Good
The TV Ratings and Seven's coverage. Proof that the interest is there for international RL.
Passionate fans and players - PNG, Tonga, Samoa, and Lebanon. Great to see. In Canberra yesterday even the small amount of French fans made themselves heard and had a great time. Scenes of tears as players who have been criticised as ring ins belt out their national anthems, war dances and prayers.
The quality of most games and some unpredictable results. Ireland beating the more favoured Italy was a win for the Northern Hemisphere and will keep us guessing into weeks 2 and 3, and while England still couldn't knock over Australia, they asked enough questions to ensure the tournament winner isn't a foregone conclusion.
The PNG crowd was outstanding and NZ quite good despite a lot of negativity coming from there.
The largely positive print media coverage of the tournament seems to be an improvement on previous iterations. Hopefully some of the crowds and blowouts don't see this turn around.
Bad
Sadly, every one of these was predicted beforehand and is just another chapter in Rugby League administration limiting the sport's potential for mediocre short term gains. So much potential for a well-staged event was deliberately thrown away in return for an easy cash in, I hope the amount was worth it but I very much doubt it was. The bar was set dazzlingly low and we've failed to reach it, again.
The crowds in Melbourne, Townsville and Canberra. Garbage.
Lack of neutral refs. No one really believes the Australian refs are deliberately biased but the fact is we aren't having this conversation at all if they stop putting Aus refs in charge of Aus games. Only Australians are arrogant enough to suggest that only our referees are good enough to handle the World Cup while bagging the same refs for 9 months of the year AND bagging the quality of WC games.
The venues. Townsville and Canberra (and wait to see Cairns 3rd game) getting 3 games while Gold Coast, Newcastle, Gosford, Western Sydney, Wollongong, and even Adelaide (at a stretch) get nothing is a massive fail. Again, I hope the government's money was worth it. Better choice of venues would have seen crowds in some cases double and far more positive coverage for the tournament.
The scheduling. It's one thing to play so many games in the tropics but in the PNG case to put players through tropical weather and not even play the games at night is simply cruel, and contributes to blowout scores.
The marketing and ticketing. A complete and utter failure. The entire marketing budget of about $130 seems to have been spent on a few billboards and not much else. The ticketing strategy is baffling. I have defended their right to put premium prices on tickets if the demand is there but at this point it is clear that those prices aren't justified by demand. The 450k crowd target will take a miracle at this stage. Or a major change and improvement in strategy, which I doubt we'll see.
The supposed Rugby League fans who continue to thumb their noses at the international game. How someone can have a snobby attitude towards their own game, a game that sits in the backwaters of world sport, is beyond me. As much as the tournament organisers have dropped the ball in a lot of areas, the saddest thing is the people who don't support the game in any meaningful way while calling themselves huge fans. France v Lebanon especially deserved far better than it got. Rugby League fans who bag their own game are worse than fans of other sports who do.
Last of all the no-show on radio. Hopeless.
Noteable
France, one of the few purely homegrown teams already out, barring the mother of all chokes from England or Australia. This isn't a criticism of anyone really, just a bit of a sad outcome. The wait for France's Rugby League renaissance continues.
My 'Bad' doesn't include blowouts for two reasons. Firstly, big scores are common in any World Cup and even in most club comp finals series. They aren't a reason to criticise the tournament. Secondly, if some luck with injuries had swung Wales or Scotland's way instead of Tonga hitting the jackpot with NZ defections, we'd be seeing a very different story.
