Balmain1969

Mal has spoken regularly about it, this wouldn't overly extend a tour but would give the fringe squad members a chance to play midweek against SL clubs. I'm sure there would be a couple of SL clubs that would put their hand up to host and try and put some cash in the bank. Meninga hopeful of reviving Kangaroo tours Australia’s Test and World Cup coach Mal Meninga has again stressed the need for Kangaroo Tours of Britain to be revived. And when Tests aren’t involved, he wants to take the Australians in a sweep through Britain and play games against leading Super League club sides and maybe other in growth areas of the nation. He is planning to sit down with members of the ARL Commission hierarchy before the start of the new NRL season to plan a new-look international calendar for Australia. “We want to create a programme where the players are again excited to pull on the green and gold,” Meninga explained. “That’s why well be talking about an international Nines Tournament and maybe Australia ‘A’ international, so the next generation of players are part of an emerging programme, but are playing on an international stage. “Rugby union do it well with the Bledisloe Cup (between Australia and New Zealand), World Cup and Six Nations, and their Sevens.”

Mal was discussing a Kangaroo tour, hopefully happens next year inc midweek club games.

Did I miss something here, England got beaten in extra time by a team almost entirely built on Origin and Premiership players from the NRL, and probably should have won because realistically they were the stronger team Australia and NZ have all lost to Tonga over the last 5 years, and remember NZ only just survived against Fiji in the QF and went on to all but beat the kangaroos. It's not that England are further behind, I think this is probably one of the strongest teams they've had in years, also missing a few players and more encouragingly there seems to be some talented youth coming through. The main factor is that other teams are getting stronger and have caught up, as long as Samoa don't get to overawed by the occasion I think you'll find Aus will have similar issues with them next week. RL in the UK definitely needs fixing, but the world isn't burning, a Kangaroo tour next year would be a very competitive series.

NRL Market Watch: John Bateman to ink three-year deal with Wests Tigers Wests Tigers will unleash a formidable forward pack in 2023, with a superstar Englishman all but locking in his NRL return with the joint-venture. David Riccio Follow @DaveRic1 3 min read November 2, 2022 - 1:34PM News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom The Wests Tigers are in the final stages of signing-off on a deal to bring English International John Bateman back to the NRL. In a move that could finally drag the Wests Tigers out of the competition cellar, the 29-year-old is eyeing a three-year deal to join a new-look Tigers pack that will include premiership-winning hooker Api Koroisau and Kiwi international Isaiah Papali'I. On top of the recruitment of Koroisau, Papalii and almost certainly Bateman, the Tigers are also aiming to add either David Klemmer or Tyson Frizell from Newcastle to their pack for 2023. Klemmer is the frontrunner to link with the Tigers - and his acquisition doesn’t require losing halfback Luke Brooks. The forward pack overhaul could prove defining for the Wests Tigers, who already boast key forwards Stefano Utoikamano, Joe Ofehengaue, Alex Twal and promising prop Fonua Pole. John Bateman is set to join Wests Tigers next in 2023. In order to sign Bateman, Wests Tigers senior management are comfortable with paying the key forward’s English club, Wigan, a transfer fee, as he still has two years remaining on his Super League contract. The figure believed to be around $250,000 AUD is paid directly from club to club and would sit outside the Tigers salary cap. The 29-year-old would return to the NRL with a glowing reputation in the eyes of fans after two quality seasons in the NRL (2019-2020) with Canberra. Bateman helped transform the Raiders in 2019 with his powerful running game and defensive nous earning him the 2019 Dally M second-rower of the year award. The recruitment of Bateman has been led by head coach Tim Sheens, who believes the no-nonsense forward will instil genuine steel and leadership to the Tigers. The Tigers are hoping to sign-off on the deal in the coming days.

Cheers, I wasn't sure if it was a ###### take or someone who cant read and thinks the WC is on Sky

I live in WA, family is from Balmain.

????????

See, now we're being positive. The world hasn't ended yet!!

Going through the remaining fixtures and based on what we've seen so far (on the field), I think these will be the best potential games to draw a crowd Tonga v PNG - 10k Eng v Fra - 25k Leb v Ire - 10k (this will decide QF spot) NZ v Ire - 15k (esp. if Ire beat Leb) Sam v Fra - 13k ((this will decide QF spot, and hopefully France have a good showing against England) Potential QF Aus v Ire/Leb - 15k (Huddersfield) Eng v PNG - 25k (Wigan) NZ v Fiji - 15k (Hull) Ton v Samoa/Fra - 13k (HJ) Potential SF Aus v NZ - 40k (Leeds) Eng v Ton - 60k (Emirates) Potential Final NZ/Aus v Eng - 70k (OT) TOTAL - 311,000 + 74,464 that have already attended = 385,464 There are a remaining 44 fixtures across mens, womens and wheelchair, they would need to average 4,200 to get a total aggregate of 570k.

His radio show in Sydney was on at the same time as the game, he rang in for a chat at half time!! Gotta love the blokes passion.

So instead of using that to help build atmosphere we just got to listen to the same people we've listened to all year in a studio. It also irks me a bit that they dont seem to have a lot of knowledge of the Super League players, except the ones that have had stints in the NRL.

I havent had a chance to go back through the thread, buts here's my take on the coverage in Aus last night on Fox Coverage started 1 hour before kickoff with just Von, Ennis and GI sitting around a table chatting This continued for 50 mins!! We missed basically everything happening at the stadium, I actually felt tired by the time they finally crossed The only time they crossed to England it was to an empty Headingly to discuss the Australia game 6 hours later. When they finally crossed to Newcastle, we got to see the Kaiser Chiefs standing around for 5 mins twiddling their thumbs until the lead singer decided to run up and down the sideline Anthems and haka were great When the game started it felt really flat, you could hear zero crowd noise. Dont know if it was the sound mix because in the Aus/Fiji game you could clearly hear the crowd Coverage dropped out 3 times in the second half. Post game they didn't go back to the studio for reactions etc, just had the camera on the field for extended periods with no commentary, just background noise. If I'm honest it was like watching a cheap version of Super Saturday with zero production costs, you compare that to State of Origin or the NRL GF and its like comparing reality TV to a Hollywood Blockbuster Did the BBC have panellists at the ground, because we didnt get anything except a couple of onfield interviews. It appears for us Fox have paid the bare minimum, basically get the feed for the games only but nothing either side and they'll pad the rest with a couple of Fox panellists in the studio in Australia. Would be interesting to get a comparison of the BBC coverage in the UK, I'm hoping that we didnt get the lot and this was all they did.

All we’ve seen in Aus is 3 people talking in a studio

Enjoy the WC Dave

That's because they've got no clue what's going on, my friends know that number 5 is the winger Anyway, enough of this, bring on the WC!!!!