Mal: "We're playing the right amount of games"

[siv]

I think part of the issue is who tours who

At the moment we really only have 3 tours

Kangaroo tour of England
Kiwi tour of England

England tour of Oceania

With the ESL move to summer has removed the mid year tour window for England

Also what should the Confederations Cup look like is another question

I can only see it being Top 3 Pacific Top 2 Europe Top 1 America's- in a 5 round 6 Nations format with a final

Year 2 would need to be preliminary RLWC regional qualifiers. It will be important to shorten the Euro qualifying process.

Year 3 regionals are really going to end up being RLWC Qualifiers and will depend upon how many auto-qualifiers are allowed

With RLWC final repocharge mid year Year 4

Year 4 being the RLWC

Now if we allow Year 1 to be true regionals

There isn't much room left for tours

So the only tour year would be Year 3 for a combined Kangaroo / Kiwi tour of England

I can't see room for a England tour downunder unless in Year 1 mid year

 

[Springs09]

No have Kangaroos tour in Year 3 and Lions tour in Year 7. The important thing with tours is to keep that exclusive feel. A Kangaroo Tour could be a literal once in a lifetime opportunity, and have them as large tours (6-8 tests) to keep that event feel. Same with Lions tours. Players who make 2 tours will be among the best of the best.
Kiwi Tour - eh, Kiwis have never done much with their tours other than play England 3 times. If we ever get a mid-season break we can have any nations touring - for example PNG could tour Europe and play France, Wales and Ireland.

RLWC Qualifiers need to be in the first 2 years I think. They got it right this time around.

Confederations Cup should be 8 teams with 2 pools - Top 4 Pacific, Top 3 Europe + qualifier from MEA/Americas.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Tours made way for the four nations, the Kiwis and Australia would travel to Europe and play England, the Second best Euro nation and each other. Then if they played well enough would play the final also.

When in the Southern Hemesphere England would travel down under and play the Kiwis, Kangaroos and the third best Oceania nation plus a final if good enough.

It worked well and was just starting to gain traction. It should never have been scrapped, just expanded on if needs be. You could have easily taken it to 8 nations with two pools of four and a final between the two pool winners. The pools could have even been regional to give the Euro and Oceania Cup some added spice.

Rugby League 8 Nations:
Euro Pool: England, France, Wales, Ireland
(winner is the Euro Cup Champion and advances to RL8N final, 4th place relegated to Euro Shield)

Oceania Pool: Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji
(winner is the Oceania Champion and advances to RL8N final, 4th place relegated to Oceania Shield)

• Euro nations get regular competition against England, England compete in the Euro cup which increases interest, media attention, crowds and sponsorship dollars
• England almost certainly wins their group which gives them an annual clash with the best southern hemesphere nation
• Pacific and Euro nations get access to the top via P&R

Play it every year except a world cup year and when needed work out how to include MEA and the Americas.