The Rocket

That whole quote is just the sort of statement - with an emphasis on the highlighted part - and I`ve that sort of thing on here several times, is just the sort of thing that coaches love to hang on dressing room walls. As someone who has been watching Pacific Tests for 30+ years, these aren`t the Pacific Island National teams of the past. Mock them at your peril.

And the second one rated over 3.1m could easily hit 3.2 once the 7 day consolidated figures come in. Also in the crowd at Perth : No less than 60 members of the touring England rugby union team — including coach Eddie Jones and assistant Anthony Seibold — attended Origin II ahead of their Test against the Wallabies at the same venue on Saturday night. “We were behind the goalposts, which gave us a really good perspective of the shapes and plays,” Seibold said when tracked him down during England training. “The players loved it. Guys like [fly-half] Marcus Smith were keen to watch Cameron Munster and Nathan Cleary and they were impressed. And Eddie, coming from NSW, was happy with the result.” Interesting that they obviously know of Munster and Cleary. I`d love to know what they really think of League when it is played at the highest level.

Yeah he`s getting a crash course, they had old SOO games on TV in the lunch room literally the whole day starting at 9.00 a.m. on Origin day. @gingerjon he follows soccer, I asked him : " isn`t that the game where England are really hopeless and have only won the World Cup once ? "

A 31 year old English bloke from Brighton has just started at our work, this is the work where one bloke dyed his hair blue and the place is currently festooned with SOO paraphernalia and it`s not uncommon for people to stand around in groups discussing League. I told him this was Rugby League territory and he gave me a blank look, I then asked him if he knew the difference between League and union and he replied " does one have seven players ? ". I think if he is going to remain in the valley he`s going to learn the difference pretty quickly.

To be fair though, I think your interest in crowds is probably because of the lack of any other metric to measure fan interest with. I used to have a similar obsession with NRL crowd numbers; recording them, predicting them, tallying them. Thankfully now with the abundance of TV viewing figures I don`t have to do that and really only have a passing interest as long as they appear to be holding up.

I think there is a very real danger that should the Kiwis continue their rise, win the WC and consistently knock off Oz, a three match Test series between Australia and New Zealand could easily become a permanent fixture on the Rugby League calendar that would have to be fitted in somewhere every year. In fact I could see it ultimately eclipsing SOO as the pinnacle event for Rugby League in this country. Players fighting it out in Origin for the right to face the Kiwis might bring back a bit of the fire that some say has gone out of Origin.

If that is the extent of our problems I think we`ll be alright.

I expect that by the time that becomes a problem the pathways coming out of the Pacific Island nations will be developed enough to ensure a much larger pool of players to choose from. A situation aided by the relatively high birth rates and young demographics of most Pacific nations..

Why wasn`t that game played in Papua New Guinea ? I`m sure the PNG Government would have under written it or even payed for TV production costs if that was the issue. 20 000 baying Papua New Guineans would have topped the whole thing off perfectly.

It was only a few years ago that the women kickers could rarely get the distance on kicks from the sideline, now they put them over regularly and last night we had a game which probably would have gone into extra time but for a sideline kick hitting the upright. I think it really is indicative how far the women`s game has come in such a short time.

And increasing by $500k each year for the next 5 years.

Sydney Morning Herald chief sports writer Andrew Webster says he has spoken recently to NRL CEO Andrew Abdo and says Abdo is determined that an annual end of year ( in non WC years ), one month international tournament, yes England are mentioned, will become a permanent fixture. @smh chief sports writer Andrew Webster revealed this morning the @NRL is potentially looking at an end of season international rugby league tournament. Listen below for more details on the idea. #NRL LISTEN | https://bit.ly/3bjyM5S .https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=1011822

Couple of times recently I`ve seen posters remark the forum feels a bit flat lately. I reckon by the looks of those rep sides, especially Tonga and New Zealand, throw in the women`s and men`s Origin and if that doesn`t get the juices flowing then there`s no hope. What a four days we`ve got coming up.

Just for the sake of debate, and using this person only because he is a high profile example and most people will now him/her (?) and not making any suggestions about him but only to make a point. What if a character with physical characteristics like the woman formerly known as Bradley Edward Manning, now known as Chelsea Manning, wanted to play women`s Rugby League, obviously not a physically imposing person, is there any flexibility in a situation like that, or this a blanket ruling.

There`s nothing " knee-jerk " about it really, it seems that the latest research shows that any one born male, and no matter what stage of life decides to call themselves female ( pre- or post-puberty ) is going to have certain physical advantages over those who were born and remain female. It`s just that everyone is too cowed to come out and say it.

It seems that the 30 000 seat stadium is the sweet spot for rectangular field sports grounds. Any more and you have to start to extend the bottom tier further which then puts the starting point for the second tier further back. And of course there is a limit how high the second tier can go given it is on such a steep incline. The downside is of course you can only get 30 000 in which may not be enough for really big matches. Maybe that`s where the new SFS can come in. There was even talk earlier this year that for the first time for Australian Rugby League, clubs like Parra and Penrith may have to limit general admission seating, although that may be an optimistic prediction. Either way of all the things they`ve done, the pivot in stadium policy may be this ARL`s Commission`s greatest legacy. Getting parents and kids into top class stadiums with brilliant atmospheres is a sure fire way I believe to ensure the next generation of players and fans.

I went to the Indigenous All-Stars vs. Maori All-Stars match at Comm Bank earlier in the year, although we didn`t have the best seats, high up and roughly in line with the try-line, because the angle of the top tier was so steep, I`d estimate around 80 degrees, it meant we had a fantastic view no matter where the play was on the field and you really felt that you were on top of the play. Combined with the 28 000 in and it was the best Rugby League experience I`d ever had, certainly as a viewer. From what I`ve seen the new SFS isn`t as steep, I guess that`s the price of fitting in another 20 000, and therefore there`s a compromise on the viewing experience for a proportion of the fans, although I`ve no doubt it will still be amazing, especially acoustically with a big crowd in.

That`s why we`ll show the bastards how to play attractive and exciting ` rugby `come World Cup time.

The afl get big crowds, averaging over thirty thousand and they seem to whip themselves into a frenzy `oohing and aahing ` at every little ( often quite comical ) thing, but when you`ve got thirty thousand people doing it it makes for an incredible atmosphere. My daughter got a free ticket to a Swans afl game, along with about thirty other people in her dorm, she told me the atmosphere was amazing even if the game was rather ridiculous, and that was without prompting from me. You could see how people would go back for that. She hasn`t, she`s not allowed to. But back to the original point, it was during the lockdown and crowdless games that it became obvious that afl is a completely different matter without crowds and I think afl hierarchy know that. It would only be a matter of time before that fed into tv ratings numbers. I think that League doesn`t rely any where near the same on large crowds to provide a good game day or television experience but of course having said that being part of a loud and involved crowd can only be a bonus to any sport. BTW, I was thinking of the paper tickets initiative when I made my previous post and I`d be very surprised if that has anything but a very transitory effect on crowd numbers. I`ve been holding my fire on the current afl crowd numbers panic because I`m old enough ( dinosaur old in fact apparently - thank you ) to know it is early days, but I am hopeful.

It`s interesting, I`ve noticed the same thing about the afl over here who are currently facing a significant crowd drop. Take the crowds away and all of a sudden the game seems more ridiculous than ever. I think afl hierarchy know this as well, it shows in some of the ridiculous measures they are implementing to get the crowds back. No mention of extra entertainment yet though.

Most reasonable people who attend a sporting fixture will know that not all games are going to be thrillers and sometimes only reasonably entertaining. If a sport is finding that the balance of games are not providing enough entertainment to maintain or grow crowds then one has to suspect there has to be a problem with the sport itself. In that case rather than looking to provide entertainment to maintain fan interest, which ultimately can only be a band-aid solution, maybe a whole root and branch review of the game has to be undertaken. In saying that I do agree that the judicious use of music and game callers can definitely enhance the game day experience, but they certainly aren`t the answer if games are consistently dour or of poor quality.

Seriously if the match itself is entertaining enough, then the crowd will respond and purists and non-purists alike will enjoy themselves.

I can remember my old man, a Balmain supporter, telling me as a child ( roughly 5 ) about, it seemed almost mythical, this team that had won 11 Premierships in a row. I was hooked and I `ve followed St. George ever ever since. The jersey didn`t hurt either. My eldest in the early 2000`s ( circa 2005 - 2006 ) shopped around: St. George, Tigers, Broncos, before finally settling on the Roosters, good choice they`ve rarely not made the finals. My youngest, poor ######, he`s followed the Dragons like his Dad, I feel like I gave him a bum steer, but we did have a great year in 2010, he even had a little ` shrine `on his dresser that year, which I still have a great photo of.

Reported in the Sydney Morning Herald: Tonga has every reason to feel buoyant about its prospects. Kristian Woolf’s team has beaten Australia, New Zealand and England in recent meetings and the Tongan government has indicated it could invest up to $1 million to bolster the nation’s World Cup bid. Players could be in line for bonus payments should they hold the trophy aloft, resulting in them being properly remunerated for the first time. Also reported that tournament head Jon Dutton is in Australia to wrap up a WC broadcast deal expected to be announced in the next two weeks.

The Pope mightn`t know much about the NRL but he may well have heard of V`landy`s. Especially after the Catholic World Youth Day fiasco in 2008 where PVL insisted the Catholic Church pay a $40m `indulgence` for the right to use Randwick Race Course for their triennial knees-up. Mercifully for the CC the State and Federal Governments came to the rescue agreeing to grease HMPVL`s palm for the stipulated amount. How to win friends and influence people.