londonrlfan

Yet it's far worse in Japan atm and no one has any issues going to the Olympics.

Yep true and we don't know if stadiums will even be available.

Do people really believe the covid excuse?

Yeah Origin and Internationals are the only thing they have over the AFL. Now they want to remove international competition, SoO will be all they have left.

How much would it cost to move it a year? If they bottle it and postpone it, the NRL should foot the bill.

Therein lies the problem. It's not that Australia can't be beaten, it's that England can't beat them. NZ/Tonga can definitely beat Australia, it's not the foregone conclusion that Australia will win that the media think.

I said after Tonga beat Australia that it'd be a bad thing for International RL, as it would mean the Aussies would hide from playing more internationals if they're getting beat. And now look!

But no one refused to watch it.

It's not a foregone conclusion. The fear of losing to Tonga is there. If it was a foregone conclusion, you can bet the Aussies would turn up.

If that's the case, just call them Aus/NZ. But if they're not bothering to enter, why would they send an invitational team? RL needs to grow some balls and stand up to them. Plus it would be great to have a new Champion.

Yet Queensland won ten in a row and I don't remember any Aussies saying they should get rid of Origin?

Exactly why they should be replaced with other countries. They had their chance and disrespected the competition. The players can always switch if they want to play.

It's because they're afraid of losing to Tonga.

Because the WC is for countries. Having the "Indigenous All Stars" win the World Cup would make RL look amateur and open to ridicule.

That would be a disaster, and embarrassing if either were to win. Replace them with USA/Serbia. But one of them will bottle and we'll either postpone it (hopefully not) or Aus/NZ will change their mind.

Wouldn't the likes of Tonga and Samoa get stronger as players will switch to them in the hope of playing at WC? Could even invite Serbia and have Trbojevic and Cotric representing them.

Plus if England don't win it now, we never will!

The last thing we need to do is cave into their demands, otherwise we're confirming the NRL are bigger than the sport. Continue on without them, show we can still hold big events without them present.

All we'll hear is "but they didn't beat Australia or NZ, so they're not the real world champions".

Tonga have beaten Australia, NZ and GB recently, so there's a likelihood they will win it. The shame of Tonga beating them to the WC would be too much for their egos. If they were heavy favourites to win it, they wouldn't have pulled out.

Is it not just that the Aussies are afraid of Tonga? Too scared to lose to them fair and square again? This way they can pretend they're still the top dogs.

Hearts and Rangers in Div 1, whilst Celtic stroll to another title...

Ha, some of those names in the squad there.