Jim from Oz

Yep, this from the same mob who cancelled Australia’s participation in the 2021 rugby league World Cup with 10 minutes notice given to the organisers etc …. Grrrr Still, at least now they have recognised somewhat that the international game has value… And the Pacific Championships have certainly been much better organised and promoted this year than last year

Later on in the article it has RLPA Boss Clint Newton saying they are looking at a 22-game regular season… Which is a strange number of games to play when there are 20 teams. in the old days of the NSWRL and ARL, however, it was often a 22 game regular season, either with 12 teams or 16 teams

For those who can't see behind the pay wall: NRL chief Andrew Abdo says the prospect of Sydney’s strongest-selling Kangaroos Test in more than 30 years has reinforced the NRL’s expansion bids to create a shorter season and a permanent calendar window for international rugby league. A 30,000-strong, sold-out Commbank Stadium is on the cards for Sunday’s Pacific Championships final between Australia and Tonga, given strong ticket sales and an impressive fan turn-out for the island nation in recent years. The Kangaroos have rarely played in Sydney (their last Harbour City outing was a 2017 World Cup pool game against Lebanon at Allianz Stadium), partly due to fears of underwhelming crowds for late season internationals. Not since the 1992 Ashes, when 40,141 fans packed into the old Sydney Football Stadium and only a few hundred tickets went unsold, has a Kangaroos Test sold as well as this weekend’s four-game fixture. The Pacific Championships’ strong attendances have come despite the fact that numerous players missed the tournament through injury and burnout fears. The NRL and the RLPA are aligned in pursuing a shortened regular season. Abdo said ongoing expansion talks and a 20-team NRL competition would allow for a shorter season to be taken into the next broadcast negotiations for 2027 and beyond and that greater emphasis could be placed on the international game. “We sold five or six thousand tickets [for Sunday’s finals] on Saturday alone and that shows the fans are really keen on this format and the international footy,” Abdo told this masthead. “There’s Australia against Tonga but we’ve got four games next Sunday and we’ve sold around 20,000 tickets already. We’re expecting to get up into the high 20,000s and if all goes well, we could have a sell-out, which would be fantastic again for the international game. “If and when expansion is approved by the ARL Commission, quality over quantity is so important when thinking about the season structure. “Of course, additional teams in the premiership give us extra options when we think about the design of the year and how everything fits together. etc

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/why-sydney-s-first-test-sell-out-in-30-years-ramps-up-nrl-expansion-heat-20241103-p5kngr.html

A News Corpse report today says 6000 tickets were sold within hours of Tonga's win over New Zealand in Auckland on Saturday night …

The player who scored looked offside to me !

I thought almost every ticket was sold for this game?

Attendance: 22,363

Did anyone catch the attendance?

Absolute game of the season for me, how good is international rugby league!

Yes, he was quite dynamic in the second half, that’s for sure! I think I will retire now as a pundit!

The young Kiwi fullback is an exciting prospect, but he is just too small! Maybe they could move him to the wing, and bring CNK to fullback? CNK should NOT be at #6 !

Tonga looking very good at the start, 8-0 after 12 minutes, crowd looks about 75% for Tonga, and the ground looks about 85% full

If the Ashes tour of the UK is on, and at the same time the RLWC Men's Qualifying World Series (South Africa, Jamaica, Cook Islands and France) is on in France at (roughly) the same time, would make it attractive for Aussie RL fans to go on a supporters' tour to Europe to (hopefully) watch both series …