So, that was Transfer Deadline Day. OK, Sky didn’t send Jon Wells, Brian Carney or Bill Arthur to doorstep down Wheldon Road, Belle Vue, or the Stade Brutus. The BBC didn’t have half-hourly updates from Dave Woods at a wet and windy Kirkstall, and TalkSport weren’t interrupting their wall-to-wall Premier League coverage so Mark Wilson could report from Ealing Trailfinders. But the Super League transfer deadline day on Friday was more interesting than in recent years as the threat of relegation, or finding themselves short-handed in the play-offs, left most clubs wheeling and dealing to improve their squads.
There was little by way of transfer fees paid but the clubs that had kept some of their salary cap aside for a rainy day splashed out. For Wakefield, the heavens have opened and they responded by drafting in four experienced players. The headline-grabbers were versatile France back Morgan Escaré from Wigan and vastly experienced centre Ryan Atkins from Warrington. The former England international is 33 now, but he should have another couple of seasons in him in the top flight and returns to Belle Vue after nine years in Cheshire.
Trinity also signed Hull prop Chris Green and did a swap with Halifax, sending Keegan Hirst to The Shay in exchange for fellow forward Adam Tangata on loan. It didn’t stop them from losing at home to Hull on Sunday, leaving Chris Chester’s men in deep do-do. Elsewhere, Australian backliner Bevan French, signed from Parramatta, came off the bench for Wigan in their win over Hull KR on Friday night, his arrival enabling Wigan to let Escaré go.
Creative players were in most demand. At the upper end of the table, stumbling Warrington – who have lost star playmaker Blake Austin to an ankle injury – moved to end Matty Smith’s Perpignan purgatory, the former England half-back having had a torrid time with the Dragons. Reduced by injuries to just three players covering the three pivot positions, London’s only recruit was 22-year-old Brock Lamb, whose career had stalled at Sydney Roosters after a sparkling breakthrough at Newcastle Knights.
Among the lowest profile signings was Hull KR handing Kyle Trout a Super League debut at the age of 28: a try-scoring Championship forward at Dewsbury, Trout, who was at Wakefield as a youngster, made a terrific start to his Robins’ career at Wigan. Hull brought prop Tevita Satae over from New Zealand Warriors.
These are desperate times for many. After weeks of the bottom five being separated by just two points, Leeds have opened up a two-point gap. However, the dog fight still has four epic rounds to go. Picture this next weekend: Leeds lose to Saints, London are beaten in Perpignan, and Huddersfield see off Castleford. Hull KR and Wakefield are playing each other. There would still be only four points between the bottom five.
Then imagine the following round, the week after Wembley: London beat Leeds, Wakefield lose to Wigan, Hull KR get nothing in France, and Huddersfield lose in Hull. All quite possible. We would be back to just two points dividing the bottom five again with only two rounds to go.
And in the penultimate round, Huddersfield are at leaders St Helens, Wakefield are at second-best Warrington, while the Robins and Broncos face off in East Hull. This crazy survival scramble may go to the wire.
Clubcall: Toronto Wolfpack
The decision by Wolfpack supremo David Arygle to not televise last Saturday’s top of the table clash with York (or September’s home game against Leigh) raised eyebrows. The Wolfpack pick up the production costs, which are believed to be anything from £30,000 to £50,000 for a live game, so every UK viewer is costing them about 50p. All but four of their 24 games so far have been live on Sky, with 15 of their 17 overseas games shown by CBC in Canada.
Perhaps live TV coverage is an expensive luxury when Toronto’s final half dozen fixtures are dead rubbers, although their claim to need to “reduce costs in the lead up to our much anticipated Championship play-off campaign” sounds surprisingly frugal.
York, heroic all season on their return to the second division, may be glad it wasn’t on telly. They were put in their place, the Wolfpack 32-0 up at half-time en route to a half century. The League Leaders’ Shield winners will surely swat away part-timers York, Featherstone or Sheffield in the play-offs. With so many big names in their squad, Leigh could yet rise to the occasion, while the major threat remains Toulouse Olympique, whose impressive win at Wembley-bound Widnes on Saturday reminded Toronto promotion is not a done deal.
Foreign quota
There are also TV concerns in France, where BeIN Sports (owned by Al Jazeera) have called Super League’s bluff. BeIN cover the production costs of Catalans home games, which are all shown live in France, and in the UK on Sky, and pay a five-figure fee to access the other Super League games to show in France.
That seems ridiculously cheap and Robert Elstone has said so. BeIN have responded by saying they will drop Super League coverage next season rather than paying considerably more. Hopefully the groups will negotiate a deal or Elstone will bring other French broadcasters to the table instead.
Goal-line drop-out
Rugby league’s strange transfer culture means many players are now playing against clubs they have agreed to join in November. Last Saturday night, Tuoyo Egodo scored two tries for Castleford to down the Broncos, who he is rumoured to be playing for next term.
We know London full-back Alex Walker is leaving for Wakefield at the end of the season. Picture the scene. It’s the last day of the season and whoever loses the Wakefield v London game goes down. In the last minute, London are leading by a point. Wakefield break away. Walker has to make a do-or-die tackle. Make the tackle, London win, stay up and Walker spends next season in the Championship. Miss the tackle, Wakefield stay up and he is still in Super League. Perhaps it would be even worse if the public only found out about such deals after the season ends.
Fifth and last
While he didn’t have the stunning touchdown-scoring debut that Christian Wade managed for Buffalo Bills, former Kangaroo Valentine Holmes also did well in his first appearance for New York Jets in a pre-season derby with the Giants. If Holmes plays in the NFL, he will follow Jarryd Hayne (San Francisco 49ers), Manfred Moore (Tampa Bay, Oakland Raiders, Newtown Jets, Minnesota Vikings) and Gary Kerkorian (Pittsburgh Steelers, American All Stars RL and Baltimore Colts) in playing professional league and in the NFL.
Others have gone close: former Fulham, Leigh and Wales forward Martin Herdman trialled at Atlanta Falcons in the 1980s, and Greg Smith was in Philadelphia Eagles’ practise squad before a brief appearance with Newcastle Knights in the late 1990s. None will match Detroit’s Richard Sorkorum who – in the 1960s – played rugby league for Celtic de Paris before spells with the NFL’s St Louis Cardinals, the CFL’s BC Lions and Hartford Charter Oaks of the long-forgotten Continental Football League.
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