Sports Prophet

I’m not sure there is anything more that the recent drastically improved performances can be put down to other than getting a glowingly evident, fantastic coach. What do you reckon @The Rocket?

I couldn’t quite hear, but there were two ex-soldiers disabled from conflicts presenting the match ball.

Don’t know. 1937 maybe

You may be right but I see no mention of “The Ashes” on that programme.

To get in there first, there’s a few on this forum who should have a go at their Last Post too

I just turned on the replay of Leeds v Huddersfield match and the bugle player absolutely murdered that Last Post. It was a disgrace to the uniform! Fortunately there will be some mighty ANZAC versions over the course of every NRL fixture next weekend to show you Brit’s what a real Last Post sounds like.

I haven’t read through all the comments of this thread yet, but these back to back posts from page one tends to be the recurring themes for promoters and detractors. I place myself in the promoters basket. As a youngster, SOO was very important to me. I am far less invested in SOO than I once was. I even have some less than favourable feelings around the series due to selection criteria. Nevertheless, I still watch the SOO every year for the spectacle and high quality fixture that it is, rather than having any highs or lows based on the performance of NSW. Another point detractors always bring up is that the WOTR wasn’t successful before. Neither were all rockets to the moon and neither were NSW v Qld fixtures. Origin was a concept devised (copied) in the early eighties to change the annual state v state fixture and it worked. I don’t see a better opportunity to give a wider number of elite English players a quality high stakes annual representative fixture/s than WOTR. To me, it’s not a case of can it work, it’s more a case of making it work. I think that starts with how @Bedfordshire Bronco put it, fish where the fishes are. To me, that means making the WOTR series an unmissable fixture for any RL enthusiast.

I’m pretty sure I’ve already said that I think a GB&I tour should encompass the wider Australasian nations. They certainly have toured without playing Australia more than once. So I don’t think anything is set in stone. This however is England competing in their first Ashes series (I think) and in any case, I stand by my position. I think the Ashes should be a tour exclusively against Australian teams. Especially with this being a proposed “An Ashes Tour Itinerary For A New Era”.

See my earlier comments. I believe that would better suit the realm of a B&I Lions tour (Aus, NZ, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and PNG). I believe an Ashes Tour should be an Australian tour against Australian sides.

I did consider other internationals, but then I thought that sits outside the definition of an Ashes Tour. I think the theme needs to remain Australian. Tours against various nations can perhaps be fore the GB brand, which I still feel can regain some relevence. In fact, it should still be very much the objective of NH RL to have a team like GB&I including players of an elite standard from Ireland, Scotland and Wales as well as England. If not now, certainly a future objective.

Yeah, I thought some warm up matches would be valuable for the team to get prepared. Certainly against those opponents. WA may be a stretch, but you could look to expand it to be a rep team with a mix of ex-residents (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRL_Western_Australia shows there are a few names who could drop in). The date I suggested for this match may even mean that England set off same weekend as say SL GF is on and as such England would be missing some of their best players for that opening tour match. NSW Residents would be the best of the NSW Cup. A team which probably would have beaten at least half of the teams which competed in the 2022 RLWC. They would be easy good enough to give the English team a good challenge, without challenging for the win. The way I see it also, a few warm up matches for England to not only prepare themselves, but also get some good strong wins on the board and warm up the public about an England team looking ready to take it to the Kangaroos after a few impressive warm up victories. If anything, I feel like a simple three match series isn’t telling enough of a story and will struggle to capture the imagination to get a bursting crowd for game 1.

The reality is, there would need to be a suitable turnout for the warm up matches to make a tour of this length, with the required squad size financially viable. Could mid week fixtures fit in? Could England play the full NSW or Qld side on the tour as well?

In 18 months the first Ashes series since 2003 is due in Australia. Just 18 months time. This is a series which really wants confirmed in the calendar urgently. These tours are not cheap for touring supporters and a set calendar I would suggest is vital in getting the highest number of travelling fans. I would love to see SL finish two or three weeks earlier than normal to accomodate a tour to remember including non Test matches in the schedule. WA v England: Sunday 5th Oct (tie in with an NRL GF event on the big screens afterwards) Perth NSW Residents v England: Sat 11th Oct Newcastle Indigenous v England: Sat 18th Oct Canberra 1st Test Australia v England: Sat/Sun 25/26 Oct Melbourne 2nd Test Australia v England: Sat/Sun 1/2 Nov Sydney 3rd Test Australia v England: Sat/Sun 8/9 Nov Brisbane Who else has some creative tours schedules they would love to see?

Yeah, but you are looking through the eyes of a massive racist and it severely clouds your judgment.

Sure, but it’s not like he can’t command a very healthy salary in the NRL as well. If I recall correctly, he didn’t want to play for another NRL club (or maybe I’m thinking of Benji’s move to Union). How about this for a theory then… Joey: hey boss, it’s contract time. Politis: you’re a million dollar player Joey, but even my sneaky skills of skipping the salary cap can’t pay you that yet. How about this. Teddy has two years left to run. Why don’t you go and spend two years in Japan, earning over a million without having to bust yourself. Then, when Teddy either retires or I move him on, we bring you back in two years and sign you for great money for the remainder of your career.