Bit like us then

Once again you prove how out of touch with reality you are. The NRL failed to find any irregularities in Melbourne's finances for years before the big discovery. What speaks the loudest is the RFL imposed transfer ban. Yes, we are in a dispute with Gene; however the RFL have not felt it necessary to ban us from signing new players as they did with Barrow.

But things like that count on the salary cap and there is no evidence to suggest that Barrow have broken it. Its like people saying that Jamie Rooney is on 80K a year. I dont think they realise how badly paid RL players are for the job they do. You can sign a couple of England internationals for that.

There's an interview rlhererl in which Mr Johnston is pressed about player fall-outs and the situation surrounding Ste Mc. Personally I thought Des pretty much laid his cards on the table.

2 players out of 24 man squad came from our academy. I would therefore label us as a manufactured squad.

Des moans about the injuries his squad have suffered this year. Erm, havent we all? Main difference is that we havent gone down the dual registered route to cover for our key players.

IMO the dual registration hasnt really helped many clubs this year.

agree, think only upset the squads when return from SL and then cant play in playoffs so team weakened. all it is for is to help SL teams.

Exactly which is why it is absurd, some people don't realise how well and in some cases players are overpaid too.

didnt batley have a couple of DCs in there NR.final team?.
we [leigh] have used four this season and finished third compared to third bottom last season so it can work.also i think a lot of it boils down to the respect the coaches have for each other.

The RFL and bl@@dy franchise discussions drive these home / away support discussions. Widnes have good home support for the Championship, Fax also, but not quite as good. Both clubs have great away support, particularly in proportion to their home crowds.

Both clubs would have very decent crowds if they were in SL (increased home support, plus real numbers of away support), but at the moment Widnes would attract more than Fax. If Fax were still at Thrum Hall, this may be reversed - unfortunate fact, but the nature of the Shay is that there are very few "round the corner" spectators - remember that Fax reserve games used to regularly attract 1500+ fans.

Crowd figures get distorted anyway (let's ignore the 4795 for now) - the comparison at Sheffield between the Fax game (I was there) and the Leigh game (on Sky) is laughable.

Just the one. Alex Brown. Who incidently scored two tries that won the game.

Todays score doesn't make great reading if you're a Barrow fan:

Featherstone 72 v 20 Barrow

Fev turned it on! Barrow showed only glimpses of the class they undoubtably have in their squad - enough to score 4!

Fev did what they had to today - and little else. Some days, it just happens!