Thought it was ridiculous that they've left it so long to announce the fixtures and then announce 5 of the 6 exactly the same as last year. Especially considering that the one that they have changed they were forced into.

Moan, moan, moan and moan ... I just thought I'd join in. Cheer up you miserable lot!

Which stand are most people going to book? It looks like you can't move between stands and it'd be a shame to have supporters split over 4 sides of the ground as it would make it hard to recreate the brilliant atmosphere of recent seasons.

Yes, if we're going for a "magic weekend" my preference would be to have it as the first round of games after the split, which would mean there's not an uneven fixture schedule leading up to the split, all the teams in that final seven games could then have three home and away games plus the "magic" game, and it would operate as a good springboard for that phase of SL. And yes, it would be later in the season and you might need to rearrange some of the Challenge Cup schedule but surely that could be worked around

The problem there is that the situation would be similar to play-off games, when people would wait to see who's playing who and not even bother getting tickets. There's already some excitement in the NE about this and it will help the build up if the public know what the fixtures are.

I would also suggest that anyone who's coming up on the Friday makes a point of going to the Gateshead Thunder v York match on the Friday evening at Kingston Park (the Falcons ground). It's easy to get to by the Metro and also has a huge carpark. It would give a huge boost to RL in the NE if the Thunder got a good crowd.

+1.

This is a serious concern of mine. I'd imagine most would go for behind the sticks?

That's what I would have thought as well but that stand is humongous! The east stand along the side has a lower roof and will trap sound better making us louder than we already are, will look more full and is likely to be facing the sky cameras.

Gallowgate End can create some noise.

My thoughts initially with regards to the travel, is it taken then all or most of the other fans are going to make an early dart with the RFL content with the receipts and overall attendance rather than how the crowd looks at the finish.

People on here are never happy. 2011, the last game in Cardiff was the Hull Derby and everyone was hyperventilating because they had the furthest to travel. Reading this forum most are tucked up with a mug of Horlicks by 8 so heaven forbid we have thn last game. You just can't win!