I can tell you what non-RL fans think. I work in Edinburgh during the week, and after banging on about RL, one of the other blokes (RU fan) watched the Leeds-Melbourne game. His feedback? "It was great, much better than I thought RL was. But who are those 2 idiots doing the commentary?"

Why are we the only sport in the world who get 'comedy' commentators? It's not like Sky don't take RL seriously, so why persist with these two? What audience research are they doing where people are being positive? They're obviously some Southern marketing types view of what we're like up North, but they annoy me very time they're on, and I get the feeling I'm not alone...

Listen to the Aus commentary on Premier by comparison, and it's enough to make you weep.

That's the problem though, Eddie was a pro who is supposed to call it as it happens but has been tainted by the supposed expert who has lost touch with the game a long time ago. He's supposed to be neutral, he should be praising the good in the game as advised by the pundits, not highlighting cock ups and foul play.

Dave Hadfield used to have a job sitting quietly in the background passing notes to Eddie who would then call it as though he understood.

Hemmings has fallen into the trap of seeing himself as a pundit rather than a commentator. He should stick to saying what he sees and leaving the comment to those that have played the game.

As for the pundits Stevo has become a parody of himself. He doesn't actually add anything to a viewers understanding and that's what he's there for. He's just a collection of one liners. Clarke is increasingly prone to coming out with some totally leftfield rubbish or some pointless stat, only Carney seems to be able to add value to the commentary.

I think it should be standard practice to refresh the co-commentator/pundit roles every 5 years in order to stay up to date with the game.

I think the quote from "chinnythewarrior" just below the clip, sums the situation up perfectly........

Aside from Super League and NRL I only really catch football on Sky and if people think we're hard done by they need to spend 90 minutes listening to the dulcet tones of Alan Smith or the witty intejections of Niall Quinn. These clowns aside there are dozens of humourless, thick ex-pros doing the rounds (Redknapp, Shearer, Thompson etc) and very few bright sparks.

The one thing that strikes me is that Super League have the *voice* right in Eddie Hemmings, not so RP as to alienate the viewer and the panel (Claire Balding is a patronising cow) and not so broad an accent that a first-time viewer could turn on and feel they're watching a northern monkey fest.

That being said, he's rubbish. Jon Wells aside they all get on my tats, although Barrie McD has some cracking moments "He's like a hologram covered in vaseline".

Perhaps we're inventing all this. Someone whose job is to criticise your team will always rub you up the wrong way.

Regardless, other mentions must go to Phil Clarke- the most boring man on television, Terry O'Connor- a moron, Bill Arthur- gives me the creeps, John Kear- I don't mind even though he speaks slower than time itself, Shaun McRae- knocks me sick.