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2010 Super League Pre-Season Thread.

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  • 19-11-2009 12:01pm
    #1
    toomevara
    Registered Users Posts: 5,772 ✭✭✭


    Fixture list is out. Noble's Crusaders face Leeds in the opening game on Jan 29th (moved to accommodate the World Club Challenge) and Sean Long gets to return home to Saints on his debut game for FC...no doubt he'll receive a warm welcome......


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    #2
    amacachi
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23,316 ✭✭✭✭amacachi


    toomevara wrote: »
    Fixture list is out. Noble's Crusaders face Leeds in the opening game on Jan 29th (moved to accommodate the World Club Challenge) and Sean Long gets to return home to Saints on his debut game for FC...no doubt he'll receive a warm welcome......

    Crusaders and Leeds to open. Are they hoping to give bad impressions of the tournament? :pac:


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    #3
    AdeT
    Registered Users Posts: 168 ✭✭AdeT


    amacachi wrote: »
    Crusaders and Leeds to open. Are they hoping to give bad impressions of the tournament? :pac:

    It would have been good to start with a big clash but with Noble in charge Crusaders may do alright. He's had a nack of winning big games in the past so he might get them right for this big game!


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    #4
    amacachi
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23,316 ✭✭✭✭amacachi


    AdeT wrote: »
    It would have been good to start with a big clash but with Noble in charge Crusaders may do alright. He's had a nack of winning big games in the past so he might get them right for this big game!

    Hopefully they'll pull out one of those first-game-under-a-new-manager games. :pac:


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    #5
    Stev_o
    Registered Users Posts: 9,249 ✭✭✭Stev_o


    Have the Crusaders been able to sign anyone this season or is it looking like the same squad as it was last year? Should be interesting to see how Saints function now with Eastmond at the helm.


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    #6
    toomevara
    Registered Users Posts: 5,772 ✭✭✭toomevara


    Stev_o wrote: »
    Have the Crusaders been able to sign anyone this season or is it looking like the same squad as it was last year? Should be interesting to see how Saints function now with Eastmond at the helm.

    Re: The Crusaders lots of rumours being bandied about, nothing concrete. As for Eastmond, if he replicates his Four Nations form, saints will hardly notice Long's gone.


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    #7
    Dozen Wicked Words
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,325 ✭✭✭✭Dozen Wicked Words


    I am already looking forward to see which half of the season Quins play in, cos we can only do 12 games. Nice easy start for us anyway, Wakefield ;)

    And £99 for a season ticket (payable over 6 months!!!!) , shame I don't live in the UK any more. Absolute bargain.


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    #8
    WakeyTyke
    Registered Users Posts: 526 ✭✭✭WakeyTyke


    dooferoaks wrote: »
    I am already looking forward to see which half of the season Quins play in, cos we can only do 12 games. Nice easy start for us anyway, Wakefield ;)

    And £99 for a season ticket (payable over 6 months!!!!) , shame I don't live in the UK any more. Absolute bargain.

    Obviously you haven't noticed that Wakey, under Kear, always start the season like a runaway train - winning at Wigan at the start of last season:D

    Really looking forward to the Magic Weekend and the match-up with Leeds, time to get the monkey of our back;)


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    #9
    Dozen Wicked Words
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,325 ✭✭✭✭Dozen Wicked Words


    :o Yep 'Tyke you are right. Just trying to get a rise out of you! :p Hopefully it will be a good game, if Quins start like they finished last year we will get our arses kicked. Have to be optimistic for at least the start of the season though! I love Kear, his enthusiasm for the game is infectious. (Still hoping his interview after first game is how his team was played off the park!!!!!)


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    #10
    WakeyTyke
    Registered Users Posts: 526 ✭✭✭WakeyTyke


    dooferoaks wrote: »
    :o Yep 'Tyke you are right. Just trying to get a rise out of you! :p Hopefully it will be a good game, if Quins start like they finished last year we will get our arses kicked. Have to be optimistic for at least the start of the season though! I love Kear, his enthusiasm for the game is infectious. (Still hoping his interview after first game is how his team was played off the park!!!!!)

    Start of the season, slate wiped clean, intense pre-season training under McDermott - Quinns could well turn Wakey over, especially given that the Wildcats have had a big turn-over in players this close season and it will take time for them all to gel together as a team.

    I am sure the bookies will have Quinns favorites for this one come the start of the season:cool:

    Might try and get a cheap flight over for it - always like to see the first game of the season.


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    #11
    AdeT
    Registered Users Posts: 168 ✭✭AdeT


    Who are people backing for SL next season?

    I think Leeds and Saints will be top of the pile; if, however, anyone challenges them I've a feeling it might be Catalans. They've recruited wuite well (Johnson is an unbelievable signing) and depending on what Greg Bird's doing they might have two of the most talented back rowers in the world. Bosc is getting better by the year and they seem to have a nice balance between french aggression and flair and the more rounded Australian players.

    For me, they're a massive success story - in one of their games with Wigan in 2009 they had more local players than Wigan had Wiganers...


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    #12
    toomevara
    Registered Users Posts: 5,772 ✭✭✭toomevara


    The Giants have signed ex-Gateshead centre Jamie Cording...one to watch I reckon.


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    #13
    AdeT
    Registered Users Posts: 168 ✭✭AdeT


    Very good player - they've done well out of Danny Kirmond who came through the championship so they may be on to something with Cording.

    Also, Bird has been cleared! Catalans are looking to re-sign him but the Gold Coast Titans are in for him too... He may prefer to play in NRL. I hope he's playing super league personally


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    #14
    amacachi
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23,316 ✭✭✭✭amacachi


    AdeT wrote: »
    Very good player - they've done well out of Danny Kirmond who came through the championship so they may be on to something with Cording.

    Also, Bird has been cleared! Catalans are looking to re-sign him but the Gold Coast Titans are in for him too... He may prefer to play in NRL. I hope he's playing super league personally

    I'd take a guess he was just hanging around in France til he could go back to Aus. Hope I'm wrong though.
    Wonder what changed in the case. :L


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    #15
    toomevara
    Registered Users Posts: 5,772 ✭✭✭toomevara


    AdeT wrote: »
    Who are people backing for SL next season?

    I think Leeds and Saints will be top of the pile;

    Yeah, tend to agree that they'll be the big two yet again this year. How good that is for the SL I don't know. As for the Dragons, they're a team I really, really want to like...french team, doing great things for the game in a union heartland and some really exciting french players coming through e.e. Bosc et al, but they're so disappointing, so one dimensional on the field. (particularly without playmakers like Bird, Maguire).

    Also their discipline is absolutely rubbish and costs them at least 10-12 points a game. If they can play their game in the French way, with elan and flair they can go far this year. As for Bird, don't want to second guess the aussie courts but thought he was pretty much bang-to-rights in that case...I think the Dragons will have a job to keep him, and without him they'll have a huge playmaking hole to fill.

    I'm also looking for a big season from Wigan and the Bulls this year..and something tells me Salford are going to capitalise on a relatively solid SL debut. Reckon the most fascinating drama will be Brian Noble's attempt to arrest the slowly unfolding car crash that is the Crusaders....Interesting times ahead.


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    #16
    toomevara
    Registered Users Posts: 5,772 ✭✭✭toomevara


    Former Hull FC player, Graeme Horne to Huddersfield...

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/super_league/huddersfield/8386053.stm


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    #17
    toomevara
    Registered Users Posts: 5,772 ✭✭✭toomevara


    Bird is buggering off back to Oz, to the Goldcoast Titans. No great surprise there;

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/super_league/catalan/8398824.stm


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    #18
    Stev_o
    Registered Users Posts: 9,249 ✭✭✭Stev_o


    Don't the Catalans look like giant fools for making him captain last year? Great leadership that is...


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    #19
    AdeT
    Registered Users Posts: 168 ✭✭AdeT


    Stev_o wrote: »
    Don't the Catalans look like giant fools for making him captain last year? Great leadership that is...

    Dunno, he was, with Bosc, their outstanding player last year and definitely led from the front. They always knew that if he was cleared he'd want to go back to NRL so maybe they just wanted to get the best they could out of him while they had him.

    The Catalans players will have benefitted from playing and training with one of the best all-round players in the game

    Dallas Johnson isn't too bad a replacement though eh?!


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    #20
    Stev_o
    Registered Users Posts: 9,249 ✭✭✭Stev_o


    For the sake of my sanity i need the RL season to start up, Union is getting worse and worse. 2010 will be the year for League to shine!


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    #21
    amacachi
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23,316 ✭✭✭✭amacachi


    Stev_o wrote: »
    For the sake of my sanity i need the RL season to start up, Union is getting worse and worse. 2010 will be the year for League to shine!

    Just watching the so-called highlights of the Munster match, would hate to see what they left out.
    A couple of months is too long, the lazy ****ers players. :pac:


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    #22
    toomevara
    Registered Users Posts: 5,772 ✭✭✭toomevara


    I've been hounding the sportsguru people to start a comp for the 2010 SL, they've agreed, so once they get it up and running I'll get a boards league going.

    You can register your interest here and they'll drop you an e-mail once its ready to go. Its a good laugh and should add a little spice to proceedings.

    http://www.sportguru.co.uk/superleague/


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    #23
    AdeT
    Registered Users Posts: 168 ✭✭AdeT


    Stev_o wrote: »
    For the sake of my sanity i need the RL season to start up, Union is getting worse and worse. 2010 will be the year for League to shine!

    Fingers crossed. Luckily, living in Leeds I get to see a decent amount of high quality amateur RL - saying that, RL in the summer is a much more entertaining product!
    Just watching the so-called highlights of the Munster match, would hate to see what they left out.
    A couple of months is too long, the lazy ****ers players. :pac:

    Some of the HC at the weekend was enjoyable but some of it was just painful. Nothin seemed to be near the intensity of a Saints v Leeds, Saints v Wigan, Bradford v Leeds, Hull v Rovers.


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    #24
    Dozen Wicked Words
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,325 ✭✭✭✭Dozen Wicked Words


    Jon has been a great servant to RL. Particularly Castleford and Quins, doubt there will be many there sadly but if there are any of you "darn souf" in that there London, a tenners not bad for a bit of RL before the season starts. Jon is the first London player to have got a testimonial year, so hopefully he will have a good one.

    You also get a free game of kick and clap to watch before the game too! :pac:

    Buy your tickets here!!


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    #25
    toomevara
    Registered Users Posts: 5,772 ✭✭✭toomevara


    Sean Long has been named captain of Hull FC for the forthcoming season. Strikes me as more than a little previous, may also upset certain long standing team members:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/super_league/hull/8452678.stm


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    #26
    WakeyTyke
    Registered Users Posts: 526 ✭✭✭WakeyTyke


    Just strikes me as an act of desperation on the part of Agar. The team hasn't performed for him for the last two seasons and, like McNamara, he is drinking at the 'Last Chance' saloon.

    Whilst we're on movie cliches the scene from 'The Life of Brian' - "he's not the Messiah ... he's just a very naughty boy" springs to mind in regard to Long.


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    #27
    AdeT
    Registered Users Posts: 168 ✭✭AdeT


    WakeyTyke wrote: »
    Just strikes me as an act of desperation on the part of Agar. The team hasn't performed for him for the last two seasons and, like McNamara, he is drinking at the 'Last Chance' saloon.

    You may well be right... BUT, if I was at 'Last Chance saloon' as a SL coach I'd prefer to be at Hull than Bradford! Long might just move them up to lower play-off positions - he's the kind of player that can be the difference in 50/50 games. Alongside him signings like O'Meley, Fitzgibbon, Lauaki (who has the capacity to either be huge or be a massive flop) and I think FC might do a bit better this year. On form, Berrigan is one of the top hookers in SL, he's been very unlucky with injuries though!

    Saying that, I don't really feel that Agar has the presense to be a successful SL coach - I've got a funny feeling that if this team flops it's his fault but if they do well it's Longy's team.


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    #28
    toomevara
    Registered Users Posts: 5,772 ✭✭✭toomevara


    Wigan are adopting a frankly bizarre 5 player rotating captaincy....to my eyes completely ridiculous;

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/8454791.stm


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    #29
    WakeyTyke
    Registered Users Posts: 526 ✭✭✭WakeyTyke


    toomevara wrote: »
    Wigan are adopting a frankly bizarre 5 player rotating captaincy....to my eyes completely ridiculous;

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/8454791.stm

    Agree completely:confused: Has to be a recipe for creating discontent and disharmony in a team.

    Players are bound to develop allegiances to a particular captain. That has implications for when all 5 'captains' are fit and playing in the team together.

    Talk about shooting yourself in the foot:D


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    #30
    WakeyTyke
    Registered Users Posts: 526 ✭✭✭WakeyTyke


    On the subject of shooting yourself in the foot, Steve McNamara seems a little too keen to 'big up' the Bulls, stating how he has high expectations of success for the season ahead.

    This is a sign of a worried man, who is showing how little experience and understanding he has of management, and whose main concern is appeasing and pleasing the fickle Bradford fans.

    http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12196_5856806,00.html


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    #31
    Dozen Wicked Words
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,325 ✭✭✭✭Dozen Wicked Words


    So Quins have couple of injury problems already. Chad Robinson has been released after failing to get over his continuing knee problems and the captain Rob Purdham is probably going to miss the start of the season after shoulder injury in training. Still, have decided this is the year the team are going to be consistent through the whole season (maybe good, maybe bad, but consistent.)


    Anyway, a bit of pre-season viral from the mighty Quins:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZTRXDkDhnk



    Here is the making of:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP3rr_vTGoQ


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