To be held in Australia in 2014 and expnded to six teams in 2015. www.canberratimes.com.au/rugby-l ... 2edhw.html The three from UK/France could be CC winners, GF winners and league leaders, perhaps (should they all be different of course)?

To be held in Australia in 2014 and expnded to six teams in 2015. www.canberratimes.com.au/rugby-l ... 2edhw.html The three from UK/France could be CC winners, GF winners and league leaders, perhaps (should they all be different of course)?

Excellent news.

More spin and empty rhetoric from GH



[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A63797827Heard it all before[/url.

[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/super_league/leeds/7918623.stmAnd before that![/url

[url=http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/expand-world-club-challenge-leeds-boss-20100224-p1y1.htmlHUGE YAWN!!![/url

It's not happening and it won't be happening either.

Want to make a bet on that?

Want to make a bet on that?

It’ll be interesting to see how they pick the three teams, especially if one team were to win the C.C, L.L.S & G.F

I hope it comes off, though I’d rather have it in October, although I can’t see me booking flights to Aus any time soon

.

The 3 teams from Superleague should be GF winners, GF Runners Up and highest seeded losing semi finalist in the play offs. The same selection process should be used for the NRL also.

I hate to say it but im with Billy Eve on this one.The aussies havnt even shown interest in staging the current 1 game format, so to think they would make room for an expanded competition running in both the UK and over there is a bit jumping the gun.

As WE says its all from the mouth of GH who has spun us his dream on several occasions in the past few years but the article is not backed up by anyone influential in the NRL so its still pie in the sky.

Lets get the stand alone game on an alternate basis first and IF we can compete, then build from there.do we really need another 1997 debacle anyway?

So that means no elite international competition in the autumn of 2015 then, presumably?

Unless you're going to be asking England, Australia and New Zealand to pick sides without players from their top clubs?

Having the LLS winners and CC winners should be a step forward to adding value to those competitions. If a team wins more than one of those, then the spot should just drop to the next best team in the post-season rankings.

Anything that brings money into the game must be welcomed, hopefully the Aussies are up for it.

With regards qualification, to give greater improtance to the regular season, shouldn't the Grand Final Winners, then the two highest placed finishers of the regular season get the nod?

For me it should be the GF winners then the top 2 in the league after that.

There is very little detail in the articles I've seen, so how it will fit into the season. Also I don't get the principle of playing it against the international fixtures? Surely with the best players playing in the internationals, the SL teams are going to be even weaker against the NRL sides.

Will Wigan be the same without Tomkins, Saints without Roby etc...

It will be a test of the squad depth of the top teams which will favour the higher capped league.

It's good that they are trying to get something in place though and we need it to compete with RU in this country as RU in this country thrives of it's internationals.

Early in the season I guess?

1 v 1
2 v 2
3 v 3

Don't see the point in that tbh.

1 sl v 2 nrl
1 nrl v 2 sl

Winners play in final?

From reading that I don't think he meant playing it at the end of the season. What he meant was if the 4 nations is played in England at the end of the year then the WCC would then be in Australia at the beginning of the next season and visa versa. So no clash with Internationals.

But for once I agree with Mr Eve......it's not going to happen, at least not one that involves teams playing more than one game.

NRL teams barely want to play one game as it is, 2 or 3 has no chance. Also how would SL teams fit in more games? They already have to squeeze in one regular season game midweek later in the year, if they had to play 2/3 games in Oz coupled with travelling over at least a week in advance you could be looking at having to make up 3, 4 or even 5 games.

Also the 1st time a 3rd place team won it people would be on here complaining and saying it's ''ridiculous'' and ''embarrassing the sport'' that a team who didn't win their GF and possibly didn't even reach their GF could be called the World Champs. Enough are already critical of Leeds doing because they finished 5th but at least they won their GF. What if the 3rd place team who crashed out of the playoffs in Week 2 after 2 straight losses managed to win the thing.

Never going to happen.
Its been too hard to schedule SOO on stand alone weeks and squeeze Internationals into a date where its not a furnace when played Down under.
The English Clubs will see a big benefit in the idea, I can not see the Australian Clubs feeling the same way.

In many ways Australian fans do not come to life until the NRL starts and they shut down just as quick once the Grand Final is played and their minds move on to other Summer Sports.

In the seasons where it is expanded, t's going to mean starting the SL season just after Christmas to fit everything in.

Given that the previous year's rep fixtures will only have finished in early November, it's going to mean some players having virtually no off-season and playing year-round rugby.

I would hope 1eagu3 would have something to say about that.

It will be next year one match in Aus, the year after 3rd v 3rd, 2nd v 2nd, 1st v 1st Friday/Saturday/Sunday in the UK, the year after one match in Aus, etc etc.

I think an expansion of the WCC is in principle very worth while and very important for the game. Not keen on that structure at all. It could be done so much better.

The fact its always biased to the English Clubs will shut down any Australian fans that may have an open mind.
One in Aus three in Uk one in Aus three in Uk, it just perpetuates the concept its a English Vehicle that Aussies reject as biased.
What is in it for the Aussie Clubs and will the fans be interested in an expanded concept when they do not care about the current situation?
Fans = TV ratings or Gates and Sponsors, if only one side of the deal is motivated its got no chance IMO.

£££££

The three game series will be held in the UK. I assume they expect that we would see three sell outs, on three consecutive days. It can be packaged and sold to the highest bidder for TV rights and sponsorship. I would expect that there would be a fairly large market in this country for it. There is real possibility for about 80k+ tickets sold for these three games which adds up to a pretty sizeable sum. Then you have a world championship series to sell to TV companies and sponsors. I can see that being a fairly easy sell. I don’t think it would be overly ambitious to earn £1.5m-£2M at least revenue for that series.

When it comes to OZ, They have only one game to sell, limits any potential loss if it isn’t a success over there. I assume that the theory behind it being that if over 5 or 6 years we see some good match ups, and some SL wins, the idea will build down under and the concept would be expanded again.

Why would Oz Clubs want to play in England when all that matters to them is the NRL?
Money is unlikely to be an issue as the game in Oz is awash with it at the moment.
Its a need by the English Clubs as a cashcow and promotional game.
Its holds little or nothing for the Oz Clubs.
Until the English Clubs and the Test team get on a level playing field with where Oz are I doubt the idea will work or even be implemented.

I don’t think any club would turn away money and exposure.

The Ockers not caring about the WCC has more made of it by SL fanboys than NRL fans or clubs. Whilst it isn’t prioritised over the NRL (and nor is it in SL) it is still something they would want to win.

I think it is something they would rather win than lose but not a high priority in the scope of things.
I look at Oz sites and its barely mentioned.

Its one game, played at the beginning of the year, at an ungodly time, in a freezing cold country whilst they are baking in sunshine, tens of thousands of miles away. Im not surprised that they don’t have a huge affiliation with it. That’s needs to be built.

I don’t think intrinsically Oz fans have an issue with or would reject international competition, it just isn’t relevant to them right now.

Can't see what's wrong with the one game like it is now.
Happy for it to be in Oz if needed.

Why is it always glass half empty for some fans? Anything to raise the international profile of the game will surely be a great thing. Who wouldn't want to see their team up against some of the biggest stars in the NRL? It could be good for our teams and youngsters in terms of experience on the big stage and pressure situations too...