Permanent end-of- year International tournament.

[The Rocket]

Sydney Morning Herald chief sports writer Andrew Webster says he has spoken recently to NRL CEO Andrew Abdo and says Abdo is determined that an annual end of year ( in non WC years ), one month international tournament, yes England are mentioned, will become a permanent fixture.

@smh

chief sports writer Andrew Webster revealed this morning the

@NRL

is potentially looking at an end of season international rugby league tournament. Listen below for more details on the idea. #NRL

LISTEN | https://bit.ly/3bjyM5S

.https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=1011822

 

 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

We had a tournament involving England and Southern hemisphere sides, it was called the Four Nations. How many times have we been here before? Promises, promises, promises. Even if we get something, it will be played a couple of times and then put on hiatus for a couple of years because an NRL executive has got a cold but we'll be assured it will come back and then it will just be forgotten about and we'll be back to playing United Sovereign States Also Rans. 

[Man of Kent]

Total no-brainer. It effectively extends the NRL/rugby league season by a month. More TV content, more value for broadcasters. 

Glad that Abdo is keen, he seems a doer.

[redjonn]

Where would the end of year international tournament be.

Good if we have one here in UK/France often, not so good if only Australia imo. 

[tim2]

The mistake is putting "permanent" and "international rugby league" anywhere near each other in an article.

[Damien]

Wow a whole month. So basically what we had, or less even, for many a year anyway.

So much for scraping mid season tests to have another week at the end of the season for internationals. More lies and bs as usual. 11 months with no international rugby, the great NRL vision for the game.

[Jughead]

Would like to see a revamped and extended Four Nations to become a Five or Six Nations, though I feel that is a bit fantasy land stuff. 

 

[Dave T]

6 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Would like to see a revamped and extended Four Nations to become a Five or Six Nations, though I feel that is a bit fantasy land stuff. 

 

What is sad is that when we moved to Four Nations, it didn't necessarily have the 4th team being competitive - but surely now we genuinely could have 6 or even 8 teams that we talked about previously.

Aus, NZ, Eng, Tonga, Samoa, PNG, France, Fiji - I can;t see how that couldn't be an entertaining competitive comp.

[Jim from Oz]

What happened to the IRL international rugby league 10-year calendar we have been promised now since the Big Bang ??!!

[Jughead]

27 minutes ago, Dave T said:

What is sad is that when we moved to Four Nations, it didn't necessarily have the 4th team being competitive - but surely now we genuinely could have 6 or even 8 teams that we talked about previously.

Aus, NZ, Eng, Tonga, Samoa, PNG, France, Fiji - I can;t see how that couldn't be an entertaining competitive comp.

There’s plenty of formats (groups, straight knockout, league formats etc) that could be done because we really have plenty of relatively strong nations. 

I won’t hold my breath for any, though

[Damien]

3 hours ago, Jim from Oz said:

What happened to the IRL international rugby league 10-year calendar we have been promised now since the Big Bang ??!!

The same as what always happens, a calendar gets proposed and agreed, then it doesn't happen, then the Aussies propose a new one to pretend they care. Rinse and repeat.

Edited June 22, 2022 by Damien

[fighting irish]

What concerns me about this, is a vivid memory of Vlandys saying something like, ''We'll show them who really runs rugby league'' when referring to the IRL organisation, during the debacle around their callous withdrawal from 2021 WC.

I don't think they support the IRL and in fact resent it. I also believe they are persistently working to undermine it.

There was no mention (by Abdo) of the IRL in this last piece.

If they succeed in eviscerating the IRL, then who will nurture the fledgling European Nations or the Middle East and African nations, not to mention the America's?

We need to give some encouragement to John Kear and rally round to get the NH playing international rugby league. 

[HawkMan]

How long before the NRL decides that this end of season tournament is making money, really popular and do we really want to not play it in WC years, let's forget about WC's.

[DavidM]

We’ve got the most competitive international set up ever . Players committing to teams outside the big 3 . Reward them with regular Tests , get all those competitive sides playing against each other in a regular tournament with whatever format you want . It should be such a complete no brainer . People love international rugby league , the time is ripe for it . It’s one of the games greatest indictments that’s it’s been neglected and marginalised so much when it should be the most visible spearhead of selling the game 

[Sports Prophet]

1 hour ago, Jughead said:

Would like to see a revamped and extended Four Nations to become a Five or Six Nations, though I feel that is a bit fantasy land stuff. 

 

Agreed, a five nations is very doable and I expect affordable. I keep getting torn whether it should be simply round robin format or culminate in a final. 

I wouldn’t want to see it every three of the non WC years though. That event would just get stale for me. Every two years between WC is satisfactory.

Any nation that wants to run a series in the other two years can do so as they wish.

[Man of Kent]

5 minutes ago, DavidM said:

We’ve got the most competitive international set up ever . Players committing to teams outside the big 3 . Reward them with regular Tests , get all those competitive sides playing against each other in a regular tournament with whatever format you want . It should be such a complete no brainer . People love international rugby league , the time is ripe for it . It’s one of the games greatest indictments that’s it’s been neglected and marginalised so much when it should be the most visible spearhead of selling the game 

I think the ARLC - or at least Abdo - might have finally twigged they must look beyond their borders for continued growth, i.e TV revenue.   

I sort of understand their hitherto wrong-headed approach as Origin is very much their jewel in the crown but the international game demands to be taken seriously now. Look at those squads.

I'm sure the ARLC could manage to keep Origin as the 'pinnacle' in Australia - that QLD vs NSW rivalry is very deep - while promoting the international game as the 'Best in the World' etc.     

[gingerjon]

31 minutes ago, DavidM said:

We’ve got the most competitive international set up ever . Players committing to teams outside the big 3 . Reward them with regular Tests , get all those competitive sides playing against each other in a regular tournament with whatever format you want . It should be such a complete no brainer . People love international rugby league , the time is ripe for it . It’s one of the games greatest indictments that’s it’s been neglected and marginalised so much when it should be the most visible spearhead of selling the game 

A Nations League set up could actually make sense here.

Nothing will actually happen because all we're responding to here is two blokes having a bit of a chat on the radio.

[nadera78]

Would this be another event - like the mid-season Pacific Tests - where the NRL bundle the TV rights up into the package they themselves sell, refuse to tell the competing nations how much the games are worth, and then claim the event loses money and they are graciously subsidising it for the competing nations?

Literally everything the NRL does is weighted in its own favour, everyone else just expected to tag along gratefully.

[Davo5]

The only thing Abdo & V’Landys are interested in is bringing in more TV revenue for the NRL,
We should have already organised a 4 nations for next year playing France,Tonga & one of Fiji,PNG or Samoa to build on the WC.

[StandOffHalf]

The RFL should indeed be setting up a 4-Nations next year to capitalise on the WC. Try to make the Pacific nations come on board and realise that international football isn't just an NRL Representative Round.

Seeing people like Tinirau Arona and Jarrod Sammut travelling down for their international teams is an incredible sign of how important it is for them. Whatever one thinks of SL as a comp, internationals are still generally held up as the pinnacle and deferred to. I don't think Aussie-based players would be travelling up here mid-season.

The NRL are only in in for the money. They couldn't give two hoots about the RLIF/IRL, and nary acknowledge its existence.

[gingerjon]

5 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

But didn´t IMG base their strategy around beg Australia?

There hasn't been a single statement about what IMG's strategy is or might be.

Man of Kent had one comment from a journo and Gledhill spewed some stuff on Twitter.

Beyond that, as far as I'm aware, it is all complete guesswork.

[jim_57]

I liked the 4 nations but it’s probably been outgrown, make it too big though and it takes away from the World Cup so 5 or 6 nations could work. I’d definitely have at least one year when full strength region based tournaments take place. 
 

1 - World Cup. 
2 - 5 Nations & Tours.
3 - Pacific & Euro Cups & Tours.
4 - 5 Nations & Tours.

[StandOffHalf]

58 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

But didn´t IMG base their strategy around beg Australia? I think a Four nations of England France and two of PNG FIJI Samoa or Tonga fits all the criteria. It would be a) competitive b) Marketable for fans and tv ratings c) Nothing to do with Australia. 

Yeah, I mean those teams, not Australia. 

Multi-polar should be the focus, rather than a uni-polar NRL influence.

[Jughead]

Steve Mascord has said England are to play in the Southern Hemisphere next year. 

[Dallas Mead]

20 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Steve Mascord has said England are to play in the Southern Hemisphere next year. 

Ace, I’m up for that