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St Helens Head Coach Paul Wellens has a dilemma. His star full back Jack Welsby has returned to fitness. But his replacement Tristan Sailor is in tremendous form. The solution? Paul Wellens has mooted playing two full backs . Wellens may have taken inspiration from his predecessor. In his final game as St Helens coach, Kristian Woolf employed a tactic he had never used before. The pendulum. In the 2022 Grand Final against Leeds, Jon Bennison defended at full back and Will Hopoate defended on the wing. In attack, they switched. It worked like a dream as Hopoate and Bennison combined for a try and Hopoate made a try saving tackle on the wing. An almighty risk for a Grand Final but it paid off. In Rugby League, teams largely play the same. Ok, there is some variation but you rarely see anything really off the cuff. Here are a few ideas of tactical innovations teams could try. (In case it needs to be said, this article is just for fun and not meant to be taken too seriously!) 1. Kick Off R...

I will start this blog with a simple question that has a not so simple answer. What is the point? After just two years, Rugby League in this country has decided to effectively junk the IMG-endorsed idea of a grading system to make up Super League and simply hand pick the top flight teams. Leave the semantics aside and ignore the rhetoric suggesting a grading system remains. It doesn't.  Arguably, hand picking the teams was the point of the ‘IMG’ system all along. We are now just being more overt about it. And it is clear this was long planned. Gary Hetherington didn't just take a senior role at London by chance. Paul Vaughan has not signed for York thinking they are going to be a Championship team. Bradford have friends in very high places. So w hat was the point in sides contorting themselves and expending time and effort to fit to the ‘IMG’ criteria? There was none. Rugby League’s obsession with change prompts lots of similar questions. What is the point in investing ...

In the Challenge Cup, there have been 8 different winners in the last 10 years. We have also had 8 different winners of the League Leaders' Shield since it was introduced in 2002. Yet there are still just four names on the Super League title since the league's creation in 1996. Since 2018, the title has simply changed hands between Wigan and St Helens as Leeds' "golden generation" ended.  Interestingly, despite the Super League title only having red and white (sorry, cherry not red for Wigan!) ribbons on it since 2018, Wigan and St Helens have only met in one Super League Grand Final in that time. It is strange that we get a variety of teams winning the Challenge Cup and League Leaders' Shield but the Super League champions remain a select few.  And it is not like we haven't come close. Hull FC, Warrington (four times), Castleford, Salford, Catalans (twice) and Hull KR have all got to the Grand Final and all failed. On 10 occasions has a 'new' side...

On 12th January 2020, Mose Masoe played for Hull KR in a pre-season friendly against Wakefield. In an attempt to make a tackle on his goal line, Masoe sustained a serious spinal injury, leading to his retirement and life-changing injuries. Here is a video of Masoe's injury (it is not graphic but viewer discretion advised). The seemingly innocuous challenge where @hullkrofficial prop Mose Masoe suffered a serious spinal injury in the pre season game against Wakefield Trinity yesterday. pic.twitter.com/937Y0SHs9h — Arif Ahmed (@ArifAhmedITV) January 13, 2020 It looks quite innocuous doesn't it? In the heat of the moment, some may even have thought Masoe was staying down to get the game stopped so his defensive line could reset. Out of no malice at all, a fellow Hull KR defender may have attempted to move Masoe so they could get into a better defensive position. Now imagine what may have happened if Masoe had been moved in these circumstances. What was an exceptionally serious i...

On Wednesday, it was announced that the Chair of RL Commercial, Frank Slevin, had left his role; one that he had held since 2022. You would not need to be a genius to figure out that Nigel Wood would ultimately fill this role. Ordinarily, I would reflect on Mr Slevin's legacy in his role at Chair of RL Commercial. However, given I did not know he even held the role until he resigned from it, such was his anonymity, that is not possible. Mr Wood joined the RFL as a finance director in 2001, after a period as Chief Executive at Halifax, which started in 1995 and saw the club fall into financial difficulties to the extent that they required a Creditors Voluntary Agreement to be put in place by 1999. Wood rose through the ranks at the RFL to become the governing body's Chief Executive. His supporters will point to higher revenues, securing a record TV deal with Sky Sports in 2014, introducing the Magic Weekend and overseeing the introduction of Catalans Dragons into Super League (p...

Winning. In finals, that is all that matters. Whether you win by two points in the most unconvincing fashion imaginable or put in a performance that will be revered for generations, the prize is the same. Hull KR put in their ugliest performance of the season in Saturday's Challenge Cup final (according to captain Elliot Minchella). It matters not one jot because they still managed to win. I was staggered by pre-match predictions that Hull KR would breeze past Warrington (not said with  hindsight  may I add).  Hull KR had a second row at centre, they were missing their full back and they were without their first two choice goal kickers. Warrington had big players missing too, namely Matty Ashton and Danny Walker. And whilst they have been so poor at times this season, they have shown glimpses of class. They have shown they can raise their game for 80 minutes but not consistently.  It was entirely plausible that Warrington would raise their game for the Challenge Cup ...