Anita Bath

I suppose expansion timelines will be influenced by Timelines for TV contracts. I dont know when the current contracts expire.

London Skolars would have probably had points deducted for not turning up for their game at Rochdale….but they had no points to be deducted!

Not yet!

No….the official appointed to lead tour teams was usually a RL council member….mainly concerned with the business side of tours/competitions and team spirit. The Captain with the help of vice captain was responsible for ‘coaching’ or team preparation. The 1954 tour to Australia had only concluded at the end of August ( last game August 22). The world cup started on 30 October. Given players were all part time and needed support of their employers to take time off for overseas tours, in some cases for loss of earnings, the back to back competitions were a stretch for some. The only tour representatives to play in the world cup were Gerry Helme, Phil Jackson and Dave Valentine, all three played in the test matches on tour. Geoff Gunney and Billy Boston were included in the WC squad from the tourists but didnt appear.

Abdo now acknowledging the challenges facing a possible PNG franchise in terms of infrastructure, travel….and recruitment. He is warning 2026 may be too soon for a PNG franchise. Could it be the Cairns hunters with 2-3 games a season played in PNG? Vlandys will not want to sniff at the Federal govt funds….but Abdo seems to be injecting some realism into the matter.

With the number of players swapping hornets for Oldham and vice versa we will be able to use last years teamsheets and just swap the team names.

Particularly those who choose to refuse to travel to certain other clubs…you cannot have all the IMG hoopla at the same time as championship clubs refuse to travel to cornwall…..if you want credibility. All league one clubs travelled to Cornwall last season…I dont recall any clubs showing resistance. Mayfield travelled to Cornwall for the early round challenge cup tie. Where is the leadership in our game. Refuse to travel then exclude them from the competition….and the prospect of a wembley final.

Apologies, those dates are wrong. The queensland and NSW opening round games are the same weekend as the first round NRL games in Aus. So there are some clashes between those targetted AFL games and the NRL. Eels v Bulldogs go up against GWS game and the Titans v Dragons go up against the Suns v Richmond.

AFL at it again…..they have a split round for their opening round with the first half of the round being played the same weekend as the NRL opens in Vegas. The four AFL games that weekend are in brisbane, gold coast and two in sydney…obviously trying to tap into NRL fans pockets. shame they pay less attention to avoiding clashes when it comes to the business end of the season.

Well I was close! First round winners in JPT went into second round of that cup and first round of the rum and cola cup. Yes we had half-baked ideas back then too!

You obviously dont play snooker in Tweed Heads.

You are not wrong in that.

Even less chance they would make themselves available then.

It was another competition for first round losers wasnt it? In the good old days when the top 8 teams entered competitions in the first round, not the last 8.

Now there is a freudian slip resulting from a spellchecker no doubt. How else could the word competent be used in association with the RFL

That of course assumes the top players would make themselves available as opposed to using the superleague free weekend to recharge their batteries.

One would hope this would be on IMgs list of things to sort out. But i suppose it will be a long list..

Precisely! Does anyone know what they want the league structure to look like in 5 or 10 years time and what strategies they are putting in place to achieve that vision?

There were league games on the BBC back in the eddie waring days…and challenge cup/ john player trophy, floodlit cup, end of season play offs, county cups.

Pre eason games now official…two weekends of 16 teams…no penrith

No….two weeks of 8 games given the odd number of teams it means penrith “miss out” …or otherwise engaged!

Whitebank.

That wont do their IMG grading much good.

Pre season games announced with full season fixtures coming early next week. I can smell the grass already.

Broncos….local team Titans…almost local team North Sydney Bears….Gods team and I want to be on his good side.