By Dave Hadfield

After the steady success of the first two Millennium Magic weekends, it seems strange to think that we might not be there next year.

By Dave Hadfield

Castleford have promised a decision next week on whether they are going to keep Dwain Chambers on. If they do, it will not be a decision based on rugby considerations.

By Dave Hadfield

What are we going to do about the Challenge Cup?

As a traditionalist in these matters, it pains me to even have to ask the question, but the fact is that the game's oldest competition is becoming a bit of a sideshow.

There wasn't much magic about the fourth round. Not a whiff of an upset, unless you count Dewsbury winning at Batley, some inadequate performances from the French and some lousy crowds.

By Dave Hadfield

Four days after the event, my aching limbs might not agree, but Masters Rugby League has a valuable future.

The concept, launched at Saddleworth Rangers last Sunday, is that retired players of all standards can get together for a game under modified rules that still feels like the real thing.

By Dave Hadfield

On a weekend full of memorable performances, there was one team and one individual who stood out for me.

The team was Wigan - and I wouldn't have given them a prayer at Leeds in advance.

By Dave Hadfield

Andy Hay was a very decent player and I don't doubt that he does a good job as Castleford's assistant coach...

But I've never thought of him as a miracle-worker.

By Dave Hadfield

It will be good to see Jamie Thackray playing again. Super League isn't so well off for players that it can afford to have one of his calibre frozen out.

Maybe he wasn't quite up to standard when he played his three tests in 2005, but he's one of those forwards you would never confuse with anyone else.

By Dave Hadfield

One of the game's finest departed this week with the death of Alan Buckley.

For anyone too young to have been fortunate enough to see him play, he was a centre of pure class. He won seven Great Britain caps and spent his entire career with Swinton - which dates him immediately.

By Dave Hadfield

How is this possible?

You scratch your head all week over which Friday night game to go to, opt for an absolute classic that finishes 30-29 and still manage to be in the wrong place. The Saints-Hull match was as good as anything I've seen in a long time. A scandal that Sky didn't cover it - except that their choice of Leeds-Castleford turned out to be the story.

By Dave Hadfield

Yesterday I touched on Iestyn Harris's form since returning to Rugby League, and it got me thinking...

By Dave Hadfield

Now that the dust has settled from their pulsating game with Melbourne, the issue for Leeds is how badly they will be affected by the injuries they picked up at Elland Road.

By Dave Hadfield

It will be a major surprise and disappointment if Leeds fail to win the World Club Challenge on Friday night.

I don't say that out of any disrespect to the Melbourne Storm, who have proved over the last two seasons what a truly outstanding side they are. Indeed, if you speak to former Storm players like Matt King and Clint Newton, they have no doubts that they are going to win in a canter.

By Dave Hadfield

I wouldn't say that the Melbourne Storm have come here for the WCC with a slack attitude. By comparison with some of their predecessors, they seem very businesslike.

But they do have one or two excuses ready. for one thing, they have lost half a dozen of their grand final side. They have only had one game - before the Halifax warm-up - and they have had to come to cold, old England.

By Dave Hadfield

Hello and welcome to what the Indy boffins tell me is called a blog. It's a bit of a challenge to someone whose idea of cutting-edge technology is a freshly sharpened pencil, but we'll see how we go.

Back in the misty, sepia-tinted pre-blog era - last Tuesday to be precise - I was taking a bit of stick from Hull City supporters over the suggestion that some of their number might have been involved in the crowd trouble at Warrington. Well, I hate to launch this bright, shiny new craft on a tide of I-told-you-so, but...