Joined the A1m from M1 and just straight to Newcastle. What was annoying was there was a lack of signs for St James Park - on the m62 for example there is a clear sign for the Galpharm, on m621 there are signs for Headingley etc. We ended up taking a junction further along we should've. Even then when we got into Newcastle there were no signs for St James Park. Found a car park that turned out to be nearby and a very helpful Geordie couple posted us in the right direction.

It was our first trip to Newcastle for probably 15 years and the various roadworks didn't help either.

Could the RFL look at delaying the weekend by a week to coincide with the bank holiday weekend? It would help to increase the attendance on the Sundsys and not make having the 5:30pm kick off seem as bad for travelling fans. It could cause issues with availability and prices of hotel rooms though...

I had one of the best weekends I have had in such a long time. We arrived by train on Friday afternoon, already there was a great atmosphere in the pubs; the Bier Keller was absolutely bouncing, apologies to anyone who got to experience yours truly 'yodelling' on stage!

The Gate was brilliant pre-match, the bars had gone out of their way to welcome fans. This is the key USP over Manchester and London in particular, they are both huge cities and host a different event each weekend. The last two years in Newcastle, the locals have seemed excited and proud to host the event. The challenge for next year is to make them seem involved, too.

The stadium is fantastic and seems to give the event a real aura. After seeing the scenes at the Scotish Cup game on Sunday morning, I felt really proud to be sat in a big group with Wire, Salford, Saints and Widnes fans, having a great laugh with many the supporters of many other clubs.

As a sport we often shoot ourselves in the foot, but this is an event we really should be proud of. Newcastle is the perfect venue and if we really build on it, we could have one of the highlights of the sporting calendar in another ten years time.

Play off final weekend. Newcastle maybe in them as in the championship next season. Like newcastle should go back next year. No to 9s tournament.

I don't even know where to begin with this, the event has record crowds every year, how is it possibly stale? Do you really think 68,000 people, or even 1/10th of that number would turn up to watch a meaningless 9's kickabout in the middle of the SL season? Use your brain FFS.

Keep it in one place. Try and build support in one area. Moving it around dissipates long term development in my view.
The entire stadium should be blanketed with ads/marketing/promotion for Newcastle Thunder.

Oh and a definite no to a 9's comp. We have to put all our resources into developing the 13 man game.
If the NRL wants to use some of its money to establish an international 9's as our version of 7's then great. But it should be used to develop internationally not domestically. It just draws focus and resource away from the proper sport for what is a side show.

I agree. We need to stick with the principle and the venue.
Look at the GF at Old Trafford, back in 1998 we attracted 42k it's one of the few events where we stuck it out and are now reaping the rewards 75k+ crowds. Would that have been successful had it been moved around to Anfield, Elland Road, Etihad? No, definitely not.

I parked at Heworth.£1.20 all day parking.3.50 all day ticket on the metro to monument

10 minutes on te metro with a train every 4 minutes


. 5nminute walk to the ground.SIMPLES

For me

Etihad
Pros- Manchester easily accessible, fantastic fans zone, more comfortable stadium, ability to move around the ground and sit with other fans
Cons- not allowed food, stadium isolated

St James
Pros- centre of city, can take food into stadium, locals brilliant
Cons- ridiculously expensive hotel prices, having to travel from hotels out of centre, poor fans zone, a long journey home on a Sunday night.

newcastle for me is the best location, city centre right on its door step ethihad was good because you could move around freely, but that was it, nothing close to the ground. bit of o/t www.rugby-league.com/article/375 ... magic-flag well done to cramlington rockets who sold 560 tickets for the magic weekend, probably more than a club who's chairman is throwing insults at an other club for not bringing many to away games

newcastle for me is the best location, city centre right on its door step ethihad was good because you could move around freely, but that was it, nothing close to the ground. bit of o/t www.rugby-league.com/article/375 ... magic-flag well done to cramlington rockets who sold 560 tickets for the magic weekend, probably more than a club who's chairman is throwing insults at an other club for not bringing many to away games

Newcastle for me! The only time I can get to a game in 40 minutes!

Newcastle for me, closely followed by Cardiff. I've been to them all, the stadium has to be in the centre, the atmosphere then is fantastic with all fans enjoying the games and evenings together.

The issue with the Eithad for me is there is nothing around it and because there's lots of clubs in the proximity a lot of people just choose to visit for the day rather than the weekend. Newcastle for a weekend trip was fantastic, the locals embraced everything about the weekend.