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World Cup in Doubt…Again


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Just now, Harry Stottle said:

I can't help but think that a WC without the best player's on the planet will be a catastrophe, I would get no pleasure whatsoever in an England victory without the competition being a true test.

Withdrawals are inevitable, as they are for most end of year internationals. I wouldn't call it a catastrophe.

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11 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Just to turn it about-face, do we actually want these people visiting our shores who have not been vaccinated? But for the lax way the government allowed the delta variant to take hold here we could have been out of this a while ago, for weeks we had newscasts telling us how bad Covid was in India then the government allowed people to travel there and back, let's not risk it again with a possible Polynesian type variant.

100% agree with the pathetic attempts by our government and also the irresponsible way people from other countries acted too, but I think the recent media statement last night covered 4 strains and how the vaccinations have controlled them.  Having said that, we will be waiting forever if we think that everyone will get vaccinations.

I don’t think there has been any more identified to date other than those that already exist.

The European Cup attracted a fair few though and I think they way we controlled those parts of the tournament have been recognised.

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19 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

Most people aren’t getting ill, they are just testing positive. There may never come a point where it isn’t being spread- do we never go back to a normal world? 

That`s not strictly true, vaccinated people are still getting sick, just not very sick, and people who have been vaccinated with Pfizer the least affected.

If the case numbers in your community can come right down over the next 12 weeks teams based in bubbles around where they are playing might be feasible. But you certainly aren`t going to want too many players getting even mildly sick or the whole thing could degenerate into chaos, so the bubbles are going to have to be tight.

Hopefully we can help out with regards to that, given we`ve been through this bubble thing a few times now and a lot of players in the tournament will be coming from down here.

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1 minute ago, The Rocket said:

That`s not strictly true, vaccinated people are still getting sick, just not very sick, and people who have been vaccinated with Pfizer the least affected.

If the case numbers in your community can come right down over the next 12 weeks teams based in bubbles around where they are playing might be feasible. But you certainly aren`t going to want too many players getting even mildly sick or the whole thing could degenerate into chaos, so the bubbles are going to have to be tight.

Hopefully we can help out with regards to that, given we`ve been through this bubble thing a few times now and a lot of players in the tournament will be coming from down here.

So it appears that it’s not been the NRL indicating they won’t come but some Clubs according to the Telegraph/Geelong piece.  

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3 minutes ago, ghost crayfish said:

Withdrawals are inevitable, as they are for most end of year internationals. I wouldn't call it a catastrophe.

Yes in any comp, any sport there are a few withdrawals because of injury or whatever else, but this could be on a mass scale, if the NRL decide to block any players from travelling to England that would amount to circa 60%+ of the player's who would take part, and some countries would have no player's to call on should that happen.

As an afterthought, would those English player's in the NRL be available if their employer's said NO.

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The clubs pressure players into having their off season surgery or rest instead of playing tests every year. I'd expect that will intensify this year, as will legitimate reasons players don't want to travel. But if it was going to be on a mass scale, surely that would've come out and the tournament would be cancelled. So safe to expect withdrawals, but if we want a world cup, that's just the way it will have to be.

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36 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

I can't help but think that a WC without the best player's on the planet will be a catastrophe, I would get no pleasure whatsoever in an England victory without the competition being a true test.

Well it depends, it could also be a great leveller.

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1 minute ago, Lowdesert said:

So it appears that it’s not been the NRL indicating they won’t come but some Clubs according to the Telegraph/Geelong piece.  

I` ve been thinking this all along the NRL understand what this tournament means to the game up there and they will want to help make it happen, but it`s a tightrope at the moment with everything that`s going on.

Tight bubbles around venues around where games will be played for each squad will be essential, not just for player health but just so the tournament can continue, even a little bit sick will be too sick. Players travelling back and forth from venues to play from the bubble. It`s going to be a hell of  logistical exercise though, all the staff that are going to come into the bubble from the wider community to run the bubble, cleaners, caterers, deliveries etc.etc. I think the bubble in Queensland is costing the NRL $10 million a week, so it ain`t cheap.

But if you`ve still got big numbers of infections happening throughout the community in the next few weeks it`s going to be a big ask keeping bubbles secure. And the problem with that is, a decision has to be made now, and what did someone say, still 20-30 000 a day happening .

One thing I expect though, if it does go ahead, the Oz squad will have a few outsiders picked in it, that`s fine we can handle that, it will still be strong, just hope it doesn`t knock the other teams largely coming out of here around too much though, that`d be a shame.

BTW Telegraph/Geelong, that`s a really strange place for this story to be breaking, deep in Victoria, don`t get that at all.

 

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1 hour ago, DI Keith Fowler said:

We'll do it however Euro 2020 did it I'd guess. I've not followed the reasons why the Great Britain Rugby Union Lions TM tour in South Africa has descended into chaos but I know far bigger sporting events than our World Cup are happening right now without mass cancellation of games. I think whatever is going on with SL teams is skewing people's assessment of risk.

We'll go up in numbers, then peak, then decline as vaccine immunity and natural immunity builds day on day. I don't endorse this plan but it's what's happening and I'd be surprised if cases are still surging in October. 

Teams and players will obviously need to make sacrifices and isolate and live in bubbles. That is what elite sportsmen have had to for in one form or another since elite sporting competitions began. England football players have been isolating in the euros. What any player will have to do for the World Cup doesn't compare to what the players had to through on the early tours. If players don't want to go then others will.

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5 minutes ago, ghost crayfish said:

I think there's been a mishap... Story published through the regionals probably too early. They're syndicated and all run the same stuff, aside from local news. I'd say a media management foul up and there's still room for the story to change. 

I think there will be something in it, even if one paper did run with it early. Very odd that a paper deep in the heart of afl territory, not even in Melbourne, is breaking it, potentially didn`t know the significance of it.

One thing I did read the other day that I haven`t seen mentioned, the NRL clubs had put a list of submissions into the WC organising committee, also there had been talk that the WC organising committee had sought legal advice about potentially suing NRL club`s if they withheld their players. So there`s a bit of argy-bargy going on behind the scenes.

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1 minute ago, The Rocket said:

I think there will be something in it, even if one paper did run with it early. Very odd that a paper deep in the heart of afl territory, not even in Melbourne, is breaking it, potentially didn`t know the significance of it.

One thing I did read the other day that I haven`t seen mentioned, the NRL clubs had put a list of submissions into the WC organising committee, also there had been talk that the WC organising committee had sought legal advice about potentially suing NRL club`s if they withheld their players. So there`s a bit of argy-bargy going on behind the scenes.

That's interesting. The difference between this 2021 WC and other tournaments is that it has £15m (A$25m)+ of Government funding. It actually has some clout for the first time in its history. I can see the threat of NRL legal action being genuine. You do want players to come here willingly so let's hope they get the assurances they want and we get it on.

I think a key thing is a lot of players will genuinely want to travel and play. They have been stuck in Australia now for 18 months (even the Warriors) and a big tournament and change of scene could actually refresh the players (mentally) as opposed to drain them. Getting out of the NRL bubble can really help as we see in the Euros.

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20 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

I thought you were against 'levelling down'?

I am. I am against the enforced leveling down of a competition through rules and regulation.

That is completely different to wanting a world Cup to go ahead as scheduled and not thinking it is disastrous if some players are missing. Australia missing a couple of their better players voluntarily may naturally give other nations more of a chance on the field. Just the same way that a couple of players missing through injury is talked about as being a leveller.

I guess you knew the difference though.

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1 hour ago, Harry Stottle said:

Just to turn it about-face, do we actually want these people visiting our shores who have not been vaccinated? But for the lax way the government allowed the delta variant to take hold here we could have been out of this a while ago, for weeks we had newscasts telling us how bad Covid was in India then the government allowed people to travel there and back, let's not risk it again with a possible Polynesian type variant.

Really?    People from India go to a 2nd country then to UK?  Or go to 2nd and 3rd and then UK

  Or 2nd country person catches it from someone from India and then goes to UK.

People carry it with out symptoms.

People have still been travelling all over the place, despite airlines and airports all over the world being nearly bankrupt.  Every place is catching this delta one and there are still the other variants.  

Stop being disingenuous by saying this is the UK fault.   It's a disease and it gets every where from every one.

ANZAC countries are being incompetent with vaccinations and it seems from what you are saying that islanders and their governments are being quite ignorant and careless.

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5 minutes ago, Chris22 said:

A few sources now reporting tournament to go ahead (Love RL, Press Association). Aus appear to have signed participation agreement.

Wouldn't be surprised, some of the articles from this morning have been amended to say unless certain criteria can be met Australia won't sign, we know the criteria has been met so it all looks like face saving because the story broke to early.

I was born to run a club like this. Number 1, I do not spook easily, and those who think I do, are wasting their time, with their surprise attacks.

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14 minutes ago, Scubby said:

That's interesting. The difference between this 2021 WC and other tournaments is that it has £15m (A$25m)+ of Government funding. It actually has some clout for the first time in its history. I can see the threat of NRL legal action being genuine. You do want players to come here willingly so let's hope they get the assurances they want and we get it on.

I think a key thing is a lot of players will genuinely want to travel and play. They have been stuck in Australia now for 18 months (even the Warriors) and a big tournament and change of scene could actually refresh the players (mentally) as opposed to drain them. Getting out of the NRL bubble can really help as we see in the Euros.

I have absolutely no doubt that most players would give their eyeteeth to go up there and play in front of big crowds, it`s  once in  lifetime experience. Blokes like Cleary will be interesting, I gather his shoulder is pretty busted, and will require surgery, he might take a chance on being available for the next one. But for a lot of other blokes there will not be another one, they`ll be too old for France25.

Just saw the previous post , crack the champagne, look out Pommies, Tommy, Latrell and Teddy are coming to get you.

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I'm keeping everything crossed.

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/rugby-league-world-cup-will-go-ahead-despite-severe-reservations-from-nrl-clubs/news-story/2b16c03b84269680103e4615c593a2f0

Hold the phone, Australia may withdraw.

Quote:

"

The Rugby League World Cup will go ahead but it could be missing one key component – the Kangaroos.

The Daily Telegraph has learnt while World Cup organisers have confirmed the tournament will be staged as planned, the Australian team is yet to sign its participation agreement. That could lead to the tournament going ahead without the defending champions.

Some clubs have lobbied for the tournament to be postponed 12 months given the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Covid-19 and the extended bubble the players will endure.

ARL chairman Peter V’landys confirmed the commission had yet to give the go ahead for Australia to compete."

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9 minutes ago, Abicus said:

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/rugby-league-world-cup-will-go-ahead-despite-severe-reservations-from-nrl-clubs/news-story/2b16c03b84269680103e4615c593a2f0

Hold the phone, Australia may withdraw.

Quote:

"

The Rugby League World Cup will go ahead but it could be missing one key component – the Kangaroos.

The Daily Telegraph has learnt while World Cup organisers have confirmed the tournament will be staged as planned, the Australian team is yet to sign its participation agreement. That could lead to the tournament going ahead without the defending champions.

Some clubs have lobbied for the tournament to be postponed 12 months given the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Covid-19 and the extended bubble the players will endure.

ARL chairman Peter V’landys confirmed the commission had yet to give the go ahead for Australia to compete."

As I said above this all looks like face saving because the story leaked. Later this week they'll announce they've signed now that they've received re-assurances/criteria met. In reality I suspect it's already happened.

I was born to run a club like this. Number 1, I do not spook easily, and those who think I do, are wasting their time, with their surprise attacks.

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They`ll come don`t sweat it.

That`s just the Aussies acting like they think how World Champions should act, toying with everyone , ` will we or won`t we`.

I guarantee you`d do exactly the same if the tables were reversed and you were world champions and the tournament was down here. It`s all part of the theatre.

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