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First year at Uni me and a mate decided to apply for the Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest jobs (him being a forest fan and me being an Owl) as both jobs were free.. we basically wanted the letter head.. all good fun.. but we then started a competition for who could get the most and then who could get the strangest (I got rejected by Everton in quite a stern way as they had a manager at the time... Samoa take note).. My mate was quite a good footballer so had a better CV than me and ended up actually getting an interview from a club in Malta's 3rd division.. Over a beer we even planned on him getting the job, me being his assistant and us getting a free 4 week holiday in the summer before getting sacked for having no clue what we were doing! He had an interview over the phone in the halls of residence and ended up not getting the job (funnily enough!). That felt like a fun situation that started to get a little out of control... this has a similar feeling to it!

Whatever we think of Matt Parrish it's hard to think anything other than these three - who have zero coaching credibility - as being seriously dickish in trying to publicly get him sacked so they can apply their doubtful talents to the matter.

How is your trip to Israel going Bleep?

155.6lbs this week. Had to take a break from the running efforts as I mucked myself up swapping winter tires off the van, but figuring out ways to get this stuff done within my limitations has its fun. . Coincidentally, the family were as supportive as usual when they noticed the goose egg on the side of my head where I smashed it on the corner of the jack. Wellied myself in the head on something two inches off the ground. Talent that is. Glad to keep up my Dad's family traditions.

I know my teams station..... I'll take any accolade, no matter how small!!

We had a pair of Linnets in the garden about 2 weeks back , the first time I've seen them in the garden in years, the female came back yesterday .

No hostility mate, just making a few corrections as I see a bit of a pattern on here if people making exaggerations and/or inaccuracies about Samoa's past performances. I would also like to point out that none of their losses have been floggings, except the 46-0 match against Aus. And that a lot have been very close encounters. Some people also seem keen to portray Fiji and PNG as pushover teams, which they absolutely are not. What can I say? The whole thing is starting to look like an orchestrated smear campaign in the media, because one of their mates, seemingly developed a sudden passion for Samoan Rugby League. If I were Parish, given the circumstances, I too would walk. I only want what is best for international rugby league. I just hope if/when he does vacate the position, that they give it to anyone other than this opportunistic trio. PS: My SBW comments, among others, were general responses to this overall thread, not directed at you.

Quite an extensive article there. Even though there's been whispers about that petition and the general discontent of the players floating throughout the media for some time this appears to be the first time multiple players involved have officially confirmed the nature of the problems in camp. Papali'i confirming that he would swap allegiances and saying others would do the same also appears to confirm similar speculation that has arisen recently. I can't see how Parish makes it to the WC now that senior players have officially come out and backed this campaign against him.

I've got a lotus grill, it's pretty handy. Once i get back to the UK and sort myself a garden, i want a Komado Joe. The thought of a simple grilled mackerel, a salad and a late summer evening is very appealing.

New Article from Fox sports. Very informative. “Next time there’s a Test he won’t get the cattle,” says Maitua. “Nobody will want to play. “What he’s done for them is enough, we need a fresh face to lure the top talent back to Samoa. “Sia [Soliola] is the number one leader. He is the only man in the NRL that can have an influence on the younger players. He is a leader without saying anything. “And if he isn’t playing [since 2013], you’ve got to ask why? It’s confusing that nobody can see that from inside the Samoan inner sanctum. “It’s baffling why they want to stay with the same methods. Until that happens, then everything will stay the same way.” Parish was contacted for comment, however, he responded that he had no intention to provide any formal comment. https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/world-cup/booze-boycotts-taking-the-pss-the-civil-war-threatening-to-tear-footymad-nation-apart/news-story/0a88eca6b61cbdeb7e0bef74e40748e4

Funny you should say that, we did see a tree sparrow just as we were parking up in Flamborough. Forgot to add the little feller off the list. Was a glorious morning along the Holderness coast today. There were a lot of meadow pipits out enjoying the sunshine (and plenty of annoying St. Mark's flies).

Gyms are shut here and my stuff is being shipped to the UK on the 25th. Therefore, i'm attempting to do 10,000 swings with the 24kg kettlebell before then, starting yesterday with 750.

For me, the fact that certain players have said that they won't play for Parish, others claim he doesn't support them connecting with their culture when in camp and that the likes of the NZRL are reluctant to organise Tests against Samoa whilst he is preparing the squad, I feel is sufficient for a proper review of the Toa Samoa coaching team. Samoa, like Tonga & Fiji, has no money, so the only thing they can truely offer a top player is an ability for players to reconnect with their culture and heritage. Having a middle aged white man as coach who shows no interest in those 'distractions', as he has referred to them, is a bit of a red flag to me. Now if Parish was getting the results on the field, you'd argue that doesn't matter, but when compared to Fiji, Tonga and even PNG, Samoa has gone backwards in recent years. Of the last 10 matches, Samoa has won one, despite having more NRL and SL eligible players than the other Pacific nations (Samoa has 86 in the NRL alone, for context, Queensland has 84) and arguably having a better mix of eligible players. Now maybe some of these expectations of onfield performance are unrealistic and maybe 2014 was their natural peak, when they pushed NZ and England all the way and were very competitive against Australia. Even if this is the case, IMO I still don't think Parish is the right coach for Samoa. There are just too many negative noises.

It’s ridiculous . As usual they react to one thing by completely overreacting . I was watching the Sea Eagles game and the bunker was in the refs ear so much getting guys put on report even the commentators didn’t know what he was seeing . We were going back ages at times . Jason Saab got put on report for a crusher which the bunker ‘ found ‘ after a player stayed down , and it was like ‘ ok I will find something for you ‘ but it was nothing .And the touchie was a metre away . I understand player welfare but it’s rugby league - fast furious high speed collision sport , dissecting it to the nth degree in extreme slow mo frame by frame has always seemed totally wrong and counter intuitive to me . You can find anything anywhere if you look for it . We encourage guys to stay down now .The judiciary will be going 24/7 at this rate and the number of HIA’s will mean the full squad should be on the bench

I’ve just seen a snatch of The Railway Children on Look North which reminded me of Bernard Cribbins, looked him up on Wiki and he’s still breathing, 92 years young.

Andrew John's comes across really badly in his interview with Thurston and SBW on Nine. Samoa has a coach in place, and it shows a real lack of class to be talking the way he is.

I always smile when people say "he'd walk" or "he should walk" The guy is in a professional coaching job. He probably believes he is doing it to the best of his ability. He is paid by Samoa RL to do that job. If they want to remove him, they should do so. Why on earth would he walk away from it?

Yeah that was quite a quick and staggering answer he gave to that question and indeed the correspondence with SBW in that interview makes the whole thing seem much more like a half-baked idea rather than one concocted with the support of Samoa's playing group. That's all well and good to have that contention about his beliefs and you may well be right, but it also couldn't be less relevant to his ability to impact a team of rugby league players who share his heritage. For all his 'faults' across his career he is well renowned as the ultimate professional and is probably the most successful rugby league player of Samoan descent of all time. He doesn't give off the vibe of someone who would aspire to be a head coach but i've no doubt he would add value to a camp that has been previously criticised as having poor standards of professionalism. In any case with the support of Samoa's board for Parish reaffirmed it appears this won't go too much further and hopefully Samoa's results can turn around of their own accord.

I know I commented on the previous page about not knowing how Parish seems untouchable as Samoa coach based upon his record but I do think the Johns brothers are completely out of order with what they are doing. I could understand this a little more if they had played for Samoa or shown strong links in the past but this smacks of opportunism with a World Cup coming up. Even SBW never turned out for Samoa and stuck with the Kiwis. I do think that Parish is holding them back and needs to be replaced but are the Johns brothers and SBW going to stick around for years like Parish has done or will they jump ship at the first opportunity once the glory of a World Cup has gone? If Parish was replaced I'm fairly certain there would be better candidates than this trio too.