Totally agree with this assessment. Releasing McGuire is a ridiculous move by the Broncos, given the lack of experience and work rate in the Broncos forward pack. At Canberra, they’ve taken a different but equally strange approach… they already have two international edge backrowers – not sure why they need a third? Bateman is a really good player, but unless they’re planning to move Whitehead to 13 I don’t understand the need for him. If they were so keen to buy out a Wigan player’s contract, I reckon they should have looked at their five-eighth George Williams instead. He’s a fair bit better than either Seizer or Williams.

Maybe to promote the Magic Weekend in the NRL for future years, they should just give the Dally M to the guy who plays best in those games next year.

Totally agree. If they sign Hayne, they’ll finish about 12th. We’ll hear all about how his delayed pre-season affected his fitness, and combinations take time, and players other than him are past it, and blah blah blah. But the’ll have a poor year – like most years Hayne has had – and they’ll have let one of the game’s most promising players go. They’ll also probably need a new coach.

Steve, comments on your most recent article are closed…so I’ve put it here instead!

If we can ever get one happening, I think winning an Ashes series would be a bigger achievement for Wayne. A World Cup win basically just requires beating Australia in a one-off game. A big effort for sure, but he almost did it last year with England, and helped do it in 2008 with NZ. Winning a three game series would be a much bigger effort.

And as for your other points, I don’t understand why the World Cup has to be promoted by an Ashes series in 2020. I think following this year’s NZ win with an Ashes next year builds much better momentum for the international game in England. That will be a great series, and then they can keep that momentum rolling in 2020 with another series, rather than having to start again after 2 years without a home game.

To promote the World Cup, wouldn’t inviting teams like Tonga and Fiji or Samoa have a bigger impact? Tonga would give them a genuine contest – putting them on the BBC would be a far better promotion of a World Cup than Australia would, because it would show the general public more countries can compete. Similiarly, given the growing popularity of NFL in England, wouldn’t Jarryd Hayne in a Fiji jersey offer a good marketing hook?

The biggest criticism people have of the RLWC is that it’s a two or three horse race, so host a 4 Nations in 2020 to dispel the notion. If an Ashes-winning England came up against Tonga in 2020, and lost in a quality game in a full ground on the BBC, imagine what that would do for the World Cup’s credibility!

Everything that comes close to the RFL’s domain is strikingly amateurish. Given years of underperformance and clear mismanagement, it was baffling when they promoted from within to replace Nigel Wood. This is an organisation that is unaccountable, out of touch and out of its depth. Thank goodness the Super League club bosses have moved to rectify this by seeking more power for their competition, and recruiting from outside. Robert Elstone has already been pretty impressive, moving away from a system that was actually dragging Super League down to a semi-pro level, and offering the most clear and decisive public voice the English game has had in a long time. Unfortunately the RFL still runs the international setup though!

I don’t quite understand why, but it does seem in Australia at least that the TV deal is to blame for the lack of clarity. Aside from a the mid-year Pacific Test, and an end-of-year game against New Zealand, everything seems prohibitively expensive. I don’t get how or why this has happened, given the Tri-Nations and then Four Nations seemed to happen each year without issues. It’s like someone just forgot to include November test footy in the latest deal, and now we’re too inflexible to go outside of it…

Surely with the decent RLWC TV ratings, and the increased interest/competitiveness, we can get the NRL and RLIF together at the table with broadcasters to arrange content for November. Channel 9 has lost cricket, and Fox League needs games…can’t be too hard. Which means perhaps the issue is no one at the NRL can stomach working with John Grant or Nigel Wood?

And as for bleeding the north of England dry, surely three tests a year isn’t asking too much? I would’ve thought that just keeps the England side visible over there…stage one of those three games in London, and all good. I think England needs meaningful home tests every year – otherwise rugby league seems to be slowly fading from view.

I think the expectations put on Johnson are a bit ridiculous at times. He’s a great player. If he played at a club that wasn’t so reliant on his brilliance, he’d be criticised less for not being able to be magical every single week, and a bit more appreciated for just how often he does produce those great pieces of play. Put the season he had – and the highlights reel he would have put together – in a Melbourne jersey, with all their consistency across the park, and he’d be the Golden Boot winner in a premiership winning team.

It’s the same with lots of great players – Thurston had his most successful periods with guys like Matt Bowen and Michael Morgan (and even Lachlan Coote) combining brilliantly with him. Benji Marshall has been a great player, but his only premiership came about because Scott Prince was next to him. Maloney and Green are the only decent halves Johnson has had to work with – no surprise those are the two years he’s made the finals.

Let’s just hope the English game can figure out how to promote Toulouse and Toronto, and give them (along with Catalans) the long-term security at the top level that they’ll need to flourish… Who knows? A second secure top level French club might help build on Les Catalans momentum to create some real TV, corporate and media interest over there – combine that with a well-organised, long-term schedule for England v France test matches, and they might actually get somewhere!

Great insightful exploration of the merits of relocation, and other proposed expansion markets Tim. “Do Perth or Adelaide actually have what is needed? I’m not so sure.” Brilliant. I hope you still found time to spend with the family in amongst all your research for this exceptionally well argued piece.

About the only thing I like about Fifita is the go he had at Rothfield. Good on him!

The scenem have changed a little since I was in London back in 2010, but I was surprised by how much coverage the game actually got there. Super League always cracked an article or two in the free press on the tube, local pubs often had it on the screen (particularly pubs linked to hostels and ex pats), and plenty of young blokes I spoke to were aware of Super League and watched it as occasional fans. Basically every time I hesitantly said “I follow rugby league…” eyes would light up and they’d go “Oh, like the Super League? Yeah, it’s more a northern thing, but it’s great!” London’s problem seems to be galvanasing that passing interest into an appealing day out. Beer tents could be just the answer!

Agree with all your points completely, and try to adhere to it… occasionally I’ll call a journo out on their nonsense – see a ridiculous article about DCE from Tim Gore before Origin 3 for an example – but more often I just ignore it and click somewhere else.

The only place where I come unstuck is NRL 360. It’s on at a good time for me, and very appealing to just turn the TV on and see footy talk. Unfortunately Paul Kent appears, selling his personal outrage merchant brand, and I either get ennoyed with him (but stay watching), or turn off (and get annoyed there’s a footy show on that I could be watching, if only it were watchable!)

Good article, but it’s pretty hard to keep a game between New Zealand and England “local” for everyone isn’t it?

I once worked somewhere that launched a new 10 year corporate plan every year. I think Gus did the same management course as the CEO there.

Yes, it has been an admirable effort on their part I agree. And over the next two years, we can now look forward to Barrett dramatically joining Penrith, being hailed by Gus as a genius, then being fired by Gus. It’s comforting when you can look to the future with some assurance about what it holds.

Yes, bring back the self-serving grandstanding from club bosses who also double as prominet ‘impartial’ media commentators. With finals fast approaching, we’re running out of time for personal vendettas to be played out in public! Politicians in Canberra are trying to fill the breach, bless them, but it’s not enough!

I think it’s a good calendar, though there seems like less planned opportunities for PNG, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and France to play than there was in the ARLC proposal? I really hope that around the big three, the powers that be support opportunities for these other strong ‘second-tier’ countries to play meaningful games.

With any decent French player likely to become a union target, we should be making the game more appealing to stay in. So while all the rage is a GB tour, why can’t we do something for France to tour NZ and PNG? Or maybe even give them an opportunity to host Fiji and Samoa? A meaningful international calendar means giving these other countries the chance to play.

I broadly agree with you, but at the same time it is absolutely right that the ‘due diligence’ be made. There are obviously logistics associated with all of this that need to be confirmed – just as there were with the Denver Test. A governing body is not being narrow minded and evil by asking those questions…they’re actually just doing their job. But I would also add that the governing body has a clear responsibility to work with expansion clubs on long-term strategies. It’s not good enough to just simply leave them to it, whether they be London, North Wales, Catalans, or whoever. In the case of Toronto, it is absolutely absurd that they would be subject to the same promotion/relegation rules as English clubs. How are they meant to recruit top players, attract meaningful corporate support, establish junior infrastructure, and encourage good TV deals etc. if they have no long-term guarantees or support from the governing body? Until the RFL does its job properly – in collaboration with Toronto and I would argue, the RLIF – then Toronto is doomed to fail, whether they play Superleague next year or not.

Remarkable win, considering QLD had no hope at all of victory and had only even picked DCE so that they’d have an excuse to drop him again.

In that case, God bless Redcliffe!

All good players, sure. But what about Adam Mogg? His outstanding efforts in the 2006 series win epitomise what QLD has been about – getting the job done. Moggy was an average club player at best, then QLD picked him and he was somehow outstanding! He took that form back to the Raiders, then over to the Super League, and he’ll always have a place in my heart.

Matty Bowen in his prime has to be the best player to watch I’ve ever seen. Darren Lockyer obviously too, though his genius was a bit more conventional and less jaw dropping. The way the game has evolved, we do miss out on the great locks who used to turn up everywhere in the 90s. All different players, but the likes of Brad Fittler, Brad Clyde and Jason Smith were all fantastic to watch roaming around the field in the number 13. I played lock in my junior teams and always wanted to be able to offload like Smith, step like Fittler and get back for the first hit up like Clyde. Fair to say I rarely succeeded…

Pretty hard to pick a bloke from the wing in the NRL to play second row in Origin!

Long term though, I do agree he has the makings of a great QLD backrower on the left edge. He would offer a lot more impact than Cooper, but he needs to be playing there in club footy first. It’s just unfortunate that right at the moment, it suits Brisbane better to have him on the wing. I hope that doesn’t force him out of the club, but it might have to happen if he wants to play second row.

Mate, I didn’t blame him for the game 2 loss…I’m not against DCE at all, I’m just saying he’s not a victim. It was the right decision to drop him once Cronk was fit again, and the proof is in the pudding to the emphatic tune of 52-6!

Sorry, but I don’t get what the actual grievance you have is. That’s why I said you’re being deliberately polarising. Perhaps I should have said provocative (and not said nonsense!) – sorry if that went a bit far.

I just don’t get what you’re suggesting should have happened, or what QLD should have done differently? Do you think DCE should have retained his place ahead of Cronk?

And I know I’m just buying into your whole “write polarising nonsense, attract comments” strategy here, but what the hell? My only other option is doing work.

So, I just wanted to add that the first game of DCE’s inhumane exile saw QLD struggle to bounce back from their last game loss with an unconvincing 52-6 victory, with some hack called Cronk battling away in DCE’s number 7 jersey, struggling to impose himself on the game. You’re right, DCE should never have been replaced. What were we thinking?!