Hadn't thought of that. Clever by Gus in all fairness. I mean, I totally oppose the OTR idea, but it's smart.

Echo some of the previous sentiments re: timing and fixture gaps. Also, very unhelpful to be playing Leeds at home on a Monday night.

Widnes at home first up means there's absolutely no excuse to start the season poorly.

Wigan in Oxford I hear.

If true, that would be nice, for me.

EDIT: Oh, it's my wedding anniversary, so not so nice.

The Lenegan family connection I guess?

When you support a club that is more likely to be in the bottom half of the table than not, then you need the opening quarter of the season to have reasonable fixtures to help build a degree of form and confidence.

This season sees six consecutive realistically winnable home games v Widnes, Wakefield, Hull KR, Hull FC, Catalans and Bradford and with Salford and Castleford away in the first four away fixtures so it gives us a great chance of a decent start.

The second half of the season looks pretty daunting but I would rather play the elite sides a good way into the season when they are more likely to rotate players rather than in the first few weeks.

I was pretty disgusted last season when we got Wigan, Warrington and St Helens in the opening weeks plus a side who have a great home record in Hull FC and Huddersfield Giants who almost always thrash us. You'd like a fair crack of the whip rather than five top seven sides.

This season I am very pleased. If I was to complain then 'd like to see us on Sky a bit more. I am also disappointed that the Magic weekend reshuffle which at long last sees teams matched versus similar opponents did not give us Salford or Widnes.

As for the on-the-road fixtures it is obvious that there is a need to grow crowds and it is better to cherry-pick opponents with large away crowds than not. So it is fair enough but I am sure that this will continue to antagonise so lets save this one for later.

Easy, Rammo

I see Andy Wilson in the Guardian is also talking about Oxford for the Wigan game. I'm not opposed to 'on the road games' but if they're to test the water for relocation venues then Oxford is nuts, as is Gillingham. Hey ho

Well you should be opposed to On the Road games (unless there's a Super League wide programme like the shortlived series in 199icon_cool.gif and you can't make an opinion (a fundamentally wrong one) and then say "let's park it".

On the Road is a cop out. We are either seroius about building a supporter base or we're not. If we are - get on with it. If we're not, rebrand as the Wanderers and play at various grounds in the South, Midlands and Cumbria and be done with it. I'm sure we can sellout Craven Park in Barrow!

my reason for not being against 'on the road games' is that it's obvious the club is moving. If the club had a home ground that was going to stay the home ground I'd be dead set against it but it doesnt. If they want to test the water this year in London or somewhere nearby - Watford for example - then by all means go for it. Oxford and Gillingham do not fill that criteria.
I'm all for the club putting down roots and putting in the hard work to engage the local population but that's not going to be Twickenham (or Oxford or Gillingham, surely?!)

Seem to remember that Oxford has been mooted as a new permanent home for the club in the past. Don't know if they'd still be interested with London Welsh as at least temporary tenants and there's now a CC1 side playing at Iffley Road (though we'll have to see how long they'll last).

Oxford, Gillingham, MK all equally

Northampton's looking for a team now!

I half hope that the new Saracens ground in Barnet gets a go, but not sure of the practicalities given the stands are 'temporary' and athletics takes place in the summer .... not sure how that works for javelin etc on the synthetic surface ! The set up for Saracens is 10k, nice layout, seems to have good access, etc.

Yep, I agree.

If we're doing 2 on the road then it makes sense to do one in North London for a change, I'd also go Orient again.

Why would we go to Oxford? would that make us the Oxford Bronco's
yep I agree the same could be said for Gillingham, god help us if we go there

This is why the OTR games are a silly idea. Everyone has a different thought as to where we might play and none of the ideas are better than the Stoop.

Depends if you're an owner actively looking to offload the club.

As soon as a full merger with Quins was definitely off the cards The Stoop was living on borrowed time.