Tuesday 10 April 2018 18:05, UK
Wakefield show promise in defeat, NRL offers Super League a drama lesson and reclaiming rugby league's identity, feature in Brian Carney's three talking points.
Wakefield went four wins from four at the start of the season but when the whistle went to conclude their 28-26 defeat to Leeds Rhinos, it signalled their fifth loss in a row. Now they've St Helens to come at the weekend - which is a deeply unattractive prospect.
But if you scratch below the surface, you will see that there is light at the end of a tunnel that's been growing ever darker for Chris Chester's side.
The defeats they've suffered have been narrow with the last three having a combined total of eight points. But Chester has a tough psychological task on his hands now in trying to convince Wakefield that they are still one of Super League's top sides and that they can snap out of this losing streak.
This is a hard job but it's one Wakefield are capable of doing and St Helens will be very wary of the threat they pose this weekend.
Five consecutive defeats is a huge hole to get out of, but I'm convinced - because of the closeness of their recent defeats - that come the end of the season Wakefield will be a top six side.
There has been plenty of speculation about Sam Tomkins and an increasingly likely move to Catalans Dragons in 2019. Right now, neither club is understandably willing to confirm this move and they are happy - for a variety of reasons - to let the speculation grow before the official contract has been ratified.
But speculation helps market a sport and when you create enough chatter, you stimulate interest outside the 80 minutes of action on the pitch. This is important.
Speculation, intrigue, debate, antagonism: these are all things we need more of in rugby league and I'd urge people to go and look at a couple of recent videos from the NRL and see what they think.
In Sydney, the Rabittohs will go head to head with their city rivals the Roosters on Thursday and the video doesn't shy away from the tensions that exist between the clubs, but embraces them and trades on them even.
Having watched the video I thought how often do we do this in Super League? Watch it. They couldn't do more to nicely bait their opposition and hype the fixture.
And there's another video, this time involving a press conference with Nathan Brown after Newcastle Knights played the Broncos. In Brown's conduct, many felt he crossed the line - and don't believe any alternative explanations - because this was a personal shot and a direct hit against the Broncos.
But what this is going to do is make future Newcastle versus Bronco's games a must see. It will intensify the rivalry and by doing so drive attendances, coverage and column inches in the media.
For the greater good and interest in the game, we all have a responsibility to drive what I call the Soap Operas, because the 80 minutes on the field is not enough.
About 15 years ago when I was playing for Great Britain against Australia I was introduced to two rugby league mad brothers from Leigh, Kevin and Con Duffy who were then playing music.
Later, I discovered that Kevin's forte was not music but golf and he was in Augusta last week where he trains players like Louis Oosthuizen, Jason Day and Tommy Fleetwood, amongst others.
The same week, my brother in New York won a lottery pass to attend the Augusta Par 3 competition and I tried to put them in contact with each other so they could catch up.
But it didn't happen because Augusta doesn't allow mobile phones on the golf course and so they missed each other. It struck me that in an era where we are racing to provide mobile access for everyone, Augusta is moving in a different commercial direction.
And I also learned that commercially they've decided against facilitating mainstream food and drinks brands on the course and all that comes in Augusta's own branded packaging.
There is plenty that Augusta hasn't got right in its long and sometimes inglorious history, but the confidence in this model is that they've no competition in terms of brand identity and this strikes a contrast with Super League where there is sometimes a scatter-gun approach to commercialising the sport.
Take for example the player's jersey shorts and socks. Almost every available space is used for sponsorship.
I know sponsorship is important and hard to come by. But where is the line? What do we want our sporting landscape in Super League to look like, and feel like?
The point is, Augusta and it's premier tournament - The Masters, knows what it wants to look like from the very top to the very bottom.
With jerseys now littered with a patchwork of sponsorship, I wonder if we in Super League can say the same?
