Agreed, new stadium handed on a plate by the council, roping local amateur club in too and they taking all the credit

I think it's more of a case of players wanting to leave as it's probably wrote into contracts that they have to take a pay cut so in reality clubs want rid and the players want to go

Should cockayne be playing the mental health card?

Many people are in that situation, that if they perform poorly then potentially they lose their job and earn less money, which then has a knock on effect on mortgages etc. That's a normal situation. No one would have any sympathy for John Smith off the street who performs poorly at work and loses his job, so why should it be any different for a rugby player. Why is there sometimes this attitude that they have no agency, no control over their situation. Although it's a team sport and a player could play great all year individually and end up in the MPG, if they play great there won't be any problems.

If cas had ended up in the MPG game despite Luke Gales performances would Luke gale have any problems obtaining a decent contract? Hell no.

Are mortgages [ireally[/i on the line? It's not like they'll ring the bank up to tell them they're out of the work and then get hit with the response ''we'll be round tomorrow to repossess''. They'll get a payment plan, they'll get time to get themselves back on track. They could look for work elsewhere, they could go into coaching there's all kinds of possibilities.

Ive been in that situation, where if I didn't achieve a certain standard i'd be taken to disciplinary likely resulting in dismissal. Huge pressure. There was no article in the press ‘’flexwheeler concerns over job security'' no one would have batted an eyelid or cared. Cockayne -welcome to the jungle baby!

But yes, big bad RFL destroying these poor helpless players with the MPG. The footballers are already molly coddled, basically grown babies who don't need to wear knappies, let's not have the same for the rugby players.

I'm looking forward to the game.

Be careful! I've been shot down on other forums for saying exactly the same thing!

If you simply apply the same rules you experience in your daily life to these people you quickly lose any sympathy and don't care.

The game should be a corker if it's a bad as cockayne claims, a real bruiser!

Agree with Flex. Stop moaning, get on with the game and take control of your own destiny.

If you don't like it, leave, seems an awfully arrogant standpoint for a game which struggles to find players.

Perhaps some of our players arent reaching their potential because rather than devoting themselves to being the best RL player they can, they are spending their days bricklaying, plumbing, preparing to do something different to rugby league because theres a very good chance that a) Rugby League wont provide them with enough money to re-adapt once they finish their career and enter the job market with a knackered body and a decade plus behind their cohort and B) could end at any time.

We have a problem in this country that we don't have players of the requisite quality to fill our sides, yet we have players going to other leagues, going to other games, and choosing to stay part-time and simply leaving the game, Perhaps if the 'well go do something else' brigade look closely, players are going somewhere else and that is a big reason why the game struggles in the way it does.

And the most ridiculous thing about it is that for all the damage it does, not that many people will attend the MPG, not that many will watch in tv and hardly anyone will become a fan of the game because of it.

Cockayne could always get a job as a taxi driver.

Not when he's making loads selling coffee and Herbalife.

Cockayne is lucky to be earning any sort of income. Most employers wouldn't go anywhere near him given his "record" ...

Maybe cockayne Is thinking of himself because in reality any decent players on the losing side are going to get snapped up but Cockayne at 33 is not

You become more of a c0ck with every passing day.

I'd say that's unfair to say we hadn't learned lessons from last year, where we won what, 3 games and were the worst team by far, this year Top 8 and CC semi. Also when Salford didn't get their points back, we stated resting players for the CC Semi which obviously then became priority. It's why when we played Cas at the end of the season, we gave games to 2 guys who hadn't played all year, one on his debut. You say lucky, I say we played the cards dealt.

For all those crisising Cockayne, the Salford coach has now said effectively the same thing. This year's MPG is massively different to last year.

The MPG is a device the rfl created to get a champ side promoted because they never envisioned they could get auto promoted in the mid 8s (well done Leigh, they deserve it). This year we know for certain that one SL side will definately be relegated which means that this is the first time in ages an SL side has been relegated because of on field performances and not a restructure/bankrupcy etc.

Yes we had 30 other games we could have done better in to avoid this, but injuries, the odd dodgy decision by officials and our own defensive weaknesses all play a part. Some of those are out of our control.

Wakey avoided relegation last year, so the consequences of these mid 8s are only going to be felt this year.

Do the RFL really want either Salford or Hull KR to fold? Realistically, no. But that is a distinct possibility, hence the comments in the media.