Hollywood Jesus
Coach
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OK, so I stole strat's title. Sorry. This thread is a little different as it centres around the International Calendar and how to restructure it so that it becomes:
a) an attractive and important part of the season and
b) tempting enough so that players would consider staying loyal to teams such as Scotland, Tonga etc instead of always opting for Australia due to SOO every year
It will require the ESL and NRL to co-ordinate their schedules so that they can play matches at the same time and thus theoretically allow as many players as possible to travel to wherever they are needed in order to represent. This would not always happen to its fullest extent, but the other benefit is the weekend of television would contain pure rep matches from both hemispheres that would be a delight to watch.
4-YEAR DRAW
OK, a few bits of info to get started with.
When playing in mid-year games in the Southern Hemisphere (SH), Pacific Teams will probably only be able to draw from NRL talent as ESL players will not always be released. When a Pacific team is sent to the Northern Hemisphere (NH) they could join up with ESL players there to form their strongest team. As such, SH games will probably best be played as openers from larger games, or at smaller stadiums such as Penrith or Townsville (where they might draw a larger crowd).
Pacific Origin is, in essence, a combined Tonga/Samoa/Fiji/Cook Is. team that would play NZ in a 3-game Origin series that ran concurrently with SOO.
PI is, basically, the Pacific Origin Team that stays together to compete in the 6 Nations tournament.
"Guest" teams would be emerging nations not involved in this draw that could come for tours. If a different "Guest" team was brought every year, each nation would only have to organise a 2-3 month sabbatical from their homelands once every 4 years. The three spots might go to Russia, Lebanon and the US? An Affliliated States team (WA, SA, Vic, NT etc) might also get a run.
ANZ team is ex-pat Aussies and Kiwis in ESL. Playing GB would become an AZNAC weekend tradition (which they should have no damned problem with considering we went and fought for the Commonwealth!)
SH team would be Aust, NZ, Pac Islands - one required from each nation minimum - drawn from ESL players wherever possible. SH = Southern Hemisphere
NH team would be GB, France, Russia, Lebanon, US - one required from each nation minimum - drawn from ESL wherever possible. NH = Northern Hemisphere
Ab XIII would be an Aboriginal Invitational team.
FPP = First Past the Post Competition.
The year would be divided into 3 sections: ANZAC weekend, Mid Year and End Year. In the first two sections, all Club games across the world would be suspended. End Year would come after NRL/ESL seasons finished.
********************
YEAR 1
ANZAC Weekend
South. Hem: Aust v NZ........................ North Hem: GB v ANZ
Samoa v Tonga.................................PNG v France
Mid-Year
SH: State of Origin........................................NH: GB v France (3 Tests)
Pacific Origin............................................ ....Lebanon v Russia (Opener)
PNG v Guest (2/3 games)
End Year
SH: Nil............................................... .........NH: Six Nations
.................................................. ...................(Aus, NZ, GB, Fra, PI, PNG)
YEAR 2
ANZAC Weekend
SH: Aust v NZ.............................................NH: GB v ANZ
Samoa v PNG..............................................Tonga v France
Mid-Year
SH: State of Origin......................................NH: Eng v Ire v Scot v Wal
Pacific Origin............................................ (Play opponents once each, FPP)
PNG v Guest............................................. .France v Russia/Lebanon/US
End Year:
SH: Tri-Nations...........................................NH: Five Nations
.................................................. ..............(France, Tonga, Samoa, PNG, Russia)
YEAR 3
ANZAC Weekend
SH: Aust v NZ...........................................NH: NH v SH
Tonga v PNG
Samoa v Ab XIII
Mid-Year
SH: State of Origin.......................................NH: Great Britain v France (3 Tests)
Pacific Origin............................................ ...US/Russia/Lebanon? (Opener)
PNG v Guest
End Year
SH: Six Nations...........................................NH: Nil
Year 4
ANZAC Weekend
SH: Aust v NZ............................................NH: GB v France
Tonga v Samoa
PNG v Ab XIII
Mid-Year
SH: State of Origin......................................NH: Eng v Ire v Scot v Wal (FPP)
Pacific Cup............................................... .France v Russ/lebanese/ANZ
(Sam, Tong, PNG, NZ - FPP)
End Year
World Cup
********************
Now, it's probably not ideal, but it solves some problems.
Pacific teams now play regularly, so players will fully declare for them more. In addition, the upper echelon of players who have problems because they can't play Origin - Mateo, SBW - now have that opportunity.
Pac Islands team would pretty much immediately rank #4 and be a competitor against Aus, NZ and GB. Would vastly improve the international scene.
NZ would benefit from playing together during the year. Would vastly improve the international scene.
France would start playing regular matches against decent teams other than GB. Would vastly benefit the international scene.
Combined teams such as PI and GB would get regular opportunities to split and play as individual nations, most especially in WC year. Would benefit the WC and vastly improve the international scene.
Have at me, mateys!
a) an attractive and important part of the season and
b) tempting enough so that players would consider staying loyal to teams such as Scotland, Tonga etc instead of always opting for Australia due to SOO every year
It will require the ESL and NRL to co-ordinate their schedules so that they can play matches at the same time and thus theoretically allow as many players as possible to travel to wherever they are needed in order to represent. This would not always happen to its fullest extent, but the other benefit is the weekend of television would contain pure rep matches from both hemispheres that would be a delight to watch.
4-YEAR DRAW
OK, a few bits of info to get started with.
When playing in mid-year games in the Southern Hemisphere (SH), Pacific Teams will probably only be able to draw from NRL talent as ESL players will not always be released. When a Pacific team is sent to the Northern Hemisphere (NH) they could join up with ESL players there to form their strongest team. As such, SH games will probably best be played as openers from larger games, or at smaller stadiums such as Penrith or Townsville (where they might draw a larger crowd).
Pacific Origin is, in essence, a combined Tonga/Samoa/Fiji/Cook Is. team that would play NZ in a 3-game Origin series that ran concurrently with SOO.
PI is, basically, the Pacific Origin Team that stays together to compete in the 6 Nations tournament.
"Guest" teams would be emerging nations not involved in this draw that could come for tours. If a different "Guest" team was brought every year, each nation would only have to organise a 2-3 month sabbatical from their homelands once every 4 years. The three spots might go to Russia, Lebanon and the US? An Affliliated States team (WA, SA, Vic, NT etc) might also get a run.
ANZ team is ex-pat Aussies and Kiwis in ESL. Playing GB would become an AZNAC weekend tradition (which they should have no damned problem with considering we went and fought for the Commonwealth!)
SH team would be Aust, NZ, Pac Islands - one required from each nation minimum - drawn from ESL players wherever possible. SH = Southern Hemisphere
NH team would be GB, France, Russia, Lebanon, US - one required from each nation minimum - drawn from ESL wherever possible. NH = Northern Hemisphere
Ab XIII would be an Aboriginal Invitational team.
FPP = First Past the Post Competition.
The year would be divided into 3 sections: ANZAC weekend, Mid Year and End Year. In the first two sections, all Club games across the world would be suspended. End Year would come after NRL/ESL seasons finished.
********************
YEAR 1
ANZAC Weekend
South. Hem: Aust v NZ........................ North Hem: GB v ANZ
Samoa v Tonga.................................PNG v France
Mid-Year
SH: State of Origin........................................NH: GB v France (3 Tests)
Pacific Origin............................................ ....Lebanon v Russia (Opener)
PNG v Guest (2/3 games)
End Year
SH: Nil............................................... .........NH: Six Nations
.................................................. ...................(Aus, NZ, GB, Fra, PI, PNG)
YEAR 2
ANZAC Weekend
SH: Aust v NZ.............................................NH: GB v ANZ
Samoa v PNG..............................................Tonga v France
Mid-Year
SH: State of Origin......................................NH: Eng v Ire v Scot v Wal
Pacific Origin............................................ (Play opponents once each, FPP)
PNG v Guest............................................. .France v Russia/Lebanon/US
End Year:
SH: Tri-Nations...........................................NH: Five Nations
.................................................. ..............(France, Tonga, Samoa, PNG, Russia)
YEAR 3
ANZAC Weekend
SH: Aust v NZ...........................................NH: NH v SH
Tonga v PNG
Samoa v Ab XIII
Mid-Year
SH: State of Origin.......................................NH: Great Britain v France (3 Tests)
Pacific Origin............................................ ...US/Russia/Lebanon? (Opener)
PNG v Guest
End Year
SH: Six Nations...........................................NH: Nil
Year 4
ANZAC Weekend
SH: Aust v NZ............................................NH: GB v France
Tonga v Samoa
PNG v Ab XIII
Mid-Year
SH: State of Origin......................................NH: Eng v Ire v Scot v Wal (FPP)
Pacific Cup............................................... .France v Russ/lebanese/ANZ
(Sam, Tong, PNG, NZ - FPP)
End Year
World Cup
********************
Now, it's probably not ideal, but it solves some problems.
Pacific teams now play regularly, so players will fully declare for them more. In addition, the upper echelon of players who have problems because they can't play Origin - Mateo, SBW - now have that opportunity.
Pac Islands team would pretty much immediately rank #4 and be a competitor against Aus, NZ and GB. Would vastly improve the international scene.
NZ would benefit from playing together during the year. Would vastly improve the international scene.
France would start playing regular matches against decent teams other than GB. Would vastly benefit the international scene.
Combined teams such as PI and GB would get regular opportunities to split and play as individual nations, most especially in WC year. Would benefit the WC and vastly improve the international scene.
Have at me, mateys!
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