Re: exiles 18th man : Sun Jun 17, 2012 10:43 am  

Bully_Boxer wrote:

Opening a can of worms I know.. But I still find the inclusion of Chase embarrassing.

... especially as he played FOR the Exiles AGAINST England last year.

Makes the whole concept a bit farcical when people can just decide to play for the other team

Re: exiles 18th man : Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:02 am  

Ah Van has played very well for the Vikings this year, and gets a lot of support from the crowd. Maybe it was the lack of support he got last year at Bradford that dispirited him.

Slightly going off topic, maybe Lancashire+ Cheshire -v- Yorkshire + Cumbria would be a better game than the Exiles, using the idea of County of Birth.

Re: exiles 18th man : Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:09 am  

Lack of support last year? I suspect it was the lack of contract offer than dispirited him to be honest. He was too inconsistent with the boot and weak in defence/dealing with kicks for us.

Glad he's doing alright at Widnes though.

Re: exiles 18th man : Sun Jun 17, 2012 12:12 pm  

ritz are you a leeds fan per chance? two of our tries came from chase kicks? worst game i have seen from sinfield in a while and there is no way i would play him above o loughlin at 13. Also Mcguire is not international standard otherwise we would not have turned to chase!! ablett should not have been chosen at centre above shenton,welham and yeaman or even hardaker. think lms should have been higher in pecking order than mossop as well but thats my opinion.
Thought peacock had a decent game

Re: exiles 18th man : Sun Jun 17, 2012 3:49 pm  

I have read it somewhere that England v Combined Celtic Nations might be a better option. Not sure how strong the CCN team would be though.

Re: exiles 18th man : Sun Jun 17, 2012 4:05 pm  

Old Viking wrote:

Ah Van has played very well for the Vikings this year, and gets a lot of support from the crowd. Maybe it was the lack of support he got last year at Bradford that dispirited him.

Slightly going off topic, maybe Lancashire+ Cheshire -v- Yorkshire + Cumbria would be a better game than the Exiles, using the idea of County of Birth.

You obviously weren't sat where I was at the Magic Weekend then, he was getting dogs abuse from start to finish from the Widnes fans.

Re: exiles 18th man : Sun Jun 17, 2012 4:11 pm  

debaser wrote:

I have read it somewhere that England v Combined Celtic Nations might be a better option. Not sure how strong the CCN team would be though.

Sadler tweeted that last night. Not sure if the line up would be that strong to be honest. Perhaps England 1st v England rejects.. Brough v Chase etc

Re: exiles 18th man : Sun Jun 17, 2012 6:32 pm  

It wouldn't. They only way a mid season fixture is going to remain strong and gain support is to have the best England has to offer playing against each other for a national jersey. That means Yorks V Lancs, the overseas players coming to this country will be getting weaker and older as the years go by with tightening of quota ruling. Who cares about the minorities of Londoners and who ever else might have a sprinking of cultural influence on the sport. Yorks V Lancs is where it's at(Don't rule out a Cumbrian side but ATM players from that area must choose Yorks or Lancs). Who the hell is going to support and play for a combined Celtic Nations team, who the hell is going to support a Exiles team and who the hell is going to support a Wests Vs Easts team? I wouldn't I'm not an Eastsman or whatever you want to call it, I'm a Yorkshire man and I would support Yorkshire, and I imagine that fellow Yorkies and Lancs would get behind their county if we give it chance to build it's profile.

Make the most of the support in the heartlands and really ramp the hype up. Clubs must also buy into it, and if they really have the future of this game in England in their hearts then they would, IMHO.

We need to make this game meaningful for fans and players.

[Bulliac]

Re: exiles 18th man : Mon Jun 18, 2012 10:51 am  

I think I might be more sympathetic to a Yorks/Lancs game if they had attracted any sort of crowd when they were played regularly. Let's be honest, they were such a great success that the idea was ditched. The whole concept of Yorks and Lancs only reinforces the stereotypical view of RL of just being an M62 sport, which is exactly what I thought we were hoping would disappear as the game spreads.

The exiles concept is still new and maybe needs to be given time (though hopefully not the 100 years that Yorks V Lancs got), before deciding it hasn't worked. As a point of interest how long did Origin in Aussie take to become the big occasion it now definitely is? I assume they weren't filling stadiums in the first season it was tried.

Re: exiles 18th man : Mon Jun 18, 2012 11:49 am  

Bulliac wrote:

The exiles concept is still new and maybe needs to be given time (though hopefully not the 100 years that Yorks V Lancs got), before deciding it hasn't worked. As a point of interest how long did Origin in Aussie take to become the big occasion it now definitely is? I assume they weren't filling stadiums in the first season it was tried.

It was played in front of 2 men & a sheep until Artie Beetson flattened his club team mate at the start of one game & generated some interest.