The Rocket

You should, because I think " the somebody on these page(who) recently referred..." was yourself. Your previous references to Ireland and the lack of profile League has in that nation , despite the popularity of TTRL forms of the game, was certainly something I had in mind when thinking about their World Cup participation in one of these forms of the game. Even the process of selecting a national team, with so many competitions obviously having no League affiliation, yet wanting to select the very best players, may involve treading on a few union toes. However the enticement of playing in high profile RLWC, and possibly representing your nation in front of 50 000 at Old Trafford ( is that where the WC final will be held?)as the introductory game and Final in itself, before the Womens and Mens World Cup Finals, would surely tempt any prospective code-hopper. And I would be very surprised, if for example an Irish TTRL team made it deep into the tournament, that it would not garner a fair amount of publicity back home and attract more than a few eyeballs if not even attendees. If not devotees. This scenario I would like to think would apply to any country where League plays second fiddle to union yet where the non-contact version of our sport is popular.

Funny thing that, my brother-in-law played league all through his youth and into his twenties until it became a bit too demanding, especially having to go to work every day. He took up union and it was quite funny because he was slaying them, despite only ever being a run-of-the mill Leaguie. Since he hit his 40`s he now plays soccer. This only highlights the need we have in providing something like what you described above to keep them in the game especially when they are introducing their own children into sport. His son, my nephew, now plays union. He is a stocky little fellow and they play him on the wing, every time I see him I say " there is money in halfbacks", because he is an intelligent little fellow and I reckon he would make a pretty good little organising League halfback. There is an excellent post by Unapologetic Pedant at the bottom of page three ` Growth of the Game` thread describing the various varieties of TTRL and their suitability for different scenarios.

Every point you blokes make are legitimate reasons why this version of the sport should be considered part of the Rugby League family. Like it or not RL is a physically demanding sport where not everyone can participate in the full contact version, it should not reduce their right to participate in a fully fledged and affiliated version of the sport . What other business would let their product be sold under a different name and not take advantage of having developed that product. Because that is what we are effectively doing by not reaping the rewards of a very popular offshoot of our product.

But we have to have TTRL unquestionably associated with Rugby League to gain full value from it. By having a version of it at our WC would allow us to claim it as our own. Especially with countries competing to send their best team to the Rugby League World Cup. In OZ the figures in 2019 were 170 000 registered contact RL players, 680 000 playing non-contact versions. I bet those proportions are the same everywhere. We have to change the public perceptions of origins of TTRL.

Somebody on these pages recently referred to " both the contact and the non-contact versions of Rugby League". For the sake of the game TTRL must be claimed under the Rugby League banner world wide. There can be no doubt that these versions of the code are unequivocally RL orientated. TTRL should be a part of the Rugby League World Cup as soon as 2025. With 16 of the worlds best mens and womens teams representing their home nations. If the other code reciprocates it will only highlight to all who watch how much TTR is more like our game than theirs. It is important as a code that we send a message to players of TTR world wide, no matter what code their allegiance is with, the sport they play every week is born from Rugby League. Henceforth TTR playing numbers, no matter what their allegiance, should be included in Rugby League participation numbers. It must be recognised there are two versions of our code. The contact and the non-contact version. For too long we have allowed this variation of the game to be hijacked by union. By including it in our World Cup it will be a bold statement staking our rightful claim to be the originator of these forms of the sport. An added advantage is that companies and potential sponsors may start to view it the same way.

Totally agree, when I saw him in the WCC I couldn`t wait to see him come over here and do the same thing. On TV on the weekend I forgot he was out there until I saw him in the huddle after a try. I really expected him to be like how you describe in your second sentence in the Adrian Morley mould.

You beat me to it, the poms are having a field day tonight.

I`m an Aussie and believe me from what I`ve seen of him he has definitely added to Canberra`s game. Even Bateman`s great overhead pass on the previous weekend was preceded by Williams darting back and forth across in front of the defence although he got no credit for the uncertainty that he created in the defensive line from the commentary team.

I thought Leigh won that debate on that other thread (through sheer attrition ) and thereby gained promotion.

Had to google that. Hedgehogs and echidnas, Brits and Aussies, cousins. Okay mate, good luck with your season restart.

I saw an echidna, creature a bit like your hedgehog, about 5 years ago. I was about 40km out of town and there it was wandering across the road. Always make me glad because If you see one it usually means there are more around.

Post from OZ, Saw a Black-Necked Stork in a swampy area I have fenced off to keep the cattle out. Probably seen about ~8 over the last 15 years. Magnificent creature. It was very shy and flew away soon as I appeared, it circled and returned to the same area , unfortunately I was working in the area and it flew off again. There was other smaller storks in the swamp who weren`t concerned by my presence nearby. They can have a wingspan of up to 2m`s, this one was probably 1.5m`s.

I watched the highlights of the Digicel Cup the other day and If Pacific Treize can start throwing up talented footballers like those on show, should be really good news for French League.

It`s Morning, I`m just typically being a little over optimistic.

Good evening Jim, how about 4/5 players every year . It`s midnight over here , I`m off to bed . Hooroo.

I was going through the populations of the countries involved: New Caledonia 285 000 ; Vanuatu 290 000 ; French Polynesia 280 000 ; Solomon Islands 670 000 ; Fortuna and Wallis Islands 12000. These countries typically have young demographics so I expect with a total population of over 1.5 million that there is a very large potential player pool. This combined with very good pathways into a highly professional Rugby League system i.e. Australia/Queensland , we may well see a good quantity of French eligible players coming through.

Forgot to mention when Robinson was in England for WCC , he went and visited Farnsworth`s family about him coming to the Roosters, apparently there were several clubs after him plus the bloody ru.

You`re welcome.

I really like the look of this kid, when he fills out he will be a real handful, gets involved a lot as well which is a good sign and appears to be fairly evasive which is essential if he is going to be top drawer, wouldn`t be in the Broncos system if they didn`t see something in him either.

Lets not forget you guys went very close to winning the last WC. In fact the way England was attacking the line at the end of the game should have scored . Bennet sent on one of the Burgess twins for the last 10 minutes and he made two handling errors very frustrating or maybe infuriating , but either way that team gave it everything.Totally agree with you over those selections on the end of year tour ,bizarre, where was Williams!