On the subject of Chorley didn't they change their name to Lancashire Lynx at one point too?

Isn't there an amateur club in Blackburn - someone told me they play at the back of the Hare & Hounds on Lammack Road?

Originally yes, Chorley Borough became Lancashire Lynx (when bought by PNE) which became Chorley Lynx (when bought by a group along with Chorley FC). Blackpool Panthers took most of the Chorley squad when Chorley Lynx folded.

Don't know about Blackburn, there used to be a Blackburn Knights but not heard anything about them for ages. Accrington has a large RL following and some decent junior teams. Probably see one or two players come through in the next few years.

Blackpool trying to get going again, believe a group might be talking with Fleetwood RU about joining forces.

I'm really not bothered who wins the GF but to give it some credibility Saints should win it.

Anyway, we all know the U20's is the main competition, I wonder who won that GF?

The play-offs are there to make £££££ for the RFL, nothing more but the fact is as E_R says every team plays the season knowing the situation. From our (Wigan) point of view we got it wrong, playing injured players week in week out, the CC run and the WCC meant the players have not had a week off, this I believe has caused problems both on and off the pitch.

I don't like the new format of the play-off's, I preferred it when 1st played 2nd and the winner went straight to the final with the loser playing a semi-final. The sad thing is I can see Leeds winning it and for 3/4 of the season they've been poor. Personally, I'd place far more emphasis on winning the league and have the play-off's as a separate competition. However, the RFL will always argue you set up your season accordingly.

Carmont is always carrying a serious injury! Richards has never looked fully fit all season. Lockers has been rotated in games (for the first time since I can remember) and Coley plays a demanding position.

So with that in mind I can fully believe those comments. Not sure about Joel and Sam though - although I can understand Sam being ###### off for the amount of abuse he gets.

I can't help but think Sam has an injury which is not been treated. Added to the above should be Amos, he banged on for months that he still wasn't right and was being pushed too much. Turned out he was correct and I believe he's just had another op to repair a tear in his knee cartilage.

Which players would those be Koi?

Erm, without giving names (!!) I'm from Chorley and know a certain player and his family quite well and can say that Lockers, Coley, Richards and Carmont in particular are carrying quite serious injuries....I've also been told that Sam and Joel have not been happy for one reason or another. One thing for sure, if Wane does get the job we'll see more squad rotation which will go down very well.

The squad has been flogged all season with no let up and I know a few players have not been happy for the last few weeks.

What Madge has done has been great but it's clear that since he decided to head back and announce it at the time has had a detrimental effect on the team. It's also clear to see that Hoff hasn't been the same since he decided to go back home.

Meh.

I wont go and annoy them in the RU thread, but watching England vs Scotland this morning makes me so glad I'm a league fan!!

You did well, I can't even watch the game these days.

:lol: I hate Leeds but nothing comes close to my despise of Warrington and that was pure class tonight. The look on Briers face was a picture. Oh and those Wolves fans, well I don't know where to begin.

As for Ganson, words fail me

I see Ganson has his Wire shirt on tonight.

just to put everything and everybody, back into perspective....buy your tickets now for the WCC in february, cause australia's team are rising from the ashes and fingers crossed, will be making another trip to england next feb....."YOUR MIGHTY MELBOURNE STORM, ARE BACK.....LOOK OUT"!!!!

How do you think Melbourne will do in the GF? oh, hold on a minute....... not able to buy it this year then.....

If he was a fitness instructor at City he'll have worked with my cousins husband who is on the coaching staff there. I'll do some digging next time I see him.

What a strange move. But then, it was a strange appointment in the first place. Who identified him as the best available number 2, given that Kean had never worked with him before?

I get the feeling we don't have a replacement lined up. I wonder how much Cletus and Jethro and the Dragon Lady had to pay out to get rid of him.

Think he might have had a rolling contract so probably not much.

Sorry to hear about that koi. You trying to get a ticket for Saturday?

Cheers, tough time for the family but that's life. No, for various reasons I'm not really bothered about going, I'll watch from the comfort of our sofa. I do think if we can slow the Saints rucks down and stop Roby getting his offloads away then we'll win, but we'll need our forwards to be dominating which they just didn't do in the last game.

The play-offs are bollards. Warrington topped the table, so they should win the league. End of story. It went down to the last game anyway.

How does that work when all the teams know that the league positions only lead to advantages in the play-offs? If it was a straight forward top team wins then how do you know Wire would still be top? The whole philosophy of how a club sets out the season would change if it was a pure league competition.

Sorry to hear about your grandad. Hope he get's well soon.

Cheers but sadly passed away later a few hours later.

Unfortunately my grandad became very I'll yesterday morning so I didn't go to the game, dont think I'll bother watching it now. Season over for me.

Blinkin heck, don't think Warrington are going to be very easy to beat!!

Very much the team to beat but I've got to say Fartown have been very poor for the last 6 - 8 weeks and just didn't turn up last night, that together with some very lenient reffing on their behalf made it an easy night.

Strange game on Friday. Sadly, I knew the fella who lost his life before the game. He was a neighbour of mine and a huge Rugby League fan who was devoted to the game and was involved with the Chorley Panthers. He leaves two sons, both play the game and huge Warrior fans.

I think even in a game of tag rugby footy players would get 'injured'!! When you watch the two all the time the difference in players reactions and attitude is massive really. I liked this quote from Tomkins last week:

'You see grown men like Joey Barton dropping to the floor,' he said. 'They must do football in the morning and acting in the afternoon. If a player did that in rugby he would have 20 blokes in the tunnel waiting for him.'

I know quit a few who had bags of talent to play Rugby League (far more than me) but couldn't handle the physical side of the game - one actually got as far as a few 1st team games at Wigan before admitting he couldn't do it, still, has a reasonable career playing the kick n clap form a Rugby....

T'was my first visit to the 'new' Wembley and was quite impressed, I was less impressed with the 3 quid paid for a bottle of water. With the new stadium I had presumed Brent council might have at least given the place a lick of paint but no, the same old dump and Wembley Central is pitiful. Anyway, putting aside the complete farce of the chartered train it was a good day.

Only got back from hols on Friday so couldn't be bothered unpacking my decent camera and took the mrs pocket thing - only took a few:

First sighting of Wembley from the train - in the absence of the chartered train Virgin stepped in and eventually we got to Crewe and got on the service to Euston on the excellent Pendolino, first class no less.

Walking to the ground - met Tez O'Connor and Barry Mac (in front in the pics) with their Missus', neither had much to say:

Finally in our seats:

Just back. Disaster on the chartered train. Thank god for Virgin stepping in. Fantastic day otherwise. The cup is back home.

Oh yeah and I forgot what a sh!thole Wembley is - the area, not the stadium, that's lovely.

Rudimentary performance dominated by a very good Finch - by the way how much better is the RH side in defence with Tommy there instead of Deacon! Good to see Gaz get some good pitch miles under his boots. Shame about Cross, that leaves us down to four props and Prezza is carrying knocks plus Mossop is on report. Could be our downfall in play-offs.

By the way, it sounded like the East was singing "we saw you looting shops", if true, fair play!