Friday interview - Jamie Peacock

Edinburgh plays host to a full round of Super League fixtures next weekend, the second year running the RFL has staged the event in Scotland over the May Bank Holiday after two previous occasions in Cardiff.

But the Leeds Rhinos prop feels the event ought to be dropped from the rugby league calendar and the governing body should, instead, begin the campaign with a similar programme in London.

Dismayed by the manner in which Super League invariably starts with a solitary game somewhere on a wintry January night, the experienced prop is eager to see the game get the kick-off it deserves.

"We end the season better than any other sport with the Grand Final," Peacock told Yorkshire Post.

"However, we need to start it with a bang as well.

"Leeds – as the Super League champions – playing Crusaders in Wrexham on a Friday night is rubbish for everyone.

"It is no way to open the season.

"What better way than going down to Wembley and playing a full round of fixtures on the first weekend of March?

"People are gagging for rugby by the time they get to February. Let them wait a little longer and people will travel down.

"You'd have some decent weather by then and I'm sure you would get the crowds.

"The RFL would have all the off-season to market it. We need to pull two games out of the calendar, get rid of the Magic Weekend and start with a bang in London."

Peacock, ahead of Leeds's huge contest at St Helens tomorrow night, is a staunch believer in the sport needing a presence in the capital.

There is a growing amateur game and rugby league is being played more in London schools, but Harlequins are struggling.

"You could make it one of the season-ticket games and give some (tickets) away to the amateur clubs down there," added Peacock, who envisages an eventual 25-game season.

"I think it's a prerequisite we have a Super League team in London and we need to support the game as much as we can.

"The RFL gets all the northern press to go down there for the season media launch but why not have the actual start of the playing season there, too?

"They could get the attention of the national media and what better way to start the season?"

Saracens and Harlequins attracted nearly 50,000 to a Guinness Premiership game at Wembley last weekend although, given the controversial state of the stadium's pitch, it is debatable whether it would hold up to a full programme over one weekend.

However, Peacock said: "Union is currently doing a great job innovating and we need to catch up and do something different.

"We need to promote the game in a different light. Everyone bangs on about what a great product we have but we have to get marketing it better."

Meanwhile, he is keen for some key rule changes ahead of the 2011 campaign with the most pressing his desire for a reduction in the number of substitutions.

As a forward, the former Bradford Bulls man is constantly rotated but believes that is making the game too regimented and suffocating the chance for individuals to shine.

"Fitness is one of the core skills of rugby league but it's not getting shown," he added.

"We're marketed as super athletes but having 12 substitutions doesn't promote that.

"We're always moaning we don't get enough minutes on the park but give us a chance to do that and the little guys would then have a better chance against us."

The Yorkshireman has also aired concerns that Super League could lose more of their stars to the NRL given the strength of the dollar, UK tax issues and the salary cap rising in Australia.

Consequently, he believes the sport needs to speed up in order to retain its support saying: "The ruck needs to flow more and the skill will show more if it's faster.

"I think we're going to have a problem in the next two or three years and we have to make sure we've got the best available product if we're lacking star names."

Peacock will get a chance to show the British game can still provide fireworks tomorrow when the champions meet

St Helens for the first time since October's Grand Final.

All eyes have been on Leeds, down in ninth, following their jittery start but they are unbeaten in their last four games and showing signs of recovery. "We need to start catching those above us now," admitted Peacock, who returned from a foot injury in their Challenge Cup win at Hull FC last weekend. "Saints are quietly flying under the radar themselves, saying it's a transitional period.

"It probably is but they're still up there in third. Playing

St Helens brings the best out of us though. That's what we need."