Copa

I never suggested any of that at all. I was merely correcting someone’s misinformed view regarding PNG. The main domestic competition in PNG is anything but amateur. Even the PNG team in the QLD Cup has complained about their players being poached by bigger spending clubs in PNG’s domestic competition ( https://www.postcourier.com.pg/hunters-bound-by-salary-cap/ ). The Sepik Pride had 50,000 Kina sign on bonuses for some players in 2023. That’s around £9500. ( https://www.thenational.com.pg/pride-sign-kumul-duo/ )That goes a long way in PNG.

You’re overlooking the PNG domestic rugby league scene with that comment.

It means the 3rd match sells out early and sends demand to the other two matches.

It’s interesting that the second match will be on at the same time as the wallabies v England match. The rugby league match will kick off slightly earlier.

Back in the day in Australia they’d sometimes interview a player while they were showering.

It’s all wild speculation based upon rumours. In Feb last year a Sydney newspaper reported that the NRL had begun investigating buying SL (NRL mulls plan to buy SL Feb 2024 ) V’landys has also said some vague things recently saying the NRL would consider looking at the SL if approached. So … whatever the actual details are, something has been bubbling along in the background for it to not go away.

True. However there has been links between RL in Australia and the UK for a very long time. They meet, they work together, they socialise, they move between hemispheres etc. I suspect they are quite familiar with each other’s market.

They won’t get torn to shreds if any deal with SL results in an increase in income. V’landys and Abdo do things that bring a return on investment. There’s clearly some big unknowns regarding potential deals and plans. We will all know soon enough I guess.

Whatever they do, it will probably result in a decrease in matches played by SL clubs. The NRL players want fewer games to protect their health.

If the NRL goes ahead with the plan being discussed on this thread they aren’t going to pay with glass beads. They’ve clearly got access to money, or money has been promised, if they want to implement this type of plan.

It’s getting interesting now! If this happens I can easily imagine V’landys increasing payments to participating clubs and a salary cap increase. That will attract the best players from the excluded clubs. If true, it’s all a massive gamble that could cause untold damage to the UK game if it goes wrong. V’landys has an extremely driven personality and has overseen lots of success for both organisations he runs. He’s also the chief executive of Racing NSW (horse racing etc). So he runs two major organisations at the same time. Andrew Abdo is an amazing talent too. The V’landys/Abdo double act is quite formidable. I do sometimes worry how things will be managed should this team ever leave rugby league.

This makes me worry that it’s not going to be good news at all.

Interesting stuff from Carney. I also have absolutely no idea what he could be hinting at.

Her profile says last visited - March 20, 2023 and her location is Melbourne.

It’s a strange experience… over the few decades I’ve been on here I’ve grown as a human being, my family has grown, some of my friends have died or gotten seriously ill, others have flourished, my physical neighbourhood has changed and grown, I’ve travelled a lot, worked heaps etc ….. and this forum has remained a constant all through those decades. Like all good things it may well come to an end one day and that day will be an interesting day for me indeed.

I enjoyed the brief lunacy of mwn and his passion for dirt hill stadiums and other things. All expressed through long crazy posts.

4 May 2004 apparently. Goodness. That’s over 2 decades.

I was there and the crowd loved him.

I watched the interview. It doesn’t sound like a V’landys initiated idea but one that was brought to him. He then just said very general words about wanting the SL to be strong and that he’d consider the options. All vague with nothing concrete.

V’landys just said during a TV interview on NRL 360 that they made a small return on the Vegas event this year. He didn’t say how much though. I also love how he referred to the AFL.. he said “FLA or whatever they’re called”. He then went on to say there’s no “FLA” in Papua New Guinea. He doesn’t lose a chance to wind them up.

My wife is English and I’ve spent quite a bit of time in England. The soccer pyramid and the interconnectedness of it all is amazing. I’ve been to matches in England right near the bottom of the pyramid in front of 500 people and 100 of those might be people who have traveled from some small welsh town. Lots of people singing and drinking even with a small crowd. I’ve also attended matches at the top of the English soccer pyramid and seen all the away fan coaches at road side amenities. Soccer is the roots, trunk, branches and fruit in many places. Rugby league in Australia only has pockets where the obsession is at the same dominating level that seeps down through everything. AFL can have it in places too and probably more so than in RL land. One significant difference though is sport in general seems to have a higher profile in Australia which doesn’t seem to make sense considering what I have written above. When a major club soccer match is on in England the mainstream media coverage doesn’t appear at the same scale at all compared to what we get in Australia (in NRL-land anyway) when a major rugby league match is happening. I’m not sure why that’s the case but it really stands out. Perhaps it’s because we have much more free to air sports coverage in Australia or it’s because we demand more sports news… I dunno.. I can only speculate.

If it’s club chairmen trying to convince the NRL, there’s a good chance it will be like a used car salesman trying to convince a high level investor that they have a good money making idea. They’ll be humoured and most likely knocked back.

How dare you use () around ACT!

If it’s something proposed by club bosses then I wonder if it’s simply about getting feeder clubs? I suspect something created and developed by the NRL itself would have a harder business edge to it than anything club bosses develop.

As long as the heritage players don't take over, this could help improve skill levels across the team.