Pulga

I don't think Brazil are as strong as Chile. We'll have to see though. Chile beat Philippines who pumped Brazil. The problem is in qualifiers there are more strict quotas. It doesn't really matter how many first grade players you have.

Brazil may not even make the Americas Championship. Malta would be way ahead of Netherlands Lebanon and South Africa way stronger than Nigeria.

The rules are actually much more strict in the qualifiers than in the actual WC. Some qualifying tournaments you're only allowed two or four.

One team played one game I believe and forfeited the rest. You're also supposed to have evidence of junior development. USA, Italy and Scotland shouldn't be anywhere near the WC. It's a bit of a farce really.

The USA don't really meet minimum requirements for affiliate membership. I can't see how they should be allowed to qualify. Also the CDM2025 website has just been launched: https://www.france2025.com/fr/

Interesting.

That's already over and hasn't seemed to do anything. The original California RL seemed to be working towards integration into the USARL. Not sure that's still happening. They seemed to have rebranded as Championship Rugby League and have a 9s tournament at the moment with quite a few teams. Then there is the newer break-away.

There seems to be a new Toronto team starting up: Toronto City Saints. As far as the NARL decimating the USARL, I want to know how the USA plan to enter RLWC2025 qualifications if they don't meet the minimum standards anymore.

Yeah, maybe it wasn't half time... They were up by two until the 18th minute though

Probably not. I was at the last Semi when Fiji went into half time 2 - 0 against Australia. Stranger things have happened.

Let's face it: the draw has been rigged for England.

Agree. But traditionally it hasn't ever gotten much media traction. Hope that changes. A quarter final exit would probably get chins wagging.

A quarter final exit would get some scrutiny I think. It's hard to say because how weak the intl game is.

As an Aussie, I'd love to see the Kangaroos absolutely slaughtered. They need the wake-up call.

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.