Quote: TrentBarrett "We have played a lot better without Joel at centre, I did say I'd take him back in the second row but in the backs he was bellow par.'"
I was invited to Sale vs Saracens last week and watched all three of them play. Joel, at centre, seemed to be not up to speed with the game and was subbed after about 50 minutes. Farrell came on who looked more natural there. Ashton is quick and strong and IMO would be hard to leave out of any RL side. He scored a try very similar to Pat's yesterday where he just barged somebody out of the way to score in the corner.
What did get me is that the seats in the equivalent of the DW West Stand on the 40m line were £47 for an adult and £17 for kids. In front of me there was a family with 2 kids who must have splashed out £131 for their tickets. Season tickets in that section run to about £500. It kind of puts RL into perspective when I paid £23 for an equivalent seat to watch the playoffs.
Sale's main sponsors are MBNA (an American Bank) compared to Applicado FS (who had heard of them before this season?) and the league sponsors are Aviva compared to Eddie Fricking Stobart! Until the RFL can change the perception of RL and attract the type of investors and sponsors that are currently attracted to RU, then the game will never "evolve".
