Is the WCC back on ?

[Davo5]

25 minutes ago, anjado said:

Anyone would have a chip on their shoulder if they had to read through 3 pages of pure ######.

Shaun Edwards is at least 2 metres offside on the 2nd try in 1991. We were clearly robbed in 1997, 2004 was super annoying because Bradford were offside from every kick.

The language used by the club should have been better, I don't agree with Cleary on his WC stance, but to suggest that we were some sort of driving force behind the cancellation is asinine. The Covid situation in Australia was very different to the one in the UK at the time. If you want to blame anyone for the World Cup being delayed blame the Australian government for the ridiculously slow vaccine roll out. 

Before you compare it to cricket and Rugby Union too you are talking about many 100's of players and officials leaving Australia for the UK not just 30-40. This is also from a country where a player refused to tour the UK because of terrorism this century. 

What I would say in difference from Penrith to the Roosters and Melbourne it might be impossible to play a WCC game in Western Sydney in February anyway at least a proper fixture. The difference in temperature in the city and Penrith could be anything up to 15 degrees centigrade and to be honest isn't worth the risk.

Everything I said about the job situation is factual.

Everything I said about the difference in treatment in the media from Maloney to Luai is the truth as well it's very easy to see through the veil of racism and classism that exists. When Luai played for NSW it was perfectly acceptable and people loved it though.

Many of you don't realise the amount of snobbery that exists in Sydney because people are told it doesn't exist or you visited and lived next to Bondi beach for 2 weeks.

This Parramatta were robbed thing was such a joke as well they had the ball for the whole game and only scored off a kick through a massive mistake by the fullback. 

Saying Penrith are afraid to play against St Helens is laughable, it really is saying Penrith probably dont want to go to the UK incase half the squad get's covid is probably closer to the truth.

It's funny for a website that complains about classism in the media, when someone points out another case of it you all decide very quickly that i must be wrong.

You really need to stop smoking those Blue Mountains eucalyptus leaves and leave them to the koala’s,sport.

[Davo5]

The only way to take the WCC forward is to play it after the respective 2 Grand Finals & to get the NRL itself to commit to it,taking the individual NRL clubs out of it.

Of course this won’t happen so we’ll get the usual will it go ahead or not,where will it take place rubbish we have nearly every year with a lot of NRL teams seeing it as a preseason inconvenience.

[Jughead]

19 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

The only way to take the WCC forward is to play it after the respective 2 Grand Finals & to get the NRL itself to commit to it,taking the individual NRL clubs out of it.

Of course this won’t happen so we’ll get the usual will it go ahead or not,where will it take place rubbish we have nearly every year with a lot of NRL teams seeing it as a preseason inconvenience.

And what do we do when the Super League clubs moan about not having a week or two off prior to this game, given their season finishes earlier than ours?

I’d rather scrap it altogether and get those that want to be involved (I’m thinking Roosters and Storm) annually coming over for a proper tournament rather than a couple of meaningless friendlies like that World Club Series we attempted for a couple of years. 

[Exiled Wiganer]

22 minutes ago, Jughead said:

And what do we do when the Super League clubs moan about not having a week or two off prior to this game, given their season finishes earlier than ours?

I’d rather scrap it altogether and get those that want to be involved (I’m thinking Roosters and Storm) annually coming over for a proper tournament rather than a couple of meaningless friendlies like that World Club Series we attempted for a couple of years. 

Didn’t we have something like that a few years ago? I remember Wigan having a fantastic match against Brisbane, and Wire (?) also having a thrilling game, before (IIRC) Saints were completely crushed by Souths. I am sure Wigan could shift 10s of thousands of tickets every year for a game against a glamour Aussie club. There was also at least one time when the Aussie champions played the Broncos, which attracted a very good crowd indeed. 

We need a couple of things to take advantage of the desire of some of the NRL clubs to look beyond their own backyard, and come over here. First, we need someone to take on the organisation of the event as an event - someone I would suggest, outside of the 2 clubs - who could look to get sponsors and even a slice of the TV deals. Second, we would need the relevant bodies, the RFL and the NRL, to back it. If the first body does a good enough job, then the second should be easier... I was always perplexed that Elstone didn’t attempt to get a grip on this idea, as it was one of the few things where we have proof of a successful concept even though it had been put together on the back of a fag packet. 

Truthfully this time, I did spend time talking to the Roosters players on their way back to Oz, and they had all really enjoyed it. For the players at least, it was a positive experience to play a match in front of vocal crowds. Obviously, Trent Robinson set the tone, and he is an Aussie who actually cares for our game, but the idea is a good one. 

It is a tragedy that a myopic knuckle dragger like this Penrith coach even has a say in the matter... 

[Davo5]

23 minutes ago, Jughead said:

And what do we do when the Super League clubs moan about not having a week or two off prior to this game, given their season finishes earlier than ours?

I’d rather scrap it altogether and get those that want to be involved (I’m thinking Roosters and Storm) annually coming over for a proper tournament rather than a couple of meaningless friendlies like that World Club Series we attempted for a couple of years. 

We literally finish a week later,

[Jughead]

24 minutes ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

Didn’t we have something like that a few years ago? I remember Wigan having a fantastic match against Brisbane, and Wire (?) also having a thrilling game, before (IIRC) Saints were completely crushed by Souths. I am sure Wigan could shift 10s of thousands of tickets every year for a game against a glamour Aussie club. There was also at least one time when the Aussie champions played the Broncos, which attracted a very good crowd indeed. 

We need a couple of things to take advantage of the desire of some of the NRL clubs to look beyond their own backyard, and come over here. First, we need someone to take on the organisation of the event as an event - someone I would suggest, outside of the 2 clubs - who could look to get sponsors and even a slice of the TV deals. Second, we would need the relevant bodies, the RFL and the NRL, to back it. If the first body does a good enough job, then the second should be easier... I was always perplexed that Elstone didn’t attempt to get a grip on this idea, as it was one of the few things where we have proof of a successful concept even though it had been put together on the back of a fag packet. 

Truthfully this time, I did spend time talking to the Roosters players on their way back to Oz, and they had all really enjoyed it. For the players at least, it was a positive experience to play a match in front of vocal crowds. Obviously, Trent Robinson set the tone, and he is an Aussie who actually cares for our game, but the idea is a good one. 

It is a tragedy that a myopic knuckle dragger like this Penrith coach even has a say in the matter... 

We did but we did it as meaningless friendlies and they were treated as such.  Ideally, we needed to get onboard with the idea of a Champions League/RU European Cup style format twenty years ago and that boat has probably sailed now but that format we used for the Series was pretty rubbish and it’s little wonder it failed. 

[Jughead]

17 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

We literally finish a week later,

So the Australians get two weeks off and we get one and then we somehow try and fit in some form of international fixtures and off-season for players before they do it all again for the following season?

I’ve never got the desire from some that we must get the World Club game done as soon as possible, logistically it’s a bit of a nightmare, players are at running on empty and broken and 4-5 days to organise a game and print and sell tickets is just not really feasible in this day and age. 

[Exiled Wiganer]

10 minutes ago, Jughead said:

We did but we did it as meaningless friendlies and they were treated as such.  Ideally, we needed to get onboard with the idea of a Champions League/RU European Cup style format twenty years ago and that boat has probably sailed now but that format we used for the Series was pretty rubbish and it’s little wonder it failed. 

I went to the WIgan game, and it didn’t feel in any way meaningless. Though you could argue that all sport is relatively meaningless (particularly when Saints win...). Given that they were just friendlies but were so successful, it feels to me that someone could really get a grip of it, treat it as a professional tournament and make a go of it. We need someone whose day job would be to make it happen, rather than having it as an informal afterthought. 

[Davo5]

23 minutes ago, Jughead said:

So the Australians get two weeks off and we get one and then we somehow try and fit in some form of international fixtures and off-season for players before they do it all again for the following season?

I’ve never got the desire from some that we must get the World Club game done as soon as possible, logistically it’s a bit of a nightmare, players are at running on empty and broken and 4-5 days to organise a game and print and sell tickets is just not really feasible in this day and age. 

Well we could always do away with a loop fixture  or maybe take your lead & just not bother because it’s a bit hard.

[Jughead]

1 minute ago, Davo5 said:

Well we could always do away with a loop fixture  or maybe take your lead & just not bother because it’s a bit hard.

Clubs are unlikely to vote to reduce the fixtures much further, so that’s a non-starter. I certainly didn’t say that we shouldn’t bother, however, it’s a non-starter in the current climate. 

[Dunbar]

I have given up hoping that Rugby League will somehow emerge from its tendency for self harm so this kind of language doesn't surprise me (and when you give up hope you feel more serene).

From the moment of it's conception, the World Club Challenge has been called meaningless by many many people and that it exactly the attitude that holds pur sport back.