To be accused of stating "the bleeding obvious" makes me sympathise with Gordon Brown when he is accused of bullying.

No doubt Gordon would like to bully his accusers, if he could be alone in a room with them, and similarly I feel like coming out with "the bleeding obvious" in response to this criticism.

I suppose I could have said that Leeds have had a bad start this season because it's the Chinese Year of the Tiger (Cas Tigers, geddit?), combined with the fact that Brian McClennan stopped going to church, Gary Hetherington forgot to pay the groundsman, and Wakefield employed a witchdoctor to cast a spell on Leeds at Belle Vue.

None of that would have been obvious, so maybe I'll point it all out in my next column.

I don't know whether I state "the bleeding obvious" every week, but if you read the column on 15 February you might have spotted a piece about the tendency of first-year coaches winning the Super League title.

A lot of people, including several coaches, have said to me since that column came out that they had never spotted that particular trend. But maybe it was obvious to you.

Anyway, having got that off my chest, thanks for reading League Express, and criticism is always more valuable than praise, so you are doing us a favour. Obviously!

Was it your cat that we ran over?

You hit upon a problem that confronts anyone who is producing a weekly newspaper in the Internet age - how much space to give to news that is already in the public domain!

Ideally we would like all our news to be completely exclusive and new. And yet as a newspaper of record, if a player has signed a new contract in the previous week we have to report that in the following Monday's League Express.

Having said that, a lot of the Super League news that features in League Express comes fresh into the newspaper after the weekend's games.

Some of the points you make are interesting ones, although putting together a newspaper that has to cover 36 professional clubs and the whole of the amateur game means that we have to ration our resources to some degree.

As far as the stats of every game is concerned, Opta don't complete their analysis until Monday morning, although I would like nothing more than to publish all the stats if they could be produced more quickly.

We also have the problem that some players are difficult for our reporters to get hold of straight after a match.

Furthermore, when we do reader surveys we find that not all our readers agree on precisely what they would like to read in the newspaper.

But thanks for your thoughts, which I'll take on board and consider carefully.

I also ran the line (once) for a St Bedes ARLFC North West Counties Division Six fixture so any suggestion that I lack an in-depth knowledge of the game is very hurtful.



Thanks Dad.

Some of Wadski's ideas are great. I'm not a huge stats man myself but i'd definately like to see more of a personal touch with interviews the man on the street can't hear regarding club life in general

Wow. That sounds like a smart piece. I assume you compared the performances of coaches who are in their first 2nd 3rd 4th etc year in post. And factored in the clubs' pre and post coach seasonss. The number of new coaches in clubs outside the Bulls /Saints / Leeds must be very high yet few manage to win SL! If it is merely an observation that a club finishing 1st or 2nd one year then finishes 1st the next year with a new coach it could be virtually meaningless.

With the backing of analysis it will be a meaningful insight. Without thoughtful analysis it is a dreary partial observation.

Too many RL journalists confuse surface observations with insight. I am sure your piece was the later. I will go and dig it out.

it was a very interesting piece, a lot of his editorials are. i think league express could be better, more interviews and features as i stated above and im not a fan of stevos column but i always read sadler's and more often than not enjoy it. he writes 52 a year though so theyre not all going to be memorable but he gets the balance right.

What we really need is a website where any tom, dick or harriet can post their opinions......especially when they are opinions that aren't always in agreement with those who write in the national and regional press or the RL papers that exist......
...now, let me think......


where would you find something like that

Any reason then why you could not publish it on a Tuesday




that would resolve many of the problems you mentioned ie Opta stats, contacting players. Coaches would have more time to digest teams performances, more time for injury position to become clear. ie a doctor explaing the nature of Richard Owens injury.

It would also allow you to have more of a balance between just reporting what happened at the Weekend which most people will have read in 3 or more different formats. I will have been to a game, watched games on Sky, read the clubs report, read the opposition teams website, possibly read something in the national press , read my local papers review on line, watched the tries on Sky etc. Why would i then want to read what would be old news to me.

You could even invite fans to answer set questions on the game and email them to you for a fans perspective ie MOM, teams performance etc

The balance of the paper could then shift with some extra analysis of the coming weeks games.

Look at the threads on here after the weekend. Lots of them are looking forward to what will happen next week. What about 3 coaches/ players/ pundits discussing is there life after Briers ?. that is what Warrington fans want to know for the next 3 weeks. A ref discussing why wigans second try was a try ( with diagrams so Dico could understand). Has Justin got it wrong at HKR with Webster at no 6?. That would make people more likely to buy it which is what you want.


=#FF0000Print reportage in a digital age does not really work. What we would want is analysis and something that makes us think. It would give a lot of publicity to RLE on here as we would all be talking about what we have read and disagree with.

What I'd love, whether from League Express or on the tv from Boots N All is more technical analysis of the game.

I watch both codes of rugby. Having played Union at school and at club level as a young man, I understand the skills needed to turn a man in the tackle, position your body corrctly in a maul, to present the ball correctly in the ruck, the importance of footwork in the scrum etc etc. Yet when Barnes, Morris and Greenwood feature the sublime skills of McCaw at the breakdown, I often learn something new, and it adds to my appreciation.

I was a relative late comer to League,and I never received any coaching in it, so I often miss the complexities, but I enjoy the physicality of the game. However I'm sure my enjoyment would increase if "expert" analysis was made of the core skills in a RL game. It would add to my understanding and enjoyment.

Many RU fans dismiss League as being one dimensional, no contest for possession, just 5 drives and a grubber kick/ high bomb etc etc. Perhaps more explanation of the tactics and skills involved would lead to more converts like me, and help spread the game.

Martyn,

The trend had been pointed out in RLE a few weeks previous by Richard de la Riviere (I think it was) in his preview of Wigan's season though admittedly not in much depth.

Durham Giant makes some excellent suggestions.

It would have an added benefit for subscribers as we'd then receive our copies sooner after publication than today.

I find the "Player in the news" interview a good addition. What DG is suggesting is more of this type of article but with people throughout the club infrastructure, not just players.

Carl Jennings used to write interesting pieces for RLW. Do these still go in?