Hela Wigmen

https://www.nrl.com/news/2021/07/23/final-decision-on-world-cup-expected-next-week/

I don’t know what package or health and safety conditions the Union side have requested or had agreed, so it’s difficult to compare. That said, the organisers of the World Cup have said that they had agreed things with Australia, so it’s disappointing that it seems to have fallen through and/or not satisfied their needs and desires.

Up to you. I’ll happily continue watching it and talking about it, thanks.

They’ve never seriously debated Origin in England.

Given how many cases there’s been in Super League and subsequent cancellations, I can see why they’d want no part of the competition unless plenty of conditions were met. We’re told they were met, which is then disappointing that they’ve then made this decision and even more frustrating that they gave four minutes notice and didn’t consult their players.

For what it’s worth, I actually don’t think it’s a bad proposed schedule. Could have been tweaked a little but on paper it looked good.

They proposed the following a few years ago; https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/full-details-of-the-nrls-proposed-international-calendar-from-2018-to-2022/

Now more than ever, not least because of this but given the onfield success we’ve seen from Catalans in recent years and the year-on-year improvements in Toulouse, we need to be putting a real focus on games between us and France and regular fixtures/series between the two.

My word, that would be the death knell of the sport.

Let’s tell them it’s an illegal party and not a World Cup and that there’s loads of women there and watch them all turn up.

Think it could be very European Super League if enough people of note come out against it. I’m hoping something comes from the England camp today to get the ball rolling and more stuff tomorrow from Australia.

We need to make sure the other Southern Hemisphere nations are still committed before we decide for definite whether this is going ahead or not. If they are, great, we replace the two who have quit and carry on. If not, we’re in a world of trouble.

Poor from us that we haven’t yet had ex-NRL players, Kristian Woolf and Shaun Wane calling them out for running scared and bottling it.

They should have definitely been consulted. If the same decision come from it then it’s slightly different.

Reading comments on Twitter under the announcement, it seems pretty split. Some saying that players shouldn’t be expected to bubble again after being away from home for so long and others saying it’s wrong. It seems a premature decision given it appears players were not consulted.

Given our Covid figures against theirs and how quickly they then jump into lockdowns, it’s not that much of a surprise they don’t want to be part of it. Whether that’s an easy excuse for them to jump on the coat tails of, I’m not sure. As for postponing it, it’s not quite as easy as we’d likely have to find some new venues to host games.

I seem to remember Valencia making some noise about playing League One sides who had a bye week in 2019. Ultimately, nothing happened.

Given the lack of a joint plan with the RFL, the treatment of clubs who join The RFL and the history of clubs from expansion areas in our league system, I don’t know why anyone would want to join The RFL. If Valencia really think they’ll be different, good luck to them, it’s a great city.

You can only help people that want to be helped. Burgess is a relatively young man who has gone through some pretty life altering experiences over the past couple of years with a retirement, the change in his personal circumstances and going to court and it being big news in Australia.

They should let the forum decide. “Big John missed training because his kid was ill? Stick him on the bench today”

None of that backs up why we should throw Castleford out of Super League when they’re performing well on different metrics but lack the stadium to merit their stature. It’s counter productive and further damaging to the game, alongside the points you raise.

I just don’t get the desperation from some to want to throw clubs out of the competition when they may well be delivering in plenty of other areas. If we start throwing clubs out purely for a lack of a ground, why aren’t we throwing clubs out purely for lack of Academies, not enough fans or offering little to competition?

Why would they be demoted? Oldham weren’t denied promotion by The RFL due to Whitebanks not meeting Championship standards, instead they played out of Stalybridge Celtic Football Club.

To take it in a slightly different direction, England haven’t played a single game since that 2-0 win for the Academy side and England Knights have played once, vs Jamaica, with three of those in the OP playing in that game. That squad included a 27 year-old Tom Lineham and Sam Powell. The Knights are a vital step between the Academy set up and the full England side and need regular games, though I can understand and accept the reluctance by some nations when it comes to playing them. As for who can, Jack Welsby can but in what position, who knows?

Leon Pryce of Bradford in the navy, the furthest Saints player from the ball looks like Dwayne West, then Anthony Sullivan with his arms aloft and Chris Joynt with ball in hand.