I suppose Calland's comments are better than those of Brian McDermotts in the post match press conference following the 18-20 loss to Wakefield after Danny brough got a touchline conversion after the hooter had gone-

[iQ

the country mile quote made me cringe at time and wasnt justified anyway.we had strugged to beat barrow,whitehaven and widnes(twice) in the preceding weeks.if those 4 games had been won by 40+ points each then i could have understood it.
while i fully support matt he has stated on several occasions that he wants to add 2/3 players to his squad.he has failed to find anyone (except hemmingway).that isnt gatesheads fault who have been able to strengthen within the rfl rules (however unjust they are).
it was a long way home yesterday through those bloody contraflows after watching that shambles.i couldnt help thinking that the recent threads on us imploding completely this season may not be too far off the mark.

Look what comments the Barrow Chairman got last week when he said he paid top dollar and they should be playing better.

It doesn't matter what is said, somebody will always make something of it.

If Matt said, "the players are ok but we've been lucky with some of our wins" somebody, no doubt would have said "so he thinks you're lucky and doesn't think your squad are any good. What does that tell the players"?

Doesn't matter whether he bigs them up or slates them, he can't win really, but one thing's for sure. Matt's no mug.

Wonder what he'll say this week after what happened at Batley

Matt said the country mile quote when he was on the high of the teams performance against Castleford which as of course motivated the other tems in our division. It is also no cowincedence that our 2 league loses have come after narrow defeats in big cup matches even though Miles Greenwood had said they had learned leasons from the Sheffield game clearly they have not as their heads was still down in the 1st half of yesterdays game. They is no more cup distraction now so lets move on starting Friday against Leigh.

Yes everyone's thinking it but would Calland of said out if won? NO!

Just whinging as he is struggling to deal with a loss of form is all!

All teams suffer dips in form, its how they respond that determines if they are a good team and potential champions this is the test Calland and the team now face.

Well at least we got a mention on the BBC site for a change. It mentions Black is out for at least two weeks (Toulouse) but up to six weeks (Whitehaven/Sheffield).

rlhttps://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/8124492.stmrl

Matt is right and its a joke there are different rules for who you are. Toulouse cant be relegated and Gateshead can field a lot more Aussies than the rest despite having gates of 500!! The way the game is run by the RFL is a joke and no wonder many fans have left the sport due to the idiots running it. What happened to every team having the same set of rules?

"Shouting and balling"?

My god, even the BBC have lost the ability to spell correctly now!

He actually said "NRL players", which doesn't exactly mean Aussies, does it? I know I'm being pedantic, but let's not misquote him.

:2brrrglu]

That's the quote from the courier. Though suppose they could have mis-quoted too. Calland may have said they've bought in 3 Pengiuns and a lion, who knows? "When you have the luxury of adding four players who have played as much NRL as they have, they're going to improve you.
"We don't have that because we're not Gateshead, we can't just go and sign players like that.'"

Was chatting with ben before the game yesterday and he said it would be at least the Toulouse game before he was back.

Didn't put anything on the board in case it gave the upcoming opponents a boost.

Just have to get on with things with the rest of the squad. I'm sure the lads will raise their game to compensate.

Would be a good time to possibly hunt down some SL loanees to bolster the squad and keep the players on their toes at this crucial stage of the season. Other teams are bringing players in and they have much bigger squads than us.

According to the rules we have until the day of the Featherstone Game (24th July) to get any players in should we wish too. Operational Rules state the followingC1
(a) If any signing takes place or is authorised by the Board after close of business on the Friday prior to the lastSix rounds of regular matches in Championship; or
(iii) Three rounds of regular matches in Championship 1

then the Club shall not be entitled to play that Player in the remaining rounds or in any

Match in the relevant Grand Final Series.
(b) However nothing in this Operational Rule shall prohibit:
(i) a Player who is on a Club's Academy register; or
(ii) a Player who has been on loan to a Club having his loan extended or
returning to his registered Club;

playing for that Club in all or any such Matches provided that the relevant
paperwork is submitted to the RFL in the format as required from time to time.

I can understand why expansion clubs are allowed extra Aussie/NRL players. They will be some distance from areas that have a large RL player base for them to recruit from and that will cause problems with recruitment of a competitive squad. The heartland clubs will suffer less from this.

I think there should be a cap on the amount they can use though, and that an expansion clubs shouldn't be able to put in a licence bid until they have got themselves on a level playing field with the heartland clubs. Otherwise we get another scenario like Celtic, buying a team full of Aussies and using the Championship as nothing more than a stepping stone, which devalues both this league and gives a false impression of that clubs' actual strength as well as creating a disadvantage to the other clubs in this league. This only seems to cause resentment and makes the sport a laughing stock.


*



I cannot understand why Matt Calland is saying the things he is. All he has to do is trot out a few old clichés and everyone is happy.

Before a game
[i***** are a good team and will be difficult to beat. We won't take them lightly and we've been training hard all week in preparation.[/i

After a game(Depending on results and scoreline)

[iGreat performance by the lads/ over the moon/ we need to keep it up for a tough game against ***** next week.[/i

[iGood Performance by the lads/ Game of two halves/ We will still need to work on some areas in training though/ good effort by the opposition and I'm pleased to have edged a thriller[/i

[iPoor performance/ Sick as a Parrot/ Can't wait to get back to training Monday and work on those problems/ We have a tough game against ***** next week and will be looking to get back on track. [/i

It's not difficult Matt. Anything else is just making a rod for your own back.