UTK

One of the more gutting outcomes of the France WC failure was elimination of the Youth World Cup. Though admittedly an ambitious proposition, such a tournament would promote crucial exposure to professional pathways for all tier 2 nations involved and form a strong incentive for domestic participants. At the junior level the performance disparity between nations is at its lowest - France and Wales have both beaten England Academy, England have beaten Australia and France/PNG have both managed competitive outings against Australia, even in the U19 Euros we saw Ukraine manage to upset Ireland. There are ways the tournament could be structured to ensure competitive games between all nations while also guaranteeing matches between the top nations.

Think that's a pretty accurate prediction, Sylvester Namo did his ACL mid-season so will be unavailable - probably replaced by the likes of Emmanuel Waine, Junior Rop, Cruise Ten or Jeremiah Simbiken.

This is a prevailing perception that doesn't help that cause, most England crowds are helpfully propped up by the fact that nearly 5% of our population or 1.2 million people were born in the UK so there is a large diaspora to tap into. Add the fact that it has now been 17 years since England/GB beat Australia and you now have an entire generation that has grown up without England as a genuine threat to Australia (or at least perceived as a threat), but has now observed Tonga beat Australia and Samoa beat England. Results are the only way of arresting the decline in interest.

Yes, they've been on relatively level footing for some time now but the major results from both Tonga and Samoa in recent times has developed the cult following of these nations here significantly. Tonga is hard to account for in Australia as they overwhelmingly play in NZ because they're generally guaranteed 25-30k there, the exception to this being when GB toured and their matchup landed a sub-10k crowd. The only real comparison to make in Australia is between the 2017 and 2018 "Pacific Tests" held at Campbelltown - the 2017 edition which England participated in was a triple-header compared to the double-header of 2018 and only had a crowd 400 greater than the 2018 edition. Both were basically sold out so not much to go on here anyway, but keep in mind this occurred before Tonga beat the Kangaroos for the first time. The extent to which Samoa would outdraw England is contestable because they haven't played in Australia post-2022 WC, the widespread public support here for Samoa was fairly unprecedented for International RL this century. Nonetheless even back to the 2014 4 Nations, Samoa and England drew comparitively for their games v Australia (Samoa 18k in Wollongong, England 20k in Melbourne) and NZ (Samoa 17k in Whangarei, England 16k in Dunedin). Hard to compare in the 2017 WC due to capacity differences yet Samoa sold out their QF v Australia with 13k, while England got 22k for the opener. England got 10k for PNG in the 2017 WC while Samoa got 8k in the 2019 Oceanic Cup. Again, hard to test post-WC Samoa as of yet but the Pacific Championships this year will provide some insight.

Junior Kumuls were an u20s selection, but I believe there were only 5 that were true u20s and the rest were u19s and below. Lineup and affiliated teams are listed below, 3 Australian-based players involved. 1. Ragarive Wavik (North Queensland Cowboys) 2. Alton Naiyep (Manly Sea Eagles) 3. Sam Stephenson (Gold Coast Titans) 4. Kevin Yako (Enga Mioks) 5. Anda Endaso (Hela Wigmen) 6. Gairo Voro (Central Dabaris) 7. Felix Beki (Highlands Zone) 8. Raynolds Tai (Unitech) 9. Finlay Glare (Lae Tigers) 10. Gregan Format (Northern Zone) 11. Limbi Henry (Enga Mioks) 12. Sampson Waliling (NGI Zone) 13. Smith Pamundi (Northern Zone) 14. Maya Tusa (Enga Mioks) 15. Norman Akunai (Southern Zone) 16. Gabriel Kaupa (Southern Zone) 17. Bruce Bawave (Southern Zone) 18. Makas Richard (Enga Mioks) That Australian Schoolboys team is also pretty much correct, can't find a final team list for them but I do know it's overwhelmingly the same side outside of a replacement or two based on injury/other unavailability between the initial selection and now. In the last 12 months we've had the inaugural Australian Schoolboys/girls tour of Fiji, Tonga Schoolboys (u16s) inaugural tour of Australia and now this junior clash with PNG. Lots of proactive activity to support the junior domestic development of the Pacific Nations in a short timespan, something that has been sorely needed in the region and is now being fulfilled.

Yeah I thought that Johnson comment was quite funny, but to be fair to him he's had a poor run with injury historically and at 33 the body is unlikely to improve so I get why he's doing it now. Kiwis don't lose too much as long as Jahrome Hughes is fit. Would be nice if Tohu Harris reneged on his unofficial International retirement but given his body has broken down every second week this season I can't see it happening.

Tariq Sims to Catalans. Lots of moving pieces at the Dragons for 2024, having only replaced 2 quota players I'm assuming there'll be more movement to come. Losses: Sam Tomkins (Retiring) Mitchell Pearce (Retiring) Tyrone May (Hull KR) Tiaki Chan (Wigan) Sio Siua Taukeiaho (Bulldogs) Mickael Goudemand (Leeds) Adam Keighran (Wigan) Matt Whitley (Unconfirmed - St Helens) Gains: Theo Fages (Huddersfield) Tariq Sims (Melbourne) Chris Satae (Hull FC)

While I broadly disagree with the reasoning behind Gould's approach here I think it's pretty clear it does involve England. There was no real reason to bring the Ashes back to Australia in 2025, to be honest it seems like quite a bizarre decision. I would entirely understand doing it in England, but in the Pacific region you have NZ, Tonga and Samoa that are all now on a competitive level with Australia and each of those 3 Nations are far bigger drawcards for fans in the region. If England wasn't a key part of the "plan" that series would not be happening.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2023/09/26/junior-kumuls-v-australian-schoolboys/ Highlights of the Junior Kumuls v Australian Schoolboys fixture for those interested.

Ultimately the only real way to get an emerging side like Serbia closer to a team like France is to get their players playing professionally, or semi-professionally. When they're a fully amateur side from the domestic league coming up against a country like France with a strong RL history and players that have been in Catalans/Toulouse/Elite One development systems they stand no chance.

Fulltime score: France win 76-10

Interesting insight that I've never really seen investigated before. The Digicel sponsorship of the Kumuls and Orchids from 2022-2024 is worth the equivalent of $1 Million AUD per year. Current Australian Government is believed to be committed to pledging $20 Million AUD a year to a PNG NRL bid for 10 years if they were to be admitted in the NRL. Somewhat a drop in the ocean considering the $600 Million in foreign aid currently committed to PNG, especially considering the political capital involved. Granted - the historical volatility of Australian government adds a significant caveat to that funding. Financially the PNG bid could be done in the right circumstances. Unfortunately despite their performances discussed in this thread over the weekend they are probably at least a decade off having the player production systems required to make it happen properly.

Today the Australian Schoolboys (u18s) defeated the Junior Kumuls (u20s) with the score finishing 20-16, while the Australian Schoolgirls defeated the Junior Orchids 26-0. Demonstrates the level of talent coming out of PNG despite the lack of a junior representative team associated with the professional Hunters side, I believe there were only 3 Junior Kumuls associated with NRL sides and playing in Australian systems with the rest coming from local junior competitions. Some effort despite the age gap considering pretty much every one of those Australian schoolboys would've been in NRL development systems for the past 5 years, playing junior origin representative matches and such.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2023/09/24/nrl-announce-nominees-for-2023-dally-m-awards/ Farnworth and Young confirmed to be among the 6 nominees for Dally M winger and centre of the year respectively. Dom also in the top 3 for try of the year.

I was very critical of the Dolphins initial recruitment for season 2023, even though it was undoubtedly a tough job in their inability to land a major star was concerning. Despite their performance this season it did become evident that they had landed a few gems, namely Tom Gilbert (not one that I'd doubted but nonetheless), Jeremy Marshall-King, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and potentially most importantly Isaiya Katoa. Within those players was a nucleus that the side can build around from 2024 onward, however they've since gone out and recruited much better for the 2024 season. Farnworth, Flegler (another team member that has starred for the Broncs this season) and Averillo are 3 quality players that each improve positions the Dolphins particularly struggled with this year. Add another season for their youngsters like Isaiya Katoa and I think they'll be a genuine improver next season. No doubt a downgrade on the Broncos but by all reports Herbie didn't believe the offer he received was a fair price for his services so it would've been a difficult choice to make. Certainly think long-term there were worse choices for him to make though.

Herbie Farnworth really is something else isn't he. Obviously the likes of Walsh, Haas and Carrigan are the most commonly lauded in this Broncos side but Herbie is in that same category when it comes to the centre position. IMO Farnworth gets selected in every RL side in the World at centre, and that includes the Kangaroos.

There were 12 players that played Origin this season in that PMXIII side, most of the PNG full-strength side weren't involved either. Some result all things considered.

Of Samoan and Torres Straight Islander descent on his Father and Mothers sides respectively. Born and raised in Cairns, Queensland.

The present allegiance-changing laws are a necessity of an International game that is in its competitive infancy, in order to maximise the eligibility of talent across competing nations. Until a consistent calendar is observed that offers equality in the amount of fixtures available and to a certain degree financial opportunities available to those players then such flexibility is required to avoid the impacts of a highly-prejudiced eligibility decision. Until such a status quo is reached then the current laws provide infinitely more value in achieving goals for International RL than the negative perceptions that would appear to harm the sport's credibility. In the particular case of Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow I would struggle to find his 'defection' overly offensive as he has never to date been in Samoa's first-choice team and indeed only got a start at the WC through injury to Taylan May. Furthermore in the singular game he did play for Samoa he got injured and has therefore played less than 1 half of RL representing Samoa at Test level. Edit: Broadly-speaking HTF's defection is in-line with nation-switching rules of even FIFA. Players in International Soccer are allowed to switch nations provided they have played less than 3 matches, these matches were before they turned 21, and as long as the matches weren't apart of a WC or Confederation competition. HTF played 1 match, turned 21 a month prior (considering the difference in physical development requirements for the sports I think this is acceptable in a RL context), and therefore only contravenes the WC element of the provision.

This is going to be a tangential point but it would be wonderful if this excursion could be the driver behind dispensation for developing nations players. I also can't get behind the paywall but this is a system that should be implemented for all developing nations domestic products. Should be dispensation or NRL-funded development contracts available to every NRL club for a domestic product of any nation other than AUS/NZ/ENG. Dispensation could be removed if said player plays a certain amount of NRL games so that you're not adversely impacting the salary cap too much. For all their success in strengthening the depth of the Kumuls, the Hunters should have had more than 1 product become an NRL player. Incentivising clubs to either take a 'risk' on a player from a developing nation or to develop their own pathways in those nations would be instrumental in bridging the gap between international teams. Obviously with the NRL the main focus would likely be the pacific but there would no doubt be clubs looking at kids from the likes of France and Wales too. Would be quite a handy unexpected benefit if this was the catalyst for such a change.

Absolutely, the Silktails have already demonstrated their ability to get domestic Fijians into higher tier RL system. Of those 25+ that were ineligible for the WC last year 6 signed for Ipswich in QCup and others have begun progressing through the Roosters system via their pathways association with the Silktails. Furthermore, just last year we had the Inaugural Australian Schoolboys/Schoolgirls tour of Fiji from which Fijian Schoolboys were promptly signed up with NRL clubs off the back of that tour. Intention is for this to develop into a regular tri-series between Australia/NZ/Fiji at schoolboys level. The Tongan u16s side just toured Australia a couple of months ago, playing matches against various NRL clubs u16s sides. I just saw the other day that 4 Tongans on this tour have been signed up by the Cowboys and Bulldogs. Just today alongside their PMXIII team being announced, PNG have also announced their Junior Kumuls and Junior Orchids sides for their matches against the Australian Schoolboys and Schoolgirls teams. These junior sides get to put themselves in the NRL shop window against teams full of the best NRL-contracted juniors Australia has to offer. Plenty of genuine domestic work going on in the Pacific region, each day we get closer to more domestic products from these countries entering professional pathways.

This is a hilarious exposition of mental gymnastics, but of course never let facts get in the way of a good story. Kikau played RL for Marist Brothers in Fiji and played for the Fijian schoolboys RL, other Fijian players that are domestically produced (ie not heritage players/born and moved early in youth) from their WC squad last year include: Maika Sivo Mikaele Ravalawa Semi Valemei Penioni Tagituamua Tui Kamikamica Taniela Sadrugu Pio Seci Jowasi Drodrolagi Vuate Karawalevu Most of the players above came through either the Canberra Raiders academy in Fiji (notably Ravalawa and Valemei) or through the Kaiviti Silktails which of course is their domestic side that plays in the 3rd-tier of Australian comps. This is even further complicated by the fact that at the time there was a stoush between the FNRL and the Silktails at the time, this led to all 25+ players utilised by the Silktails throughout the season as being ineligible for selection for the WC. Ultimately this led to a greater proportion of heritage players being used in the squad from lower tiers of RL as their best current domestic talent was arbitrarily ineligible.

Well true, but I more meant the cost-benefit of something that has no real precedent in the NRL, obviously they didn't deem it to be worth it.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, goes deep into what is involved in 'creating' an NRL club. Follows the CEO around primarily to address both the head office stuff such as branding/commercial elements as well as the football department with an in-depth perspective on the recruitment process (they show pretty much all the targets they had and missed/got, meetings between players and Wayne, Wayne describing which type of players he's looking for to set up the club long-term). Very well produced as well, my only problem was that it was only 3-episodes and finished at the final pre-season game with some post-credits addressing the round 1 performance. Really thought it was something that could've been used to supplement the entire season and build a strong connection between the NRL community and the Dolphins, I believe these season-long docuseries are somewhat of a trend on the likes of Netflix with a couple of soccer sides. Perhaps that would've been too expensive for us here in RL without confirmation the right market exists for it.

Incumbent Tongan backrower David Fifita has had knee surgery so presumably won't make the trip to England.