30 April 2018

Episode 179 - Make An Onion Cry

The new episode of Super League Pod is up! You can listen to it HERE, or HERE if your an Apple Podcasts person, and you can also get it on the League Cast Android app or on YouTube.

This week Mark is joined by Hull FC fan Sarah, and after a quick catch up we run through your feedback from last week's show, including an explanation of 'wooden top'. We also discuss the RFL's international streaming offering, that we had otherwise not heard of in the UK.

We cover the news from the last week, book-ended by two significant stories confirmed on the day of recording, from 15:30. SLP news is sponsored by Little Warden.
If you have a website, then visit LittleWarden.com and see what they can do to help you. They can help you with domain expiration checks, redirects and all sorts of other important background web stuff that they’ll make simple for you. Little Warden – monitoring the tedious!

We recap the big game action from the remainder of Round 13 of Super League, with your fan views and all the important stats in our match reviews from 39:15. The obstruction rule gets a bit of an examination, amongst other things. Super League Match Reviews are sponsored by Rob's Toy Shop on eBay.
Find a wide range of toys, gifts, rugby league birthday cards and more at Rob’s Toy Shop on eBay. Visit stores.ebay.co.uk/robstoyshop and on any orders over £5 you can earn 5% cashback, and also 1% of your order value will go into the SLP coffers, by putting 'SLPDiscount' at checkout – and if you want to give your 5% to SLP too you can by messaging Rob’s Toy Shop when you make your order. 

We also cover all the other results from the Championship, League 1, Women's Super League and the NRL from 115:45. Other Results are sponsored by Master of Shaves.
Master of Shaves is a small family run business that sells high quality traditional wet shaving products and specialises in Straight Razors. Visit their website masterofshaves.com and Super League Pod listeners can get 10% off their order by using the voucher code ‘SLP’ at checkout.

We then look to the future with our predictions for Round 14, as well as our Championship and League 1 games of the week, from 132:45. Predictions are sponsored by Payroll Central UK Limited.
Payroll Central is a family run business based in Derbyshire, offering an outsourced payroll service for businesses across the UK. Unlike many accountants who offer payroll as a side service, they are fully qualified payroll specialists who provide payroll services for businesses in every sector. Visit payroll-central.co.uk and if you mention Super League Pod when you contact them you can get one month’s free payroll service and a 10% discount on their normal prices.

Finally, we finish with a  quiz from Sarah that everyone should do reasonably well in, and a recommendation for all day snacking . So get listening to your favourite Rugby League podcast!

Please feel free to make a donation to support SLP: paypal.me/superleaguepod
All donations are hugely appreciated, large or small.

24 April 2018

Episode 178 - Posh Names Poor Names

The new episode of Super League Pod is up! You can listen to it HERE, or HERE if your an Apple Podcasts person, and you can also get it on the League Cast Android app or on YouTube.

This week Mark is joined by Tim G, and after a quick catch up we run through our Dreams Teams so far half-way through the regular season, before running though some of yours too.

We cover the news from the last week, with stories from all the divisions and the international game, from 42:00. SLP news is sponsored by Little Warden.
If you have a website, then visit LittleWarden.com and see what they can do to help you. They can help you with domain expiration checks, redirects and all sorts of other important background web stuff that they’ll make simple for you. Little Warden – monitoring the tedious!

We recap the big game action from the remainder of Round 12 of Super League, with your fan views and all the important stats in our match reviews from 60:30. Super League Match Reviews are sponsored by Rob's Toy Shop on eBay.
Find a wide range of toys, gifts, rugby league birthday cards and more at Rob’s Toy Shop on eBay. Visit stores.ebay.co.uk/robstoyshop and on any orders over £5 you can earn 5% cashback, and also 1% of your order value will go into the SLP coffers, by putting 'SLPDiscount' at checkout – and if you want to give your 5% to SLP too you can by messaging Rob’s Toy Shop when you make your order. 

We also cover all the other results from the Challenge Cup, Championship, League 1, Women's Super League and the NRL from 101:00. Other Results are sponsored by Master of Shaves.
Master of Shaves is a small family run business that sells high quality traditional wet shaving products and specialises in Straight Razors. Visit their website masterofshaves.com and Super League Pod listeners can get 10% off their order by using the voucher code ‘SLP’ at checkout.

We then look to the future with our predictions for Round 13, as well as our Championship and League 1 games of the week, from 119:00. Predictions are sponsored by Payroll Central UK Limited.
Payroll Central is a family run business based in Derbyshire, offering an outsourced payroll service for businesses across the UK. Unlike many accountants who offer payroll as a side service, they are fully qualified payroll specialists who provide payroll services for businesses in every sector. Visit payroll-central.co.uk and if you mention Super League Pod when you contact them you can get one month’s free payroll service and a 10% discount on their normal prices.

Finally, we finish with a top-notch quiz from Tim and recommendations for your hard of sight friends through talking newspapers. So get listening to your favourite Rugby League podcast!

Please feel free to make a donation to support SLP: paypal.me/superleaguepod
All donations are hugely appreciated, large or small.

17 April 2018

Mid-term Dream Team 2018

We've made it to pretty much half way through the regular season, so it's the first time to pause and assess what we've seen so far, in the shape of my mid-term Dream Team.

I've only got two selection criteria for picking my team. Players must have played at least 6 Super League games this year, and then I must think them worthy of selection. It's very much a subjective exercise and I make no apologies that the side is dominated by the current top two. I hope some of the players who've just missed out at this stage can turn it on and make the next team I'll pick out, at the end of the regular season. Anyway, read mine then send us yours!

Full back Ben Barba
As easy a selection as there is in the side. He's been in sensational form for league leaders St Helens. He's 3rd in tries with 10, joint 2nd in try assists with 11 and top in combined tries and assists, with 21. Literally no player has had a greater direct involvement in getting tries over the line so far this season.
Unlucky to miss out: Sam Tomkins, Stefan Ratchford

Wingers Liam Marshall & Joe Burgess
Whilst wingers are expected to do more in the modern game, ultimately they're judged by their try scoring records and the best two regular wingers in tries per game this year are Liam Marshall (1.5 tries per game) and Joe Burgess (1.2 tries per game). Both also sit in the top 10 wingers for tackle busts, clean breaks and metres per game, as well as metres per carry.
Unlucky to miss out: Tommy Makinson, Fetuli Talanoa

Centres Mark Percival & Bill Tupou
Mark Percival is joint top try scorer in the league and has made the most tackle busts and clean breaks of any player in the league. He's such an attacking weapon that he has to make my team. Bill Tupou is a bit of a personal choice given the great work he's doing for me in my actual Dream Team! There were loads of centres to pick from that met the 6 games criteria who've impressed me this year, but none are working harder for their team than this guy. He has the most carries and metres per game of any regular centre, and is still top 5 in centres for metres per carry and tries/assists combined.
Unlucky to miss out: Kallum Watkins, Josh Griffin, Reece Lyne, Bryson Goodwin, Ash Handley, Krisnan Inu, Andrew Heffernan, Carlos Tuimavave

Stand off George Williams
Quite simply, I want my halves to get their hands on the ball, ask questions of the defence and create opportunities for their team. That's why I'm picking the stand off with the most try assists. His 11 assists is joint second of all players, and three clear of the next best regular no. 6. He's also a top three stand off in busts and offloads, and has more carries than any other stand off so far this year. In short, he makes things happen. He's also a strong defender, with a 95% tackle success, and he's got a low error rate so far this season too.
Unlucky to miss out: Jacob Miller

Scrum half Richie Myler
You have to go with the man who's made the most try assists in the league as your scrum half, I couldn't see past that stat when making this choice. 12 assists in his first 10 games has seen Myler really stand up for his Leeds side in his debut year there. I have to credit him too with having an improved defence this term, not that I'm selecting him based on defence, but he has the best tackle success of all regular scrum halves at this stage.
Unlucky to miss out: Danny Richardson

Props Luke Thompson & David Fifita
Thompson is having an impact is every game he plays this year, so much so that Saints are barely missing Alex Walmsley who is down with a serious injury. Even in his worst outing this year, Thompson still made the Our League man of the match vote shortlist (although decide for yourself how much those shortlists mean!). He's making more metres than any other prop so far this year. Fifita has been a beast for Wakefield so far in 2018. He's third in metres per game in the props, but significantly leads the way for props in both breaks and the big stat for the big men of tackle busts.
Unlucky to miss out: Chris Hill, Mike Cooper, Scott Taylor

Hooker James Roby
Cut all the key stats however you want to, he's in the top two spots of all regular hookers in them all. Stats support how much he creates, how hard he works, how well he defends. They also support how crucial he is to his side, with a 90% win success rate that puts him 2nd in all players who've played at least six times this year. But you don't need stats to tell you how good James Roby is, you just need to watch him play to see that.
Unlucky to miss out: Daryl Clark, Paul McShane

Second row Liam Farrell & Zeb Taia
Farrell almost always makes my teams. He's just so productive and consistent in both attack and defence that you'd have to hate Wigan and/or gingers to not pick him in your side. He regularly makes over 100 metres a game and has a 97% tackle success rate. 4 tries and 5 assists, for the combined 9 try/assists this year, which leads back row forwards. He's also sorted his discipline this year it seems, conceding only one penalty every two games. For someone who makes 34 tackles a game and 15+ carries a game, that's not bad going. Zeb Taia has been quite a weapon on that potent Saints left edge this year. He leads the way in tries for a forward with 6, has more metres and breaks than any other second rower and is ranked high in offloads too. I couldn't not include him based on what he's delivered so far in 2018.
Unlucky to miss out: Dale Ferguson, Joshua Jones

Loose forward Sean O'Loughlin
So what if I'm basically selecting him off the back of one game, a game where he played prop and stand off, rather than loose forward. There isn't a better and more influential 13 in the competition, still. He ranks top half of loose forwards in assists, busts, offloads and tackle success, and bottom half in errors and penalties. So he has some supportive stats as well to put him in the team, it's not just that he's Sean bloody O'Loughlin, as good a loose forward as you've seen in the last 15 years.
Unlucky to miss out: Greg Bird, Mark Flanagan

There's my team. Send yours to us by leaving a comment or sending a us tweet, or however you normally hit up the show with your thoughts.

We'll discuss my side, co-host's Tim's side, and any sides you listeners provide us with on our next SLP episode, due in your ears early Tuesday 24 April. Until then, catch up on our latest show HERE, (or HERE if your an Apple Podcasts person).

Thanks for reading as always!
Mark
SLP

SLP Episode 177 - This Week in Streakers

The new episode of Super League Pod is up! You can listen to it HERE, or HERE if your an Apple Podcasts person, and you can also get it on the League Cast Android app or on YouTube.

This week Mark is joined by Tim G, who recaps what he's been up to over the last few weeks whilst being a listener and not a host. There's also a couple of special shout outs for the extended SLP family.

We cover the news from the last week, with stories from all the divisions and the international game, from 13:00. SLP news is sponsored by Little Warden.
If you have a website, then visit LittleWarden.com and see what they can do to help you. They can help you with domain expiration checks, redirects and all sorts of other important background web stuff that they’ll make simple for you. Little Warden – monitoring the tedious!

We recap the big game action from Round 11 of Super League, with your fan views and all the important stats in our match reviews from 34:30. Super League Match Reviews are sponsored by Rob's Toy Shop on eBay.
Find a wide range of toys, gifts, rugby league birthday cards and more at Rob’s Toy Shop on eBay. Visit stores.ebay.co.uk/robstoyshop and on any orders over £5 you can earn 5% cashback, and also 1% of your order value will go into the SLP coffers, by putting 'SLPDiscount' at checkout – and if you want to give your 5% to SLP too you can by messaging Rob’s Toy Shop when you make your order. 

We also cover all the other results from the Championship, League 1, the historic opening Women's Super League round and the NRL from 111:00. Other Results are sponsored by Master of Shaves.
Master of Shaves is a small family run business that sells high quality traditional wet shaving products and specialises in Straight Razors. Visit their website masterofshaves.com and Super League Pod listeners can get 10% off their order by using the voucher code ‘SLP’ at checkout.

We then look to the future with our predictions for Round 11, as well as our Challenge Sup, Championship and League 1 games of the week, from 129:30. Predictions are sponsored by Payroll Central UK Limited.
Payroll Central is a family run business based in Derbyshire, offering an outsourced payroll service for businesses across the UK. Unlike many accountants who offer payroll as a side service, they are fully qualified payroll specialists who provide payroll services for businesses in every sector. Visit payroll-central.co.uk and if you mention Super League Pod when you contact them you can get one month’s free payroll service and a 10% discount on their normal prices.

Finally, we finish with a multi-choice Challenge Cup quiz and recommendations from the wider sport world and a bit of Tv and radio. So get listening to your favourite Rugby League podcast!

Please feel free to make a donation to support SLP: paypal.me/superleaguepod
All donations are hugely appreciated, large or small.

10 April 2018

SLP Episode 176 - Streaming Mad

The new episode of Super League Pod is up! You can listen to it HERE, or HERE if your an Apple Podcasts person, and you can also get it on the League Cast Android app or on YouTube.

This week Mark is joined by Warrington fan Leigh, who tells us how he got into Rugby League and how far his interest in the greatest game has gone in just over four years.

We cover the news from the last week, with a number of Super League re-signings and the big fallout from the Bradford-Workington live stream argument, from 15:00. SLP news is sponsored by Little Warden.
If you have a website, then visit LittleWarden.com and see what they can do to help you. They can help you with domain expiration checks, redirects and all sorts of other important background web stuff that they’ll make simple for you. Little Warden – monitoring the tedious!

We recap the big game action from Round 10 of Super League, with your fan views and all the important stats in our match reviews from 47:30. Super League Match Reviews are sponsored by Rob's Toy Shop on eBay.
Find a wide range of toys, gifts, rugby league birthday cards and more at Rob’s Toy Shop on eBay. Visit stores.ebay.co.uk/robstoyshop and on any orders over £5 you can earn 5% cashback, and also 1% of your order value will go into the SLP coffers, by putting 'SLPDiscount' at checkout – and if you want to give your 5% to SLP too you can by messaging Rob’s Toy Shop when you make your order. 

We also cover all the other results from the Championship, League 1 and the NRL from 123:45. Other Results are sponsored by Master of Shaves.
Master of Shaves is a small family run business that sells high quality traditional wet shaving products and specialises in Straight Razors. Visit their website masterofshaves.com and Super League Pod listeners can get 10% off their order by using the voucher code ‘SLP’ at checkout.

We then look to the future with our predictions for Round 11, as well as our Championship and League 1 games of the week, from 147:45. Predictions are sponsored by Payroll Central UK Limited.
Payroll Central is a family run business based in Derbyshire, offering an outsourced payroll service for businesses across the UK. Unlike many accountants who offer payroll as a side service, they are fully qualified payroll specialists who provide payroll services for businesses in every sector. Visit payroll-central.co.uk and if you mention Super League Pod when you contact them you can get one month’s free payroll service and a 10% discount on their normal prices.

Finally, we finish with a Warrington themed quiz for Leigh and recommendations in community coaching, Rugby League reading and Caribbean pie making. So get listening to your favourite Rugby League podcast!

Please feel free to make a donation to support SLP: paypal.me/superleaguepod
All donations are hugely appreciated, large or small.

4 April 2018

SLP Episode 175 - Easter Overload

The new episode of Super League Pod is up! You can listen to it HERE, or HERE if your an Apple Podcasts person, and you can also get it on the League Cast Android app or on YouTube.

This week Mark is joined by Bradford fan Alan, who we work out watched 12 full games of rugby over the action packed Easter weekend, so he was well prepared for the show!

We cover the news from the last week, in particular the Rick Stone sacking, as we get the views of a couple of Giants fans into the show, from 23:30. SLP news is sponsored by Little Warden.
If you have a website, then visit LittleWarden.com and see what they can do to help you. They can help you with domain expiration checks, redirects and all sorts of other important background web stuff that they’ll make simple for you. Little Warden – monitoring the tedious!

We recap the big game action from two Super League rounds, with your fan views and all the important stats in our match reviews of Round 8 from 38:15 and Round 9 from 98:00. Super League Match Reviews are sponsored by Rob's Toy Shop on eBay.
Find a wide range of toys, gifts, rugby league birthday cards and more at Rob’s Toy Shop on eBay. Visit stores.ebay.co.uk/robstoyshop and on any orders over £5 you can earn 5% cashback, and also 1% of your order value will go into the SLP coffers, by putting 'SLPDiscount' at checkout – and if you want to give your 5% to SLP too you can by messaging Rob’s Toy Shop when you make your order. 

We also cover all the other results from the Challenge Cup, Championship, League 1 and the NRL from 140:30. Other Results are sponsored by Master of Shaves.
Master of Shaves is a small family run business that sells high quality traditional wet shaving products and specialises in Straight Razors. Visit their website masterofshaves.com and Super League Pod listeners can get 10% off their order by using the voucher code ‘SLP’ at checkout.

We then look to the future with our predictions for Round 10, as well as our Championship and League 1 games of the week, from 150:0. Predictions are sponsored by Payroll Central UK Limited.
Payroll Central is a family run business based in Derbyshire, offering an outsourced payroll service for businesses across the UK. Unlike many accountants who offer payroll as a side service, they are fully qualified payroll specialists who provide payroll services for businesses in every sector. Visit payroll-central.co.uk and if you mention Super League Pod when you contact them you can get one month’s free payroll service and a 10% discount on their normal prices.

Finally, we finish with a double quiz and some comedy
recommendations. So get listening to your favourite Rugby League podcast!

Please feel free to make a donation to support SLP: paypal.me/superleaguepod
All donations are hugely appreciated, large or small.