The Frying Scotsman

No surprise there. Am sure the usual suspects will be along to pontificate that he is "no great loss", that the NRL is a "production line" of 1.96m confrontational, aggressive, athletic, sprinters, and that him leaving "won't stop Penrith scoring loads of tries". (Copyright Davo from Cumbria). Meanwhile union will continue to hoover up the 'bums on seats' players who actually want to see the world, and proudly represent their country in international "rugby". The navel gazing will continue.

When was that???

Indeed.... Robbie O'Davis going on about terrorist targets in the UK like "Buckingham Palace or the Eiffel Tower". That's the demographic we are dealing with, unfortunately. It does look like (from reports) this time though, that the vast majority of players wanted to attend.

Of course they can, but unfortunately they don't seem to care. Sponsors have signed up, and will undoubtedly want to renegotiate (or worse) if the tournament is delayed for a year.

Exactly. The absence of a strong worldwide governing body managing the international calendar (as in cricket, for example) means that whoever pays the piper calls the tune. (And the NRL clubs pay). This is why the tournament is not realistically going to go ahead.... If it was up to the players, a load of the Kiwis would swiftly declare (via loopholes etc) for Samoa, or Tonga, or Ireland, or whoever. Instead, we are likely to see all NRL-dependent nations withdraw over the next few days. This has nothing to do with CoVid risks/player welfare, as is evidenced by the Olympic games participation etc etc.... It is to do with the NRL not wanting it's calendar disrupted. The Tournament in my opinion, is toast because of this. It has no real chance of going ahead as the NRL clubs will put pressure on players not to compete, and so more nations will withdraw. One very slim chance is that Tonga has the Prime Minister in charge, I see. (Due to all the corruption etc around their governing body) Their government might see an opportunity to have a crack at winning it and becoming World Champions. Even then though, I expect mass withdrawals by their big names, so I can't imagine the real Tongan team playing.

Right. The problem is, "their ###### little sport "down under" actually IS effectively global Rugby League as a viable professional game. The NRL is Fox News, KFC, Toyota, McDonalds and Subway; whereas Rugby League over here is The Warrington Guardian, Eddie Stobart and ABI Sundecks. Their "pathetic competition" is where all the best players in the world want to play. It is where every Australian, NZer, Tongan, Samoan, Fijian, PNG, USA, and even a good few of the English squad plays or aims to play their Rugby League. The failure of the game to develop any sort of global professional presence leaves us in this situation. Yes.... The World Cup could go ahead now, made up of guys who play for Barrow and train 2 nights a week. Who knows.... England might actually squeak a win, and then you could include that every year in your "fully integrated international calendar" but the outcome would ultimately be the same... Without NRL participants, international Rugby League would be quite simply laughable.

I believe it has. Not that I am in any way defending them (Broncos) but do we actually need a scrum line on the pitch any more?

I totally agree with you. It wouldn't be the first time though... London Broncos were playing on a pitch with no scrum line in some games start until fairly recently. Some posters on here tried denying it, but I saw it with my own eyes. Temporary markings are EASILY available nowadays for artificial pitches, so I have absolutely no idea how the RFL even entertain the concept. It is yet another example of how tinpot Rugby League has become in the last few years.

@2blackrooks did you play?

Right... But in those countries people (the public) actually follow Rugby League.

These 2 sports are popular in Scotland though. Rugby League isn't.

I had not seen the date on the post. Apologies. I thought it was more recent. CGAF about Danny Brough TBF. Nobody in Scotland is remotely interested in a bunch of Yorkshiremen pretending to be Scottish. There are more interesting teams in the World Cup to follow.

Can I just ask how old you are please? I think that you have been told before on here that the country is not called that, yet you persist in calling it that. It is the sort of name that old pensioners (or those stuck in the past) are likely to use, yet is completely inappropriate in the modern era. And noobiefana is correct - the Rugby League World Cup will make zero impact in Ireland. The exact same can be said for Scotland. (Where I disagree with him is however, I believe the RLWC is still a very worthwhile event. Just not in countries like Ireland or Scotland where nobody CGAF).

You doing them in blocks with a recovery between I guess? You got a rough indication of how many per block?