Jim from Oz

What about the rights to international matches? Are they separate?

https://www.nrl.com/news/2026/05/10/siegwalt-eying-france-world-cup-call-up-after-shining-in-nrl-debut/

How is he eligible for France please? Thanks.

I wonder if it is Parkinson’s disease?

From the ABC: Huge turnout for the Anzac Round in the NRL! Round 8 of the 2026 season is officially the highest attended round in the history of the NRL. 220,018 (average of roughly 27,502) fans attended games across six cities in three states and two countries. The record surpassed Round 7 2025 which saw 218,833 fans attend games across the Easter long weekend including the biggest single-game regular season attendance of 65,305 for the Bulldogs v Rabbitohs Good Friday clash.

It was announced by the channel 9 commentators on the first game of the Anzac weekend on Thursday night !

34,823 at Wellington for New Zealand Warriors versus Dolphins… I am pretty sure that is a record rugby league crowd for Wellington

Having said that, it DOES look like a full house at Wellington… Quite possibly the biggest ever rugby league crowd at Wellington, so a mate in the crowd tells me

40,431 at Easts v St George, a solid crowd but again about 5000 short of capacity…

Yes, point taken, I was only relaying what I saw reported.

I think on the channel 9 TV coverage last night they said the capacity these days was 18,000…

Thank you… And Leichhardt oval last night was officially sold out, no tickets were available!

Kiama, Gerringong, ( the home of Mick Cronin!) and the New South Wales South Coast are beautiful The Gong and the suburbs to the north also have beautiful beaches it’s a great area and even better a rugby league hotbed

1/ It takes ages because the Gong is a fair way south of Sydney! Take a good book to read, chat to fellow passengers (there's bound to be plenty of other international RL fans on the train going to the match) or, better still, stare out the window at the lovely view! (Tip for interstate and foreign visitors, sit on the left side of the train when travelling south from Sydney.) 2/ Sydney suburban trains are great. 3/ Excellent … a bit of exercise after sitting down on the train for so long will do you good ! Sheesh !

“Mad enough to catch the train” ?? Sydney to the Gong is one of the most beautiful railway journeys in Australia!