Shaun Edwards hasn't refined his accent much and he's now treated as Union royalty. Andy Farrell, Chris Ashton, Jason Robinson, Mike Ford anyone?

Actually, I think all this stuff about accents is a complete pile of Ben Cross. Contrary to what was written earlier in the thread, I don't remember ever hearing anyone in the media take the Lee Gaskell out of 'thick, Northern accents', although they do treat us with contempt in a series of different ways. The stuff about Peacock 'sounding thick' is a construct entirely created in the head of chippy, self-hating RL fans - he's a very bright bloke and he speaks eloquently about the game.

Gareth Hock is as thick as pig dung though.

Jamie Peacock does sound quite dense when interviewed straight after matches. However, he's hardly on his own - it continues to astonish me that professional sportspeople are expected to come across like Oscar Wilde when a microphone is thrust in their faces almost before they've even stepped off the pitch/field/court/oche, etc.
The vast majority come out with cliches and banalities, which is hardly surprising, whatever their 'real' level of intelligence may be.

Jason Robinson is very much the exception to your list. He went to Union with a Leeds accent, his current Southern accent is unrecognisable from his original dialect.

A coach one told me, ex Wire full back actually, that Hock is indeed not the brightest academically, but his rugby brain and game awareness is absolutely outstanding. I would prefer him - warts and all - than the well spoken Wilkin.

All those you refer to have been 'accepted' because they have been perceived to have washed themselves of RL and, instead, fully submerged themselves into Union fold.....I wonder what their views are on Chev Walker or Karl Pryce??

Ultimately, RL is viewed as Union's simple, village idiot cousin.....They patronise and put up with us because they simply don't see Rugby League as a viable threat to their media dominance, because that media is dominated by their own type - They also view those running RL as simple characters too, a view which can often be seen as valid when you see some of the decisions that those in charge of our game make, in both the marketing and running of our game.

Wane is a very good coach and wigan through and through, I know that when he goes home every night he watches vids of our games and picks stuff out I wish more coaches has the passion he does

The crafty git!

I am watching Adam MacDougall put in a very polished sideline reporter stint in the Cowboys v Storm game. Having heard him speak before (and Mark Gasnier, as a by-the-way) , it is obvious that with a modicum of media training, possibly elocution lessons it is feasible to have a media savvy player pool.

Similar to the one that Brian Carney has obviously been on?....

To be honest, I'm not actually suggesting we send our leading lights onto elocution courses, more trying to point out (not fantastically, I admit) that we, as a society, tend to judge people by first impressions, which usually tend to be appearances or the first time you hear them speak....Its in this particular human trait that Rugby League will always tend to suffer for its northern roots.

Somebody like Jamie Peacock is obviously not stupid - He comes across as quite knowledgeable and likeable too, but if you put him alongside a Union equivalent like Lewis Moody and had the pair speaking in front of a bunch of neutrals, who are ignorant of ALL rugby, then its highly likely that Moody would come across in a more favourable light, simply through a more polished presentation style.....That is basically the difference between the two sports in the eyes of the media - One is polished and well spoken, the other isn't.

Wane is a coach, so he has to give interviews. He doesn't come across as a "great intellect", due to the stereotypical "thick Northerner"
To be fair, I think our own Chosen One was bloody awful when he used to do the guest summarising on Sky, a few seasons back. We've also had the well publicised shyness of Jamie Peacock, whenever he's had to deal with the media. Some people are good speakers in front of the camera, some aren't.
Whenever footballers make the grade, they are taken away by their clubs, and are given tuition in how to handle the media/conduct themselves in interview situations. They (football teams) have the time/money/resources to do this. RL teams don't. They just concentrate on rugby matters.

Does our game shoot himself in the foot, with the portrayal of our summarisers/commentators?
Eddie and Stevo doing the old Smith and Jones "head to head" routine, on Boots'n'Al,l a decade ago.
Carney, who started on Sky as the articulate Irishman, is now portraying himself as the "class clown" on some of these Super League's Supermen trailers (embarrassing).
O'Connor and McDermott trying to get laughs in commentary.
You'd never see it done in other sports (apart from Bumble in the cricket, but he IS quality, with 30 years worth of after dinner speaking, under his belt).
We can have a chip on our shoulder about how RU/the media in general sneer at us, but we really do give them the ammunition at times.

The only trouble with Peacock is he sounds like a bo selecta character

OOOHHHHH, CAN YA SMELL IT? CRAB PAAAYYYSTE

Having read previous comments, a PR consultant could probably work wonders with how our game is perceived in the rest of Britain . I think we need to get more coverage on BBC or ITV , whether only lower division or under 20 games, to show the game as a whole to a wider non Sky subscribing audience .Maybe even a competition with current SL teams like the old BBC floodlit competition of yesteryear & played midweek.Even the Superleague show is a joke ,showing today in the north at 12 35 pm ,shown nationally sometime in the early hours of tomorrow.It is ironic that the BBC used rugby league as a mainstay to launch BBC2 just like Sky did with its sports channels...now we are really only tolerated by both companies to be used for their convenience.