Very shortsighted, harnessed propertly Toronto could be a great benefit to the game. Just the kind of shot in the arm the sport needs. Helping to dispel the flatcap image and bring more attention and fans to the game.

Also if it takes off over there we open up a new market of millions of potential players, refs, fans etc. They havent been parachuted in either, won promotion fair and square from both League 1 and the Championship.

Are you serious here, or just making stuff up for fun?

Promotion was fair and square? I thought they spent a fortune on players in both League 1 and the Championship. That was hardly "fair" or "square" was it? We are in the fourth season now and there aren't any Canadian players or Refs. No sign of any?? No TV deal either. Millions of fans?? You are making stuff up here, are you Bob Hunter

I'd give you the benefit of the doubt all day long here, if perhaps you would accept they need to come up with TV deals, fans, ref's etc before they take a place in Superleague?

So what's your vision for them? How would you "Harness them properly"??

Not making owt up. They are self financed, complied with the rules and worked their way up from L1....

Things take time to develop for the fans, refs etc. Cant just demand they suddenly be producing crops of players after 4 years. They increase our exposure to sponsorship and general visibility. SBW is a global superstar and they have brought him into RL. No othe SL club could have done that - its great for the profile of the sport. Not to mention they arent taking their Sky money so all other clubs get another 100kish

I think having them in the top tier is better for the game and will allow them to develop quicker.

No such thing as "their" Sky money, they are on the deal as agreed, so far all TWP have done is moan and want preferential treatment.

Whether having them in the "top tier" is better for the game remains to be seen, but it didn't do anything to help the Championship and L1 prosper. My prediction is that TWP will come bottom in SL this year. Maybe not because they have the worst team (players & coaches), but more that all the other SL clubs (maybe more the players tbh), will be motivated to beat them. This was how it was in L1 and then the Championship, but the other teams in those leagues didn't have the firepower to do it. It will be different in SL, especially given that TWP appear to have a paper-thin (numbers-wise) squad.

An interesting season ahead.

I just feel sorry for the thous..... oh hang on, there wont be any travelling fans.

Yeah I get it, I have them coming bottom too and I can get why they are ruffling feathers with how they are carrying on but this is an opportunity the game needs to take advantage of, especially with the Sky deal running down.

I know of at two guys with NRL experience who have knocked back chances to join a NSW cup squad this year because their managers still think they have a chance at a TWP contract.

I've heard that TWP only have 23 players and need a minimum of 30 just to be sure of being able to put a team on the field every week.
They expect to be able to sign the players they need.

1. Do they? Please tell me which big sponsors have now come on board with Superleague since TWP's entry and tell me the contract values?

2. Then why not remove more English clubs for North American ones so those left get even MORE money??

3. Utterly wrong....Perez NEVER said they'd use the long game developing juniors, he said they would convert grid iron players to Pro-RL players pretty quickly. PLUS McDermott confirmed recently TWP were not starting any sort of Junior game in Toronto.

Over to you....

I believe that Toronto are targeting certain away games and marketing trips accordingly. They have back to back away games at Wakefield and Huddersfield as one package and they are also looking at a package for the Hull FC away game to include a trip to the Challenge Cup final the weekend before.

Sounds sensible, the reality is a trip to Toronto is attractive to RL fans from the UK, but the reverse trip isn't quite comparable.

If you’ve got a week there are some decent options. Bit of Bronte Country, a trip to York, the Dales, Liverpool the home of the Beatles... we take this stuff for granted because it is familiar. Places like London and Edinburgh are in fairly easy reach too, especially by Canadian standards. If you’re Canadian, it’ll be foreign, exotic and that bit more interesting.

I’ve considered going over to Toronto, but tbh i’d have to do a bit of research to come up with a varied itinerary.

Not good for TV.
Not producing SL players
Generating debt.

Sounds like a standard SL club to me. Just one with bigger crowds and a higher profile.

Well said

Why do people focus on the negatives. Why don't we all focus on the positives that they bring and give them time to work on those negatives.

I mean, if we scrutinized any other club as much as some do on Toronto, the negatives would be heavily weighted compared to the positives.

List the positives (as you see them)

A lot of money brought into RL, a lot of exposure in media across the world, huge market for fans, sponsors, players etc opened in Canada and North America.

Money - where, how much
Sponsors - where, how much
Players (and I need to change my underwear from wetting myself) where, who, past it Wilkin?
There is NO EVIDENCED MARKET, just an aussie with deep pockets.

I have to say thanks for totally proving my point though.

The money has gone straight into players pockets, none of it has gone to the game. They promised to put more money into the game by getting an NATV deal but they have no chance of that.

Huge Market for fans? How does that give us a penny here?

NA sponsors won't pay clubs here to advertise anything??

There are no pro NA players and no system for developing them

What's needed to get you to understand the reality of the situation is for Wakefield to get relegated whilst TWP stay up........



Uncle Eric perez told us what TWP would bring to the game here anyway - New players and new TV money.

And they didn't bring either so your completely wrong.....

I see the queue to reply to my post is almost as long as the queue for Toronto game tickets that aren't free.........

“ What's needed to get you to understand the reality of the situation is for Wakefield to get relegated whilst TWP stay up........ ”

Part of the problem with this debate is that all the perceived negatives of TW seem to boil down to this - that they might succeed at the expense of a “heartlands” club. This is the fault of the system we have for deciding who should be in SL. It’s not the fault of TW.
London were relegated last season because they came bottom of SL. But they were competitive and capable of beating any other team on the day. London staying in SL, with TW coming up, would have expanded the league without watering down the quality. It was stupid to relegate them.
The point I’m making is this - no one knows what TW will bring to the game in 5, 10, 20 years time. They might be a disaster or they might be the best thing that’s ever happened to the game. But, they have to be a positive part of the expansion and development of the game. The P&R system shouldn’t force a situation where a team like TW (which might have folded this time next year) or New York or RSB come in to SL at the expense of a heartlands club that finishes bottom one season but is otherwise perfectly viable and competitive. If we keep doing that the game will contract and eventually cease to exist.
P &R is fine but it needs to be more nuanced. London, I believe, were capable of creating a strong presence in SL - surely we all agree that would be a good thing - but they never got the chance. They’ve been set back years and may never, ever get the chance again. A massive loss for the game.....but not Toronto’s fault.

How does having access to millions of potential fans give us any money? Plenty of ways - generating enough fans to be able to sell SL rights out there for example.

NA companies and sponsors will pay to advertise via Toronto, if that means they can continue not to take Sky money then we are already over 100k per club more in the game. The world is getting smaller too, and we will probably be looking at NA for trade to replace what we will lose with Brexit.

It will take time to develop NA players, but they have no shortage of athletic young men, familiar with contact sport who are kicking their heels at 21 - 22. How long did it take London to start producing SL players?

The column inches they have generated with SBW alone are worth a fortune. This could be the start of something great. SL needs a shot in the arm and entertaining this and seeing how it goes costs nothing

So, NONE, other than the fantasy in your head.

by the sounds of it the devil has bought your soul, so you'll be happy then for our club to become a feeder to the rich elite in other countries

Its a long term thing.. or were you expecting them to turn up with a youth team full of rugby league players out of their backside?