WN83

Yeah, prime time on BBC2. Fabulous news for the sport.

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I got tickets for the final a couple of weeks back. I’ve not really seen much of the game before and with the mens final being on the Saturday and that on Friday night, I was a bit torn whether to bother getting them because we’ll make a day and night of the Saturday. After watching that tonight I’m absolutely buzzing for it. I think it might be the wisest decision I’ve made regards to tickets across the World Cups. Got everything crossed England make that final. What a night that could be.

I've expanded on my reasons pretty recently in the thread. I think he's been unlucky tbh. I personally would've played him in that first game but lads had really impressed against Fiji, when Oledzki was rested and they got the nod for the first game. Oledzki did not do much in his outing against France and his competition have played well, not only in the friendly but then against Samoa and Greece. He's been unfortunate but based on what we've seen in the comp, it's the right call IMO (and seeing as mine means diddly squat, it's more important that it seems to be Wanes opinion as well). As for Welsby, clearly he plays. His tournament sums up why I dislike him so much at club level. He's a big game player and the bigger the game, the better he is. His attitude is everything you want in a player. It also helps he doesn't have another 6 or 7 players in his position to go up against, unlike Oledzki.

I've heard Wane speak very highly of him. I think Oledzki may have just been a touch unfortunate here, he carried that injury through the play offs and was then rested for the Fiji friendly and the team hit the ground running straight from that game and it's been an uphill battle since then. He's a cracking player and will be around this squad for a long time, I'm sure of that but certain tournaments just don't fall a players way and sometimes it isn't their fault. I still wouldn't put it beyond the lad being involved in this one. A win Saturday with an injury or two or a suspension (or a poor performance) might open up a spot for him.

I'm sure people will say 'but there have been cheaper tickets' or 'why did they leave it so late' but a story from my missus this morning sums up the ticket pricing being wrong and how it will impact the gate- Her boss follows the game in passing and his 4 kids are mad football fans. The kids though have enjoyed watching the games and asked if he would get tickets for tomorrow. He's logged on and looked and it would cost him and his wife, £230 to take them all and they now are not bothering. Again we're not saying give the tickets away but £55 an adult ticket and £30 for kids (with a couple of them being under 5) is a lot of money. I'm sure had he tried to get tickets and they been £30 and £15 or £35 and £20, he would've gone. That would have cost them £120-£150 but instead we'll now have 6 empty seats. The fact there are big premiums on tickets for England games is fine but the split between the brackets are wrong. There are too many high end tickets and not enough lower end. I think the higher end tickets are too steep anyway but the fact there are just so many of them is really hurting us.

He's basically saying IMG will identify problems, try to fix them but that's somehow a bad thing. Makes about as much sense as the guy usually does.

It will look ok yes. I can't help but find it frustrating the sold out signs are up already and don't look like going up but it can't be changed now. I'm looking forward to it anyway, it should be one hell of a game.

Cooper has had a pretty good season in fairness to him (regardless of how poor Wire were) and he has been very good in his two games so far. Cooper got a chance against Samoa and took it, Oledzki got a chance against a weaker side and didn't. It looks that simple to me.

Is probably about right and I think the others did more in their first appearance to impress him then Oledzki did in his. He's also seeing them in training each day and he can't pick them all. In terms of the squad, Thompson is the surprising one. I'm thinking maybe a niggle. He's certainly going for a forward pack that he thinks can outlast the PNG team in an energy battle. I wonder if he might be tempted with Sneyd this week. Turning those big PNG boys around, in wet weather, with the kicking game he'll bring may be something he fancies as a horses for courses selection.

If we got the Bolton crowd it will look great. It'll be a bit easier to see the price categories that haven't sold at Wigan though due to the big blocks and it all being on one tier. If it's 18-20k there will be very noticeable gaps and by the looks of things the edges of each stand are packed full. It won't be a disaster but every seat should be full and it's sad that it probably won't be the case.

It’ll be today I think. Wane said in the press conference the 17 is picked and there will be ‘a couple’ of changes from the Newcastle game. Bateman for McMeekan will be one you’d imagine and then maybe Ackers for a forward?! All guesswork, maybe he’ll want Sneyd in with the weather looking wet. He also confirmed Watkins is fit and ready to play.

It feels like Saturday really will be the game where the pricing structure is highlighted as the shambles it has been. It looks like the stands will be packed on the edges and will get less and less full as we look towards the middle (well until people move).

I'd like to see what we do with any replacement before being confident we could say it's a good move. In big games Bateman has been fine but I do think overall there has been a motivation issue. I think in his case he loved playing in the NRL and the challenge that brings but he wanted to be closer to his family in the UK. I can understand why then coming back to Superleague may just make you lose a bit of that competitive edge and especially in lesser games, I don't think we've seen anything like his best. He was excellent in the Cup run last year, especially against Salford in the quarters and then in the final and I think that highlights that he's needed that big game, knock out jeopardy feeling to get him up and firing. He has come back from Oz with hugely inflated expectations though and by anyones standards he had a good 2022 but he isn't being judged by normal standards and as you point out, the marquee tag adds to that. The worry I have is that we lose a very good player and don't replace him. In that case us saving cap space is pointless and I'd rather we just keep paying him the money. Yes he might be getting more than his performances warrant but there's no doubt in my mind that we're better with him, than we are without him.

I never knew the Aussies were so sensitive! Squad numbers based on the number of caps so they don’t upset anyone and now picking 2 scrum halves so they don’t need to break the news to one of them that they miss out. I like it!

I’m not sure it would and sadly I’m not confident there will be particularly good crowds at any of the quarter finals and that IMO is down to errors made and not things like the cost of living crisis. The cost of living plays a part simply because of the costing and the fact so many games are in the same areas. Had it been more affordable and fans had less games to choose from, I think we’d have seen bigger crowds across the board. I must reiterate there have been successes and the stuff on the field, the stories that come from that and away from the field are great but as an all round tournament, it feels like the experience from the moment you buy the ticket (or try), to when you leave the stadiums, has gone backwards. Did they bite off more than they can afford by having the 4 World Cups running at the same time? I don’t know but the ticketing site, the pre match entertainment, the technical side of things like sound systems and the screens, the feel of an event around the ground, anthems being boomed out on recordings, etc has all felt like there are budget constraints. Overall I think we’ll end up with a Good World Cup from a playing perspective and some huge positives come from the inclusivity of the World Cup and they could be felt going forward for many years but I’d rate the performance of Dutton and his team as less than average when it comes to delivering a tournament that made you go ‘wow’. There has been too much frustration for that sadly.

In truth the people on here are far closer to the game, care passionately about it and have a good grasp of how Rugby League fans operate. I’m not sure that would apply to the decision makers. I read an awful lot of sense on here in terms of how the tournament should’ve been priced up and scheduled. Everyone agrees I think that 2013 was too cheap but they’ve read the games current standing in this country totally wrong and when you put so many games in a condensed area of the country, you’ve no chance of big gates because people will pick and choose their games. There have been plenty of success stories across the tournament and parts have been a success but there’s no doubt in my mind that we couldn’t say the organisers have done a good job. It’s a shame but not surprising that the game in this country has been let down by administrators again. Thankfully the players always do their best to make it as successful as possible.

I’d like to see us work on some sort of format like that, much in the same way the cricket T20 WC has done. I’d probably want more than 6 teams in the main comp though. A knock out qualifier involving some lower ranked teams would be good and having thar between 8 teams, with 2 spots up for grabs, mean teams would play twice only before the main stage (and they’d be well warmed up). I’d look at an 8 team qualifier, with 2 spots available to join 8 automatically qualified teams in the main draw. That would give you 16 teams involved overall but you’d have 10 in the main World Cup. Two groups of 5 and the top 2 from each go through to the semis. The big boys would still play 6 fixtures to win a World Cup. You could also run a plate competition for the teams knocked out at qualifying stage if you wanted, to keep getting the lesser ranked teams fixtures and help them gain experience. You could end up with a main draw consisting of two groups along the lines of- A-NZ, England, Samoa, France, Lebanon. B-Australia, Tonga, PNG, Fiji, Ireland. and knocks out semis of- New Zealand v Tonga England vs Australia You’re still involving 16 teams, you’re getting very few blow outs compared to this tournament and appealing fixtures at every stage. The fact qualifiers need to play an extra 2 games isn’t ideal in such a physical sport but you could potentially look to let teams in the qualifiers carry slightly bigger squads and give them bigger turnarounds in the early stages of the main draw. There would be some shorter turnarounds but it certainly feels like something along those lines would be achievable and would lead to more competitive games.

She’ll have a job, it’s been shut for a few years now. I’m expecting to see her in the Spoons for a large breakfast and then in the Anvil, before a quick one in the Pear Tree on the way down (a beer that is).

It would seem bonkers to me if the France group game at Bolton got 23,500 but a quarter final, against a much better side, in Wigan got less. I get the opponents for this game haven’t been known until recently but still. I’m hopeful that it could be higher than 18,000 now because I’m not sure how up to date the Wigan ticket offices info would be, considering they’re not involved in the sales process.

Football and Rugby League games at the stadium use the perfectly good facilities already there in the West Stand. There is a purpose made studio and if they want to be outside, then set them up on the edge of the pitch. It's good enough for the football lads now, with Sky/BT doing a lot of their stuff outdoors on the pitch.

It would be a poor look to use one of the disabled bays at the DW but I wouldn't put it past them doing that. It's a ready made, open air gantry if they did use it and it would probably need only a couple of rows above and below blocked off. To my mind though that would be poor form and so would using up any area that takes affordable tickets away from paying supporters and forces people in to more expensive areas. Let the presentation team sit on stools on the edge of the pitch or take it indoors to the usual box for me.

I’ve been really happy with Wales in this tournament. I feared for them when I saw the squad pre tournament but I went to the Cook Islands game and it was as enjoyable a game as I’ve been to so far. They really dug in and had a go at Tonga and after a poor first half, they refused to wilt second half. Having a coach like John Kear helps but the players deserve a lot of credit. They’re not full time the majority of them but they’ve just kept fighting away against some fantastic players and teams packed full of full timers.

It hopefully will if they push it but sadly if people log on and see £40, they’ll likely just think again. How they make simple things so difficult is hard to understand.

Chris Hill has been outstanding so far. That move to Huddersfield really seems to have given him a new lease of life and he’s played as well in this tournament as he was doing when he was being raved about in his first couple of seasons at Wire. I wouldn’t pick Oledzki based simply on that first game and performances since and I think others have done more to hold a place. I was a bit surprised with how skinny Oledzki looks now. He’s clearly worked extremely hard on his fitness and is feeling the benefit at club level but I thought the old version, were he was a bit bulkier might’ve served him better at international level. He’s not going to get 60-70 minutes for England, like he might get at Leeds and he’ll need to make a bit more of an impact t in a shorter spell on the field.