Damien

The cycle was chosen for very specific reason, as you say, and to avoid other major competition cycles. Again this was widely spoke of when we decided that the next world cup after 2008 would be in 2013. Its another part of a 16 year strategy that the NRL have torn up for no reason .

Again this statement seems very NRL centric. The growth will be in terms of player supply to the NRL and the growth of the NRL brand in the Pacific. Internationally we've wasted what could have been huge growth in the Pacific since 2017, and indeed let RU fight back in the process, when it was ripe for the taking. Any growth for the NRL is all very good and with spin offs for the international game as a by product, if they are ever allowed to play internationals. However the World Cup should be bigger than that. As you allude to any growth in the Pacific, and we know by that they really just mean Oceania, will be very limited. We aren't talking about Japan, Indonesia and the Phillipines here.

RIP. Bill was obviously a huge fan of the game and was very knowledgeable about the sport.

10 is just an awful number, I think everyone agrees on that. On the wider approach then if this change was part of a strategy I'd buy it more but its plainly not. It is contradictory to every statement that has been since 2008 when it comes to the World Cup and building to 16 teams. The push has been to be bigger and better and to get to that number. The Aussies were happy with this approach as recently as when they were pushing France to be hosts. They soon changed their tune when they saw the chance to put everyone in their place and takeoever. Then of course the toothless IRL and the NRL stooge in Troy Grant did a complete about-face overnight. Sure I'm on board with countries like Scotland and Ireland no longer being eligible if we are going for a more stringent approach to drive domestic development. I've become more and more frustrated at what I've seen with this so am sympathetic to the run before we can walk view but I don't think going backwards is the answer either. However if we are doing this then let's kick out Lebanon too, not just have them because they have loads of Aussies so are nice and cheap. And this is the trouble there is zero strategy and its all literally just being done in the whim of the Aussies and what's easy and cheap.

There has been plenty of time since France cancelled and we have had World Cups held with less lead in time than that. We all knew this would be in Australia, or primarily in Australia. The infrastructure is there, the grounds are there. The players are largely there and we will probably have 8 out of 10 teams that are largely there. Its also the major sport in half of Australia. I just don't buy that this approach was needed, that it needed to be put back until 2026, or that time was an issue. As is we've already wasted well over a year since the France cancellation. Its all just the NRL doing as they please and paying lip service to the international game.

I know they've played games there in the past but it never seems that popular as a venue and fans always seem against it. It's not really the heartland of RL and obviously it's associated with RU. It's too big really at 50k and is really poor for Rugby, its one of those shocking rebuilds that just seemed like a huge waste of money and pleased no one. It would be easy to add another 5k to Mount Smart too if they wanted. I think 30k is probably a decent size to still keep a good atmosphere and satisfy extra demand.

It does show how NRL centric this all is and how RLWC2026 is just the easy option. The likes of Scotland and Ireland were rightly stripped of full IRL membership and barred from the World Cup. However we still have a qualification spot likely to go to the Cook Islands, who I doubt meet the full membership criteria. We also already have 6 Oceanian teams. Then Lebanon who don't meet the criteria for full membership either and are all Australian based. So pretty much 8 teams will be NRL Oceania/heritage type teams. Way too many for what should be a World Cup.

As two of the more genuine RL nations I still don't think either nation should be excluded though with no chance of qualifying. Only 2 spots up for grabs in a 10 team World Cup is a joke. When the World Cup format changed then so should the 8 team automatic qualification process, which was based on having 16 teams.

France have to be in pole position but stranger things have happened than them to #### it up and Wales to beat them.

Still seem to be holding up very well anyway, indeed they couldn't be better with 8 out of 8 sellout so far.

Unbelievable, it would be incredible if the Warriors could sellout every home game: With a perfect eight from eight sellouts so far, the One New Zealand Warriors are just two games away from an unprecedented grand slam of sold-out games at Go Media Stadium this season. Friday night’s 21st-round encounter with the Wests Tigers was confirmed as a sellout a week before the game. The Warriors have only two regular season homes left after this against Parramatta next Friday (August 2) and Canterbury Bankstown on Friday, August 23. Tickets have been selling fast for both games giving the Warriors a chance of achieving an NRL first by selling out every home game of a campaign. https://www.warriors.kiwi/news/2024/07/25/closing-in-on-10-out-of-10/#:~:text=With all tickets gone for,games have been sold out.

I think PNG are hosts because it's good for them and the World Cup, as was the case in 2017. The games in PNG were unmissable with their atmosphere. I'm sure it would be happening anyway without any NRL bid.

You don't need to though. Everyone knows there's a transfer thread and the Bateman story is literally the last few posts on it.

Most RL fans know and understand this, it is blatantly obvious.

It's really not the best of a bad situation though. It's the bare minimum and the easiest and cheapest option.

What a depressing read that is, it just reeks of taking the easy option and doing the bare minimum.

Surely it's not just me who isn't shocked at this in the slightest? Surely anyone with a bit of wit would know that getting horses to prance about like they do for dressage is going to involve punishing horses like this. It involves posh people though so its ignored, unless there is a video like this of course.

Adam Hills:

I think 2008 was good and revitalised the concept again after the 2000 disaster and it felt like a step in the right direction. I could certainly accept the view though that it was just what we should consider as par for the biggest RL nation. 2013 was an improvement again. 2017 though was very average with little effort and I was really expecting it to be better again to continue that upward trajectory. It was though just a real token effort that was only saved by the crowds and atmosphere in PNG and at Tonga games in NZ. I fear 2026 will be the same.

If only this was posted on the transfer thread yesterday

Well that's a shock

Yeah, people aren't daft and know the difference. In my experience people who like RL generally want England to do well and watch them as they are 'their' players, for want of a better word, and SL is the competition they follow. As you say GB doesn't kid anyone, people know it's just England by another name.