BY JOHN DAVIDSON
Several Super League coaches have questioned the point of Super League’s upcoming double-header round, believing it could damage the quality of the competition and England’s World Cup campaign.
Next week there will be one match on Wednesday August 24, four matches held on Thursday August 25 and one on Friday August 26, before a game on Sunday August 28 and five games taking place on Monday August 29.
Wakefield, Warrington, Salford, Castleford, Catalans and Hull KR will play two matches in just five days, while Hull FC, Toulouse, St Helens and Wigan have mere four-day turnarounds.
This is the second double-header round Super League has held this year, after Easter, and comes in a crammed fixture year because of the World Cup.
With many clubs already struggling to field teams because of crippling injury lists, some coaches have spoken out about the impact such a quick run of games could have on player welfare as well as the on-field product.
“It’s the wrong time to do it,” Huddersfield coach Ian Watson told rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads.
“The week before the playoffs means it could hurt the quality of the playoffs and potentially effect the World Cup players.”
Wakefield’s Willie Poaching agrees.
“It’s way too much, just before the playoffs too. It’s tough enough having that ‘Easter’ type weekend earlier in the year let alone at the end when teams and clubs are busted and players are picking up suspensions more and more every week it seems.
“I do worry for England as I do want them to do well in the World Cup as they represent our comp.”
Salford coach Paul Rowley believes the double-header round affects some clubs more than others.
“We just get on with it,” Rowley said.
“It obviously hinders the clubs without a full and productive pathway as they have less resource/smaller squads.
“But we just crack on and hopefully it doesn’t damage the product.”
Last week Castleford coach Lee Radford said publicly: “I think we are seeing games now not of the highest quality. We have got another double-header before the end of the season (over the August Bank Holiday weekend) and that’s going to have a massive knock-on effect.
“The coaches don’t produce the fixture list, so that’s something that needs to be looked at. Across the competition it is starting to fracture.”
Hull KR interim boss Danny McGuire is another who has spoken out about the double-header round, stating: “Someone needs to have a look and think is another doubleheader the best thing for this sport, because I’m not too sure it is.
“I don’t know if it can be changed with it being next week, but that’s for someone a lot higher than me and with more power than me who needs to decide that, unfortunately.”
With a 27-game regular season, along with pre-season games, Challenge Cup games and playoff matches, Super League players could go head into the World Cup having played at least 10 or more games than their NRL counterparts.
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