Quote: Old Feller "Our blessed coach has recently advocated a shorter season starting later with some midweek games.
He's getting his wish earlier than he imagined.'"
I guess there will be no complaints from McDermott now whenever the games are played then?
Quote: Old Feller "Brian McDermott believes the season starts too early and tells peter smith The opening rounds should begin later on for the good of the game. Leeds Rhinos boss Brian McDermott has called for a later start to the Super League season. Rhinos will travel to Wakefield Trinity Wildcats tomorrow afternoon, two days after the game was postponed due to heavy snow. The competition’s opening fixtures were played on February 1 this year and nine of the 27 weekly rounds will be completed before British Summer Time begins this weekend. In 2010 there was an even earlier start, Leeds kicking off in a blizzard at Wrexham on January 29. In Super League’s first season – 1996 – round one did not take place until the final weekend in March. There were only 22 league games that year, but McDermott reckons playing mid-week matches, to catch up, is a price worth paying for a later start. '"
Leeds (and Harlequins) kicked off a week earlier than the rest of SL in 2010 to accommodate the WCC and prevent the need to have to find a spot later in the season. They've gone for a different solution since then.
While it's true to say the SL Regular Rounds originally kicked off much later in 1996 it's untrue to imply that the season itself started then. Before round 1 we had four rounds of Challenge Cup ties spread over the preceding eight weeks with the first kicking off (for Leeds) on the 4th February so much the same season kick-off weekend as we had this season.
It's not as if the programme of fixtures have come about by accident. If he doesn't like the present format, he needs to be take it up with the sports administrators and you'd have to imagine he's pretty close to one of the most influential ones in the sport.
