Should the NRL buy buy the ESL?

[docbrown]

The NRL should buy the ESL and rename the same as the NRL. I'm not sure why you need to play a heap of inter-league games though. Is anyone except Perth Red really excited to see a lowly ranked Hull team play an NRL team in some round robin tournament?

Keep it simple to reduce costs. If NRL expands to 4 countries and NRL (ESL) expand to Wales again, something like:

Week 1:
Highest ranking French club vs Highest ranking Welsh club
Highest ranking NZ club vs Highest ranking PNG/Fiji club

Week 2:
Highest ranking English club vs French/Welsh winner
Highest ranking Australian club vs NZ/PNG/Fiji winner

Week 3: Week 2 winners play off in the new World Club Challenge.

And suddenly you have a club competition with 7 countries involved.

Edit: if the French, NZ, Welsh, PNG, Fiji clubs are ranked higher than the English & Australian clubs in a given year (say if Toulouse or the Warriors are minor premiers), then you simply swap the seeding around.

 

[Pippen94]

The NRL should buy the ESL and rename the same as the NRL. I'm not sure why you need to play a heap of inter-league games though. Is anyone except Perth Red really excited to see a lowly ranked Hull team play an NRL team in some round robin tournament?

Keep it simple to reduce costs. If NRL expands to 4 countries and NRL (ESL) expand to Wales again, something like:

Week 1:
Highest ranking French club vs Highest ranking Welsh club
Highest ranking NZ club vs Highest ranking PNG/Fiji club

Week 2:
Highest ranking English club vs French/Welsh winner
Highest ranking Australian club vs NZ/PNG/Fiji winner

Week 3: Week 2 winners play off in the new World Club Challenge.

And suddenly you have a club competition with 7 countries involved.

Edit: if the French, NZ, Welsh, PNG, Fiji clubs are ranked higher than the English & Australian clubs in a given year (say if Toulouse or the Warriors are minor premiers), then you simply swap the seeding around.

World championship in Las Vegas every year would be good enough or dare I say it a knockout championship (people advocating Perth team which already failed so why not an old superleague idea?!).

Buying superleague allows NRL to bundle comps together & have product which has reach across australasia, england, France..

Focus on expanding internationally might have something to do with getting a deal with streaming platform. Australia is pretty small compared to the rest of the world. NRL seem keen on PNG, nz2 & even Fiji. I'm starting to think domestic expansion is a waste of time.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

World championship in Las Vegas every year would be good enough or dare I say it a knockout championship (people advocating Perth team which already failed so why not an old superleague idea?!).

Buying superleague allows NRL to bundle comps together & have product which has reach across australasia, england, France..

Focus on expanding internationally might have something to do with getting a deal with streaming platform. Australia is pretty small compared to the rest of the world. NRL seem keen on PNG, nz2 & even Fiji. I'm starting to think domestic expansion is a waste of time.

I'd love to see the Super League expand into Spain and Italy. A second and third team in France would be great.

 

[Pippen94]

I'd love to see the Super League expand into Spain and Italy. A second and third team in France would be great.

Merging m62 & southern France will encompass some large population bases. Carcassonne is keen to enter system in 2026. Outside of that finding investors to prop up teams would be best option. NFL owners have spoken about interest in league, let them take a punt on non heartland.

 

[docbrown]

World championship in Las Vegas every year would be good enough or dare I say it a knockout championship (people advocating Perth team which already failed so why not an old superleague idea?!).

Buying superleague allows NRL to bundle comps together & have product which has reach across australasia, england, France..

Focus on expanding internationally might have something to do with getting a deal with streaming platform. Australia is pretty small compared to the rest of the world. NRL seem keen on PNG, nz2 & even Fiji. I'm starting to think domestic expansion is a waste of time.

I like the idea of a knockout championship. 32 ->16->8->4->2 is 5 weeks of the year. The only problem is you don't know who is going to win, so it's hard to book stadiums in advance. It's also costly and run the risk of match ups like Hull vs Cronulla (I mean really, who cares?).

I think an extended world club challenge will work as pre-season comp for the best teams of the previous year though.

 

[Pippen94]

I like the idea of a knockout championship. 32 ->16->8->4->2 is 5 weeks of the year. The only problem is you don't know who is going to win, so it's hard to book stadiums in advance. It's also costly and run the risk of match ups like Hull vs Cronulla (I mean really, who cares?).

I think an extended world club challenge will work as pre-season comp for the best teams of the previous year though.

I like the Las Vegas fixture to be the world title game: like a boxing bout.