13/02/2017 Super League Show

The long wait is over and raced to the

12 teams have their eyes on this prize.

# And it's safe to say the storm's gone away

# And I'm dancing on the morning after

# Something like freedom, freedom

# My God, I'm breathing underwater...#

2016, Wigan are the Super League champions.

And joining us, we have Hull FC's Gareth Ellis

and Jamie Jones-Buchanan of the Leeds Rhinos.

not just who maybe want to get into the England squad,

but Scotland, Wales and some of the South Sea Islanders

It's a massive achievement to play for your country

and particularly in a World Cup, to go over there and do it is certainly

something that resonates with me over the course of my career.

I think, you know, particularly Scott Taylor coming

back with his first England cap and I think it's sort of gives

a few of the other boys that ambition to get

out there and impress and hopefully get the nod at the end of the year.

There have been calls in some circles for more entertainment.

They want a more entertaining brand of rugby league.

Is that something that you as players have been talking

about or is that very much coming from the outside?

That's a really interesting question actually.

I read a really good article from Dave Woods talking

about needing a bit more dazzle in Super League and I...

I don't know, it's big to call, but I don't know

I think we're playing with a generation at

the minute who know how to play the game

competitions in all kinds of sports where

the taking part that counts so what you find

is a lot of people who were

really good at playing a game such as rugby league, outstanding

players, but there's not that many competitors and I think when I look

back over the years and watch some of the old games, particularly from

the 90s, there are some real mavericks out there, some real

You know, getting some penalties, playing the ball,

looking, thinking about what can I do here?

Just really competing and I think we probably need a few more

So your call for 2017, more mavericks.

Well, highlights from every game in Round 1

coming up, but before we get going, here's a reminder of some of

the wheeling and dealing in the transfer market.

Obviously, you've acquired from the other side Albert Kelly.

Was surprising to you guys that you were getting him?

Obviously, you know, it's not the done thing,

He's really added to us in training and he really could be

the difference between us, you know, winning something again this year.

He's got a really vital role to play in us going forward this year.

When you look around at other teams, is

there a transfer that particularly took you by surprise or

stands out for you as a really good signing?

I think the big one's probably Kev Brown, you know,

Unfortunately, he doesn't play, obviously this week

with his injury, but I think the big scale will be on Widnes and the fact

It's been pivotal around him, their game

plan for the last few years and he will be sorely missed there.

But certainly exciting for Warrington to

get a player of his calibre and that control around the six as well.

Over 21 years of Super League, we've become quite

accustomed to the season ending with St Helens playing Leeds.

They've met four times in Grand Finals, but this year,

the long-time rivals face off on the opening night.

Well, things are starting to get a bit

heated, as it often does between these two.

What a finish to a game that never disappoints.

What a great way to start the new season between Leeds and St

Helens, two of the real big names in Super League, but on the back of

relatively disappointing seasons last year.

Rob Burrow makes his 500th career appearance tonight.

Burrow, switching it away as Leeds try to

find something amiss in that Saints defence,

And a little push away from Moon and Moon might just

Phil Bentham wants a second look here.

And it's a Leeds who have first blood here tonight.

Well, if he's had time to have a look around.

Referee again is going to ask for another opinion here.

Ashton Golding might have done a terrific

Putting himself in a position to stop that

And it is not a try, so full marks to the Leeds defence.

St Helens fans beginning to get a little excited here.

They sense that their side have an opportunity.

Roby goes running away, spinning away and

Golding again, just getting in there, but Walmsley...

Well, from the naked eye, it looked as though it was short.

And I think Golding was involved again there.

There's a couple of team-mates in there as

But it looks as though they've held that ball up.

Can't see any way for that to be given and it isn't.

And Walmsley hurt for his pains as well.

Richardson with a step back on the inside.

Eight strides away from where they want to be.

And the little Frenchman is in to score.

Six minutes of the second half played.

Theo, Theo, is the chant from the stands.

So, Percival with a chance to give his side the

Under the cosh for most of the first half, but they now lead

Here's Watkins looking on the outside.

The athlete of old, the ball inside, a try is it?

What a tackle that was from Tommy Makinson.

If you watch every game between now and October,

you might not see anything as good as this.

Terrific effort and St Helens hang on for a narrow,

Well, given where you were at this time last year, it's a similar sort

of result to the beginning of last year, but did it feel very different

I mean, first of all, for me, it was really exciting.

My 18th year I think going out and playing and the novelty's never

Where we'd been last year, I think that you can work really hard

in preseason but you can't really get a measure until you've had that

So playing away St Helens, a good St Helens side,

is a great measure for us and whilst not happy with

a 6-4 loss, I think it just shows we've come on leaps and bounds,

particularly when it comes to defence.

And watching that Tommy Makinson tackle again, are you

still thinking Liam's going to go over?

I remember being pretty tired and just

giving the ball to Cal there and in a bit of space, Cal's magic.

I'd have backed him all day through this,

but the back three at Saint Helens I think are the biggest

Swift, Makinson, Lomax, were outstanding.

And the real difficulty when you're bringing the ball back, but coming

up with try series like that is what wins you games,

Obviously, presumably part of the game plan for you guys was to

Obviously with Matty Smith out, he was the key man.

Did you expect his energy levels to start to drop at some point?

Yeah, I think he did about 40 tackles.

Anyone would think we were spotting him

and trying to get at him, but

credit to him, I think he stood up to every one.

We had a few good ones, like this one here, stopping the try

With the ball in hand, very, very dangerous.

Got over the line for them and he is a strong

player and a good addition for Saints.

How impressed were you with him, not just with his defence but

also his attack, particularly given he had to be the main man?

Yeah, obviously there were a lot of questions resting on him

Defensively, he built his game around that, he came

on to everything that Leeds threw at him.

He managed to come up with a real pivotal moment in the try

Another man who had a very good game for you guys, Ash Golding.

You know, now he's taken over that number one shirt to have had as good

a game as he had and be as defensively

And, of course, he played for Stanningley as well.

But a lot of people ask me, you know, I suspected

that Leeds might have had a few more signings

this year and you look at

somebody like that, what we want to do is promote from within.

And that talent is there for me, Ashton

Golding, will be world-class in a few years.

I'm sure he'll play international.

And it's not till you actually watch the game back that

He is massive for the forwards and the amount of tries...

I think he had three try saves in that game which is just huge and

You can sign somebody from overseas but when

you've got it on your doorstep, you know, a kid who's saving tries,

winning games and gets you to Grand Finals,

How impressed were you with St Helens, particularly given they've

obviously built their pre-season around around Theo Fages with

Matty Smith, that they seem to cope very well without him but he will be

massive for them, won't he, when he comes back?

He's a massive addition for them this year.

Really steers the team around the field and

he'll be a big asset, but

You plan all your pre-season around a certain combination and

then for that to fall away, moments before

the start of the year, it

would have hit them hard, but I thought they adapted

Safe to say that you guys are feeling in a better place than you

Homeless, apart from anything last year,

Yeah, we spent the pre-season in waders last year.

And it's not an excuse, it's just a reality,

We've got a great new training facility.

We've had a really cohesive pre-season.

Got the young lads coming in and adding some

enthusiasm and I think it showed in that game that we're

in a good place and ready to keep moving forward.

Well, the defending champions of course

are Wigan and they take on

Cronulla on Sunday in the World Club Challenge.

We'll bring you highlights of that next week, but

their warm up was a Super League fixture at Salford.

Your commentator for this one is Tim Steer.

Brilliantly kept in play and Gelling will score.

The referee, Ben Thaler, puts it on report.

Burgess is after it and Burgess will score.

Chance for the break here from Gildart.

It's Gildart and it's a brilliant try for Wigan.

It's been a dominant first half from Wigan.

And George Williams dances his way through.

How many more points can Wigan put on the board?

Well, Joel Tomkins adds another four.

Salford looking for their first points of the game.

Chris Brining goes over and gets them.

Oh, he's done well to get that one down.

Well, it's been a better second half from Salford.

There's plenty of red shirts after this one.

Wigan have dropped it and it's Dobson who is going to

But it will be no more than a consolation and Wigan

We need to be a lot better and we will be a lot better.

We just had to blow the cobwebs off today.

That's the first time we've had that team together really.

So happy with the win but we know there's a lot of work to do.

I feel and the boys feel that an opportunity missed for us

because of the way that we turned out in the first half.

Like, we can put it down to different things saying that we

lost Junior, we lost Robbie, but we feel we're a good

We've had time together to be able to kick

on and we have to do that straightaway from the off, not in a

It's 30 years ago since I've played and it still gets mentioned

to me once a week around Wigan, so it means a lot to our town

and I'll be getting a few of the players in

from 30 years ago to chat to the players this week and make them

understand, if we need to, to understand how

Cronulla are a very good team from a fantastic comp and it will be

How much will the World Cup challenge

have been on the minds of the Wigan players,

however they try to talk it down beforehand?

Yeah, I think you do, as a team, don't you, when

You want to address the one that's right

in front of you but I think at half-time, the job was pretty much

done with the quality that they've got.

You couldn't see Salford coming back from that.

But they certainly would have had one eye on the game

with a pretty much full strength team next week and a few of the old

guys coming back to play in it as well.

I tell you what, there's something about Wigan though.

Tommy Leuluai, obviously was back and Joe Burgess

for them, I mean, it's a nice fit for him, isn't it?

Well, I think there was nobody else he could go play for.

They've got a lot of loyalty at Wigan and they get a lot of their

young guys really putting their heart and soul

I think Tommy Leuluai will be massive for them this year.

I think right back to 2010 when they had Leuluai, Finch and Tomkins

Even though you knew what they were going to

And, you know, there's a bit of their reunion there with Tomkins

back now and I think they'll be really exciting.

Like Gareth says, a winter win this week and all their

focus will be on becoming world champions this weekend.

It was very clear from Ian Watson how frustrated

he was at how they performed first half.

How influential do you think he could be for them?

Yeah, he's going to be another big signing for them.

The quality that he's got, he certainly

But you could see disappointment in the

Salford players and in the Salford coaching staff.

You work all pre-season, you know, and it's a bit unknown.

You want to go out there and prove that all that hard work

And also particularly, they've talked so much,

haven't they, about the culture at the club

and not wanting to be in those million pound game?

Would that have made it even more frustrating,

I think, you know, everyone wants to get off to a good start.

Like I say, you put all that hard work in.

You want to feel as though it's for something and I think they were

really disappointed with how they played

Well, Warrington checked in and out of the south of France on Saturday

without their new signing, Kevin Brown.

The Wolves won twice in Perpignan in 2016

and were looking to start the new season

The commentator for Catalan against Warrington is Matt Newson.

Warrington, Mike Cooper back at the Wires for 2017

He'll come to the right of the ruck here.

It's a lovely little pass and Andre Savelio on his debut for

Catalan trying to get front ball through Bird that time.

Rhys Evans, oh, he's allowed to bounce.

He's flipped the ball to Richie Myler.

Walsh, we've already seen one of these towering bombs.

It's going to come down under Matty Russell.

And Horo is going to try and get the line here.

And eventually, the referee, James Child, has gone

for the sin-bin and it's Tom Lineham who will have ten in the bin.

Catalan forcing the issue around the ten metre line here.

Takes it to the right of the ruck here.

Warrington sniffing a come back here.

And they'll come to this right-hand side once again.

Great tip on by Ashton Sims and it finished by Rhys Evans.

Catalan looking to extend their lead, make sure of the points.

And Catalan have all but sealed it now.

But he has great presence, great power

Catalan make a winning start to this Super League season.

Talking about big signings earlier, how big a signing

could Greg Bird be, do you think for Catalan?

He was big for them when he was there first time round

and he's world-class and his experience and he's been on his

travels and it just shows how excited, not just him but the whole

team were about getting that win in the South of France.

It was a great trip over there, especially for the

fans, and I tell you, I can't make any excuses for Warrington,

they had a few out injured and they had a few

uncharacteristic errors as well looking at it, but let's not...

We've got to give credit to Catalan because not

many teams are going to go over

He signed a five-year contract, Greg Bird and there seems

to be a culture shift of who they've brought

in and an emphasis on families

with people settling a bit more.

Do you think that could be key to them just gelling for a whole

It's great that the club have decided to do that.

It's something that Leeds and Wigan have done very well over the years

Not only on the field but how they behave off it.

And, you know, with Greg Bird, we spoke about competitors.

He'll certainly bring that to Super League this year.

Obviously, Warrington face Brisbane next week.

Will this result worry Tony at all or at least

offensively will he be fairly happy with it an attack to work on?

He's always got his eye a few weeks in front and I think credit

first of Brisbane for bringing a team over and put in that

spectacle on and, you know, Wigan aside, if

there was another team in Super League you'd like to see test

it would be Warrington to chance their arm.

They are mavericks, like Gareth says.

They are full of competitors and as long as you practice, Tony

Smith will let you do what ever you want and I think they'll be

dangerous and it will be a great game.

And for Catalan, do you think that...

Do think the competition needs them to really make an impact?

We all sat here for the first half last year and thought this could be

their year but is it important, do you think, that they make a real

impact at the back end of the season?

Well, I think they've threatened for a few years and

everyone spoke about Catalan being dark horses

and, you know, there's a lot of changes

this year but obviously they've got off to

a great start and they'll be wanting to continue

in that sort of vein of form,

picking up big wins against big teams.

So we are up and running in the 2017 season and it will be

a relief to many to be talking about rugby league.

It's been an eventful winter to say the least.

It's been quite a negative off-season and, you know,

there's a few things going on within our sport.

The Sale director of rugby, Steve Diamond, says they've

done nothing wrong in signing the record-breaking Super League

winner Denny Solomona from Castleford.

The England rugby league team have cancelled

their pre-season trip to Dubai next month.

I think it's been a bit of a time of confusion and at some stage,

we need to calm down and get a bit of calmness about us and a bit of

There are some things that are going really well.

There are other things that aren't going as well so

one of the things that were looking at at the moment is talent

retention, so we're working hard to make sure we've got the best

I think there's been a concern that we've

been sort of losing some of that talent and as a result, the product

We've got to look at what's happening in our competitive

businesses. I don't even call them competitive sports. Particularly the

NRL. We can't let it continue, the gap, financial gap. We've got to

look to incentivising investment in talent but more importantly to

retain the very best talent in this country. I hate the phrase, goat

testers off in the NRL. We should be saying to Australian players to go

test themselves in the Super League expect we are too passive, were not

ambitious. We've already started central player contracts. We need to

look at the next generation of players. The George Williams is, the

Johnny Lomax is because we need them to play in Super League. England's

rugby league side have cancelled plans after eight town versus

country row. We shouldn't just show up and expect everyone to turn over

backwards for you. You have to work hard to have that rapport with the

clubs. And I suppose that is been the bit that has been lacking in

recent times. It's wrong because some of the commotion I think if

there had have beans and better communication between clubs and the

administration and the England campaign, I think we would have

overcome a whole lot of heart ache, if you like. I think we should learn

lessons from this. If you're going to improve your chances of winning

the World Cup, you start for years beforehand. You do start one year

beforehand. You need to get the clubs to buy into the whole

programme. We didn't go ahead with a can. We have streamlined the

training sessions. We have one of the best coaches in the world who

has put demands on the player so it has a real ballot in terms of player

welfare. Our players need rest, not more work because of the demanding

schedules. In terms of resting players, we can't possibly do that.

We need a club, a fan base, a very important competition cold Super

League we should be promoted and strengthened and we should put out

our best players in every single game. We will always do what is best

our players and so if our player needs a rest, we will do that when

we can. That's therefore means we will actually be doing the best for

England to. Start with you as someone who went to the NRL to test

himself. Do you see that Gulf between is getting bigger,

particularly into financially now? I am a big fan of Super League and

when I was out in Australia I thought I was presenting England and

Super League all the time I was there. I can see the Gulf and is

getting bigger and we need to address it and the administrators on

their spoke about bridging that gap and making it more lucrative and

more incentivised for players to want to stay in Super League and

it's a tough task. A tough task. Financially, rugby union has a lot

more money. It seems that rugby league is under attack from all

angles. Yes, the money side of it is obviously big. A big part of what

you do. But there is a lot of incentive to go, testers off in the

NRL, to want to play for England and Rugby union. It is something we have

to address and I understand all the reasons why things have to happen

and the plans that we put in place for England because we all want to

see England winning the World Cup, that would be absolutely magnificent

of our game, but I think there has been a communication breakdown

somewhere between them and the clubs. We are in the final year of

the current structure. They then have 4-mac years to plan for the

World Cup. Being in this country, what would you like to see the next

season of rugby league, would you like it be shorter so that are not

playing as many games as we go towards the World Cup? I don't think

what's out there matters. The only thing that matters is that everybody

buys into the idea. That matters to me. Long-term planning, get everyone

to buy into an idea and let's go for it. It might be a bad idea, but we

don't know it'll be all buy into it. But do you need to play fewer games

to be at your peak in November? I don't really buy into that. I just

think I have always not bothered wasting energy on the things that I

can't control and most of the things that I can. If I have to play 30

games in a season Matt Garrett has to play 30 games, we'll have to play

a lot of games. That's irrelevant. Get on with it. What ever is out

there and what was put in place for us. War that strengthen us as a

nation? If we are prepared to just say this is what we have to do? And

we do it because we are players are we just get on with it, but I think

the NRL, when I was there, in four games we played 70 something years.

They were fresh and ready to go at the end of the year and I will be

honest, I used to get to the end of the year in England and think, I

can't wait for the end because I was that tired and drained and ready for

a rest. We've got to play those

games for the revenue. Everybody is talking

about, there is no money, that is why we have got

to play so many games. This could be

a discussion for the rest It was anything but summer rugby

at Wakefield on Sunday. How difficult were

those conditions? We recognised there

wasn't going to be much opportunity with ball in hand

so reverted to Plan A, stick the ball up the jumper

and take each other on Both teams went hammer and tongs,

it was a close contest. Lee Radford said he

knew this was coming. Earlier in the week we had

rough weather and we had prepared ourselves with a game plan

to approach it in that way and you saw it in the game -

we took two points That was important,

realising any opportunities. What do you make of Danny

Houghton doing that? We saw that a couple

of times this weekend. I have seen it a few

times over the weekend. It is not something

I am a big fan of. But when you are playing in that

pressured environment and winning is all that matters, you

see things like that. But I would like to

see it addressed. Wakefield feel disappointed not

to win the game but what did you Both teams went forward hammer

and tongs and went at They have got some good

combinations in their team now. They will be there

about the top eight. Hungry for more

silverware after what you This for me is our biggest

challenge, hunger, obviously we fell away towards

the back end of the year in the It has been a long time

since the club has won anything, the magnitude of playing

for the first time in a Hopefully we will find

ourselves in that position And I'm sure we'll react

differently and approach that at the back end

of the year in the super eights Fair to say you are looking forward

to the summer and a bit of To Castleford, first

stop on the Super League Back in the top division

for the first time in 12 years This Leigh defence

is doing well so far. Gale, the prop forward,

over to score the game's first McMeeken has been mentioned

in England circles. Working things forward again

here for Castleford. That was roughly

from the full-back and Minikin almost in at dummy

half but that's left instead for Roberts who goes

scampering away here. Weston was lingering

too long in the tackle. Luke Gale has landed

his three conversions. That is a good strong

carry from Jake Webster. Castleford now looking

a little more lateral. Castleford are tearing

Leigh apart in the Leigh under fire again right

at the start of the second 90 seconds of the second-half

played and Castleford Another chance for another attack

at this Castleford line. Any points on the board

at the moment but it might This is an excellent position now

for the Super League That is a lovely soft handed pass

that sees Hampshire through. Lovely from Drinkwater

to set things up. Hampshire, against his

former club, has scored. Nice spell from Hampshire

and a kick on here. Luke Gale will claim that

but there are a few questions The referee will put

the square in the air. All those who chased

I think were behind the The drop before anybody

made contact with him by Hampshire and the grounding

is good and that adds up to what should be

Leigh's pedigree and character really been tested here tonight

against a team who could well be rattling a few tins in Super

Castleford are enjoying themselves here.

He will be enjoying playing against Castleford, the club

that resurrected his career last year.

That is a lovely ball from Drinkwater and a try in the corner

Taken in by Paterson who has got himself to the ten metre mark.

Leigh carry it on and Danny Tickle, his 100th career try, against one of

Too little too late to make a difference as far as

the outcome is concerned but Leigh have something to cheer on their

But it is Castleford and by a distance.

Castleford are being talked about a lot when people

The last three or four years, during Daryl Powell's

tenure, he has just built a club, and when you go there the

I went to the game to watch Leigh and the ground was

bouncing, the fans, the staff, the people who work there.

Watching Castleford running on and off the pitch, really cohesive.

They look like they are enjoying their

They are playing well and scoring lots of points.

They look red hot at the minutes, even

They have been notorious. Their attacking play. Everybody seems to

want to go forward. There has been tough battles against Castleford

over the years. They have players who could throw the ball around and

make it difficult for the defence and defend out wide. Are you doing

your homework on Leigh? What do you make of them? Tough. They have got

some great players. Very physical side. I expect a very physical game.

One of those Games where you can get knocked off the ball, disillusioned,

tables can turn. They have been given a tough set of fixtures. Is it

a case of almost hanging on in there at this point and not getting their

heads drop if they find themselves in a match like that? I think so.

Being promoted it as a new experience for them. A challenge

every single big. Life, sport, it is all about persevering and taking

knocks on the chin. Playing against one of the best teams. The need to

hang on. Throughout this year we will be testing the general

knowledge of some of the Super League's stars in a brand-new

challenge. They have got to complete six sets in two minutes.

First it is Luke Gale. The Darryl Powell, Brian McDermott,

Chris Chester. Italy, Spain, Greece, Switzerland,

Sweden, Poland. Goldeneye. The man with the Golden

gun. Moon Raker. Casino Royale. Octopussy. Goldeneye.

Elephant and Castle. This is a hard one stop I used to live there as

well. Elephant and Castle. Can I pass?

Frankel. Galileo. Red Rum. Red marauder. See the stars. What else?

Vegetables. Broccoli. Carrots. Partner. -- pas Schlupp. This is

harder than you think. Cauliflower. How many is that? Right. One more

would be... Courgette. Raised eyebrows in here. Courgette

is a fruit. It has seeds. Do not see we do not inform you. Are you

looking forward to doing that? You will be in the hot seat when we come

to your club. Finally, let us see what happened in

the match between Widnes and Huddersfield on Friday. Big changes

at both clubs. They have both been written off in some quarters, how

much will that have motivated them? Hopefully, Huddersfield have never

really lost it to be fair. They have still got all the ambition and

firepower that they have had previously, and some skill. Talk

about attacking teams, Castleford is one. Huddersfield is another. And

they do have that straight power. You had a tough year last year. How

important, so many new players, to get a win? Obviously it fills

confidence. There are a few that are coming back. I do not think anybody

will be looking too far into the future. But to get a first-round

result is imported. Widnes have not have a great record. It will be good

to see them performing again. How much will they feel they have a

point to prove? From the division below, they will want to show that

they are ready for Super League. I am sure they will be ready and

raring to go, and to make the difference that is needed to do

better than they did last year. No Kevin Brown, Joe Mellor out as

well, do they have to learn to live with out them?

Exactly. They have had a few weeks to prepare for this but to lose a

player like Kevin Brown who has been so instrumental for Widnes for the

last few years is going to be a big hole to fill. What are you overall

impressions of the first week in? The thing that stood out was that it

was quite a low scoring week. That is a bit of a leveller. A lot of

teams concentrated big on defence. Looked at the statistic last year,

the Grand Final, the second lowest point scoring, and comes back to

this competitive nature, a lot of teams work on not losing as opposed

to scoring points. We will see. We are underway in 2017. Thank you

to Jamie and Gareth for joining us. We will see you for the same time

next week for the World Club Challenge. Goodbye.

CROWD CLAMOURS Karen!

Hey, Julie. JULIE LAUGHS

Have you heard where they found her? No. Have you?

Tell her she owes you the truth as a mate.

'You haven't lost you faith in people...have you?'

How long did you resist working for us?