Wakefield Trinity • Full circle.

I wasn't sure about summer rugby, until a game at Oldham in that truncated season, where 26 players slid about in the mud for 80 minutes (if anyone was there, it was the one where the fox ran round the pitch at half-time). That settled the argument in my mind.

I think the Challenge Cup has diminished, but I think that is partly to do with changing lifestyles. Going to London used to be a big deal, the big day out for us simple northern types. As the old Wembley closed, cheap flights came along and hotel booking sites. Going to London is no big deal anymore and hotel stays are often part of a night out. So, the big trip to the smoke lost its allure too.

As for other things, I don't think the lack of Aussie tours has got anything to do with Super League but more to do with the growth of the NRL and Origin as well as full-time professionalism. The increased physicality of rugby league due to full-time professionalism means that teams can't do the tours in the same way as before, playing multiple clubs and then the tests. Now, it's three games and that's it. And the Aussies aren't as bothered anymore because they're too focussed on Origin.

The problem with the game is that it has been run by dinosaurs for too long, who haven't seen beyond its roots and not had the vision of how to make it work beyond the roots.

We should look at the NFL for inspiration. UK NFL fans don't want to watch Manchester Gladiators play American Football. They want to watch the New York Jets, or whoever, and maybe one day see it live. In the same light, someone in Torquay perhaps doesn't want to watch Torquay Rovers play Barrow but would rather see Warrington play Saints, and perhaps even follows Warrington, or whoever, in the same way that UK NFL fans will have their own favourite team unconnected to where they are from.

Perhaps one way is for each club to commit to play one game at a location many miles from their home base, in expansion areas, with some compensation to the club for lost ticket sales. The NRL do it. The Rabbitohs often play a game on the Sunshine Coast, There are commonly games in country towns.

I'm tentatively supportive, provided clubs have a change to access Category A status, and it isn't just a way of persuading the big money clubs not to shrink the league; ie. if you promise to keep it at 12, or maybe 14, we promise you'll never get relegated, but no one else will get the same chance.