I listened to the match on WISH FM last night as I was driving back from London with work.

Really enjoyed Mike's contribution. Made plenty of simple points as to why the game was going the way it was, which help immensely when you're just listening and not watching. Its was another stark reminder of how little actual rugby league knowledge we get from his bald equivalent at the sky studio.

Stevo is waste of airtime and for me he just ruins the Sky Rugby experience. When asked at forums he is defended by his fellow sky commentators and even some journo's based on the fact his off screen persona is nothing like his on screen one, well if thats the case he wants to try being 'himself' a bit more. When you listen the quality of the Aussie commentary it's just makes things even worse because you see what your missing.

It's all show with stevo. He does it for reaction.

When we played a poor Catalan team in the CC final, I went to see him do a talk before the game and he tipped Catalan to win as he knew the place was full of saints fans. He did it for reaction.

yep, when you actually talk to the man he's nothing like the rambling lunatic he is on sky

It's just TV! remember the way Eddie Waring was (if you are old enough lol) look at Union with Brian Moore he is a rambler as well, Stevo is now in his last contract with Sky, they are not going to change their mind now with him! I feel on both Sky & The BBC there are too many co-commentators, one is enough, and I'm not sure someone talking with players on the sideline during the match is needed! rugby league does not seem to have it right.

I love how sky have brought in both Neville and Carragher in football. Two recent ex pros who are passionate about their team and know exactly what they are talking about. It helps that they can inject humour at the right time too.

I can't think of many who would fit the bill in RL.

Wells is great in his analysis. I don't think Clarke suits that role quite as well. Bringing someone like Lee Briers in would be a bit left field but he knows what he's talking about and from what I've heard will say it how it is.

I liked Clarke at first but he's a stat maniac and obsessed with crazy things like the heat maps and loads of lines and numbers on the screen that don't mean anything.

I also feel Clarke has grew inceridibly biased to Wigan and has gone anti saints. Just listen to the tone in his voice when we scored late to beat cas and Leeds, 5 mins before he was jizzing in his pants.

He also tipped Salford to win super league

I liked Clarke too, but then is his brother not an agent or something? So got a bit suspect about certain players being bigged up. Seemed like more of a sales pitch than a reflection of the game.

The worst thing is I dont think he even bothers to hide his bias anymore. Everyone knows he is a wiganer but he used to hide his true colours alot better and stay impartial. I have no problem with him being a pie eater really, I mean in football everyone knows Gary Neville is as manure as is possible but he still manages to stay professional and provides excellent analysis and commentary

Agreed. If anything gary Neville calls utd a little to much than he should.

It was just a few little thing that Bennett said that sounded very refreshing, for instance, when we had them pinned back in the opening quarter, he pointed out that Saints knew they had no ball handling forwards, because of this they could be confident about rushing up on the first receiver as the forwards tried to drive out of their own twenty, limiting their go forward considerably.
Obviously, when your listening on the radio, this makes a massive diference, but even on telly, a [ibit[/iof insight would be nice.

Learning stuff like this was why I used to enjoy listening to Premier Sports coverage of the Championship matches as the commentators there, particularly Hendo (plays for Sheffield), used to drop little snippets of insight into the commentary. They also enjoyed a laugh now and again too, showing that entertainment can run alongside informative commentary quite comfortably when done by the right people. Listening to the video ref while he was deliberating was another useful facet of that coverage, which I do miss.