[urlhttp://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/news/12196/11470813/brian-noble-senses-fear-that-toronto-wolfpack-could-reach-super-league[/url

Interesting read.

However, Noble as smug as he looks in the photograph, does not seem to consider that playing in a league 3,500 miles away BY CHOICE isn't in itself a "hurdle" or will have an impact on "player welfare"?

Nobby as usual is right on the money. He is an ornament to our game.

Correct. And as such he is sought after with the television networks.

He's an "ornament" all right, pity he's not a Realist, but, then again perhaps not.

I'm not getting into an expansionist black hole debate with 'both' or 'either' of you, I'm quite content to let you play with yourselves so please carry on

What exactly is he moaning about ??

Surely, such a well run club will have budgeted for these costs, in the expectation that they would reach the Super 8's or, perhaps, having to travel to away games in England has come as a total shock.
Perhaps the cost of travel etc is one of the reasons why RL has previously only tried to expand into France and yet neither Toulouse ofr Catalan seem to have complained, with Catalan coming over for cup fixtures (and the Final in a couple of weeks time).
You would expect that Noble, of all people, knew where most Super 8's games took place, after all he is from a northern pit village


Perhaps he was hoping for the advantage of playing all home games and all away games in blocks, which would have helped his club massively.
Its also strange that some of the expansion experts on here quote 10,000 quid/ game as the cost of playing Toronto but, Mr Noble needs over 48,000 per game, maybe they only travel first class and stay in the best hotels, instead of a glorified bunk house.

Well and does he also think or except if they get promoted that the super league will do the same has league 1 and the championship and let them play all games enblock if so tell them to bog of we do not need them do we

No but I believe Super League clubs will be expected to pay their own travel and accommodation costs.

I think most fans would disagree with you about not needing them.

We have quite a few ornaments in our house, her indoors dusts them as necessary but apart from that they are ignored.

Please tell us why SL "need" them.
Although there may be some "potential" sponsorship options, what benefits will Toronto being in SL actually bring ?
Their "harlem globetrotter status" is unlikely to yield increases in fan numbers as they can only spend "the same" as other SL clubs (not the twice or three times as much as the opposition they have played thus far), there will be additional costs to all clubs for going over there to play and if Nobles figures are correct this may be around 50k (not the 10k that some have been suggesting), notwithstanding the fact that the local climate will leave them playing their first "X" number of fixtures away from home, which will skew the fixtures for all other sides.

I may support a "small" club in the North of England but, your optimism is just crossed fingers, with no tangible benefit to their inclusion.

They have the potential to be the shot in the arm the game needs. I hope they come in and shake up the usual suspects when it comes to trophies.

We have a few ornaments at home, apart from the occasional dusting they are ignored.

Another great win for the TWP, 14-0 at The Shay.

Wolfpack win their first qualifier game but I see the moaners have got out ahead of the result.

Hang on, thought SL needed Bradford? is that as well as Toronto or them instead of Bradford? i lose track on who 'we need'

What you on about it’s Noble who’s moaning you can’t expect to play the qualifiers how you want to play them

Brian, you 'whinging old grandad' nobody asked you lot to join our league. But I agree, you should be playing in a Canadian League. The RFL did obviously not think travelling might be a problem for Toronto. They knew it would be for the (championship/league 1) away teams, but they don't care about them

So TWP have beaten Halifax, the lowest ranked side in The Qualifiers, get the Champagne out, your as good as promoted



You've still got to beat London, Toulouse and at least one SL club and possibly win the MPG, it's as good as in the bag.
I know that you're new to this but, have a look at Leigh and Bradford's recent history in getting through this comp, there is certainly no guarantee of success.

I'd be shocked if they weren't promoted but they'll be absolutely nowhere near winning any trophies once they get into Super League.

Is that the same 'potential' I keep getting told that London and Sheffield have had for the last 38 and 34 years respectively?

Not doing your sums, wrencat. If you'd read the article, you'd have noted that Noble claims it will cost "not far short of 300,000 pounds" for Wolfpack to participate in the Qualifiers, not to ferry and accommodate the Wolfpack alone.

You'd have further noted that the two Super League teams travelling to Toronto have demanded business class flights and four star hotels. This is still on the Wolfpack's tab, as they agreed to pay the travel costs to get to Super League. Add up those costs for the squad and the coaches and support staff - the SL clubs are the ones running up the tab.

By the way, visiting teams didn't stay in a glorified bunk house. They stayed in clean and new student accommodation, not a Dickensian workhouse. But never let the facts stand in the way of a good story, eh?

I'll tell you what they have brought. They've brought more energy, enthusiasm and excitement to this sport's supporter experience since the days of Bullmania. They've brought a higher media profile than to the sport than any non-SL club since the switch to summer, and more than most SL clubs in their respective SL existence.

They've also, in the space of two years, started generating crowds of 7-8k from nothing (anyone who wants to respond to that with "those are inflated numbers" needs to prove it). At a time when crowds across the heartlands are going south, Toronto has introduced this game to a brand new audience.

I realise for some that whatever Toronto do will never be enough to satisfy them, but in the space of two years they've achieved more than what many heartland clubs have achieved in their entire SL existence. Growing a new audience from scratch, creating an event, and buliding a media profile. Instead of asking "what are Toronto doing?", we should be asking why every heartland club isn't doing this.

Well if you play in a competition thousands of miles away there’s a chance you may incur some extra cost I can’t believe this is a shock to some at Toronto

It’s like he’s only just realised that Toronto is 3400 miles away.

It was their choice to come and play in this league(s). Why should the format be changed to suit one particular team? The format is the format, there are home and away games and in no other sport I can think of do one team get an advantage by playing chunks of games at home and chunks of games away to make it easier for them either financially or for player jet lag. If they can’t afford the flights over then they need to re-evaluate what they’re doing; if their players are bored of Duty Free then they need to re-evaluate what they’re doing.

NZ Warriors have to travel between 1400-2000 miles every other week and they don’t complain.

If you can’t stick to the format then stick it, create your own league.

(And I’m pro-expansion!)

They have incurred all the travel and accommodation costs for all the visiting teams for two seasons and given them a day out at Niagara Falls. And now footing the bill for some Super League teams to live high off the hog. It's not a shock, but it does look as if SL is taking advantage.