RP London

All been covered.. super league is being caught in the track and trace issues. Come middle of August it won't be happening with the change in rules.

terrible idea.. the point of end of season is the players are all "in the groove" a pre season world cup would be woeful

but that wouldnt solve it as the RLWC happens before the FIFA World Cup which is the big problem.. it will get lost in the build up to the FiFA world cup and the whos injured whos not that will be the back pages of the papers in the run up. If it happens it needs to happen this year, if it happens next year i get the feeling it will be a pointless damp squib, more so than it happening this year with indigenous teams or invitation xiii or even bringing in the next qualifiers.

It can be arranged...

No but they are meeting up with people from different teams and then having to isolate when they test positive for covid nearly taking out the entire team... thats fantastic work BTW!

i'm assuming you havent read the thread as the last few questions you have asked have all been answered multiple times during it.. no, no one believes that excuse but its the one they are using and therefore the RLWC have to answer it in the open to show that its bull.

Probably a larger amount.. but its not just that its the intangibles of the fact there will be wall to wall fifa world cup in the papers (even just the build up) where as this is very much stand alone this year.

the sanctioning is done by the IRL not by the governing body. Therefore if the IRL say its a sanctioned team they need to release. Thats part of the issue around the IRL not sanctioning end of season tests played by aus and nz if they dont turn up. Now, of course, that doesnt stop them having ghost surgeries and therefore not being released or just saying "actually i dont want to come". it also doesnt stop the NRL saying to clubs that they need to release players for the Aus v NZ unsanctioned test matches.

I would guess this is one of the many things they are having a look at at the moment and why a decision is not so straight forward.

I'm not sure if it is about the bodies participating. My understanding was if chosen for a team for a game sanctioned by the IRL then you must release. So if the IRL sanction the indigenous sides then they have to release (same as the other nations). If they dont sanction a Tonga v Italy game (for example) they dont need to release no matter who is putting the game on, that is up to the players to sort out a release etc.

i'm not sure how true that is.. if its an IRL sanctioned I understood that they had to release.. that is unless they all need "surgery" in the post season of course.

TBF that horse has well and truly bolted already!

from my understanding talking to someone in the insurance industry the word "sanctioned" is really important. If the IRL sanction a match then insurance is covered he believes there will be IRL or World Cup insurance that would cover this, but he also said it could be the club they are playing for, therefore they would need to get separate insurance for any "rebel" side that played but that wouldn't be difficult and the RLWC would just need to get it (more money but that could be what is being negotiated with the govt). IF they are not sanctioned then there is an issue for the insurance, so IF there are unsanctioned tests at the end of the season there are more likely to be insurance issues of who covers what than if the RLWC goes ahead. As i say, this is from someone who deals with this type of thing and he is confident insurance is not an issue here as it is a recognised and sanctioned event by the international governing body.

I would say there is a bit of all 3.. if you were running a business and something like this happened (we have had similar this customer orders being cancelled etc) then you look at all the options available to you to work out which is the most feasible. Therefore I am sure they know exactly how much it would cost to take place next year and whether that is actually an option, how much cancelling would cost and also all the options to play again this year. They may just be waiting for some of those facts to be made more clear but also there could be some talks by the RLPA with players to gauge which out of the indigenous teams/rebel teams/invite new teams would be the most likely to succeed and what the players views are on that, knowing now that the players will most likely speak out so better pick the most popular one.

@David Dockhouse Host is that true?? i struggle to watch you tube videos like this at the moment but i'm listening to podcasts on my run in and out of work (and running low). if so will download and have a listen.

Sadly if I were the IOC that is exactly how the conversation would be going.. as it would with any sport where this happened.

Anything we can do to do that is fine with me

Love this bit from the BBC article.... pretty much says it all really and maybe Phil (almighty windbag) Gould would like to have a chat with Christian Welch and get his facts straight "The most telling thing is how the NRL was able to come back from Covid and found an amazing way of state border exemptions but it seems the NRL have just wanted to quit on the World Cup," added Welch.

The way a postponement is talked about its as if they think moving the Olympics was a piece of cake.. forgetting that it meant re arranging athletics world championships and re awarding the next 2 or 3 to cities and moving them around at, what I assume, was great expense especially the ones that should have been this year.. other sports will have had to do similar. But you do it because its the Olympics which, pretty much, beats everything else. It funds so much sport, its where sports funding from governments come from. You do everything to get Olympics on... other sports shift themselves to make way. That is not the same for an rlwc ffs.. the premier league, fifa World Cup etc couldn't give a stuff and won't move without incentive which will be extra cost.. Those thinking it would be easy are wrong, that's why this decision is taking so long.. the govt will help no doubt (if they have to) but its not going to be easy and will need the govt to stump up more cash. Why do that when you've already bent over backwards to make it work NOW, and you want to prove to the world you are open for business and safe? You don't... I hope to god we don't cave.. go ahead, give the aussies and nz one more chance to back track but then open it up to new nations.

I wonder if the general feeling was that they will play this year happily but also if it were to be postponed they would support it.. Therefore no announcement to be made but they would communicate it to the World Cup organising committee so they know that whatever decision they make the PIs will stand with them.. also means they arent cutting off their nose with the NRL.

Its Gould's "we owe them nothing" comment that sticks in the throat.. you may think that but its not us you owe its all the smaller nations, its the international game, its the fact its a world cup! he then goes on with "delay it 12 months, 2 years, there'll always be another world cup".. well actually thats not a given Phil for a start.. equally there may be another world cup but for a player there often isnt.. the majority of international players get one world cup at most its rare that players play in multiple world cups/olympics etc THAT is why they are special... If i were a player with a chance to play, for a large or small nation, and he was saying that i'd be throwing things at the tv or just throwing the tv around.. what an arrogant, self centred ....... (noting John saying about the sweary filter i wont finish the sentence but this is the one time that your point is worth making with a swear word!).

yep would love a "sit down and shut up" come back from someone with a massive pedigree

totally... and a bit fed up as gould just talked over him and basically told him he was talking rubbish even though he was simply giving his opinion of what he would have done!

And yet some of them are openly saying this which tends to go against what Gould is saying, in fact it contradicts him completely.. I've said it a few times and i;m sure i will say it some more as each time he opens his mouth it just reinforces it but he is just a big bag of wind and the less we hear from him the better.

you could tell by the made up facts from gould.. claiming players were interviewed when the players are all coming out and saying "no we werent" and the RLPA saying there was no consultation... He then says that players are saying they want to play just because they dont want to risk not being picked next time round or being bagged (i assume he means by people like him).. yet surely if the ARLC are saying "you cant go" then they are risking more by going against that than they are by towing the line and admitting they were asked!