Reflections on WC and the future

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

The V’Landys strategy of relying on State of Origin to produce draftees for the next World Cup ‘national all star’ teams is a bad move.

All the wrong lessons are being learnt.

What incentive to is there for nations to produce their own talent when they can rely on Australian state systems to do that work for them?

Now England and NZ will be scouring the Aussie juniors for whatever tenuous ‘heritage’ angle they can find. And dangle the Origin carrot in front of them.

Which we all know is what players secretly lust for anyway. The new V’Landys rule only affirms that.

Did you expect anything but an insular mindset from V'landys?

The bloke only cares about preserving the archaic NSWRL system of having three grades played on match day. He wants to kill Queensland Cup and NSW Cup to bring back reserve grade and colts.

 

[LeagueXIII]

He is protecting Ch9s interest ie origin. Everything he does is for the "Partners"

 

[Perth Red]

What will crowds be like in France? I’m nervous.

I think we should set our expectations realistically. They wont be anything like the last 3 world cups is the reality. But that's ok, its in many ways about re establishing the credibility of RL in France 80 years after the Nazi collaborating Union tried to destroy it.

If its done well then it should lay a platform for the decades to come to help get French teams in bigger markets and generate interest outside of a small southern enclave. That's the goal. Not just bums on seats. Its a real shame PSG didn't survive and thrive in SL.

 

[Perth Red]

The V’Landys strategy of relying on State of Origin to produce draftees for the next World Cup ‘national all star’ teams is a bad move.

All the wrong lessons are being learnt.

What incentive to is there for nations to produce their own talent when they can rely on Australian state systems to do that work for them?

Now England and NZ will be scouring the Aussie juniors for whatever tenuous ‘heritage’ angle they can find. And dangle the Origin carrot in front of them.

Which we all know is what players secretly lust for anyway. The new V’Landys rule only affirms that.

Totally disagree, Origin is, in reality, not much more than a 'special interest' game. Its got nothing to do with Kangaroos or International RL. Therefore there is no problem with a player who meets Origin criteria playing for NSw or Qlnd AND deciding which art of their heritage they want to represent on a world stage.

The cold harsh reality is there is no money in RL outside of two domestic comps, so the idea that somehow a tiny country like Samoa or Tonga is going to have domestic competitions that will produce world class full time professional RL players is fanciful at best.

We should be very thankful that so many nationalities choose to call Australia home and give us an opportunity to have a vibrant International game. Without that we'd be screwed.

 

[Desert Qlder]

bless, a pom who thinks they can talk about Origin.

"nothing to do with the Kangaroos" lol

 

[Perth Red]

bless, a pom who thinks they can talk about Origin.

"nothing to do with the Kangaroos" lol

haha its little to do with Kangaroo selection. Hence Cleary getting the spot ahead of DCE and JAC actually being at the RLWC!
Bless an Aussie how likes to throw in little racist jibes.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Enthused by an outstanding World Cup I’m now in full manipulation mode trying to convince the wife that a trip to France in October is a great idea! I’d love to go to 2025 and hopefully can convince her!

I would love to get to that world cup too

 

[titoelcolombiano]

What will crowds be like in France? I’m nervous.

Yes, it is the elephant in the room isn't it. You can't imagine that they would be great and there is no ultra hardcore RL heartland to fall back on. Hopefully the IRL has a plan and we market lots of tours for Aussies, Kiwis, English and PI's to travel over.

Thing is, can the IRL afford to have a hit to profits due to shit crowds just as we are starting to get some momentum with the tournament? I get the organising committees are more professional these days and they get the tournament underwritten by Governments and corporate and media partners but the ticket revenue would be a big piece of the pie I would imagine.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

The V’Landys strategy of relying on State of Origin to produce draftees for the next World Cup ‘national all star’ teams is a bad move.

All the wrong lessons are being learnt.

What incentive to is there for nations to produce their own talent when they can rely on Australian state systems to do that work for them?

Now England and NZ will be scouring the Aussie juniors for whatever tenuous ‘heritage’ angle they can find. And dangle the Origin carrot in front of them.

Which we all know is what players secretly lust for anyway. The new V’Landys rule only affirms that.

I'm looking at it from a different angle. This is an opportunity for the NRL to attract the best 13 year old Rugby talent in the world. The strategy will be to get your kid into the system by age 13, they will get world class development and if they are good enough be some of the highest paid Rugby athletes in the world (Origin and NRL payments) and still get to pull on their home nations jersey at international level. win-win and something unique to RL.

 

[Desert Qlder]

Two massive chokes by England in World Cups in one year. Beautiful.

The answer is to be more like their Cricket team. More Aussies and Kiwis, Saffies, bloody anything apart from their own numpties.

 

[King hit]

haha its little to do with Kangaroo selection. Hence Cleary getting the spot ahead of DCE and JAC actually being at the RLWC!
Bless an Aussie how likes to throw in little racist jibes.

 

[Travitoh]

I feel it'd be cool to have a 'play-in' round similar to what the recent T20 WC had to give some of the weaker nations an opportunity to pick up a few wins.

 

[Stinkfinger]

haha its little to do with Kangaroo selection. Hence Cleary getting the spot ahead of DCE and JAC actually being at the RLWC!
Bless an Aussie how likes to throw in little racist jibes.

Rightly so too, when it's played half a season before team selection and you've had 10 or so rounds of the NRL and a finals series in the meantime. Back in the day, state games were played immediately before Test series and were thus important selection trials, but those days are gone.

 

[bazza]

I feel it'd be cool to have a 'play-in' round similar to what the recent T20 WC had to give some of the weaker nations an opportunity to pick up a few wins.

thought about that - but think it would be better to ensure more qualifying games

 

[Travitoh]

thought about that - but think it would be better to ensure more qualifying games

Really, a play-in round would be glorified qualifiers but being a part of the WC will potentially give it more coverage and interest from some of the lower nations who would otherwise get thumped in each group game.

 

[Pneuma]

England Wheelchair welcomed by HRH Princess of Wales

www.rugby-league.com

 

[some11]

.

 

[stryker]

The worst city in Europe. It's a f**king toilet

You’ll feel right at home there then

 

[MKCS]

2) this is what I'm most passionate about, emerging nations need thier own pool and should only be allowed a maximum 4 heritage players. They qualify using homegrown talent and these players deserve to play in the WC. If you put these countries in thier own pool ( with the top team qualifying for the finals ) they can play without fear they'll be beaten by 100. And c'mon, you've gotta admit, it's embarrassing for the game when they interview an Italian or Lebenese player and they have an Australian accent.

On one hand I totally see your viewpoint, the players who get a team over the line to qualify should get to play in the World Cup. I also like your idea of an emerging nations pool so that only one team comes out and hopefully can put in a respectable performance against a non emerging nation.

An issue I see though is with the heritage players, they most likely do want to play for their respective nations regularly but is the money there to get them to these games? The Greek side for example went into the World Cup with Ilias from the Rabbits and then a few NRL reserve graders/ex NRL guys and some NSW Cup players. If we asked these guys they'd probably all love to play for Greece regularly but 2-3 trips overseas a year might not be something they could afford themselves and for the few that might make enough money to do that from playing footy their respective clubs would probably frown upon it.

I also think for the development of these guys it is good to allow as many heritage players as possible in, I'll use the Greek side again as an example but that team was together for 3-4 weeks, in the team you had 3 players with NRL experience, a few with professional experience from England and then a bunch of juniors from NRL teams/NSW Cup and QLD Cup players. 9 players who play domestically in Greece were also part of the squad under the guidance of a coach with NRL experience.

In my opinion (And I might be wrong) it would be great for the development of the majority of the team to be around professionals from England and the NRL, assuming these players are happy to teach they are able to give these guys lessons/skills/whatever to take back to the domestic league in Greece and hand onto other players there, that hopefully leads to improvement in the domestic leagues and a more competitive national side.

Not to mention the heritage players help make these teams as competitive as possible...

 

[Dodgy]

I've often thought the WC should be every two years. The depth in IR isn't there. For smaller and developing nations, four years is a long time to commit to eventually getting smashed by the top-tier nations.

I think a WC every two years would speed up the development of the small/developing nations. There'll be an immediate result for prospective sponsors/investors. In four year cycle, they'll have two cracks at a WC. This is better than four years, where interest might be lost and not bother.