DEADLINES are a pesky nuisance.
I’m writing this article in mid-October, when the Rugby League World print deadline requires me to write it.
And I’m writing it before a number of key events that will be happening in the remaining days of October.
For example, by the time you read this article you’ll know whether Wakefield Trinity fullback Max Jowitt (pictured) broke the record of 496 held by Lewis Jones for points scored by an individual player for a full season. You’ll also know whether Jowitt became the first player to break 500 points in a season when Wakefield Trinity faced Toulouse Olympique in the Championship Grand Final.
You will also know whether Wakefield won the Grand Final and whether they will be playing in Super League in 2025 following the revelation of IMG’s gradings on 23rd October.
Depending when you are reading this, you may also know whether England won the first Test in the series against Samoa and you’ll know who was selected and who scored the points.
You’ll also know (provided you have a keen ear for rugby league news) whether Wales or France have qualified as the European representative to take part in the World Series next year against Jamaica, South Africa and the Cook Islands, with the top two in that competition going through to the World Cup proper in Australia and Papua New Guinea in 2026.
And you’ll know who won the Test match in Christchurch between New Zealand and Australia in Christchurch on 27th October.
And just to give you a clue about when I was writing this article, I did see that Australia had defeated Tonga 18-0 in the first game of this year’s Pacific Cup, while the Australian Jillaroos defeated the PNG Orchids 84-0 in the female version of that competition.
And, on a non-rugby theme, you may have also heard what Rachel Reeves announced in the budget speech that she delivered on Wednesday, 30th October.
In all those cases it would have been useful to be able to see into the future.
In order to do that, you need to be blessed with that elusive quality called foresight.
So let me test out how much foresight I possess in relation to the above events I’ve outlined.
I am happy to predict that Wakefield will have won the Championship Grand Final and that Max Jowitt will have become the first player in the history of the game to score 500 points in one season.
I’m also quite certain that by the time you read this, Trinity will have been confirmed as having been elevated to Super League in 2025, perhaps even with a Grade A, taking London Broncos’ place but with no other changes, meaning that Toulouse will have failed to make the cut.
I predict that England will have won the first Test against Samoa and that France will have qualified as the European representative for next year’s World Series.
I suspect that the Australians will have beaten New Zealand in Christchurch.
And, for what it’s worth, I also predict that Rachel Reeves will have increased taxes significantly to try to close the financial deficit that the new government is trying to plug.
We will be discussing all those issues (with the likely exception of the Budget speech) in the forthcoming editions of the League Express Podcast.
All the Podcasts are still available to listen to and you can watch them on the Total Rugby League YouTube channel.
And if you watch or listen to Podcast number 60, you’ll see that I put forward the idea that the international programme should be re-scheduled to the month of July rather than October or November.
It seems a nonsense to me that the respective Grand Finals are not the final play in rugby league season on either side of the world. They provide a climax to the season, beyond which it’s difficult not to create an international series that feels somewhat anticlimactic.
And that’s before we mention the leading players who are pulled out of internationals by their clubs because of the need to have some rest and perhaps some medical attention following a physically demanding club season.
It is obvious to me that we need to reduce the length of the club season while giving the international game more prominence within it.
And funnily enough, shortly after having made this point in our Podcast, I noticed an article in the Sydney Morning Herald by their highly respected writer Malcolm Knox.
I’m not sure whether Malcolm listened to our Podcast, although I doubt whether he did, but he has clearly come to the same conclusion as me by his own route.
And I hope that more influential rugby league people will eventually come round to the same view and that the change will eventually be made.
And then I will be able to use hindsight in mid-October, rather than foresight, when looking at the international results.
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 502 (November 2024)
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