Pulga

Qld has been doing this for a few years already. I guess we were trialling it. My daughter actually played tackle at u6 in 2019, pre-season in 2020 of u7 non-contact when it was changed where the season was cancelled because of COVID, back to contact the last two years in u8s and 9s. It's not a bad thing to introduce tackling from half of u7s.

It'll be interesting to see if Parramatta get relegated next year as a Category B club.

Make sure you get to as many games as you can next year mate. You may not see Leigh in the top flight for at least 12 years after 2023.

Is P&R a level playing field? Leigh have bought the Championship this year. Is that fair? If clubs don't spend to the cap then it can't be. Is it not weird how spread out the NRL premierships are and how condensed they are in Super League?

Yes, the 13 year head start in England has really added to these feelings of nostalgia.... If teams don't want to merge then that's fine. Stay a category C team.

If 8k is your version of some kind of goal then I think you're on the wrong bus.

Sure did. And now the NRL is the biggest domestic league of either rugby code in the world who will see the richest club admitted as a new member next year while Super League gets to look forward to a yo-yo in Leigh.

I'm not sure what the problem is. Geography will come into it. Of course it will be a concern for the smaller of the clubs clustered together. You simply can't have 2 or 3 clubs within a stone's throw. It just doesn't make sense. I think some clubs will come to the conclusion that they'll have to merge or miss out by themselves.

It all sounds extremely reasonable and not very controversial at all despite the response from the usuals. P&R is a quaint framework that, to me, isn't much different to the old Rah Rah view of amateurism. "If you're good enough on the field you deserve to be in the top flight" is such a strange view from a bygone era. The results are really the tip of the iceberg. The business is the main part of the club. It's 2022. It is an entertainment business, the same as WWE wrestling, soccer, darts and Netflix. We're in direct competition with anything else that people spend time and money on. EuroLeague Basketball has just re-signed with IMG after their initial partnership of 10 years. What does that tell you? Look at the stats they're quoting. https://sbcnews.co.uk/sportsbook/2022/03/30/img-arena-and-euroleague-basketball-extend-long-standing-collaboration/

Our game was literally founded because people disagreed on some BS notion of what sport should "be about". It's 2022.

Man, I will be asleep. I'm going to miss the show.

I think it's more "why bother playing against SL clubs with a geographical spread of the average dining room table?". The NRL has done far and away more for spreading the game than England has. The rise of Tonga, PNG, Fiji and Samoa is off the back of the NRL. England still scoffs at playing France...

There has been political unrest in PNG recently. I think more than a few people don't realise how dangerous PNG is. I know people that have gone there for work. They get shuttled from their work and back to accommodation and under 24hr security.