holding on to win broke my heart yeah absolutely absolutely you must you must have been quite glad though when um when when the goal kick was missed yeah I was H I don't know I was so sort of depressed in in the moment that you know the Broncos had given him another opportunity and just with how well thirst and kicks those goals I thought no they've won it and then yeah to see it hit the the the post and then to to give me that false sense of hope and then for unfortunately you know Ben Hunt to to drop that ball off the kickoff I thought it was oh go all but over and you knew it would be didn't you you knew that thirst would kick the drop girl that's right you know that that was so predictable but yes I mean carf felt he's been a a Mainstay of North Queensland for so many years now and uh it almost seems amazing to see him leaving the club doesn't it but he's 32 they're signing him for a 2-year deal hopefully he's got a lot left in him and he's a big Winger isn't he he's a he's a real big guy and um you know we'll see what uh you know what comes of it but he's going to be replacing Tommy makinson who's again been such a stalwart for St Ellens for such a long time but you know I think I think he's going to be quite a good signing yeah that's right can goal kick uh really good bringing the ball out of uh their end and um yeah doesn't shook anything does he no no and um yeah sort of lives in my nightmares mate yes not many rugby league fans can say that they've been a part of the you know two of the biggest upsets in Grand Final history not upsets but losses I guess you could say losing to to penth by two points last year and then um in Golden Point by one point to the Cowboys so but I mean the Broncos have won six premierships and lost two by a total of three points so um breaks my heart a bit when I look at it but uh really happy for K and yeah he's going to be electric from that you think the Broncos are going to get in the top eight that's the really interesting big game this weekend against the Dolphins uh winning that game will certainly help uh they've obviously got to rely on a few other results to go their way well theyve got to rely on the dragons losing at least one game that's right and the dragons play the eels this weekend which is a game that they ought to win actually so I can't quite remember who they're playing the final game of the season but um I think it's a much tougher game um but um the Broncos have to beat the Dolphins this weekend and then again you know when on the final weekend we've got uh the Melbourne storm in the final match so that's a tough ask and the the conundrum that they find themselves in at the moment Melbourne opting to rest their players this weekend because they've got a a flight up to they won the Minor Premiership yeah yeah and um it's a short turnaround for them so Craig's made the decision to rest I think he's resting 10 players this week which I assume means he will play those in in the final game against Bron yeah but I sort of look at all the teams fighting for that eighth spot and I think if you were a Melbourne storm or a pen towards the top of the ladder you probably don't want to play the Broncos in the finals you probably don't want to see them in the finals just because they still have a tremendous amount of talent um but yeah I think if you're in that position you'd rather play Someone Like the Dolphins or the dragons yeah Dr so I think the dragons have overachieved this year actually by being in eighth place and it it sort of shows what a good coach Shane Flanigan is yeah you know a lot of people predicted that the dragon I mean last year there were 15th out of 17 and a lot of people predicted that the dragons would um fail again but Flanigan has obviously revitalized them and done an incredible job um and and funny enough last year the Bulldogs were 16th weren't they and now they look as though they're well going to be in the top five or even maybe top four and Cameron Caldo who a lot of people said last year you know was a bit of a flop after moving from penrith he's done a fantastic job this year yeah revitalizing the Bulldogs and the Bulldogs play manly at um the Olympic Stadium this weekend and they're expecting a very large crowd indeed aren't they no I bet and I think even you and I were talking last year saying that you know did did Bulldogs sign the wrong penrith assistant because Webster was going so well with the Warriors and um well they were fourth last year and they're now well out of it amazing isn't it yeah yeah what a difference 12 months can make that's for sure um just before we get into this weekend's games mate um oh yeah we also touch on Ron coot becoming the the 14th Immortal yeah what a wonderful guy yeah and what a great what a great choice I met Ron coot in 1997 I was in um I was in Australia that year and uh of course Ron cot has the franchise for a lot of McDonald's stores including the one in King's cross and I actually arranged to meet him there and just have a little chat a brief interview and so on and he was you know such a lovely guy and uh you know it's it's you know just what he deserves as far as I'm concerned to be an immortal and in my eyes he is an immortal so you know and he made some very lovely comments as well um about the game when it when he received his award from the Prime Minister anony Anthony albanesi last Wednesday night at the Sydney cricket ground fun um you know he he made the point that you know he loves watching the game today watches all the games and he is you know Blown Away by how good modern rugby league is and so on so he not one of these you know oldtime players who comes along and says the game was better in my day um he's more or less sort of saying it's you know it's better today but he did have you know the one thing I do remember is he had some great battles with um Malcolm Rey when uh when Malcolm was in Australia you know two incredibly hard men going at each other when when Ron played for Eastern suburbs and Malcolm played for Manley yeah they Cy they were you know they would Target each other and give each other as good as they got you know and those those were Incredible Days yeah and just like those sort of personal matchups that you see in team sports they're the ones you don't forget oh absolutely yes but yeah it was just nice also seeing how much it meant to him as well like he got quite emotional when accepting he did yes he did yeah he he did he did cry a bit and uh as you said you know he never he never anticipated that he would cry at the age of 80 or 79 or whatever age he is now but yeah it was lovely to see wasn't it and I'm just thankful that for someone like him that he was you know he's alive to see himself becoming Immortal it' be a shame if they left it you know 15 20 years later to do it absolutely um so yeah major props there to to Ron ctin yeah welld deserved um all right mate well anything else you want to touch on before we um get into this weekend's match no I don't think so I think we've covered quite a lot of oh the the one thing that we ought to talk about actually is White Haven isn't it because you know they were on the verge of going out of business last week at one stage it looked as though they wouldn't have a team to um play against dubury but Kyle La Mo um was appointed the new coach and and Kyle what a lot of credit he deserves because Kyle at the moment is a TV pundit he must be you know being paid reasonably well for that one would imagine and there was nothing to say that he had to take on that role at White Haven but he a White Haven lad hensingham Junior uh in West Cumbria and um he rallied to the cause and he um got them over the line against jewsbury with only 14 players they could only take 14 players down to jewsbury which you know you know obviously reflected the turmoil that had affected the club um over the week but he he he he got them to that win and they're now third from bottom in the championship battling to avoid the drop of course and who knows what's going to happen there but you know if there if there is somebody watching this in Cumbria who could get onto the board at White Haven and make an investment into the club it's not you know they're about 40,000 quid in debt as far as I'm aware which is peanuts compared to you know I mean we talked a week or two ago about Leeds and sellin both losing over2 million pounds in 2023 but the difference is that they've got people involved at director level who can bear those losses and White Haven don't and that's such a shame that's right I believe uh there some fans that have started to go fundme out there yes well good look to them I hope it all goes well for them yeah I was on Cumbria early today it's Tuesday at the moment of course and um talking about that and hopefully you know talking it up a bit which I I always like to do when I'm on uh radio Cumbria because the the two cumbrian professional clubs always seem to be on the edge of a crisis financial crisis uh and yet the strange thing is that the the the Amer game up there the community game always looks incredibly strong you know all the so many of the um amateur clubs are in the NC competition and you know you sort of wonder why that success doesn't transfer to the two professional clubs well three professional clubs actually but Barrow are significantly stronger you know than than White Haven and workington but um it would be nice to see all three clubs being more prosperous so to speak wouldn't it yeah definitely um all right how about we move into this weekend's matchups on Friday we have uh Lee taking on Warrington good poly what a difficult game to um predict the outcome of um I think Lee are on a role at the moment um they didn't play that well against London but I think they will raise the game against Warrington so and particularly I mean we've talked already about Matt dufty missing for Warrington and Kai Taylor Ray being a great you know replacement for him but but this is going to be a really big game for him if he plays at fullback you know it's it's going to be a a tough game than the Castleford game was and I think I think Lee will put a lot of pressure on the young fullback hopefully he'll come through with flying colors but um so I I think Lee might just sneak this one but I'm you know I'm not confident I'm sort of 51 to 49 in favor of Lee it's that close I think it's a coin flip isn't it yeah um you might see some uh sort of skyscraping bombs uh from from lamb and um putting putting Taylor Ray Under Pressure what's going to be quite interesting is to see whether Matt moan is back again for Lee because he he's been missing from the last few games with that rib cartilage problem and that that's a that's a really awkward problem isn't it it's a a very painful thing and it takes quite a while to recover from yeah so whe whether he'll be back I'm not sure he won't be wanting to sneeze or cough or anything no it's it's a horrible thing uh moving to the other match up on Friday we've got hul KR taking on well um we said earlier that you know the that it's the battle between um Mikey Lewis and Mark Sneed and at halfback and Hulk Hamed SED I think 40 nil in the challenge cup earlier this season and I think they'll be too good for them again I think they'll be too good down the middle and of course they've got that incredible threat on the you know outside backs with Ryan Hall and and and Joe Burgess so I think good those sford I think they might be a bit overwhelmed by hul I think hul could win by 20 points yep uh Saturday's matchups we have Hull FC taking on Castleford well this is a game that um again if Hull FC don't want to finish at the bottom of the table it's a game they need to win and I think they might just do it actually I think um you know we we we we've got Craig lingard at the moment it looks as though Castleford are definitely going to finish 10th um regardless of what happens for the rest of the season and I think I think I think Craig is giving a a run out to some of his younger players so I think that might just work in Hull's favor and Hull might just sneak it yep and then we have our catalans taking on Wigan well what a crucial game for the catalans and they they don't look to be in good health at the moment um so I think Wigan might um might win this one and um it might result in Catalan being out of the top six for the first time this season so I think at tip Wigan for that although not with any great idence because we're going are missing some players aren't they but um you know is Harry Smith back this weekend I think he no I'd have to check on that but you know they um I think we're going to probably good enough to sneak a decision this weekend we expecting Sam Tomkins to still be out as well I would think so yes I don't think he'll be playing can't believe I think I heard him saying that was his first hamstring injury that he's had his well that's how it goes isn't it that's crazy isn't it cuz you think like you associate the hamstring injury probably experiences one at the pro level one day or another but yes um moving on to Sunday's matchups we have London taking on leads well I think Leeds will win this one um they need to win it obviously to sustain their top eight Challenge and or top six challenge I should say and um I think they will be good enough to get the win in London London have been playing with such a lot of spirit but at the end of the day I don't think they've quite got the talent to beat leads this weekend and and in the final matchup we have hutsfield taking on St Helens well again St heland urgently need to win this game and I think they will do even though even though they are under strength I mean they might have a few players coming back this week we're not sure yet we've not not seen the teams yet unfortunately but um you know if if Saints don't win at Huddersfield I think they're in big trouble potentially you know I think they I really think they are but um but they've got you know I mean if you look at since final games they've got Huddersfield away then Warrington away which is a tough one for them of course then Castleford at home and Lee away in the final game of the season so there are two games there that they ought to win and two games there that are very tough for them so you know who knows just looking at the the road home for some of those teams there uh it's going to be exciting into the season isn't really exciting actually because a lot of the top teams seem to be playing each other in the final few games of the season so that's really quite interesting isn't it and I don't think coaches are going to be able to afford to rest players in some of these matchups was so much on the line not at all no um but yeah perfect for us mate a lot of exting exciting stuff to talk about going forward um but yeah mate we might wrap it up here don't forget guys if you want to uh get your online edition of The League Express paper head along to total.com shop we got the magazine as well make sure you um order that one of course and yeah and don't forget to hit subscribe if you're watching on YouTube guys but um yeah if you're happy mate I'm happy I'm happy well yes very happy indeed Jake and uh as long as people keep buying our newspaper magazines and keep looking at our website and so on if you don't we might get an angry Martin Sadler in here if if you aren't purchasing well yeah but no things are going well it's it's building up to a really exciting climax of the season I think and that's what we all want to see isn't it so you know in both sides of the world actually so so you know it's some really fascinating competitions at the moment and if everyone can just tune in to the Broncos games here on out and just ride them home for me that would be awesome abely yeah yeah yeah yeah all right mate we'll wrap it up here and and do it again next week that's marvelous thanks a lot cheers mate cheers bye