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.....

I'd still say RW is far better than Eddie and Stevo.

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

Remember Chris Warren did well as an anchor for SKY, not sure how many games he did, last one I rem was Federation shield so that was 6 years ago, and he kind of lost interest at the Broncos towards the end, think he could see the direction the club were taking when Lenagan jumped ship. Always good on Boots n' All when he did that, and I for one don't have an issue with an Australasian voice in the Sky team, I'll tell a man that for nothing, esp when the union pundits inc Sean Fitzpatrick and used to (I assume following stroke) inc Michael Lynagh. My feeling is that Brian Carney is being groomed for the captain of the Sky team, but he is no lead commentator, so that leaves Bill Arthur, Rod Studd or retain Eddie Hemmings as commentator only and get him to focus on that. Shaun McRae and Paul Cullen always seem to interject with some decent points whenever they're on, and John Kear too. Jon Wells is a fixture, and Barrie and Terry seem alot better than they used to be, esp when kept apart.

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.

Only me who likes stevo then? cant help but think he reads these forums i always laugh when i hear him try and make sure he says his "chip over the top" line at least once a game. Eddie is the problem the mistakes he makes it was only last week he was calling Huddersfield Saints. I remember seeing Jeff Stelling doing some Rugby league work before he was big we should try and get somebody like him doing it , Stevo does a bearable job he just needs a decent lead commentator beside him.