nadera78

I did type something similar but then deleted. You're right.

I still find it hard to believe that anyone could ever reach that conclusion. Just astonishing.

Great game, it's everything you want from rugby league match at the highest level.

Speaking as a former Singapore-dweller, it's a very wealthy country with a high amount of disposable income. People are VERY keen on events if they are done properly. The Perth Bears have floated the idea of hosting a game there in the future which I think is an excellent idea. *You couldn't base a team there full time or run a big tournament, but an annual event would go down very well.

This was mooted a few weeks back. Interesting to see Norths have another one of their boys in place.

Two thing can be true at the same time; the RFL are hopelessly inept and the NRL do what suits them without any consideration for anyone else.

This could very easily see New Zealand win the World Cup and then not play any home games until 2028.

At one time they had a club comp, a university comp and a colleges comp for the men, as well as a short-lived women's comp. At international level, they ran the senior men's team, a development side and a women's team. Unfortunately, Lebanon has so many issues to face internally and externally that RL has really dropped off. It's a real shame.

Awesome, thanks very much. I know you dedicate a lot of time to this so should have realised it was something along those lines.

Great badge

I mean, I don't really care if I'm being completely honest, but some things always seem to remain the same at the Broncos. Including that last year the move to Irish Amateurs was being trumpeted as the solution to the club's problems - possibly even ownership if you listened to some people - and a year on the club has upped sticks once again. Plus ca change.

It really is. Big song and dance last year about London Irish, with some of the club's outriders even claiming the Broncos had taken over the site completely, only to see another move 12 months later.

Can I just clarify something, in an Insta post Toko Owen appeared to say his great grandfather was from Merthyr - isn't that 1 generation too far out for him to qualify for Wales?

At the end of their first season, there will be rumours in the press and podcasts that 'people connected to Norths' are unimpressed with how things are being handled 4,000 miles away, but of course the distance is too great for them to really do anything to help. Halfway through season 2, we'll see articles calling Perth a failure. Season 3 will see rumours that 'NRL bigwigs are demanding improvements under pressure from other clubs'. The following pre-season will see someone at the NRL publicly call for change. Second half of season 4, reports that 'the axe is being sharpened for Perth'. Finally, after season 4 finishes, the NRL will quietly announce that it just isn't working and the only option is for the club to 'return to its roots' in North Sydney. It's been inevitable since the moment Norths wormed their way into this.

The NHL is an interesting comparison. Ice hockey is an amazing sport, and fantastic to watch live, but it doesn't really translate that well on TV - you lose too much of what makes it interesting. Plus the scheduling doesn't help, because the sport has a very strong tradition of 7pm starts which means early hours in the UK. The NHL has tried changing those around a little bit and I understand ITV will be showing some Monday evening games that will begin at a much better time for the UK fans. That said, there are some very committed fans in this country who spend time and money following their teams both from home and travelling to North America for games. These fans often don't have a huge connection to British ice hockey, which seems to be in a constant state of flux, so the NHL takes centre stage. Compare that to RL and you obviously have a much stronger domestic game in the UK, but how many of those really follow the NRL? Most will have a passing interest but only a handful will be committed to it, and how many will actually spend money on it? They have their own English clubs to focus on, the NRL is secondary to that and always will be. Gut feeling is that the NHL (which really hasn't done much to promote itself here) has more potential for revenue generation in the UK than the NRL does.