Re: Newcastle Away. : Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:16 pm  

jaybs wrote:

Still would like Ralph Rimmer, to make some statement, why Covid, seems to be affecting RL so badly, cricket seems to have no serious problems.

Agree jaybs the bloke has been invisible throuought the pandemic period. Shocking for a CEO, who should be leading from the front. Maybe he's quarantining to avoid being caught out as an incompetent Administrator. Talking of those Karen Moorhouse the RFL's CRO was quoted as saying something silly about covid in the community & cancelled SL games. Sadly can't recall where I saw it. The RFL Board doesn't look a very talented one on the whole so maybe no surprise we are in a mess.

I was very surprised to read a week or two ago that there were a large number of players who have not been vaccinated. Poor show if true but can see how not vaccinating can help Championship clubs having to play in Toulouse. I also think
"Close Contacts" are being manipulated by clubs to their own advantage & not just in League.

Re: Newcastle Away. : Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:28 pm  

Deadcowboys1 wrote:

I was very surprised to read a week or two ago that there were a large number of players who have not been vaccinated. Poor show if true but can see how not vaccinating can help Championship clubs having to play in Toulouse. I also think "Close Contacts" are being manipulated by clubs to their own advantage & not just in League.

Catalan left it a little late in the day to pull out of travelling to Warrington tonight, not giving Sky enough time to pack up and get over to Leeds!

Most players have families, you would think they would want to have the vaccine? Just hope this does not carry on into 2022, I just think it may.

Re: Ne9wcastle Away. : Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:54 pm  

jaybs wrote:

Catalan left it a little late in the day to pull out of travelling to Warrington tonight, not giving Sky enough time to pack up and get over to Leeds!

Most players have families, you would think they would want to have the vaccine? Just hope this does not carry on into 2022, I just think it may.

If the Beeb are correct, they say 4 "essential staff" but no information on players. Don't need to know names but transparency is a bit opaque. Club doctor, Physio or coach, who knows but seems a little flimsy reason. As playing Warrington maybe Cats playing the other teams at their own game. Just hope Cats & Toulouse not hampered in their efforts this season by cancellations.

Re: Newcastle Away. : Thu Aug 19, 2021 3:14 pm  

Deadcowboys1 wrote:

I was very surprised to read a week or two ago that there were a large number of players who have not been vaccinated.

While players should be able to make the choice over vaccination, unvaccinated close contacts needing to isolate should not count towards the threshold to postpone matches IMO.

Re: Newcastle Away. : Thu Aug 19, 2021 3:35 pm  

jbuzza wrote:

While players should be able to make the choice over vaccination, unvaccinated close contacts needing to isolate should not count towards the threshold to postpone matches IMO.

Agreed, but by not vaccinating, you could be said to be preventing your team playing. Take the Toulouse v Batley game. Assuming the Batley squad are aged between 20 & 40, there was enough time from when 20 year olds could vaccinate & have 2nd jab + 2 week post period & still of been able to travel to France for their game at end of the month. When cancelling the game the RFL admitted there was no quarantining on return for double jabbed people but gave no intelligible reason for cancelling the game. If it was unvaccinated Batley players then in my view they are at fault & the game should have been awarded to Toulouse & a 2 point deduction in line with us. It will be a real shock if they require York to go in September.

Let's face it RL have handled the whole game appallingly through the pandemic to say nothing of the World Cup.

Re: Newcastle Away. : Thu Aug 19, 2021 4:03 pm  

Deadcowboys1 wrote:

Agreed, but by not vaccinating, you could be said to be preventing your team playing.

Indeed, which is why unvaccinated close contacts who need to isolate should not count as part of threshold.

Re: Newcastle Away. : Thu Aug 19, 2021 8:16 pm  

Assuming we are capable of winning any of our remaining games most would have had us win 4 of the remaining five with a spanking by Rovers at home to round off the season. That’s an 80% success rate. Now we are looking at 3 out of 4 which is a 75% success rate. So this game being called off may we’ll see us dropping out of the top six this weekend. Whether being in the play offs has any tangible value if the team is not going to be in the MPG is debatable but I think on balance it is and so this does harm us potentially.

Re: Newcastle Away. : Thu Aug 19, 2021 9:13 pm  

BigTime wrote:

so this does harm us potentially.

count your blessings......or do you fancy a trip to Fax for an absolute thumping?
I'm just thankful for Swinton & Oldham this year......next year we will be cellar dwellers too.....with comparable attendances to those 2 clubs

Re: Newcastle Away. : Thu Aug 19, 2021 9:33 pm  

My expectation OM is that we do get into the play offs and then lose clearly but not horrifically to either Bulls or Fax. However there is still time for us to off load players to other teams. Sammut to Fax, Hankinson to Bulls so who knows you may be right.

As to crowds, from recent copies of League Express, it appears that only West Wales and Skolars get less. The days when we got more than Sheffield, Swindon and Coventry appear gone so not sure how much lower we can drop.