this is where i got the newcastle townsville thing
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488122/630973
Venues to be set for Tri-Nations
Nov 23, 2005
Townsville and Newcastle are in line to host Tri-Nations tests next year after the Rugby League International Federation gave Australia and New Zealand co-hosting rights to the fledgling tournament involving Great Britain.
It's understood Townsville's Dairy Farmers Stadium and Newcastle's EnergyAustralia Stadium have been earmarked as venues for games.
New Zealand will host three matches with three played in Australia.
The final will be played at Aussie Stadium.
ARL CEO Geoff Carr told 2KY Radio on Tuesday there was a lot of confidence on both sides of the Tasman that there would be no shortage of bids from main stadia for round-robin games in the Tri-Nations series.
"New Zealand has got to play three games in it, so (they) are very confident that their stadia will be happy to bid for it," Carr said.
However agreeing on venues for the two round-robin matches between the host nations might cause some headaches, New Zealand Rugby League chairman Selwyn Pearson said.
"We'd push for one each of the Australia-New Zealand games but of course it gets down to the underwriting and those sorts of things," Pearson said.
"Obviously we make a heck of a lot more money in Australia than we do here so that would have to be looked at as well."
The Tri-Nations schedule is likely to be finalised in February.
Australian coach Wayne Bennett was thrilled with the Federation's decision after consistent rumblings that the Tri-Nations, which he was heavily involved in getting started, could be dumped.
"We (rugby league) need it so badly," said Bennett, after he was named International coach of the year at the Golden Boot awards dinner where Australian fullback Anthony Minichiello was recognised as the world's best player in 2005.
"I thought they may pull the plug on it. I'm elated," added Bennett.
Concerns for the future of the tournament surfaced when host Great Britain was dumped from the final meaning it would not return the same profit as last year when the Lions played Australia in the final.
At a meeting in Leeds on Monday, the Federation appointed two working parties to examine a number of issues and report back with their findings on Friday.
Concerns over a loophole that allowed Newcastle star Andrew Johns and other NRL stars to register and play in two different competitions at the same time were also raised at the meeting.
But it was agreed to allow each nation to formulate its owns rules.
The Federation also stayed out of the criticism levelled at its international judiciary system in the wake of the Nigel Vagana tackle that left Great Britain half Paul Deacon with a double facial fracture requiring surgery.
But Carr said the meeting had resolved that the NRL would share with the English Super League the data that its judiciary uses to ensure consistency between rotating members, in the form of recorded footage of benchmark graded offences.
"We want to share what we do with them so we can make sure that between the countries we have a similar view," Carr said.
