North Wales v Newcastle Thunder thoughts

A trip to Colwyn Bay was always going to be tough for Newcastle Thunder and the scoreline 74-0 fully shows this. I'm not going to go into the game from a Thunder perspective.

North Wales are getting things right this season and will be up there at the end of the season, their demolition job this afternoon demonstrates that. Congratulations on your victory this afternoon and we look forward to welcoming you to Blaydon again at the end of July.

Perspective

I know most fans get it, but for those that forget here's a few points. To be clear, below is my opinion as a supporter.

When Semore Kurdi pulled funding the easiest thing to do would've been to stop completely. This would've happened but a decision was made on the basis that fans wanted the club to continue. The club is what we make it, we all know there's no money person in the background willing to plug a financial gap.

This is a very young group of players who are learning their trade in a tough environment. A lot of this squad are attempting to make the jump from University rugby to League 1, that's a big gap. Couple that with physically there's a lot of development for them to do. In any other circumstance the Universities could be used as a chance to look at players and drip feed them in. Instead we have had to give these lads the ultimate baptism of, they need time to improve as individuals and as a team. The more time with Chris, the more they will improve. To their credit they turn up week in week out and put a shift in because us fans wanted a club.

The Hunslet dual registration hasn't happened for whatever reason. This was a key part of the plan for this season to bring in some battle hardened players with League 1 experience from Hunslet. For whatever reason that hasn't happened.

When I bought my membership last season and this season and when I buy next season I'm under no illusion as to the challenge being faced. But I do it because I enjoy going down and watching the team, speaking to fellow supporters, there's a good family feel to being at Blaydon. I see some of the negative comments online and genuinely think those posters don't attend games but like to have a snipe.

League 1 itself is a higher standard than it was last season, take Keighley as an example. On paper they have a strong squad yet they haven't won a game yet. Everyone has improved in the off season and despite results I think there has been some improvement.

We've missed Tyler Walton and Evan Lawther. It's great to see Tyler back playing after his injury lay off but his relative experience has been missed up till now. Likewise, everyone saw what Evan can do at this level last year and he's been missing injured. I think he could probably play for most teams in this league, he makes yardage and scores tries.

What I think needs to happen

Again this is my opinion.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that the more people we can get attending the more that can be invested where the club sees fit. If you have a problem getting to Blaydon then speak up. If you are sniping on socials then get down and get behind the team, you obviously care enough to comment so why not spend some money?

This is a bit left field, but looking at Magic Weekend there is a lot of goodwill towards Thunder. I think if possible it might be worth offering and advertising a virtual ticket for say a flat rate of £10 for the Keighley game on 1st June. The club could only trial it and see if there was much intake, it wouldn't get you entry to the game and would be a donation.

Similar to the above if it's possible and looking ahead to next season, I wonder if it would be possible to offer a digital season ticket where home games are live streamed. I know we have a camera at the games. It would depend on league rules and the cost of streaming to the club. You could have a pre-match run through the teams and half time talk, sold either as a membership option or on a game by game basis. I know the goal is to get people to Blaydon but there will be people who can't get to Blaydon that we can reach and bring income into the club.

Next up

Things don't get any easier for Thunder as next Sunday we travel to Rochdale, another team in the play-off hunt. The week after sees Keighley coming to Blaydon. If you can please come along and support the team and rugby league in the north east.