Did My 2018 Rugby League Dreams Come True?

Back at the start of the year, I sat down and mapped out my five hopes and dreams for Rugby League in 2018. You can refresh yourself on them here: Rugby League Dreams for 2018

As 2018 draws to a close, I thought it would be appropriate to look back and see if any of my dreams came true...

1) England to be successful!
This came true, right!? Not only did we take the series over New Zealand after winning the mid-season test too, but the Academy took their recent series with Australia 2-0.

Crowds for the New Zealand series started poorly but grew encouragingly, and the TV coverage off the series was positive. The series led to an England player winning Golden Boot, which however you take it was still good news for our game. And, England are up in the world rankings.

It was definitely a good news story.

2) Growth of the SLP family
Well, I clearly didn't fully expect the major changes in the SLP family's make up that followed later in January. However, if anything, Tom's departure was a major source of growth for the SLP family in a hugely unexpected way. It meant the amount of voices we heard changed, as some of you jumped at the chance to co-host episodes of the show.

Listener numbers to the main weekly show have remained pretty much level with where they've been for a while. But new show types have been added into the mix now, with the Shorts and the newly created Debate Club shows. This has helped even more voices get onto our show and we've very much enjoyed talking to each and every one of the guests we've had on in 2018.

Another great thing in 2018 has been the support of our sponsors and donors. A special mention in particular must go to Rob's Toy Shop and Little Warden, for sticking with us through the whole season, offering more than just financial support. Also, SLP Listener of the Year Paul, who has been a huge help in the background this year too.

Finally, the greatest success of the SLP family in 2018 was the support you all gave back. Through donations to the show that we've been able to share out. Through supporting fund-raising for junior community sides Myton Warriors and Newton Storm. Through helping Dom Hodgson's efforts for Martin House Charity.

3) All our big events to sell out
Well, we fell way short of this dream didn't we!

On a personal note, I loved all the Rugby League events I made it to in 2018. My wife will tell you that I made it to a lot...I might argue I didn't get to enough. Either way, I wasn't at any Sold Out events. And that disappoints and frustrates me. The points I made in January remain. Lets do better in 2019!

4) Expansion to continue, and do so with a clear direction
Erm...This didn't come true really. There's been some promise and equally some set backs.

West Wales were a horror show on the field. Hemel have gone the way of Oxford and All Golds. New York has made limited progress.

But Toulouse and Toronto led the way in the Championship, with real improvements in their support being seen as well as progress on the field. Coventry were a regular good news story in League 1. More clubs from other lands are showing an interest in being a part of our competitions. And London Broncos made it back to Super League.

Where my dream really turned to nightmare is the clear direction part. There is no direction. As the recent Challenge Cup debacle has ably demonstrated.

5) Let the moaning all end, or at least take an extended rest!
Yeah, right!

No, wait, if I reflect a little more, the digital output from alternate media sources has just grown in Rugby League in 2018. Yes, this means more competition for us at SLP. And yes, this gives us all more outlets to air our criticisms.

However, it hasn't been all moaning at all. It's not been all cheer leading either. There's a way to go, but things have way more balance now. It's trending in the right direction. We have enough good stuff to talk about that we occasionally swim in the pool of negativity, but we aren't drowning in it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, that's 2018 dealt with. Let's start to turn our attention to 2019...

Our 2019 Fan Predictions voting form is now OPEN! Click here to make your picks and share your predictions: SLP 2019 Fan Predictions

Thanks for reading.

Mark
SLP

Season Preview: Say What!?

We asked you what was going to happen in 2018, and here's what you thought.

This is all the 'Say What!?' predictions we got. We were looking for something possible but improbable, something funny or different or bold. Some people though just used it as a chance to vent their spleen or cast their deepest darkest wishes against those they despise. Some people didn't give one at all. We went through some of our favourites on the show, but here they all are: (any spelling and grammar errors belong to whoever sent them in to us!)

Pete Osborn	5+ players to test positive for coke. Jamie Ellis to never win a single 'slimmer of the week' award throughout the entire season. Gary Lo to have the 'freedom of Castleford' by Easter.
David cantrell	RFL finally decides to come down like a vengeful and angry god on coaches who badmouth referees. Misguided fans crowdfund the huge fine.
Mark W	Nigel Wood's replacement will be announced and all the people who have spent the last decade moaning that the RFL hates their club or that the refs are biased or that Nigel Wood is the worst living human will now get a chance to quieten down and begin to enjoy the sport. Oh, and Fartown for the treble
Fatboy_Rob	Wigan to start shite then break the salary cap to get themselves out of the shit (cheating pie eating Twats)
Paul O’Brien	There will be no controversy at Super League games as Video referees are at all games and the fans have stopped blaming referees when there team gets beat and Steve Ganson returns to refereeing to help Saints beat Wigan in the Grand Final disallowing a try in the final seconds as his son goes over the line for Wigan.
Lee Randall	I predict the Bristol rl club won’t even start the 2019 season
Alan Walker	Widnes to beat Wigan in the million pence game.
Cut Throat Jake	Leeds will beat Melbourne in the WCC match by 40 points with Ryan Hall running in 4 tries
Rich Langley	Hull KR fans to focus on something other than Hull FC, Toronto to sign more SL players and Nigel Wood's replacement to push rugby league forward significantly and immediately surpass their predecessor
Chris McKeown	Highly unlikely, but there will be a game that takes place in which all fans agree the referee wasn’t actually biased against their side.
Andy Barden	Hayne decides he wants to follow his long lost dream, leaves the NRL to play at Dewsbury
Scott Schroeder	Catalans will surprise everyone and finish 3rd
Paul Michael Craig	RFL to admit 3 new North American teams & then a month later the Wolfpack will go into voluntary administration
Mike Dodd	Bennie Westwood to not get any bans across the season. LMS to shave his greasy locks. Liam Watts not to get a red card over the season. Jake Connor to not be a prick. Mark to not have a rant across the season (here’s hoping that doesn’t actually happen!)
Byron steele	Better refereeing videos at every game or none at all they couldn’t get it right with help
Joshua's Granddad	Wane to be 1st coach sacked replaced by Lockers, Maguire sent off for arguing with refs as they realise he is not in Leeds shirt anymore
Dominic Barker	Zak Hardaker will sign for a Rugby Union team.
Shoddynmungo	The rugby league family come together and sell out our showpiece events!
WakeyWhite	2 Wakey players to get England call up - Johnstone and Ashurst & Catalan in the MPG
Leigh Whitnall	Luke Gale will forget to wash the shit-nuts out of the arse hair he's had surgically grafted to his scalp. The rugby league media will declare it a fashion triumph and the sky commentary team will be seen sporting their own poo-do's the following week in reverence to their hero.
mitchelldarts	Garry Lo to do Garry Lo things and get 50 tries in his first season in the super league.
Rich Wilkinson	Cas to not bottle it in a big game..... nah! That's too far fetched.
Graham	At least 1 super league team loses to a lower league club in the challenge cup.
Neil Mckeown	Dr Koukash to buy Widnes after him not being appreciated by Salford fans, fingers crossed the inbreds down the road are not celebrating their year again ha ha . Danny Craven to win man of steel for last minute drop goal to win challenge cup . Kev Judas brown to win fuck all again 🙏🏻
Colin Render	Shaun wane to leave Wigan after a mediocre start but go on to be England manager.
Bob Phillips	1. Tom remembers every single recording date and venue through the season. 2. Emmas stand in and do a podcast one week as the boys are too unwell. 3. A stand-up IT genius works out a way of streaming cam content from every match and gives SLP family access to it.
Brendan Loftus	We get a proper international program for the next 4 years
Sarah Mackenzie	Luke Gale's hair transplant was done by a wakey fan and by the start of the season it is growing red, white and blue. Danny McGuire breaks his leg and retires before playing a competitive 80 for rovers! Fat boy Rob wears a pair of trousers instead of shorts to a match!
St.David	Wakey to make progress on their ground... sorry you said between possible and improbable.... Wane to get the chop, Gary Heatherington to appoint Cath Heatherington as RFL CEO reporting directly to him, Hull KR to beat Hull FC with a bizarre last minute vr decision at Magic, Tom to get a bit pissed at The Summer Bash and forget to turn up for another SLP!
Frogmore	Someone other than Dr Bob will win the Dr bob award.
Phil Nadin	Wakefield to be in the top 4 and Warrington to be in the million pound game with Toulouse but win 😀
Andy Currie	Castleford will struggle and miss the top 4, there will be a big resurgence from both Wigan and saints, Leeds and hull will also make up the top 4. Widnes for relegation
Aaron Bannister	Castleford to win LLS and Challenge Cup. Toulouse to get promoted to SL. You heard it hear first!!
John Cassidy esq	SOL to finally retire, Sam Tomkins to rip it up at 6, Salford to go down, Gale to turn up in the 1st game with a hair transplant, Tom to get a sex change.
Tyler Casfan	Widnes to finish top 8, Warrington bottom 4 again, Catalans players to go on strike to get rid of the Coach & Featherstone to make the Challenge Cup semis
Ben Jones	Danny McGuire leads Hull KR to Cup success, whilst Hull FC fall out of the Super 8’s.
@AndyGilder	Shaun Wane to be the first coaching casualty of the season.
Martyn Simpson	Catalan Dragons could surprise a few teams this year and end up in the top 8; perhaps even the top 4. Castleford could suffer a bit of a hang over at the start of the season and might struggle to make up lost ground. Catalans to replace Castleford in the top four... anything's possible!
Rob Ainscough	Sean lawless to be a guest on sky sports panellist following his recent Wigan blog tv appearances
Ethan O'Gorman	1st Prediction: Fatboy rob will go the whole year without mentioning the words "Sat on toilet" in his tweets. 2nd: Ben Barba will be done for drugs again 3rd: Mark and Tom will finally reveal their long lost love for each other and get married at the DW Stadium.
Phil	1. The referees allow a fast free flowing game of rugby and all work from the same rulebook. 2. Free play rule omitted, if a team knocks on then it should just go to the opposing team. Not go all the way back to the first offence. 3. Go back to bottom team in Super League relegated and top team in The Championship promoted. 4. Restructure super 8's.
Rod Hutchinson - Lakes Rhino	Already said Toronto to go up, but will add McDermott to be new England coach
John Hazeldine	Wigan will have a poor year along with Catalan. Castleford will be a mid table team. Top 4 will be St Helens, Hull, Leeds and Warrington
Peter Nelson	Widnes to drop out of Super League
Dan Hull	Castleford bottom 4. The jinx of winning the league leaders shield.
Jake Thompson	Wakefield to push on and make top 4! Cas to not go as well in the league but to win GF!
Kris Illingworth	Top try scorer to have more than 45 tries in super league alone this season
aksteele69	Shaun Wane to announce he is to live his life as a woman and respectfully requests that the media call him Shauna from now on.
Guy Incognito	Daryl Powell and Shaun Wane to kiss and make up by Magic Weekend?!
Tom Carr	Saints win Grand Final by white washing Wigan 40-0
Matt Hardiker	Sam Tomkins fails a drugs test
Leighton wicks	Catalan dragons and Salford to be very close to winning some silverware. Wakefield to be in the top 4
Kev Todd	I think the rlf should introduce a reserve grade but do t think this will happen and also predict they will still make some very irrational decisions which seem to be eroding the very heart of our game
Alan Witts	Rugby League fans will stop bloody moaning and realised that the refs are not against their team.
Sid	Hull FC having lost their two best players in Ellis and Fonua will finish in the bottom 4.
John Davies	3 North American Teams will join the RFL in 2019 and with Super League Teams Introduction a 14 or 15 Franchise system for 2019 but agreed in 2018. Championship and League 1 = TV Deal
Nick Jenkins	Wigan in bottom 4
Sean Lawless from Wigan Fan TV	Eddie Hearn will reach an agreement with the Super League club owners to help run Super League, including a new Super League 2 league - taking into account the expansion teams
Martin Silcock	Salford to win the league leaders shield
Bib geldoff	Champions
Matt	Saints to win treble. Wire miss out on top 8 Wakefield top 4 Leeds to struggle.
Daniel Moxon	Castleford Tigers to win the grand final and right the wrongs from last year, and Zak Hardaker to get a 12 week ban and play some pet in what will be a fantastic piece of history for the club
gill harpin	up the trin
Paul laverack	Hull winning everything league grand final and challenge cup is the improbable! Possible Salford to go bust
Tom	Should Hull FC gain a large number of injuries, particularly in the forwards, Gareth Ellis will play another few games for Hull.
Callum Insull	Toronto Wolfpack to continue their rise as a club and reach the middle 8s qualifiers but miss out in the million pound game to Huddersfield. Also for the first year in many, Wigan will miss out on the top 4.
Riggs	Re vamp of super league with Toronto and Leigh being added to make 14 teams, back to top 4 playoff for grand final , challenge cup moved to spring
P Robinson	Up the Robins
Andy Hamilton	Castleford to finish 5th and win nothing
Arran Smith	Last year I called Broncos v Catalan in the million pound game (got one team right) this year how about London v Toronto in the million pound game
Jay	Salford will make top four
Lynne	I want changes to the salary cap so we can compete with the NRL and I'd like to see more competition between the NRL and super league. I also want changes in the Super league structure that will result in the first 23 weeks meaning something.
Daniel Cartledge	I believe that Castleford squad is still hurting a lot after their grand final loss therefore will not have a great season, potentially finishing in the bottom 4.
john murray	Another person with no idea of RL to gat Nigel Woods job, Ben Barba to go home, Cas to finish out of top 4
Pete Jackson	I’d say this year is going to be Warrington's year but you’ve said it has to be something possible!!
Ricardo Shilllyshally	Robert De Niro admits he is a Wigan fan and buys the club, meanwhile all the clubs decide to get rid of the cap and return to winter rugby
Dave Chadwick	That we all know what league structure will be in place here and we finally stick to it plus a American/Canadian league is formed with 10 teams who have their own league and own countries players in which to grow the game there.😉
Andrew Hockless	Hull kr to go back down
Andrew carter	Ben barba to leave before the season ends
Tony Townend	Rugby League finally decides to reclaim the word "rugby" from our Union cousins and markets the game in what might at least be perceived as a professional manner.
Steve Mcculley	Warrington treble its always our year. 😂😂😂😂 just to enjoy another season of rugby ❤️ super league
Tom Eckley	Matty Blythe is realises that security isn’t for him and that Super League can’t survive without him. Expect him to return in round 12 for Leeds where he will stand out in a 4 try showcase before going back to physio. Still man of steel though
Keith	Hull fc to win all trophies
Barney	Giants to get to win the grand final 😅
James Blakeborough	Huddersfield Giants 2018 Challenge Cup Winners!
Ryan Wilcockson	Eddie Hearn to come in and shake things up finally putting English Super League on the world map.
Nate Bradley	Catalans will be safe of the middle 8s by mid-season.
John knox	I think there's a lot of shocks to come. Fev are a dark horse side to watch. Hope its our year at the Wire
Bob	Faraimo top try scorer
Mark Warner	Wigan to struggle and finish in bottom 4 along with HULL Kr
Tony Roscoe	a change to the super 8 format as it makes the rest of the season meaningless.
Mary from Wigan	Unless some changes are made soon the game will die. We have been supporting Wigan since the 50' and cannot remember feeling so disenchanted
Paul walton	The BBC improve there coverage of our great game Ellery Hanley comes out of retirement and wins the Steve Prescott Man of steel
Terence	Saints Leeds Wigan middle 8s
Dave Regan	Wakey to finish in the top 4
Jordan Goodall	Hopefully a return to Manchester with the magic weekend for 2019 and a Toronto Wolfpack promotion!
Andy Willby	England to pick a team on form! Steve McNamara to take on his 17th coaching job in the past 12 months and Hull KR to celebrate a victory against hull F.C. like they’ve just won the double!
@albany85	Rob Burrow to ‘unretire’ after injuries force him to come to Rhinos first team rescue. Ok it’s definitely towards to improbable end of the scale.
Dgknight	Nigel Wood signs as a forward for Toronto Wolfpack.
Chris Eastwood	Toronto to get to the semis of the challenge cup.
Stephen forkes	New referees, to make the big stage and to be fairer and not one sided, also less use of video refs, it would be nice to see some of the lesser teams getting to major finals.
Paul Whiteside	Without a Wembley appearance for almost 50 years that would make my Salford supporting life almost complete. I’ve had my heart broke in four semi finals 1988,1997,1998 and 2017so just want that day at Wembley. Also fancy Widnes to finish in the top 8 despite people’s predictions, they have some good young players.
Lee Percival	I think Wigan will be in the bottom 4, and that Shaun Wayne will be replace by the end of the season
@AidenStalker	After winning Man of Steel Alex Walmsley becomes a woman and lives happily ever after as my lover.
Dom Hodgson	Barry Hearn decides to dip is toe into Rugby League by buying Swinton Lions.
Colin James	Eddie Hearn is invited in and immediately tries to implement the original plans for a European Super League by merging clubs. He strips all funding for anyone not in SL and tells them to go and die. Everyone realises he's not the saviour and he gets booted out after two weeks. Nigel Woods reclaims his throne and is awarded a knighthood for services to RL.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hear talk about your predictions and more in our 2018 season preview and predictions show! You can get it HERE, or HERE if your an iTunes person, and you can also get it on the League Cast Android app or YouTube.

Keep your eyes on our Twitter feed and Facebook page for when you can get more from SLP.

Mark
SLP

Season Preview: Predictions Results

We asked you what was going to happen in 2018, and here's what you thought!

Challenge Cup

Saints are well liked across the board this year and that starts with them being the most popular choice for the Challenge Cup. This is different to the bookies view, with Cup sponsors Ladbrokes having Castleford the 4/1 favourites at the time of writing, and St Helens joint second favourites at 5/1 alongside Hull FC, who you have 2nd, and Wigan, who you've voted 6th favourite. Toronto Wolfpack may be big outsiders but one of you lot picked the Championship outfit to upset the order of things.

Saints own fans are confident, with 73% of them who took part in our predictions backing their own side, although their with the majority of others too. Hull FC fans are pretty confident of going back-to-back-to-back at Wembley - over half of their own fans chose them to lift the cup, and that made up 65% of all the votes Hull got. The few votes that Huddersfield, Salford, Wakefield and Widnes got all came from the most optimistic amongst their own fan bases. 37% of voters chose their own team. 

Me, I'm with the bookies on this one. I fancy Castleford to win a final to fill that missing gap in Daryl Powell's legacy at the club. They have a first team line up that's as good as any one else on their day and they've had the experience of losing a couple of big occasions to draw character from now too.

Super League Grand Final

Saints came out as huge favourites to lift the trophy at Old Trafford this year, with 47% of you backing Justin Holbrook's men. Hull FC also proved a popular choice, thanks again to some optimistic homers, with Leeds and Wigan behind them as the sides with winning experience. Castleford are again the bookies favourites, 4/1 with sponsors Betfred at the time of writing but they're only 5th on our list, a list that saw everyone but Hull KR get a vote. Yes, Widnes got a vote.

Whilst nearly three-quarters of Saints fans went with their own side, they were only 13% of all the people that voted Saints, so it's hard to argue that they were being homers. More than half the Hull fans voted for themselves though, and made up 74% of all the votes for the black and whites.

For Wigan, just under half of their fans picked their own team to lift the Super League title, but made up 82% of votes for the cherry and whites, and I'm in that number. I've gone heart over head and hope for a bounce-back year for a talented squad with something to prove again.

Steve Prescott Man of Steel

Following the theme we've seen already, it's St Helens players that lead the way, with the top three vote getters all being Saints - Alex Walmsley leading the way with 17%, Ben Barba just a couple of votes behind on 16% and James Roby getting 12% of votes. Every Saints Fan chose a Saints player, but so did 45% of all voters.

Ben Barba is the clear favourite with Super League sponsors Betred at 8/1. Luke Gale is second favourite with them but only picked up a couple of votes from you lot. Walmsley is 5th favourite at 18/1, which represents good value based on those who voted in our poll.

The longer shots would be Julien Bousquet, Robert Lui, Mickey Paea and young Olly Ashall. All those outsiders were picked by fans of their respective clubs, so no huge shock there. It would be a huge shock if any of them scooped the award though. Of these four, I could only find odds for Lui, 100/1.

My vote goes to James Roby. He's not won it now for over 10 years, yet when he stays injury free he's consistently one of the best players in the league and the most important player in his side. If St Helens do as well as everyone expects, he'll be as important as anyone in that.
















Promotion from the Championship

Over half of you think the Toronto Wolfpack's rise to Super League will be a rapid one, having them being promoted through the Qualifiers. Leigh Centurions come in second despite being clear favourites to top the Championship ahead of Toronto with the bookies. Then comes the group that I've previously been in, those voting for no teams to get promoted. This year though I think that both Leigh and Toronto have strong enough sides to compete with at least a couple of the likely teams dropping in the Qualifiers from Super League.

Others expect Toulouse, London and Featherstone all have a chance of joining them going up. One person even thought Barrow will reach Super League, a proud Cumbrian I suspect! Half the teams have no chance according to our voters, but I do think it'll be a competitive league this year.

20% of us thought there would be more than one side going up. Two voters really think there will be a changing of the guard, picking three sides to get promoted through the Qualifiers. Of course, that may not matter at all, as we're yet to find out what the structure for 2019 and beyond will be or who will make up each division.

Relegation to League 1

Two votes were required for this question and our voters had a pretty strong feeling that it will be two of three sides that fall out of the second tier his season. Last year's financial struggle sees 55% of people tip Swinton for the drop. Newly promoted Barrow are next most fancied, being picked by 51% of voters to make an immediate League 1 return. Finally, the turbulent off-season has no doubt helped Rochdale get a vote from 50% of our voters.

The most notable thing from this category is that every club, even Leigh and Toronto, got votes to go down. I suspect some of those votes were made in spite more than genuine expectation.

Myself, I think it will be Barrow and Rochdale that make the fall. Barrow because I think this is a tougher division this year so for a promoted side to compete it takes the resources of a Toronto and not a Barrow. Rochdale because an unsettled preseason where you're losing all your best players isn't ideal off field preparation at all, and that after they had a rather poor back half of 2017 on the field.

Promotion to League 1

Bradford are short odds with Betfred to make an immediate return to the Championship and that's reflected with a huge 88% of you tipping them for promotion this year. With two going up, there was a little more competition between the next best sides, but in their 150th year almost a third of voters think it will be celebrated with promotion for York City Knights.

I'm in the Bradford and York camp myself. With John Kear leading a talented young Bulls side that's also added some Championship quality experience, they're nailed on if they avoid a further financial drama. York haven't just got a dual reg partnership with Hull KR, they seem to have taken some of their unwanted players too, players with good experience at a higher level. That partnership between those clubs, plus the special anniversary and feel good factor of a positive end to 2017 set them up well.

Both Cumbria clubs get decent support from our voters. It's not a great shock, and both have made some headline worthy moves in the off-season so they will be interesting to watch, but they lack depth out there to stay the course for me. 15% expect better from Keighley and 13% expect a bounce back from Oldham. Newcastle and Doncaster on the fringes of the heartlands get some support and non-heartland Coventry are probably a bit off challenging but at least one voter sees them up there this year.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hear talk about your predictions and more in our 2018 season preview and predictions show! You can get it HERE, or HERE if your an iTunes person, and you can also get it on the League Cast Android app or YouTube.

Keep your eyes on our Twitter feed and Facebook page for when you can get more from SLP.

Mark
SLP