mrfranco

Isn't this the bit where someone brings up the idea of bringing back the SA franchise that got cut and launching them as an NRL or SL team? ...

What year though?....

If you were gonna move a home game, surely it would be one where Catalans are the visitors, especially if the suggestion about Cats being one of the more popular teams in Toronto were true

Does this mean they've ditched the idea of a name change? Or are we still expecting that down the road? Seems odd to do a new look using an old name that is apparently unwanted...

I think this is right. And Carcassonne need to be told whether or not they would be allowed into SL before they start playing in any lower league in England. Remember when Toronto won the Championship and there was still some doubt at the end of the season about whether they would actually be allowed up...

Cats and TO both still run a team in Elite 1. I wonder if Carc would plan to do the same?

Nobody's changed it yet... maybe it's true...

Are the Eagles no longer involved in the NERL set-up? Great to have the Scottish league back up and running, but I thought Edinburgh were playing in both.

Maybe a Russell Crowe-type figure could emulate what the Hollywood guys at Wrexham have been doing, and in UK RL could be at or near the summit of things very quickly. But until/unless that actually happens, it's fantasy land stuff, sadly.

I've been trying to think of an equivalent to the NRL (SuperLeague/ARL) expansion to Melbourne in the UK. I think the equivalent would be something like a London team in the NFL or the NBA. Despite all the publicity and the TV coverage for a long time now, these are not mainstream sports in this (the UK) market. But if those leagues plonked a team there, I'm sure it would work. Because they have the cash and not forgetting the glamour and attention-grabbing pull to make it work. Bit like the NRL in Melbourne (perhaps with more emphasis on the cash in that case). As you say, SL does not have these things. The Storm show it is possible, but it's very hard to see how that could be replicated over here. That said, one *very* rich guy (we're talking beyond the wealth of the current Broncos ownership) with a passion and crucially willingness to keep on pumping the cash in could change that picture completely.

As I say, I'm just imagining how the meeting played out... but the NRL wanting an 8-team World Cup was speculated on in the run-up to Singapore.

Yeah, the supergroup is a horrible idea, but i suspect we are stuck with it. I guess it's a step up from no world cup.

To me it suggests a compromise: NRL wanted 8 and the RFL/Europeans wanted more, saying "we've already told 8 teams they're in, we need more", so NRL said "yeah, Ok, two more then. We had 10 in 2008, we can do that again". That's how I imagine it went, anyway...

Not very fair on 6 though, is it? As was said above about PNG being shafted last time they did this...

Yeah, you're probably right.