IMO the game was a great advert for the game, both teams and the match official should be congratulated on thier performance last night.
As for the crowd 24 000+ does any one think that they would get as many if the game was played in Aus ??? i doubt it
the atmosphere was electric not as much as when we played Manly now that was a night !!
but i think that the modern all seater stadiums don't create as good an atmosphere as standing grounds , but that is my opinion. I am sure that people will disagree..

I think we definately missed Lima + Fielden, I just don't rate Prescott and we let them get too many metres from their forwards.

Mainly though, I think we miss Finch. We lost a fair amount of creativity with Piggy leaving, and although I think McIllorum is a good player he won't ever create a huge amount. Our kicking was woeful just like it was most of last year.

Was anyone missing for St George btw? I'd love to have seen us with Fielden/Lima/Finch/Richards, especially playing in Aus (maybe next year!).

I do have a question about how you play in the NRL. Is it normal to have a trainer stood behind the attacking line for much of the time coaching the players on the run?

How can you make that statement? How can we miss someone who has never played? We have the same half-back pairing and FB who won the GF for us. Lets see how Finch goes before we say we miss him.

Of course they take it seriously and I think it could be very succesful in Aus, afterall there was 60k on in Brisbane for the Wigan game.

The ref should have told him to get off the pitch. Stayed on far too long. It got even worse when they started putting 2 on.

That was a long time ago.

Times have changed.


Also the game is more popular in Brisbane than it is in Sydney as we witnessed from the terrible turn out for the St George Illawarra v Souths Charity shield match a few weeks ago.

Under 20,000 for the premiers v arguably the biggest name in the NRL in Sydney (at ANZ stadium is a disgrace)

Because we had Riddell playing in the GF, who I think is a lot more creative than McIllorum. Finch replaced Riddell - therefore we aren't the same side.

someone needs to lay off the blackpool 'rock'.

NRL clubs don't want it...the chance has been offered to them in the past and they've turned it down and said England do a better job at hosting it.

NRL clubs basically are more in season mode now...with pre-season and warm up games....St George had 2 matches against Souths and Bulldogs before last nights game, so they're more prepared.

It'll bode well in future if English teams win now, as the Aussies can't blame it on not being ready!

It's not SOO therefore pointless in most aussie RL fans eyes.

It draws a good crowd and a good TV audience in UK, it wouldn't here (hence why they don;t play it at a time of day that it could be shown live in Oz).

If it ever became a proper WCC played two weeks after respective GF's for a $1million purse then I could see it getting 30-40k here, unti then it is thought of a s merely another pres season trial game by the masses.

A $1million purse?

Who's going to fund that?

im sure a WCC in australia would get good crowds, especially if we got to host it in our actual home ground

and if the broncos got it im sure they could get a really big crowd

TV companies in the UK, Oz and NZ, sponsorship for the premier club event in the world RL calendar and a 60k crowd! You knowthe same things that fund the tens of milions payed out in the UEFA cup and Champions league.

yeah it wouldnt be hard to get TV companies in australia to pay a few million for it

the more the event gains credibility the more of a push there will be for australia to host it

and if an english club wins one in australia now, that would be massive

Good post.

Since we now have a solid international fixture list scheduled for the end of the season that alternates between hemispheres, I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to add the WCC as the first mach of the internationals two weeks after the grand finals. This would ensure alternating world locations and the possibility to build up the event.

As for this years WCC, I was there and really enjoyed it even though my team lost. I do believe that it was very, very close - all tries came from a knock on or penalty. Also, if Goulding had taken the interception it would have been Wigan scoring in the second half, instead he knocked on and St George scored from the resulting set of six. If there is a rematch next year, Wigan should be able to add Richards and Hock, two very dangerous strike players capable of making something from nothing. At the moment the only Wigan player really capable of doing that is Sam.

All in all, an outstanding match in which the better team won on the day. Another day could bring a different winner.

Other clubs has asked about it before only to be told that SL clubs can't be used as their season is already on going...............The following year a game was rearranged so a SL club could fit it in.
Go figure.