Pulga

What a joke of an organisation. You had IMG with their record of what they've done to European basketball or a 33% buy-in from the NRL with their own game bigger and stronger than ever and you've ended up with the Pie & Pea Mafia.

"We had to be told there are minimum standards that need to be upheld"

And this would catapult you into the top 10 best run clubs in England.

Tbh, I wouldn't be bidding on a competition that could have a different catchment of fans of possibly hundreds of thousands of viewers depending on P&R.

A statistical anomaly when Sky review their subscribers.

I was just pointing out the absurdity of Leigh fans trying to downplay the virtues of having Toulouse in SL. Truely a bizzare timeline we're living in.

Irrelevant.

How many times bigger is Toulouse than Leigh?

I don't want to quote anyone in particular but: •14 teams is a good thing. The argument about a lack of talent is ridiculous. It doesn't matter. SL is still the highest level outside of the NRL and two teams won't change that. •Tolouse being brushed for Bradford would be the biggest RFLism of all time. •Maybe if they do bring in the 10 overseas player cap then central funding should be ratcheted to how many of those 10 spots you don't use. Encourage bringing through local talent. •It really needs to be the next 3 IMG ranked teams up.

I've been thinking about this. We're in for an interesting decade of the international game. I've noticed it here with SOO. Outside of the top 17 players there is a massive nosedive in quality in most positions. Especially the spine. Australia gets by because of the sheer number of players. England aren't so lucky. The Pacific islands seem to be on a different trajectory. Watching Fainu steer the Tigers to a (likely) win against the Roosters along with arguably the best half in the NRL right now, Isaiya Kato, both Tongan, I wouldn't be surprised to see them leapfrog England and occupy 2nd - 4th in the international rankings permanently. I remember reading there are more Samoan eligible players in the NRL than Qld eligible. Times are changing.

Australia will win the one that matters 3 - zip. The rest I have no idea about.

Let's hope the NRL don't write a report stating they see no benefit in Melbourne and kick them out.

Although as a whole they're more successful than probably the three biggest SL clubs combined.

This is the type of slow & steady progress the English game seems completely incapable of. 5 born and bred Victorians over nearly 30 years would probably be seen as a failure if you asked the question back in '98 but the Storm could be on the cusp of something that will pay off a thousands of times over.