Re: Sky Sports : Thu Dec 21, 2023 9:08 am  

christopher wrote:

Kevin Brown would be a great choice, always comes across very well when he's been on Sky and in his role on Premier/Viaplay

What we are really missing is a top drawer lead commentator, Eddie Hemmings wasn't great in his last couple of years but in his prime he was one of the best Lead Commentators in sport, if you watch some older games it really does show how much he is missed.

What Phil Clarke did offer was insight (whether one agreed with him or not is another matter entirely), talking around the action and not just stating what we can see. The lead commentator for me should call the action but also create the space, at the right time, for that insight. The main incumbent is woeful at both.

Re: Sky Sports : Thu Dec 21, 2023 9:59 am  

Sky's coverage definitely requires a refresh, and requires more pundits with a good knowledge of the modern game. Hopefully, Baz and Tez follow Clarke out the door. Amor, Brown and Tomkins replacing them would be a decent move.

Re: Sky Sports : Thu Dec 21, 2023 10:41 am  

We can thank Phil Clarke for providing the inspiration for at least one GF win. Personally, I'll be sad to see him go, he brought a more intellectual angle to Sky's analysis of the game. After the comments made about McGuire he seemed to become a lot more reasonable and less partisan. Barrie and Terry are fine for a bit of opinion from a couple of big guys who played the game during an entertaining era of pantomime villains. Carney is good value, he asks interesting questions in the discussion and can be humourous without descending to the level of caricature. Wilkin comes across as media savvy with corresponding inflated ego, perhaps to compensate for his relatively mediocre playing career spanning several star-studded Saints teams. He seems to be desperate to come across as someone with radical insights, but about half the time it is ill-judged and it just cements his attention-seeking credentials. He seems to really hate Leeds - when we're up he's desperate for someone to knock us down, and when we're down he wants to kick us (https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... jon-wilkin). Where's the article from him on our recruitment for 2024? Kyle Amor is fine but he's a bit boring. Sam Tomkins could be a good call, as much as I disliked his cynical gamesmanship as a player. I think he has good insights into the game, and doesn't take it too far unlike Wilkin. As much as I love JJB, I think he's also another in the mould of Barrie and Terry with some random leftfield insights from religion and psuedo-philosophy (e.g. the transformative power of sport to create pathways in society, the big society etc).

We can thank Phil Clarke for providing the inspiration for at least one GF win. Personally, I'll be sad to see him go, he brought a more intellectual angle to Sky's analysis of the game. After the comments made about McGuire he seemed to become a lot more reasonable and less partisan. Barrie and Terry are fine for a bit of opinion from a couple of big guys who played the game during an entertaining era of pantomime villains. Carney is good value, he asks interesting questions in the discussion and can be humourous without descending to the level of caricature. Wilkin comes across as media savvy with corresponding inflated ego, perhaps to compensate for his relatively mediocre playing career spanning several star-studded Saints teams. He seems to be desperate to come across as someone with radical insights, but about half the time it is ill-judged and it just cements his attention-seeking credentials. He seems to really hate Leeds - when we're up he's desperate for someone to knock us down, and when we're down he wants to kick us (https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... jon-wilkin). Where's the article from him on our recruitment for 2024? Kyle Amor is fine but he's a bit boring. Sam Tomkins could be a good call, as much as I disliked his cynical gamesmanship as a player. I think he has good insights into the game, and doesn't take it too far unlike Wilkin. As much as I love JJB, I think he's also another in the mould of Barrie and Terry with some random leftfield insights from religion and psuedo-philosophy (e.g. the transformative power of sport to create pathways in society, the big society etc).

Re: Sky Sports : Thu Dec 21, 2023 1:45 pm  

They desperately need to get rid of Stuart Pyke as commentator... talks with plumbs in his mouth... awful.

Re: Sky Sports : Thu Dec 21, 2023 2:26 pm  

I prefer him to Bill Arthur, to be honest

Re: Sky Sports : Thu Dec 21, 2023 3:42 pm  

Trebor1 wrote:

They desperately need to get rid of Stuart Pyke as commentator... talks with plumbs in his mouth... awful.

I don't mind Pyke too much, does the darts swell doesn't he?

I think Mark Wilson is pretty much the best we have to be honest.

I'd like to see Andrew Voss come over for a couple of seasons, he has hinted he would do it. I think he treads the line of entertaining/informative perfectly.

Re: Sky Sports : Thu Dec 21, 2023 5:08 pm  

Voss is good, but I guarantee after listening to him screaming down the microphone for a full season the novelty will wear off.

Re: Sky Sports : Thu Dec 21, 2023 5:58 pm  

If we’re going on knowledge of the game it has to be either Kev Brown or Tomkins.

I always liked Wells’ analysis on the screen at the end, but seemed to become very anti Leeds last season.

Re: Sky Sports : Thu Dec 21, 2023 8:10 pm  

Trebor1 wrote:

They desperately need to get rid of Stuart Pyke as commentator... talks with plumbs in his mouth... awful.

My exact thoughts.

Re: Sky Sports : Thu Dec 21, 2023 8:11 pm  

christopher wrote:

I don't mind Pyke too much, does the darts swell doesn't he?

I think Mark Wilson is pretty much the best we have to be honest.

I'd like to see Andrew Voss come over for a couple of seasons, he has hinted he would do it. I think he treads the line of entertaining/informative perfectly.

Wilson is very good. The Aussie commentators, just like their players, tend to be different league.