[World club challenge]

Well done Hull KR.

[England 2026]

Yes.

But don’t play it a M62 club ground.

[NRL eye SL takeover]

1 hour ago, Dunbar said:

We can play France.

Outside of that, the NRL will decide.

You arguing something very different here. Nobody is stating they don’t. 

My opinion is we don’t need Australia to being playing internationals at the same time as us for us to play internationals. Clearly New Zealand, PNG, France et al don’t either - nor does Tonga and Samoa albeit there is a risk they could be understrength. Noting the Aussies want more internationals, there is a good chance they’ll agree to the wider international game hosting internationals during that period. You don’t agree. That’s fine. 

[NRL eye SL takeover]

18 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

Pretty much every player from the nations you list play in the Australian domestic competition. Whether we like it or not, international Rugby League outside of England and France is beholden to Australia.

That’s not what I said - beholden to Australia playing to play internationals. Two very different points.

[NRL eye SL takeover]

3 hours ago, Dunbar said:

I care about international Rugby League about a thousand times more than the club game, it is the main thing I get excited about. I would love to see more international Rugby League. 

But an international window during State of Origin feels like a typical Rugby League fudge and an unsatisfactory outcome.

I disagree. I don’t feel the game should be beholden to Australia being available to play internationals; nor the availability of Tonga and Samoa, if a minority of those players choose SOO over their nation. I see this is an opportunity to exploit; not a risk. Australia didn’t play in the Pacific Series this year; and it was an even bigger success. This could be a real opportunity for England, New Zealand, PNG et al to play more rugby and build their brands and experience to be the best teams in the world, and build the sport’s brand, exposure in those locations. And if these reports are accurate, it appears the Aussie authorities see the value in it too.

[NRL eye SL takeover]

2 hours ago, Pulga said:

I don't believe we can have Origin at the same time as internationals. 

There's too many islanders in SOO squads.

You absolutely could. Let me choose. Plus New Zealand, PNG, Fiji, Cook Islands, England et al would be able to play competitive internationals concurrently:

I am a firmly believer it would be an amazingly positive step for the sport. 

[2026 Transfer Tracker]

8 hours ago, Magic Superbeetle said:

Dagnall, Robertson and Murphy, Welsby and Sailor are all perfectly capable of playing a role in a rapid, pacey team. The problem last year is all too often the answer when those players were injured was Bennison, Whitley etc. Bennison has effectively been replaced by Douglas, who is a much pacier option on the wing, and if we do finish our recruitment with an NRL centre as I expect, we will be in a much stronger position to be less dependent on those players Wellens liked.

As for the spine, that was never going to be resolved by recruitment. The spine next year is some combination of Sailor Welsby and Whitby, and I don’t see how you can non-chalantly declare “that’s not Sailor isn’t the answer” given the only consistent run he got last year, he won player of the month, and then was immediately dropped by Wellens.

I also don’t think we are going to go with either Wingfield or Shorrocks as our starting 13.

You are acting like we are going to need the Australia national team to break down the teams that finished above us last season. The reality is we were 12-14 points away, and by adding more size to the pack, having a settled spine, and keeping pace in the backs, even when dealing with injuries is more than capable of bridging that gap. 

Anyway this isn’t recruitment so will leave that there.

We’ll have to disagree…

[NRL eye SL takeover]

Not directly linked to SL but very interesting direction from the NRL if true…

Stand-alone Origin Series is sweet music to the ears of an internationalist like me… 

[RL Museum]

2 hours ago, Just Browny said:

Whats the right place?

That’s a difficult one. It needs to be somewhere that people actually visit already. City Centre like Leeds for example. I personally would put it near RFL HQ near the Eithad in Manchester. 

[2026 Transfer Tracker]

16 hours ago, Magic Superbeetle said:

I’m curious, what issues do you see that needs to be resolved but isn’t?

The single biggest issue that needed to be resolved was in the coaching box; that’s been sorted.

Rowley has already spoken in his star interview about the importance of keeping a settled spine:- not having 11 combinations of 1. 6. 7. next season would dramatically improve Saints without signing anyone at all. 

We struggled against bigger packs last season; we’ve brought in Klemmer to support Walmsley and Host to support Sironen, meaning we should have a much better metre eaters to grinders ratio than we did last season. Players like Shorrocks and Wright mean we should have some actual depth too.

We struggled when the first choice backs were out last season, as we had some plodders like Bennison and Whitley needing to play in the outside backs, we have replaced them with Douglas and (Centre yet to be announced, rumoured to be Seve).

I will say a lot of our season is resting on the progression of Dagnall, Robertson, Whitby, Delaney and Stephens, but I’m not so quietly confident that Rowley will be a huge leap forwards next season. 

For starters, pace… we are really lacking in that department in the backs. 

But most importantly, the spine is also a critical issue that has not been resolved. Who’s the stand off to support Whitby? Sailor or Lomax are not the solution. Hooker… who replaces Clark when he’s injured? I am also very uncertain about Wingfield/Shorrocks at LF. So I think we will struggle to create and break the better teams down again like this year, regardless of Rowley’s improved tactics.  

[Hull KR vs Brisbane Tickets 🤷🏻‍♂️]

YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!

Another ticket thread to track…

[2026 Transfer Tracker]

1 hour ago, phiggins said:

Joe Shorrocks to Saints. 1 year deal.

Ufff that’ll go down well.

Saints’ recruitment has been genuinely poor this off season. Not a single issue seen last year resolved IMO. 

[Rugby League's image problem]

Just now, Dave T said:

I think things like this need a real cultural shift in the leadership. Becoming a customer-centric organisation is a whole culture, at the moment, we make changes based on the latest ownership group and then hope that the customers like it.

Insularism… protectionism… 

[RL Museum]

1 minute ago, Tommygilf said:

The George Hotel I think?

Thanks. 

Whilst I understand its importance, that’s absolutely the wrong place for a museum. 

[Rugby League's image problem]

56 minutes ago, whatmichaelsays said:

You don't have to do anything radical - those are quite extreme examples, but I think the point is that whenever we have a discussion around things like Magic, where Magic should be, whether we should have a Nines event, whether we should play games in London, etc, the question should always be - what's the audience for this? Because if the audience isn't understood, or it's simply "the same people we sell to now", then we're going to end up in a perpetual cycle of short-term thinking and ideas delivered on the cheap. 

If we say that young, social-media savvy audiences are a priority segment, let's try and cater to that with some content for those platforms. Get some of the England players doing trick plays on YouTube shorts, or some trending challenges on TikTok as a starter - something that doesn't require a lot of investment, but can start building salience with new audiences in the places they hang out. The more radical stuff can come later. 

It doesn't have to be three segments - I'd argue that three should be manageable - but just some idea of who we are trying to appeal to and what that audience wants. Hell, we've just increased our league to 14 teams, and one of our biggest clients has reportedly said they don't want that - that's the sort of product-centric, rather than customer-centric thinking that's the issue. 

I really like your posts. Pretty accurate in your analysis IMO when it comes to the game’s target audience approach. Couple that with important issues like governance, and player development etc is not far off a far more balanced and effective approach to move the game forward beyond this repetitive vicious circle it finds itself in. 

[RL Museum]

Where was this due to be based?

[NCL Overhaul]

 

[2026 Transfer Tracker]

<Deleted>

[Rugby League's image problem]

11 hours ago, Martyn Sadler said:

The people who talked the game down were the Australians, including the Australian media.

It makes sense if they are trying to pick it up for a song.

 

11 hours ago, Damien said:

No thats not true, they were repeating what had been said here by people that should know better.

Martyn’s view above is a key example of issues within the sport. No responsibility. Blame others - with the Aussies being an easy target; as is RU or the ‘Establishment’. Our poor image as a sport in the UK is entirely of our own making. 

[Pacific Championship 2025]

3 hours ago, Dave T said:

So, we're now playing the 'imagine if the Aussies played better' game, but surely you just apply the 'imagine if the English played better' card at the same time?

I thought we were soundly beaten in the Series, largely due to our inability to create any attacking structures that troubled the Aussie defence. 

But I’m absolutely with you; I actually don’t think the Aussies have a multitude of gears to go up to a much higher standard than they did. If they do, they’ve not shown it in a long time ie when was the last time they destroyed a top international side?

The difference in the two sides was pretty much down to 4 players: Walsh, Munster, Grant and Crichton. No other Aussie players massively outplayed their England counterparts IMO. Not even Cleary who I thought didn’t look particularly dangerous (I have seen a lot of criticism about him from the Aussie press). I am absolutely certain the Aussies can improve. But we all know England can as well. 

 

[Rugby League's image problem]

1 hour ago, Martyn Sadler said:

Rather than being in the press box at Headingley on Saturday, I was in the corporate area and found myself sitting next to a guy in the professional services industry who told me something quite interesting.

A couple of years ago his company had been persuaded to do some sponsorship with Leeds Rhinos.

Part of the deal was that he would get a certain number of hospitality tickets at various times during the season.

His intention was to use those tickets for his company's clients to give them freebies to Headingley for Rhinos games.

But then he discovered that none of his clients took up his offer.

Instead he had to use all the tickets for himself and his family.

In doing so he had become a big Rhinos fan but he had been taken aback by the complete lack of interest from his clients in what he was offering them. He said essentially that they didn't want to be associated with Rugby League because of its poor image.

I suspect that his clients would have flocked for tickets for virtually any other sport.

So what's the problem with Rugby League?

In general, the sport is unprofessional. Top to bottom. It is insular. It doesn’t like outsiders - a bit like the communities it is widely played in. It has a big chip on its shoulder to real change. Until the sport takes change seriously, it will always be a niche, unprofessional sport frowned upon by ‘outsiders’. 

You could help by some strong journalism on the real issues the sport faces. 

[How Do We Improve the Quantity of Quality Elite Players in the UK!]

2 hours ago, Wakefield Ram said:

One simple thing they could do in SL is speed up the PTB. 

The amount of flopping and laying on allowed just slows the game down and encourages the boring "arm wrestles". 

This is my personal favourite for the highest priority issue. 

[How I would structure the international game.]

2 x annual windows - 3-week mid season and then in the Autumn. 

Major tournament every two years involving multiple teams… 

Smaller quad-side tournaments in the other years or the odd 3-game tour. 

Easy! 

[We still don't know the SL structure for next season]

7 hours ago, Dave T said:

Its an absolute fundamental that they haven't really got round to the detail of the comp next year.

To be absolute clear again, you are right. I think it’s my own apathy to all things British RL at the moment that makes simply go meh at this important issue…

[We still don't know the SL structure for next season]

39 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Some relaxed attitudes to this incompetence on show.

You are right. But after yesterday and the last 3 weeks, I think its lower down my own list of things I want sorting by the sport in the UK.