Jim from Oz
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Posts posted by Jim from Oz
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As we all know, rugby league never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity!
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1 hour ago, Adelaide Tiger said:
Foxtel usually show all the England internationals. If not use a VPN and watch the game either live or on delay the following day.
Okay but as a 59-year-old semi-Luddite, I’m not really quite sure how to do this!
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Hopefully this will be shown in Australia, at the very least on pay TV and streaming services, Fox and Kayo
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56 minutes ago, gingerjon said:
It would probably be helpful for anyone commenting to actually spend a bit of time looking over the amusingly catastrophic recent history of rugby union in the USA.
Could you expand on this? Cheers
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It doesn’t help matters when Nine shows no interest in televising/ purchasing the rights for the RLWC, as has happened since the 2008 RLWC … it means all during the 2013, 2017 and 2022 NRL seasons there was virtually NO mention/discussion/promotion of the respective upcoming RLWCs
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12 hours ago, Odsal Outlaw said:
Interesting this article also states that in 2024 Australia and Fiji will cohost the tournament
I am guessing this means Australia will host the Pacific cup and Fiji will host the Pacific shield… The Pacific cup will be Australia, New Zealand and Tonga, the Pacific shield will be Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Cook Islands… With Samoa to tour the UK… All of the above is pure speculation of course!
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10 minutes ago, The Rocket said:
I`m taking the $25 million comment with a very large grain of salt as well, the use of the word `reportedly` probably sums it up. What does appear to be fact though is the Federal Gov`t tipping in $5.5m to invest in junior pathways, this would be much more in line with a team coming in in the future.
I have to admit I`m confused as to why we continue to read P.N.G. as being the 18th team frontrunner, the only justification I can think of is a) the Federal Gov`t wanting to continue to curry favour with the P.N. G. Gov`t, and b) V`landy`s continuing to apply pressure on the West Australians to up their bid.
I think it is all about warding off Chinese government influence in Papua New Guinea.
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Another important part of the plan (haha) should be consistent years for the RL World Cup: for example 2013, 2017, 2021, 2025, 2029 and so on… But, of course, this being rugby league, the years for the rugby league World Cup are changing yet again; we’re now in another four-year cycle yet again, this time in the same four-year cycle as the FIFA Men’s World Cup … Just so idiotically rugby league!!!
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19 minutes ago, Dave T said:
Again, if we go back to root cause, it is lack of strategy, planning and real development that is the crux of the issue here.
We just increased the number of teams without driving up standards. What real benefits have we had from spreading ourselves too thin too quickly? I'm not one who dismisses the lower ranked teams, I really enjoy watching these nations in World Cups, but in reality if we are really harsh, it is tough to make a strategic rationale for having them in.
We are trying to replicate Football and Union too much, and I do think we should be forming our own strategy that meets our unique needs, accepting that there is plenty we can learn from those sports.
I've supported Scotland RL for years now, but in reality they bring very little to the table. Next to no RL is played there, no player development pathway, no sponsors, no tv deals, no commercial value. It is difficult to argue with the point that we are increasing costs but not the benefits.
A huge challe he we have in our sport is that we have very few nations who can be the lead host for a World Cup - probably three in England, Australia and NZ at a push. But even these three struggle to make a 14/16 team tournament work, so we have zero chance of another nation stepping in - as we've Seend with two collapsed WC's.
I think 10 is a rubbish number, but we can't really argue that both times we have moved to 16 it has been a struggle - one almost bankrupted the RFL and the other underwhelming.
There is a balance to be had here, I think they've gone too far, but building on sand foundations will always lead to stuff like this.
Yep, excellent summation Dave T …
For what it's worth I reckon we should (since the 2008 RLWC) have moved to a 12-team RLWC from then on, featuring 3 groups of 4 (with the top two of each group plus 2 best third-placers going through to the Q/Fs).
Build that up and then, when/if other quality nations emerge (through, say, sustained and planned IRL funding/support/promotion etc), slowly increase to a 14-team RLWC … and eventually, maybe 20 years' hence, to a 16-team RLWC.
The lesson is always: don't run before you can walk!-
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"“We’ve built it from a tuck shop operation, where we once used spreadsheets and some members were in it for themselves, and took money from the organisation rather than putting it back into the sport, to what it is now."
That is an extraordinary libellous and defamatory accusation, presented without evidence …-
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18 hours ago, Damien said:
There is nothing ideal about having odd group sizes.
Precisely … we could have had a RLWC of 12, with 3 groups of 4, then also still had quarter-finals.
I can just see RLWC 2026 being a supergroup of 4 and 2 x 3 just like RLWC 2008 … totally bogus.-
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9 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:
They can always kick it further done the road to 2031, if the NRL decides they don't want to clash with the soccer World Cup...
Yes but then it clashes with the rugby union World Cup!!!
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It's a mixed bag, a C- I'd say.
PROS: 1) we (sort of) have a 6.5 year calendar (but with lots of gaps!!).
NEUTRALS: 1) A 10-team RLWC is of course a backward step but may work well if it's 2 x 5, then semi-finals.
2) Good to have the Ashes back – insane that it's been 20 years since the last Ashes tournament – but it needs to be in a set schedule, ie every 2 years or 4 years, so that it "fits" with the RLWC schedule AND is easy for fans to remember so they can plan their footy overseas trips well into the future (as it used to be when we had Ashes every two years, as in once every 4 years in Oz and once every 4 years in the UK).
CONS: 1) A RWLC with a 4, 3 and 3 format with a supergroup is a shocking retreat.2) No actual RLWC qualifiers is a downer.
3) Pushing back the next RLWC tournament to 2026 is understandable with the short lead in but why must we then continue in that 4-year cycle [as in 2026, 2030, 2034 etc]?!?! This is the same yearly cycle as the soccer WC, which is exactly what we want to avoid !!! The following RLWC should be in 2029 and every 4 years after that so we avoid the various cycles of the soccer WC, the Olympics and the RUWC.4) Some people are commenting that the standalone Women's RLWC for 2028 is to be applauded … okay, agreed, BUT what about Troy Grant/the IRL etc constantly telling us for the past couple of years that having the Men's, Women's and Wheelchair RLWC all together was "this incredible selling point"?!?! We have now gutted this great selling point!
5) No actual detail in this 6.5 year calendar! Are France touring Oz in 2024? Are Samoa touring the UK in 2025? Will there be regular (every 4 years) Pacific Cups? European Cups? What about the Americas? MEAA Region? Up-and-coming Euro nations? Wales, Scotland and Ireland? Eastern Europe?
6) Cancelling the World 9s. 9s are potentially a great way to introduce up-and-coming nations into the international RL scene. And the footy displayed in the one tournament held (in Sydney in 2019, and poorly promoted as usual) was fantastic; one RL-loving mate of mine who'd never seen it said to me after watching it: "I've seen the future of RL, and it is 9s." Now, after one attempt at it, it's just dismissed.
SUMMARY: I will be hugely surprised if this 6.5 calendar goes as currently ":planned".
It is all so totally rugby league.
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So, I have been trawling the interweb to try to find ANY news from today’s IRL meeting in Singapore but so far … nothing.
The IRL are more secretive with real information than the old Soviet Politburo!
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Quite a way down in this story is mention again + a few details of the Tri-Series between Australia, NZ and Samoa at the end of the season.
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Just now, Gomersall said:
No surprise Jim. The head of the NRL sees himself as de facto leader of the game as a whole so will want to be there to tell the rest of us what’s going to happen.
True!!!
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The Sydney morning Herald in a very small piece reported yesterday that both Peter V’Landys and Andrew Abdo are attending… Which quite surprised me!
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There was actually a NEW story about Las Vegas in the SMH today:
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On 19/07/2023 at 05:56, Gomersall said:
Are the FRAYSSINOUS and BANQUET lads the sons of the former players, Laurent and Freddy?
Any other sons of people we know ??
Merci !
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8 hours ago, The Future is League said:
A story 6 weeks old, and precious little since … how very rugby league. LOL
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At least with the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Victoria today being cancelled, I almost don't feel as bad now about the 2021 RLWC postponement and any (further!) cancellation/postponement of the 2025 RLWC !!!
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Henson Park in inner-Sydney’s Marrickville is another beauty. Newtown Jets still play there
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As a totally biased North Sydney Bears fan, enjoying the winter sunshine while sitting on the hill at North Sydney Oval back in the day was truly magnificent.
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Month long French road trip.
in The General Rugby League Forum
Posted
I was planning a road (well, train, really) trip like this for 2025 RLWC … sigh