Exiled Wiganer

I think your conclusion isn’t right - those figures show a discrepancy in the countries for which they are eligible to play. As to the quality of the respective players, the games between actual SL players and actual NRL players are all the evidence we need. SL players can compete and often win every time they play against teams of mostly NRL players. If you mean that there are more NRL players, and more NRL players play for strong international sides, then I agree with that. As to absolute quality, time and time again we can see for ourselves that SL produces many top class players.

Vaughan v JWH at Wembley. That would be a must see…

Feel free to start a new thread either on NRL are all Gods, AFL’s top 10 international crowds and/or why spending time on a forum for a code you can take or leave focusing on a country 12 thousand miles away is a great use of the time you have left. You are welcome.

Just caught up with this, and: - someone pretty much started a thread earlier to make a point about Williams not being good enough - I hope they had ketchup with those words; - Ashton is world class: now he has added line breaking through the heart of high class defences to his repertoire, he has locked down an Ashes wing spot; - 20 points will always be enough for a good team to beat this Saints side. They have such a limited spine it is hard to fathom who does their recruitnent; and - I was thinking of betting on 3 of the games ending 20 12: if only I had a Time Machine. Well done to Wire. I was doubtful that Burgess would make a good coach, but they looked like a team that really knew what they were trying to do, and with the skill to pull it off.

Tbf with that danger to life and limb he deserves to walk in pretty much any match, whether or not he takes part.

Another factor is that they know Williams’ game better than they know Lewis’, as their default position is NRLers = Gods, so won’t respect or bother to study how Lewis plays. Until it’s too late!!

Happy with any combination of the 3. Williams will always do at least one game breaking thing each match, Lewis is the sort of style of player that the Aussies traditionally find hard to snuff out and Smith brings control and discipline and an excellent kicking game which we will need to stand any chance.

I am intrigued by your starting point. How do you know whose fault it was and wasn’t? We had an assessment mechanism which rated the clubs and concluded that Salford were one of the top 12 teams. If I were a club, I might consider it reasonable to rely on that assessment process and assume that it would not lead to a club unable to pay players being awarded a licence. It should go without saying. Have you seen the information provided to the clubs? I would love to see it one day, because everything we are seeing now flows directly from that recommendation and that decision.

A fumble baller comes onto a thread about UK ticket sales going superbly, and “contributes” “in your place peasants NRL = Gods”. Such a loser.

Nice plugs on BBC today.

The skill levels are dire so far. The atmosphere comes over well and it is competitive, so we can hope for better.

Looking at those attendances - many thanks, Goose - drives home that London is the best place in the world to put on a major league international event. We southern based folk never let the game down.

I think there are plenty of Aussies and Kiwis who know that the Kangaroos are a sight worth seeing. They are a somewhat transient and disparate population, though, and London is basically dozens of towns stuck together. We should aim to ensure that every passing through Aussie and Kiwi is aware that the Kangaroos are coming. If only we had Simon Moran running the operation, we would stand a chance of getting the word out there. It won’t turn 50k into 80k, but we could turn 60k plus into 70k plus that way.

I have been to every international held in the south since my exile started in 1990. It has never been particularly difficult to find non leaguies who would go. There are hundreds of thousands of sports fans who would love to watch a high class sports event. I am sure many other leaguies down here are in the same boat. What tips the balance is the point at which they mention it to me. It has happened a few times over the decades but not often enough. Early 90s and the World Cup semi spring to mind. In contrast, some games - the England NZ one at the Olympic stadium springs to mind - have felt like an afterthought, with no general awareness among sports mad people down here. It looks entirely feasible that Everton will be pretty much done by Easter, and 10s of thousands at Wembley already in the bag, which leaves the team 5 months to sell it. I have no doubt that if they put their mind to it we can get over 70k, and could go far higher. The potential audience is absolutely vast. Once they are on their way, I think the best way to turn it into an event is to use Wembley Way properly. There is no equivalent at the Emirates, or even the Olympic Stadium where everyone comes from all directions. Then put some music on before and at half time, get some proper community singing down our necks and the game will look after itself.

If we are approaching 80k, with 20k at Headingey my guess would be 18/42 Wembley/Goodison. Whatever the split, this is going far better than any of us could have hoped… and 1) we have OVER 6 MONTHS before the series and 2) these tickets are yet to go on general sale.

I once sat next to someone who paid £2.50 less for his ticket than me, and was nearer the halfway line. It made my blood boil I could scarcely enjoy Wigan beating Saints. It ruined the day for me.

40000 wiganers will have a gap in their diary.

We had nearly 70k for the World Cup semi in 2013, when we were playing NZ and the marketing focus was spread across the entire tournament. I have high hopes we can get the biggest Wembley crowd for an international if we continue to show the same level of professionalism as so far, particularly if both the other tests quickly sell out and it becomes the only chance for leaguies to see this must see series. I have very high hopes indeed, extrapolating from what we have already seen.

I agree. Plus, they simply didn’t know what the appetite would be for tickets of course. Sitting here and seeing the tickets flying out the door we can assert they should have had even bidder stadia and maybe more expensive tickets, but there was some guesswork and risk management at stake. Against that background, a blinder has been played.

I appreciate that I am spending too much of my lunch break on this thread, but I would also credit the performances of the England team over the last couple of years - beating NRL star stacked teams gives us all hope that we can travel in hope. I am certainly finding it easier to convince myself that this time it could be different.

In 94 the aggregate attendance for the series was 140k, which is the highest in this country. Australia got 155k ish for a series way back when. I think we will certainly beat the 94 figure and get close to the Aussies.

Crouching?

Nicholson is a real talent. I know Sutton and Smithies are having/have had respectable NRL careers, but Nicholson is a level above. His ceiling is extraordinarily high. I do wonder who advises our players as to their NRL destination, though. While Sydney is heaven on earth and Brisbane and Melbourne are nice, give me Wigan over Canberra any day of the week.

This could not have been done better. Perfect choice of stadia, clearly realistic pricing and a ticketing system that works. I shudder to think how much money was lost because of the hopeless ticketing system for 21 tickets. If I understand it correctly, Moran has been responsible for marketing this series (with substantial support from the RFL). He has done so much for our game in transforming Warrington into such a great club, and you could make a case for this saving the RFL if the ticket trajectory continues along this path.

I am buzzzing about this. If I understand the process correctly, there will be thousands of people who have pre registered who clearly mean to buy tickets who know that they are flying out the door. People like JB - stirred into a frenzy of ticket buying by the ultimate FOMO.