Mid season internationals

[usain bolt]

https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/no-mid-season-test-for-england-as-full-international-schedule-announced/

No mid season international for England. A good or bad thing for Shaun Wane and his new regime? 

[Mr Plow]

Bad. Surely we could play France or Wales or a combination of the other nations like the Exiles 

[Hela Wigmen]

Good. Until we play less Super League games, mid-season games are a waste of time. 

[Mr Plow]

1 hour ago, Hela Wigmen said:

Good. Until we play less Super League games, mid-season games are a waste of time. 

True. It’s should be a blank weekend. I think the past couple we’ve had there have been SL games on during it

[Harry Stottle]

Bring back the old Possables v Probables.

[Man of Kent]

Does this definitively rule out England playing a midseason test? Can’t we play Fiji (or even France) or would that ruin the nice chart?

[Hela Wigmen]

1 hour ago, Mr Plow said:

True. It’s should be a blank weekend. I think the past couple we’ve had there have been SL games on during it

The planned one for this year was going to have Super League games around it, possibly devaluing a Warrington v Saints game amongst others. 

[Hela Wigmen]

1 hour ago, scotchy1 said:

There should he loads of internationals this year and next. 

Right now wane has 3 games all against the aussies before a world cup.

Doesnt sound like great preparation 

We’ll have a friendly before the tournament, most likely vs France, if history is anything to go by. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

2 hours ago, scotchy1 said:

There should he loads of internationals this year and next. 

Right now wane has 3 games all against the aussies before a world cup.

Doesnt sound like great preparation

How can it be a full time job to coach England when he’s only going to work 3 weeks this year? 

[Mr Plow]

2 hours ago, Hela Wigmen said:

The planned one for this year was going to have Super League games around it, possibly devaluing a Warrington v Saints game amongst others. 

All we need is one blank weekend where we have England, France, Wales, Ireland and Scotland playing. Why not Friday night France v Wales, Saturday Ireland v Scotland then Sunday England v Fiji/Samoa/Tonga

[The British Lion]

For the love of Rugby League! Just cut the super league loop fixtures and start to build an international program!

[jim_57]

15 hours ago, Hela Wigmen said:

Good. Until we play less Super League games, mid-season games are a waste of time. 

Until you play less Super League games a lot of Super League games are a waste of time.

[Mattrhino]

13 hours ago, scotchy1 said:

There should he loads of internationals this year and next. 

Right now wane has 3 games all against the aussies before a world cup.

Doesnt sound like great preparation

Really is crazy isn't it, new full-time coach gets job doesn't have a game for 7 months. 

RU domestic competition play for weeks on end without their international players, we can't do one week! 

Everyone is playing in Australia in June we can't shoehorn a game or two in. I know it's not ideal to try and get into a double header but it seems like the best we can hope for at the last minute.  But it needs to happen if we are to be a serious international squad going into a series against the best in the world. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

9 hours ago, The British Lion said:

For the love of Rugby League! Just cut the super league loop fixtures and start to build an international program!

The play offs are the first place I’d go to shorten the season. The current format is too long and drawn out, it’s poorly attended and you can end up facing the same team twice in the playoffs. We should off stuck with top 4. 

[jim_57]

1 hour ago, Mattrhino said:

Really is crazy isn't it, new full-time coach gets job doesn't have a game for 7 months. 

RU domestic competition play for weeks on end without their international players, we can't do one week! 

Everyone is playing in Australia in June we can't shoehorn a game or two in. I know it's not ideal to try and get into a double header but it seems like the best we can hope for at the last minute.  But it needs to happen if we are to be a serious international squad going into a series against the best in the world. 

Not confirmed yet but it was mentioned in a French article a few weeks back that France were playing the Knights later this year. At this stage England don't have a game the weekend that game was rumoured for.

Make of it what you will but if England don't have at least 2-3 other games planned this year they're not doing themselves any favours.

[RugbyLeagueGeek]

2 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

The play offs are the first place I’d go to shorten the season. The current format is too long and drawn out, it’s poorly attended and you can end up facing the same team twice in the playoffs. We should off stuck with top 4. 

The top 4 was also poorly attended, but the bigger problem was that it failed to sufficiently reward the league leaders. However, I agree that the fact that you can play the same team twice does make it problematic, so a re-jig may be worthwhile.

The current play-offs are poorly attended because they aren't on the season ticket and they're being played in some of the most deprived socio-economic areas in the country and people don't have any money. Put the play-offs on the season ticket and you'll instantly see the crowds go up. Same can be said for the Challenge Cup. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

1 hour ago, RugbyLeagueGeek said:

The top 4 was also poorly attended, but the bigger problem was that it failed to sufficiently reward the league leaders. However, I agree that the fact that you can play the same team twice does make it problematic, so a re-jig may be worthwhile.

The current play-offs are poorly attended because they aren't on the season ticket and they're being played in some of the most deprived socio-economic areas in the country and people don't have any money. Put the play-offs on the season ticket and you'll instantly see the crowds go up. Same can be said for the Challenge Cup. 

I agree these are the reasons the play offs are poorly attended, with the exception of the grand final, and no format will change that. But surely we should keep the poorly attended play off rounds to a minimum, ideally 1 week, these are the most ideal games to get rid of and replace them with international fixtures at a different time of year.

[RugbyLeagueGeek]

6 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

But surely we should keep the poorly attended play off rounds to a minimum, ideally 1 week, these are the most ideal games to get rid of and replace them with international fixtures at a different time of year.

But that then devalues the entire preceding league season. For me, it's the loop fixtures that are the most ideal games to get rid of.

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

10 minutes ago, RugbyLeagueGeek said:

But that then devalues the entire preceding league season. For me, it's the loop fixtures that are the most ideal games to get rid of.

I would get rid of both ideally and go to 14 teams home + away with a top 4 play off. Have breaks in the league spread across the season when an annual mid season Four Nations tournament could be played. 

[RugbyLeagueGeek]

39 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

I would get rid of both ideally and go to 14 teams home + away with a top 4 play off. Have breaks in the league spread across the season when an annual mid season Four Nations tournament could be played. 

Yes I agree that would probably be much better. I'd still look to keep the play-offs as giving the top placed team an advantage for finishing first, so if it did become top 4 then I'd go 1v2 and 3v4, with the winners of 1v2 going to Grand Final and the losers playing winner of 3v4 in qualifying semi final.