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AB90

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  1. Don’t forget that NRL has Auckland and good piece of the New Zealand market. AFL has no presence in New Zealand.
  2. To be fair, in all likelihood the NRL will have the Dolphins (2023), Perth Bears (2027) & PNG (2028). So 3 additional teams in a 6 year window. To suggest that the NRL are ‘taking their time’ is a bit of a stretch. Some would argue expansion is being rushed a bit too quickly. The NRL have acknowledged the need for a second NZ team however you can only bring in a certain amount of teams in a short period of time. I don’t think that many people are arguing that a second Brisbane team and a Perth team should not have been prioritised before a second NZ team. Obviously the PNG one is a bit controversial as I would of preferred NZ 2 to come before it.
  3. That’s a key point that doesn’t get brought up with the Hearn scenario. Hearn has a great track record on individual based sports however there is no real evidence he or Matchroom could do the same in a team based sport. Do we think it’s a complete coincidence that he’s never tried?? Probably because it’s considerably harder to do! It’s much easier to create stars & personalities when the individual is the entity you are coming to see and being pushed by the media as opposed to a rugby league, union, cricket team etc. You can’t make Jack Welsby or Mikey Lewis bigger than Anthony Joshua when’s it’s ’Anthony Joshua’ vs X as opposed to ‘Saint Helens vs Hull KR’.
  4. I think Smithies did really well his first year and was as advertised when they signed him - very solid defensively however fairly limited in attack. Maybe Raiders fans are more so making negative comments (unfairly) as they are comparing him to the other top tier locks in the league - Yeo, Carrigan, Radley, Murray, Cotter, Trbojevic etc. Smithies will likley never reach the heights of these guys but will be a very solid ‘mid tier’ starting NRL lock.
  5. It will be interesting to see how Saints play Sailor as I view him as an out an out fullback (maybe FE). I assume they haven’t paid a pretty penny for him to be a bench utility. Maybe they will start to transition Welsby to FE which I think they will this year or next. I personally don’t think Taylor Wray & Robertson will get enough meaningful game time to break into the top 30 this year. They are not supplanting Dufty & Welsby/Sailor anytime soon.
  6. Looks pretty spot on. I have a bit of tier gap between those top 4 (French, Welsby, Williams, Lewis) and 5th. I would probably have Elliot Whitehead in there at the backend replacing Currie, Garcia, Marshall, Walsmley etc. Wouldn’t surprise me if some of the new imports like Sailor, Sivo, Cotric break into the top 30 players pretty quickly.
  7. I assume they would look to increase the number a play off teams to 10 once they hit 20 teams.
  8. I wouldn’t say it ‘brings us back to the pack’ as Dearden is still far better than most of Australia’s competition at that position - New Zealand, Tonga & Samoa would absolutely kill to have a Tom Dearden at 7 or 6.
  9. It would be great if we could have an annual 5 nations every year outside of world cups.
  10. The individual scores of one off games don’t determine if it ‘uncompetitive’ or not. England put 60 points on Samoa in the WC to which no one said England should never play Samoa again because it’s ’uncompetitive’. Australia have put 50 plus on England before - doesn’t mean it’s uncompetitive. England vs France is uncompetitive because the outcome is a forgone conclusion before a ball is kicked. If they play the game 100 different times at full strength England will win all 100 games (some by 70 plus points, some by 18 points and everywhere in between).
  11. Yeah, the real play is the long term, future upside. PNG as a country will look very different in 10, 25, 50 years time as it becomes a more westernised and developed nation.
  12. You’re right, in 2022 England Knights played France ‘B’ as a warm up. Not the French national team. My bad! It’s your opinion so fair enough but I just think your analysis is very off on these French players. In 2022, when Samoa beat France 62-4, Samoa had the likes of Ligi Sau, Danny Levi, Anthony Milford, Tim Lafai in the starting lineup (not exactly worldbeaters). Yeah, this Samoan team in 2024 doesn’t have the top end talent the 2022 team had buts it’s not miles off and you could argue it’s a deeper roster with far more depth. I don’t think France has really improved since 2022 either so I couldn’t see anything but a 50 plus flogging.
  13. At least try and hide your bias haha Roger Tuivasa Sheck would have to make way for Arthur Mourge is one of the most wild statements I have ever heard. This is the same Arthur Mourge that has to make way at Catalans for a 35 year old, out of retirement, part time player, full time broadcaster, Sam Tomkins. The Catalans dragons were ‘around Leeds and Huddersfield in SL, competing for top 6’ in 2024 and they have all the best French players you named above plus Tom Johnstone, Mike McMeekan, Tom Davis, Jordan Abdull, Chris Satae, Tariq Sims, Sam Tomkins etc. I.e a much better team than the French national team. It wasn’t meant to be a joke - the England Knights did beat France convincingly the one time they played them in 2022.
  14. And not one of those French players would make this Samoan starting 13. I get that you are passionate about French & European rugby league but you’re seriously over estimating the French team suggesting the French team would have a chance against this Samoan team. The French team get convincingly beat by the England Knights. If you put the French national team in SL they would be in a relegation battle with London, Hull FC, CAS etc.
  15. Halangagu looks as if he is going to be an absolute monster in a couple of years. Wouldn’t surprise me if he debuts next year for the Dragons. Very David Fafita esc. How an earth did England with 5 or so players that have already played Super League lose to this French team. I appreciate France we’re missing 3 or so of their better players but still, England should blow this team off the park.
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