Exiled Wiganer
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Posts posted by Exiled Wiganer
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58 minutes ago, MZH said:
Better?
Oh yes!
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I have spent a few minutes looking into the history of Tonga and Samoa’s international sides. They have come a long long way. If anyone wants to take a cup half full approach other than me, then the combined effect of each of 7 South Pacific teams having at least 3 high level games in front of historically massive crowds outweighs sadness about losing mid season Kangsroo internationals.
I could well see NZRL, Tonga and Samoa wanting to play mid season. Give the people what they want and boost their own coffers.
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1 hour ago, MZH said:
We knew that investment was coming, we didn't expect that the club would actually have new owners. Great news. Pearson on balance has been good for the club but it was clear he couldn't sustain it anymore.
Only a minor point, but you could re name this to say “FC has been bought by ultra rich businessmen”, which is arguably the more exciting element… I went into it fearing the worst but came out buzzing.
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9 minutes ago, WN83 said:
It felt a bit like Hull FC were getting left behind by not having an owner who was able to properly invest in the club. There are very few clubs who are self sustainable and hopefully this will allow Hull FC to start going in the right direction, much in the same way that the likes of HKR and Leigh have done. It's a worry that we seem to be in an era where you simply must have a rich benefactor willing to prop the club up, to really thrive but you look across the league and most clubs do now have people with some money behind them. Hopefully by investing in the clubs and seeing relative success, we can see losses start to come down and clubs at least looking like they're in a position to stand on their own feet.
I don’t know enough about the new businessmen to comment authoritatively, but looking at their combined net worth they seem to be in the Danson rather than Lenaghan level of rich.
That brings with it massive advantages - time and the ability to invest on day 1 for a start, but also the ability to invest to make returns. Everything about Wigan (save for the ticketing teething issues) is better under Danson, which brings about a virtuous circle.
Better coaching, better medical support; better facilities, better players, all work together to make watching the team more enjoyable. Better players, better marketing, better merch, better experience for sponsors, which grows the commercial side massively. Thus, you get a higher quality team, and make more money.
I know it’s easy for me to say from a position of unprecedented strength in the SL era, but it is a joy to renew season tickets when you are paying for you and yours to watch Field, French, Thompson, Nsemba…
Good luck to FC!
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Wow! That is fantastic news for the club and the game.
Reading about Gary Schofield’s tragic health issues, the list of truly great Hull FC players he played alongside caught my eye: I consider myself very fortunate to have seen the exquisite brutality of Knocker Naughton, the Alf Tupper brilliance of Mick Crane, and the genius level game management of Topliss.
If those days are going to return, then the big game has just got a lot bigger!
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1 hour ago, Hello said:
Good question. I am not interested in banging on about Union (which I watch sometimes) on this board. The problem is that this particular article invites a response, and compares the internation game of RL and RU. People who have read my posts know that I am pro expansion domestically and internationally, and it is a source of disappointment to me that RL fails to spread itself effectively (with a couple of exceptions). To claim that the international game is catching up with RU, though, invites ridicule, and I am just one of a few who are trying to point that out. On these boards we should be focussing on what RL can do to further itself.
I see. Thanks for taking the time to clarify that. I have absolutely no interest in what the fatties do with their time, save I suppose where they turn athletes like RTS into has beens. Happily there is a place on here where people can discuss that sort of thing all day every day.
As to helping ourselves, we are already the biggest sport in the South Pacific, and getting bigger by the year. The holy grail for our game is growth in France and Wales. Some day one day we will put some real resources into that. We are far bigger than the tiny short cult, and far smaller than association football, and will always remain so.
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1 minute ago, Hello said:
Lol you say I can´t name playyers from these teams, but you haven´t even asked me to. You seem to have a lot of anger that is manifesting itself in nonsense posts. In this article you will find several world cup players from the current Argentinian team alone;-
Wtf is that doing on here?
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I took a look at the games the Kangaroos have played over the last 50 years. It was a good read.
If we reach a point at which they play 3/4 matches a year and world cups every 4 years (where they have never played fewer than 5 games from what I could deduce), then they will be about par for the course in the modern era. Incidentally, there are more than a few years where they played zero, 1 or 2 games.
In addition, we are planning on Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and PNG playing that number of high quality well supported games. All of these nations draw heavily on the NRL.
So we end up with historically high numbers of high level games.
Where we let ourselves down is in the NH. France and Wales are the answer and have always been the answer and we have never made it a priority to allow them to reach their potential. One of these days that penny will drop.-
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If only we had a forum in which all things rugby and Vichy could be discussed…
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2 hours ago, Matthias Wald said:
International Rules hopes still alive after AFL meeting with Irish officials
the AFL tries to respond to the success
the tight shorted cultists are such massive losers
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2 minutes ago, Damien said:
I think the opposite, we have only just scratched the surface when it comes to crowds. Tonga have been drawing good numbers of fans for around a decade now and Samoa the same, albeit to a slightly smaller extent. If this can rub off on NZ and Australia, and the more competitive games with great atmospheres that we see the more chance of that happening in my opinion, then attendances can boom.
I think Homebush is too optimistic and too big (and I'm one of the ones you quoted as getting ahead of myself
), and out of sync with your opening post urging caution. I that Allianz in Sydney at 45k is a better stepping stone. I'd be happy with Parramatta too though for a game and while I think it would sell out for Tonga v Samoa it just doesn't seem ambitious enough for that particular game to me. On the face of it it does make sense crowds wise for NZ games to be in NZ but NZ by themselves do seem to struggle to attract a crowd. Maybe they may actually get more kiwis turning up for a game in Australia and the Warriors always seem to get great support. Seems counter intuitive but I wouldn't be surprised.
Personally I'd like to aim for big crowds in big stadiums for all 4 games and playing games in Tonga or Samoa just doesn't do that. I think Tonga and Samoa just playing big games like this helps make over those islands anyway and certainly converts the diaspora to League even more. I think the international games has to be seen to make big crowds and money, particularly to the NRL and people in Australia. Even to players too.
Tonga v Samoa Allianz Stadium
Tonga v NZ Mount Smart
Samoa v New Zealand Western Sydney Stadium
I do think a final at Eden Park, when we are guaranteed a two of NZ, Samoa or Tonga, should be a no brainer. It's the best opportunity we've had for a long time to make a huge NZ statement with a pretty guaranteed decent crowd.
Aim for 120k+ across all 4 games.
I agree 100% with this. We have done some good things, and should now build on them.
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29 minutes ago, Damien said:
The biggest change to this year was the addition of Tonga that resulted in 3 big attendances. Take away all the Tonga fans twice against Australia and NZ, where they were in the majority, and we'd be looking at far smaller crowds and a completely different slant.
We have completely underutilised the growth of Tonga and the crowds they bring since the mid 2010s. A mid season Tri-Nations between Tonga, Samoa and NZ would be huge. Indeed that will be the Pacific Championship next year and we should be looking at trying to get a 50k sellout next year for Tonga v Samoa.
That combined with the Ashes next year should make for a great 2025 end of season international window.
Only a minor point, but Samoa NZ got a bigger crowd last year than Tonga NZ, so it could be argued that Samoa’s emergence has also given the game a massive boost. I think by far the biggest change was one we wouldn’t see from over here, as reflected in the TV figures, as explained by Rocket above. This was treated by the NRL as a serious part of their year of league.
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28 minutes ago, tim2 said:
This may have been answered earlier, but what happens to Samoa the next time this is held - will they be in the Bowl?
Basically, this is effectively a World Cup minus England/GB.
Australia won’t be playing in it, as it’s the Ashes next year. I am not sure what happens after the World Cup in 26, but England will always be looking to play autumn tests.
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11 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:
You are dreaming again. Unless of course when you say “within touching distance” you actually mean “within 40 years”.
I think you have got muddled up. Fiji have been World Cup semi finalists, and clearly PNG are getting stronger, with the very real prospect of an NRL team. I know it’s confusing following a sport played beyond the cultish confines of Melbourne.
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The NRL are delighted with the viewing figures. Which were boosted by their having made a far more coordinated effort to promote the Pacific Championship as part of an extended year of league. As a dry run for the World Cup it is potentially game changing.
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3 hours ago, Futtocks said:
Thoughts, after catching up on all 4 tests:
Elsie Albert is becoming a living legend of the Orchids, so I hope that the women's game continues to embed itself in PNG once she retires.
The Warriors can't return to the NRLW soon enough. The Ferns need it to try and stay in touch with Australia.
A lot of praise for Roderick Tai from the Aussie commentators, and rightly so.
Awesome singing from the Tongan fans.
But it was proved once again today that you can't just hope to smash through the Kangaroos (or the Jillaroos any more) with strength and aggression. They'll just tackle all day for each other. Points have to be earned with more than mere grunt.
Hence Lewis could be a better bet than Smith?
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It was a shame that PNG dropped off in the second half, but clearly it is just a matter of time before they are in the sort of close games against all the big guns we are now seeing.
With both a Kangaroos tour, and another Pacific Championship to look forward to next year, followed by the most competitive across the board World Cup we will ever have seen in 2026, I like the look of the next couple of years.
Given a fair wind, I could see Fiji and PNG having strong teams in a few years. We are within touching distance of having 7 international who would be within a score of each other in any game. I think all eyes should be on France and Wales now, as having competitive NH teams is clearly the holy grail for the international game. One step at a time, but this has been a glorious autumn.
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The Kangaroo games have had Fox/9 TV audiences above 1 million, with the others being around half that (sometimes more and sometimes less). Which they are very happy about.
So, I suspect that the timings have been chosen with the goal of maximising TV viewing figures.
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1 hour ago, Wakefield Ram said:
He is 31, might be his age. Not sure why playing RU would make him slower.
Because you aren’t playing a sport. The body deconditions over that length of time doing very little. (Err, what doubled said!)
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2 minutes ago, Dave T said:
No. Over a decade, the Kiwis won a World Cup, a Tri-Nations and 2 Four Nations. Why kn earth would you ignore two Kiwi tournament victories if you view competitiveness as an issue? If it's been covered a million times I'd expect you to know this.
We've also seen the Aussies win a World Cup Final 6 nil, a Semi Final by 2, lose to Tonga and get hammered in last years Pacific Final.
This competitive nonsense is just that.
In 2005 (the first time the Aussies lost a series for years) they played 7 tests. This year they played 3 tests.
I am really sorry that you see so little to be optimistic about for the international game, and know it comes from a place of caring deeply. In the end, only the future will tell us whether your pessimism or my optimism is justified. I hope you enjoy the games this weekend despite your frustrations.
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2 hours ago, Dave T said:
Hmm. This is an extremely rosy view. It is still the absolute bare minimum of a tournament, with some average events and crowds - stuff that the RFL gets criticised for.
I can’t make you change your mind. I can see your perspective and have explained the logic behind my conclusion.
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46 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:
That loss making international fixtures are being played in PNG and Fiji to me is but one demonstration the NRL has not kicked international footy to touch.
Soon they will be rewarded by the Australian Government to the tune of $600m for doing so. Imagine having that kind of influence in Europe.
Last year’s underwhelming final was organised by an underwhelming NZRL, which has led the NRL to run the whole show in 2024. They learned from their gracious mistake in 2023 and have not only made a successful improvement in 2024, they have also both willed and financed an unwilling Samoan team to get to England for two tests in 2024.
That latter point is still one of the most overlooked matters for those which want to disgrace the game in the SH.
The Australians have NEVER actively harmed the international game or any other international governing body where having taken alternative action would have presented a potential for considerable harm to themselves.
Again, in my opinion, the NRL (as we will continue to call the many stakeholders from here on in) should not be denigrated for this behaviour, but dare I say it, applauded for prioritising themselves and subsequently earning the rewards they have.
Especially whilst successfully fighting a very much forgotten battle with a domestic opponent which makes mass advances into Australian RL heartland.
“Mass advances”? Yeah right. We have all been glued to the drama of the international tight shorts competition.
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2 hours ago, Dave T said:
I'm not sure I see any difference in how this is organised.
Where I do share some of your optimism for 2026 (and indeed this year's tournament despite my frustration with the ARL/NRL) is that irrespective of the motivation, this one has been far better than previous versions. Appropriate ground selections seem to be the biggest improvement here and the fans have responded accordingly.
It doesn’t matter whether you see a difference. What matters is that it is an integral part of the NRL/ARL events cycle. You may not have noticed it, but Vegas was massively promoted. The 08 and 17 tournaments were back of a fag packet, on non league channels, with teams of people in separate offices from the ones driving RL day in and day out. The difference from the Australian perspective will be everything: more promotion, more social media, more podcasts, integrated into Fox league programmes, greater traditional press exposure, using the NRL ticketing system… you name it, really.
Fundamentally, I am pleased with what Abdo is saying because it is him saying it, and he is the guy (with Vlandys) driving the billion dollar flagship for the game, which is producing the players we love seeing. It isn’t the historical perspective, it’s what the future holds.
I appreciate there is virtually no overlap between our 2 views on this, and I understand yours completely. Indeed, we are I am sure both agreed that, as the best rugby team in the world, the Kangaroos should be playing every home game in a packed Olympic stadium, and we remain far from that.
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7 minutes ago, Dave T said:
I don't understand what you mean? What has been incorporated with 2026 in mind?
26 could will be very different because it will be pretty much an in house NRL exercise as opposed to a separate disconnected bunch.
Hull FC bought by Multi-Millionaire partnership
in The General Rugby League Forum
Posted
How big can the Robins’ ground get?