Damien

Not when they are suspended.

Very nice. Wales do a great job on very limited resources. They should certainly be the model to follow for Scotland and Ireland.

I don't think the 're' is needed in reimagined when it comes to international Rugby League.

What point? Your initial point is based on a false premise. Naming random players does not change that. Iro also followed practically the same path as the Tongans you dismiss and developed in New Zealand. Being the son of a former Kiwi no doubt helped. It is simply unrealistic to expect any of these small PI islands to develop home grown, NRL standard players in large numbers. Similarly it is awfully difficult for the players they do produce to be better than a Tongan heritage player growing up and developing their RL skills in the likes of NZ and Australia. Even promising Rugby talent that is produced is likely to get NZ school RU scholarship and seen as coming through that route.

This was always the plan so doesn't change what was announced at the start of the season.

I see little distinction between someone like Joran Schoenmaker who was primarily an RU player who tried a little Rugby League and Eli Katoa who was born and bred in Tonga and moved to NZ to play Union on a scholarship and picked up by the Warriors.

I don't understand your Dutch statement. There is far more RL in terms of clubs and players in Tonga than the Netherlands. I'd be certain more than Wales too.

The domestic game in Tonga has come on leaps and bounds in the last decade and there is loads of domestic activity with clubs and schools. Just because there are better fully professional NRL players representing Tonga does not mean it doesn't exist.

More on that:

Pretty great stats there: Statistics confirm the rise of the Warriors. Numbers provided by the club show they have 17,552 members compared to 5472 last year and there are 8231 full ticketed members, up from 4604 in 2023. All hospitality packages sold out before the season began, so the club had to create new spaces. The first two Mt Smart Stadium home games this year resulted in the highest and third highest ever game day retail sales (excluding finals) and the club sold more apparel in the first quarter of this year than they did in all of 2023. There has also been a 20% increase in sponsorship revenue with Dynasty, Great Wall Motors, MyHR, Maxigesic, UP Education, Arnott’s Shapes, Snap Rentals, Hallenstein’s, Anytime Fitness, Bayleys and Asics coming on board.

And assault.

Never heard of negging but if this is what it is its 100% accurate.

It doesn't matter if it's empty or not. The game shouldn't be tolerating coaches throwing objects at fans. If it wasn't a Leigh coach your tune would be very different.

Hull FC sign Chan on loan:

It's not though. It still gets some good attendances at various stages and still provides our 2nd highest crowd of the season. It also provides FTA coverage on the BBC. I can't think of any other comparable sport in this country that just has a league competition and nothing else.