I don't see what nationality or accent has to do with it - they just need to be good commentators.

I wish SKY would make Ray Warren an offer he can't refuse,the master of RL commentators.If you close your eyes you can still see the game when RW is calling it.

If you are attempting to court the Monday Night Football viewer than don't call them soccer fans. Don't give them a reason to turn over if you can help it. Bit of an own-goal there, but relatively decent that aside, but then a good game often allows you to mentally tune out the comments made by certain SKY employees.

'Soccer' as a contraction of 'association football' has been around for about as long as the game has.

Yeah but find me a fan of an association football team that is okay with their sport being called soccer, I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just that it does us no favours when we are attempting to grow our base of potential fans beyond those who already watch rugby league in this country. It would have been better for Eddie to say Premier League Football and that cuts out any issues with viewers leaving out of principle. That would have been down to the producer who should have ironed out details like that, and told an experienced anchor and commentator what he should already know.

RL needs to be presented like a mainstream sport to be accepted as one. Commentary should assume that the listener has decent knowledge of the game. Newcomers will soon pick it up, they don't need patronizing.

If it was handball or some obscure (in the UK) sport like that at the Olympics, fair enough, most of us will watch it once, so the commentary had better explain the rules, and treat us like new viewers, since most will be.

We sound desperate, and as for comparing how hard our players are compared to soccer...the worst thing you can do in marketing is to insult a thing that people like. Soccer fans don't want to hear that comparison, even if its true.

Peter Sterling and Ray Warren do it during Origin, but their should be a medium to be found in not alienating new viewers and not disrupting the listening and viewing habits of the existing fans. League is a very easy game to understand for uninitiated, just explain the hard to understand. Surely Channel 9, Fox or SKY have got a varied group of non-league fans in a room and asked them if they understood what was going on, and if their video coverage and commentary team helped or hindered their understanding and interest in the game.

I don't midn Eddie & Stevo (Lets face it no matter what commentators we get 90% of RL fans will moan. It's one thing we're damn good at)

Only thing bugged me slightly was Eddie saying "football fans i bet your wondering whats going on seeing a player carry on with blood"

If football fans tune in, they won't want to listen how soft their sport is (no matter how true it is)

Watch gymnastics or ice skating, i never know if it's good or not, definitely no patronising there, salco and triple axels, eh?

Hi Eddie

Maybe a few years back.....but not any more IMO.
This week he and his side-kick got the name of the warriors second try scorer wrong.....then they put it down to all the warriors backs "looking the same" ...I think the term used was "there's a fair bit of looky likey in the warriors side".....shows what era he comes from.
There was a spell in the first half when it was all warriors that they didn't commentate on the game for about 7 minutes, but instead reminisced about bygone days at Leichhardt Oval.......

Chris Warren is languishing away on Fox Sports News back in Australia......he was always a good MC at the Broncos when he was in London.......he might be worth a shot, but not his old man.

John Wells is most certainly one that SKY need to keep hold of.....

You'll get no argument from me on that one.....but he is also past his sell by date now.....

100 % agree..............there will have been people watching that game who may not have seen a game before, why not explain to them what's happening.