Copa

This is getting really weird.

I'm sure if you put a call out on this forum for rugby league themed trip suggestions you'd get some good advice.

Not sure why they want to join the NSW Cup and not the Qld Cup. Qld gets bigger crowds, is a higher level of football and gets more media coverage. It could also help develop an international game between png and Fiji. Maybe the expat Fijian population is really large in Sydney.

With the Wolfpack you're witnessing a score fest every game. That's unusual. At the elite end of rugby league it's possible to only see a few tries per game because the teams are both highly skilled at defence. If you get two highly skilled attacking teams with bad defence more tries will be scored. One stat relevant to rugby league is "completion rate". It is the percentage of times in possession that a team holds the ball for a full set of six tackles. Completion rates will generally be discussed during and after games. Commentators will say "They need to complete their sets" etc. During NRL games live scoring websites will list it as, for example, 12/16. That is 12 complete sets out of 16. A low completion rate can be caused by all the factors that can cause a team to lose possession such as knock ons, being dragged over sideline etc etc. Here is an old article about completion rates in the NRL a few years ago. http://m.nrl.com/stats-insider-completion-ratings/tabid/10874/newsid/71567/default.aspx Enjoy learning about the game.

Enjoyable podcast guys. It's refreshing to hear about rugby league from the perspective of people who are enthusiastic and new to the game. The post match press conferences are great.

I can only imagine how difficult the English used on Queensland footy field is for them to understand.

I know.

The same theory applies though. Most sporting clubs would love television coverage.

Rugby league logic means this will devastate rugby union and cause it to leak money. Surely having internationals on terrestrial tv also harms their international game. One example: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/may/04/channel-5-premiership-rugby-live-terrestrial-tv

Do you think UK rugby union's increased exposure on free to air and pay TV will make it become less popular? Increased exposure will only help sports grow.

It helped increase attendances in Australia. We have every nrl game of every round broadcast. In fact, we have more non-nrl games broadcast than you get SL broadcast. It becomes a sport you can more easily follow when all games are on TV. Sponsors love it too. If the ground looks like it offers a good match day experience people will turn up.

It was shown on a giant screen, and multiple televisions, at my local social club.

Will it have away fans for Toronto? If not many up north won't buy the game.

Jamaica well behind on scoreboard, 40m from line, facing a strong breeze and choose to kick for 2 points..

10 to 15 years ago there'd be rumours about matches played around the world and one could never be confident the match actually occurred. These days streaming brings it all to life.