England will win the Rugby League World Cup in 2017

after watching the Four Nations recently I can't agree, as much as I would like to believe - God knows international Rugby League needs an England victory!! They have great players in all areas, but not in the halves. Put Cronk and Thurston in the English team and I would bet big money on an English victory.

I think england will win but they should watch out for the teams coming from the pacific now that the pacific islanders have more than half of their players in the NRL. teams to consider I think will be FIJI BATIS , PNG KUMULS and SAMOA

So only white people and Maoris are New Zealanders? The definition of racism.

Republican I used it(Folau) as an analogy,you inferred having players of NZ background as being detrimental to domestic growth in this country.I gave examples. where this did not apply. Folau was indeed used as a PR exercise ,but as Demetriou and Sheedy advised ,was also to give PI players opportunities in AFL.If they had come over in numbers and played the game,the fan boys would be out in force.K Hunt was another one. They love to blow the trumpet when a Fijian,or African or the increasing number of Irish playing. And the same code is pushing to get more NZ playing and indeed want a team eventually in the AFL. Have you checked ru for NZ players here and in France and the UK?Or Fijians playing overseas? " Dependant on NZ" .If there were no NZ players in the NRL,most of the Oz NRL players who went to the ESL would be playing here in this country.There are a stack of players from this country in the ESL and some here who retired early ,because they couldnt get a gig . The fact the NRL has the Warriors (who BTW have Australian players in their ranks) and NZ players in this country ,has not diminished the code here .The fact the NRL has a NZ presence is a plus ,because@ it opens up a bigger source of players,B) It adds value to TV contracts and merchandising c) provides a stronger NZ national side.d)has created greater interest in NZ. PNG does indeed have a side in our domestic comp the Qld Cup. Rugby league needs a competitive International game,if having a strong NZ provides this as some sort of dependency ,I see no problem with that.If NZ beats us or ditto with the Poms,as a rl Internationalist who spends money on that growth area and attended overseas tours.If the French became competitive again great.If you see somehow that is a disadvantage ,then having a strong International game for rl is a waste of time. When we dominated NZ our crowds were ordinary,when the Poms dominated us the crowds here were exceptional. PNG already has a side in the state wide Qld Cup.Fiji is expected to have a side in the NSW state wide cup either 2017 or 2018. Australian society has become a microcosm of various nationalities. We have Poms,Fijians,PNG,Samoan,Tongan, NZ Maoris,NZedder,and Australian players involved in the NRL.If by some miracle Fiji beat Australia tomorrow I would be thrilled. I know if you are of an AFL inclination,it's hard to appreciate the fact,rugby league has a professional presence in Australia,NZ and England and France.Semi pro comps in all of those countries and PNG.The AFL does not.I suggest they would love to have a country where their All Australian team could actually utilise their skills against. The impact of NZedders plying their trade, has not reduced the popularity of SOO,tests,the NRL(despite the bad scheduling),nor the overall grassroots.Bearing in mind the NRL has not even got to expanding into Perth/Brisbane or even Adelaide.

".....not convinced and perhaps some denial on your part that NZ league is our equal" I think it's you who are in denial Republican. I make the point that there have been 17 Anzac tests played over the last 19 years when both teams are fresh and most of their players are available. Australia has won 15 while NZ has won 2. "....and about to dominate us" I don't have a crystal ball Republican. I do enjoy good international competition, although when it comes to Aust v NZ rugby league, it is just two NRL teams playing each other - same attacking and defensive structures, same fitness levels, and same skills.

Crosscoder What has Falou got to do with this? He was purely a marketing ploy for the AFL and a complete and utter failure in respect of his ability to transition to Australian footy. Other codes have NZ players, do they? Union does and is the sole reason the code survives here at all. If it was not for the Kiwi diaspora Union would be extinct in this country. League was never dependant on the NZ diaspora but it is now and I reckon that is a real issue for the GR of the code here. Its all very well to come across all altruistic but the reality is that NZ are not England or the USA, or even PNG who don't have a side in our domestic comp and probably should if you are going to be consistent with your criteria. NZ are in a unique position to access our domestic leagues to their advantage - not ours, geographically, culturally and most of all commercially but not PNG - I wonder why? The % of overseas athletes to our leagues, including the NRL is inconsequential in this context and pales compared to any NZ presence. While you may see a NZ saturation of our clubs as beneficial to the code here I do not, in fact I maintain that the sheer dominance of their presence in league today, is detrimental to the code. We once dominated League v NZ in the same way NZ dominate us in Union however had we been afforded a presence in their NPC I reckon we would now be competitive with the All Blacks to the same degree NZ is with the Kangaroos. Union is the dominant code in NZ while League is dominant enough here, despite some differences in our market dynamics, to draw this analogy in my opinion. We must agree to disagree it seems but thanks, sincerely, for sharing your opinions..

......not convinced and perhaps some denial on your part that NZ league is our equal and about to dominate us as they do in Union for ensuing decades. This is born out by the number of top players in our NRL sides that are Kiwis

“NZ will smash us.” You mean like they did when we last played them in May this year? Before you say NZ were not at full strength, let me point out that typically Australia beat NZ in the annual Anzac Test. There have been 17 Anzac Test since the first in 1997. Australia has won 15 tests to NZ’s 2. I have a theory of why this is. In April / May both teams are relatively fresh. The Australians have not played Origin and the semi-finals. At the end of the season many of Australia’s elite players are unavailable or exhausted. The last end of season Australian team to play NZ was barely recognizable as an Australian team. And the champions that did play, like Inglis, were clearly busted. The Anzac tests give a good indication of the strength of the two teams, and the Australian team is clearly superior, as the results testify.

Whose compromising your domestic comps?.French ru had 33% overseas players at one stage.Italian ru had no qualms bringing in Argentinian players. We have had Pommy players as an example playing in the ARL since the days of Bishop,Watson,Bolton,Reilly Hanley and the list goes on.Domestic growth continued.People crave success.SBW brings people through gates and people want to play the games a result. Other codes have NZ players such as ru and PI players dominating in this country.Hell even the GWS nabbed Folau to bring more of these athletes to their code.They go into raptures over the West Coast Fijian guy. What you do need is weight divisions in the junior ranks,and I understand that is coming. Overseas countries vying for spots in the RLWC 2017 have just about all local players involved. NZ ru dominates in that country on a far greater basis than rl dominates here.They are therefore in a far better position ,to suggest who should play in their NPC. My logic is based on decent numbers of imports playing rl in numbers since the 70s.Not only from NZ,but the UK and PNG,It added colour to the code which is an all encompassing one.Grassroots numbers grew. TV has little to do with my thoughts in terms of grassroots ,following the game for 40 years,knowing the makeup of juniors in the district has given me some idea.TV had minimal impact in those early years . There are more females playing the game in this country,more people involved in various forms of the game from Tag to touch to tackle,and they come from many backgrounds.A womens u17 comp will be up and running in 2017. It's a free society ,if a player or players from Uzbekistan wants to play in the NRL and are gifted enough,it adds to rather than compromise.We are supposedly a multi cultural society and the NRL doesn"t have the well publicised racism problems like another . It's not a problem for other codes to bring in imports or have players from PI backgrounds from different countries. That is why I consider Clipper's view as nonsense ,partly influenced by his well known anti rl bias,.A strong NZ playing a strong Australia playing a strong England with players who have plied their trade in the NRL is good for the International game. And once again he completely ignores local domestic players who will be involved in the RLWC. You get an English side knocking over the Kangaroos in a series,and it will get a hell of a lot of coverage in England.i've visited NZ when rl,was treated as a joke ,it now via the Warriors and their test success has created a decent niche. On that basis completely disagree with your view.

PS You don't need to grow the game by compromising your own domestic comps. Having a diversity of international elite in your domestic comps does not guarantee grass roots growth, on the contrary it can as in Leagues case, be counter productive. More often than not this is not about growth but more to do with television audience. The Kiwis know this very well and that is why they have consistently refused all approaches by Australian union factions to have a presence in their coveted NPC. Why we continue to go down this path defies logic, unless your logic is based on a spurious criteria of 'growth' i.e. only beneficial to the commercial top end of town, the corporate television industry.

Disagree, they are a sovereign nation and our greatest sporting adversary. I believe some Aussies still see them as the poor inferior little cousin which could not be further from the truth. They are more than capable of running their own domestic leagues while affording them access to our domestic sporting culture, dilutes the significance of any international contests between both nations and advantages their cause not ours. Perhaps it is inevitable that they will be subsumed by us, so join our federation, I mean they might as well given how many of them live here, while they are always jockeying to appropriate aspects of our culture and not just the sporting ones. I agree completely with Clipper and this will be further born out post WC when NZ are victors and go onto dominate international League for years to come. The code is not attracting enough locals at the GR in Oz anymore, except the PIs and Kiwi expats, while the NRL clubs are dominated by Kiwis because they are far superior to any local content.

What a load of rubbish Clipper. Having Kiwis from whatever background is a plus. A code or two, would kill to have Kiwis playing their game. Players from whatever background or country play in the NRL because it is the best rugby league competition.Just as some of the top ru players from around the world play in the French 1st division competition. There are European qualifiers for the RLWC no NRL players will be involved.How many NRL players involved with PNG or the USA?There are Yankee ,Fijian and French players involved in lower tier comps in this country. That's how you grow the game.That's how you get foreign Govts to provide grants .State Govts in this country apparently agree. Do a little research on what is going on behind the scenes ,instead of your same old ant rl agenda. The Poms BTW will be a lot more competitive,with the NRL experience,but still behind the Roos and Kiwis.

Kallum Watkins and Ryan Hall are the only player that would cut it. Too bad Watkins doesn't want to leave England.

The extent of the Kiwis in league is such that perhaps they should rename it the NRL world cup. You could have the NRL NSW, NRL QLD, NRL NZ and NRL Pacific Islands and even NRL England - you would have a much closer competition then and reflect the true state of affairs.

....all your doing is scrutinising the English team rather than ours. How are the Kangaroos measuring up not only v England but NZ. NZ will smash us.

....all your doing is scrutinising the English team rather than ours and focusing on the side that will take the spoils, the Kiwis. How are the Kangaroos measuring up not only v England but NZ. NZ will smash us.

I'm a Tiger supporter and I want some of what Patrick is on. I reckon the Poms will be lucky to finish third. NZ have the runs on the board just now, but lets look at the new breed of Aussies coming through. It'll be tough but I think we can win it with big Mal at the helm. Lets look at the team they may have. Tomkins and Burgess couldn't make it in the NRL. Widdop has been inconsistent and is nowhere near the top of the number 6 tree here in the NRL. Sam Burgess has had a great season but by the end of next year Soiths would have worn him out. James Graham has been taught that he can't pass the ball anymore. The forwards look pedestrian apart from Burgess (Sam), their backs just can't compete in the big league. They won't even make the final.

.......yeah, England is sure to beat us to that as well.

...sounding very cock sure of yourself andrew. 2008 is 8 years ago and yes, England has improved while NZ are now ranked one in the world and have defeated the Kangaroos 3 times on the trot I believe. The only reason they didn't defeat Australia's dads army last time is because they fielded their B side. Home ground advantage may well assist us v England but Australia is as much home ground for NZ sporting sides as it is when they play across the ditch. This is especially so in respect of League because we have welcomed the Warriors into our domestic inner sanctum while there are so many NZers playing for our supposedly Australian club sides. NZ will win while I reckon England are worthy candidates to make the final v them. Sadly our Kangaroos lack flair, vision, youth and the patriotic fervour to win this as most of them are far more intent on the SOO spoils and lack solidarity while they seem disaffected when it comes to internationals truth be told.

England will be in trouble if they don't pick pick the Pommies who play in the NRL - not just Burgess and them but Blake Austin, McQueen and so on.. As we saw in the 4N Samoa were able to compete with the lack of creativity from the halves of England.