Exempt PNG players from the Salary Cap

Col 21000 on facebook is not much. The Brisbane Broncos have over 116000 fans on facebook!

and yes any time one of the other bids is mentioned.. myself and other supporters feel that gives cause for the CCBs to continue to state their case and all their posiitives about our bid, and continue to get the facts out there. as opposed to the few negatives about our bid that gets put up on any site..it continues to get people talking about the Bears and our bid, weather good publicity or negative publicity.. it's all good for us...and it continues to get our name out there.. maybe I can count on you for a membership some day adam :-)

sorry Adam no can do..as you can see Corey bought up about the Central Coast needing to prove they will turn out for a match.. I was just stating the obvious...... Go the Bears... ;-)

Col. please Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. we are not talking about the god damn Bears!!!!!

The central coast have proven they will turn up to games they have for the past decade. most recent 20089 for tigers manly . But we don't mind hosting any games. we did it for the world cup and I'm sure we won't mind doing it for ongoing international events.

I agree with your article M1tch, but also putting a team into the Q-cup, along with a development programme, youth squad and scouting programme. The NRL also needs to send out scouts up there, think about an under 20's team with some of the raw talent of PNG players at their disposal. Jessy Joe Parker I rate very highly and would comfortably have him in the Broncos with the option of changing him into a second row (better for PNG) or moving him to wing (better for the Broncos). He hits like brick wall and will keep running all day. He plays in the English Division below Super League, so he is doing alright.

The PNG game should have been played in PNG to be honest, Wales next year gets 2 of its games (probably NZ and Aus) @ home. So PNG should be given the same respect. Also, if security is such a concern - which it isn't, they did send a PM XIII there just recently - then play the game in Central Coast, they need to prove they will turn out for a match and they would have had the stadium full for an International.

The socceroos seem to be able to do this, they dont seem strapped for cash. Anyhow, put it in the to hard basket. Like everything else.

hey Adam 3300 Financial Central Coast Bears members disagree with your statement, and 21000 on facebook.. watch that double over night come june/july 2011.. Did I also mention over 1000 CCBs jerseys have been sold since April this year. and on Nov the 20th it s only been one year since our CCBears launch... Go the Bears.. !! :-)

Oikee, what i still dont get is what makes it more attractive? also, if england were to challenge australia, then australia must travel to england for a one off match? thats i a financial disaster. no team can expect to travel all that way and have to play a one off game for the top ranking. oikee, i truly love your passion for trying to expand our great game, but u are heading down the wrong path here my good man.

Congrats. Now if only facebook likes translated into real fans.

How much advance warning would you have to give? So if Samoa challanged Australia, how far before the game date does the challenge have to be lodged, because you're setting yourself up to have no time to promote matches if you leave them too late. And it doesn't deal with the major problem, that is the mismatches on the scoreboard and the lack of attendance to watch these matches. Why would more people turn up in Melbourne than the 18,000 for the Roos vs England if it was a 'challenge' game between Samoa and the Kangaroos. There is a reason the top 3 team play each other often, it's because these are the only nations who make enough money from these games to make it worth their while. The Kiwis playing in PNG or Samoa wouldn't make any money. Neither would the Kiwis playing in France. You have 3 decent teams. None get decent crowds to their matches and one in on the other side of the world from the other. The next tier of teams get thrashed when they play the big 3 and can't draw a crowd big enough to make any money. Having a challenge system just throws up more complications whereby scheduling in advance becomes more difficult and harder to promote. It also throws up more matches of complete disparity in skill, which equals another thrashing. The only way international teams will become good enough is to either reduce the strength of the Kangaroos (maybe by playing them as Queensland and NSW, because those teams draw bigger support anyway) or by getting the other nations into better domestic competitions. The Superleague salary cap is only AUS $2.57M, which is nearly half that of the NRL. The Kiwis are strong because they have so many players now in the NRL. The Samoans are strong because they have so many Kiwis. The best England players are those who are in the NRL. The only way to add interest to the international game is for it to be more evenly matched, by either bringing the rest up or bring the Kangaroos down. So the Superleague needs to cut out 4 teams and run a 10 team competition at a higher intensity level and a shorter season. It also needs to try and make the Crusaders 95% Welsh and the Catalans 95% French. The NRL needs to look at trying to find more spots for PNG players, the equivalent of an entire team would the aim. With the same number of spots taken up by Samoans, by Tongans and by Fijians. The Warriors need to be predominantly Kiwi. If you can get all that going then you'll have a better level of athlete available to those nations and they'll be more competitive because of it. More competition on the pitch means more interest in the matches and less predictable outcomes. You don't need a challenge system, you need a better spread of the best athletes across each nation. The things standing in the way of that are the level of play in the Superleague and the low number of foreigners in the NRL. Also not helping is the prestige and eligibility of State of Origin. If this continues to be seen as the ultimate goal for an NRL player then the international game will continue to retract.

Keeping up to date with this system, i could see the top 3 teams, becoming the top 5 teams over say 3-5 years, so you could extend the teams in each group. Say after 5 years, the top 5 teams are looking equal, so that becomes the new top 5, so under that you extend 4th to 10th, to 6th to 12th. Its something this mob running the game has failed to improve. The incentive then is adjusted for teams from 12th onwards. It keeps new nations trying harder all the time.

Their will be a period where challenges cannot be earmarked, maybe the period after origin,up till the grand final, but before and after this is all free for challenges. The Anzac day test will be called the Anzac day challenge, you can still make this a annual event, but it has more meaning because these teams will be looking at Number 1 in the world for now. So straight off, the Anzac day test, (challenge) becomes a bigger event. You cant knock back a challenge, no matter if your missing a good player or not, this is the idea, it makes a challenge more interesting, i would challenge if say Benji had a injury, or maybe Lockyer was out. It then becomes mind games as well for nations wanting to challenge, but opens up the standings for world number 1. No, they could, but if they keep challenging the number 1 side, and got flogged, plus got injuries, then a lower ranked team in their group could mount a challenge and knock them out of the challenging position. It becomes very interesting, with mind games, carefully planed. Thats the beauty of the system. Not sure how many, but a test can deplete your nation, or you might feel confident and challenge a few more. How many challenges, ? It would not be many in the timeframe, so maybe 3-5 at the most. The smaller nations could be challenging more, to get experience, but this is what they need. I would say that you could only challenge no more than 1 a month, with certain times taken out, like end of season, or after october until maybe March. So with the 3 months after origin, Australia could only be challenged about 5 times max. I would say they would get at least 4 a year if you include the Anzac day challenge every year. No, maybe not flock straight off, but you have to remember, we are selling our best teams, so we need to stop thinking small, put the game on at the biggest stadiums, promote it right, and go from their. A one off game, "or Challenge", would encourage more to the game. Imagine England if they heard Benji was injured, April, "Challenge". :) You would get 4 weeks to prepare, no matter what or which players were avaliable. Thats the beauty of the system. The teams lower than 5th would need to support their own games, this will encourage them to make the effort. We still have the cup competitions, i dont want to get rid of them yet, they do more good than harm, but a team like Samoa, if they were running forth, Challenged either the Kiwis or Australia, then a heartland Stadium, at least 40 thousand, no smaller. Your telling people its going to be a good game, if you think it needs bigger, then book it, dont book a 15 or 20 thousand, your sending the wrong message. I could see Kiwis Samoa at Eden Park if avalable, or Kangas samoa at SFS. In a one off challenge game, Samoa must think they could knock them over, or why bother challenging. You could have a group to make sure that all this makes sense. No silly challenges. Once a challenge is issued, everyone takes notice, something big is happening. Thats how i see it.

Here are the issues, and if they dont get adressed, we could be in for some hard times. Yes Col, the Bears are Looking good, how about signing 1 or 2 English lads when you are admitted. :) Complacency, the Sydney public dont realise what they have, and are doing the game more harm than good by not supporting these internationals. The way things look, they will be watching hybred auusie rules games in the future because they will take their games and know that afl supporters will turn up. Much the same as union do. Sponsers, if we keep neglecting the international game, why would sponsers bother. They will just jump ship to whatever code has the support. Planning, why plan a game in Melbourne if you know support is going to be hard to come by, take it to a new area, another city. These places might not be as big, but they dont get internationals that often, promote the daylights outta the game, get people to the game. Its all televised anyhow, and a trip to another city would be worth while for league fans. Colin Love, this guy rattles my cage, he got 400 thousand for orginising the world cup, hey, i would have done it for free. The world cup was always going to succeed, with or without him, yes the work needed to be done, i am sure others could have done the same. Another area where i think he has done damage, signing up to Spike, then after one season letting them go for another U.S station, that to me, does not have as good coverage. So after one season, he gave up. This is not someone we want running our international game. If we continue with this 4 nations, which i am sure they will, they have no vision, then a simple change could help the game, send PNG to England, and Wales, or whoever it might be to Australia, so 2 overseas nations in each comp. This way they can play teams like Scotland, Ireland, the French, they might even be better placed in a 5 nations, and other teams like the Maoris and maybe a indigernous team all as warm up games. Start showing the games that might be competitive, the England Maori game was one, and the Samoa Tonga game should have been FTA, even if we have to place a Australia PNG game on Fox. We need people in charge to be able to access this better. Their is so many faults, every year, but we still have these people making these dumb decisions running the game. I think the international game would be better placed having a independent commission, thats what really needs to happen. I give opinions based on what i see year in, year out, it does not improve. Another problem is nobody can sack anyone, has anyone ever seen someone sacked. Its floundering, making mistakes, blundering along, yet no one puts their hand up because nobody is accountable,. While they keep making their silly millions, they claim victory, while the game really is bleeding, bleeding like a stuffed pig i tell ya.

Oikee, one part i dont understand is whether challenges cna only be thrown down during a certain window (i.e at season end or before the season) how much notice must be given once the challenge is given before the game is played. what if you knock back the challenge? wont everyone in the top 5 just challenge the number 1 ranked sides? how many games a year do u envisage? will people really flock to wembley and the like? how cna we support financially the teams ranked 5- 10. are they played in the home countries? where would samoa play etc.?

Yes comic releif Mushi, a bit like the Hoolu Hoop idea, where he took the hoop into the excutives meeting and they all laughed, then sold 1 billion hoops world wide. It is normal for people to knock good ideas, this is human behavior at its best, with you as my support, i know i am on the right track. The problem is trying to get blinkered people to see, understand these ideas. Thats the hard part. This blog is on the international rugby league site. I will keep getting my points across.

cheers mate!

Enough discussion about the disappointing melbourne turn out. what are we expecting for NZ this week? as an englishman who has been humbled the last two week, im having second thoughts about heading over. are tickets still available any how?

It would be wanted comic relief to see the look on the professionals faces as his "ideas" were put forward. But I can understand why he appeals to many on this site.