Damien

I think there is a lot to be said for this. I was kind of putting it down to old age and not having the same love of football as I had as a youngster in the 80s and 90s but for me this World Cup and England's place in it is fairly forgettable.

The trouble is these things are chicken and egg. Its hard to get people to primarily commit to RL for a small number of games that may or may not happen yet you cant arrange a more comprehensive calendar without more teams and players. Similarly when it comes to things like facilities and grounds. You are usually at the mercy of RU clubs with varying levels of help or hindrance. Compared to how you may be treated actually playing at a RU club the difference can be stark. Simply playing RU with a bit of RL when you can fit it in is just an easier and frankly better option for many players in development areas, bar the most devout RL player or coach. The RFL have a massive role to play in filing in that gap through development and support but unfortunately since the Richard Lewis days have been found wanting.

Good governance and impartiality isnt all that its cracked up to be:

Thats such a pity. This is partly the trouble with playing in summer too. Once holidays kick in it can be really difficult for numbers.

The whole routine of attacking 'other' people and making up false claims to paint a narrative is tedious beyond belief. This is especially so when the very poster is the one that routinely posts unsubstantiated claims and has strops when evidence is posted to dispute them.

That's pretty good around Origin I think.

Yeah this forum is full of those people isn't it?

More made up nonsense. It's a pity because you are better than these constant cheap jibes and always resorting to fabrication and false narratives. Unfortunately on all things NRL you have a major chip on your shoulder when it comes to the tiniest bit of criticism and always resort to this. Yet you are more than happy to dish it out on anything else.

Yeah I think many seem to have a preconceived notion when it comes to PNG when the reality is that many live there quite happily as is. And a NRL player on big money certainly can with every luxury afforded to them to keep them happy, safe and secure.

Just to note this is a Warrington home game, not Wigan. It is also nothing to do with growing the game in Ireland. It is all about developing the brand of the clubs involved and attracting new fans and sponsors. Secondary the same spin offs apply to SL although that isn't the primary aim of the clubs.

Yeah I agree. I completely think we can replace Magic in its current guise, lets face it a Wigan v Saints and Leigh v Warrington double header would probably get a great crowd in itself at Everton and many may find it better and more appealing. Similar at a redeveloped Elland Road with the Yorkshire teams. These don't have to clash with the CC final or even be at the same time as each other. Club led events like Dublin, Paris etc could be morphed into this and become more central RFL led events. I think we can do these things much better which can help all our events and provide a better, more rounded calendar.

IMG just said move the CC final away more from the Grand Final, they never specified it had to be May or June. Even the start of July would have been much further away than the end of August. IMG also recommended scrapping Magic as part of that, not have Magic and the CC final 5 weeks apart. As usual we have cherry picked what to do and have decided to do the opposite of what IMG's core meaning which was not to cannabilse our big events.

You are literally just making stuff up here.

Im not sure why you are again focusing on one year and ignoring that we have had 7 venues over 20 years and a range of dates. That is the point here. I am not buying that if we didn't have a reasonably fixed date a week or two after the Football season finishing that a suitable stadium wouldn't be available for Magic. Neither am I buying that the CC final has to be in this new slot so close to Magic when history shows this isn't the case. The constant moving has largely been a conscious choice by the RFL because they havent a clue what to do with these two events. If you want to excuse that then it is up to you.

Some of these interviews in the past were he has said these things were on camera too werent they? There certainly was one during the Ashes.