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Richard Silverwood has say on Grand Final attendance, St Helens and Leeds Rhinos

There was lots to talk about in yesterday’s Grand Final.

From the brilliance of Man of the Match and Harry Sunderland Award winner Jonny Lomax with a ruptured bicep, Kristian Woolf’s perfect farewell, the kick to Tom Briscoe early in the game and much more.

But perhaps the three defining narratives are perhaps as follows:

The dominance of St Helens. The Saints won a record breaking fourth consecutive title last night and a fifth one next year looks likely with the squad set to remain together going into 2023 and with Lewis Dodd back in the mix.

The next of course is what next for Leeds? They finished the year brilliantly with 10 wins from 11 going into the Grand Final and are playing great rugby under Rohan Smith. Can they continue to develop so that they can be in the mix again in 2023 and beyond.

Lastly was the attendance of 60,783 which was the lowest since 2001 ignoring the attendances in 2020 and 2021 which were of course impacted by the pandemic.

Well now one man who knows all about Grand Finals has had his say.

Ex-Super League referee Richard Silverwood took charge of three Grand Finals in 2010, 2012 and 2013 and took to Twitter last night to have his say on Saints, Leeds and the attendance believing that our great game deserves more supporters at its big occasions.

“Saints are class,” Silverwood said, “Unbelievable set of players. Deserve all they get. Leeds will be back. Class coach. Good players. Really disappointing these class athletes don’t get 85k watching them though. This needs addressing.”

Considering the great season we’ve had which culminated in a brilliant final last night, it certainly is clear that the athletes at the heart of it, such as men like Lomax and James Roby, deserve more fans in seats at events like last night and hopefully IMG can ensure that happens.

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