Well, Bennett in his post match interview yesterday referenced the lack of origin. I assume he only did so because he thinks it would be a good thing to have - or at least that the lack of it puts England players at a disadvantage compared to the Australians who have already experienced the intensity of origin.

As there isn't one rugby league club in Lancashire in the top seven leagues in this sport, i agree with going with a West v East game. There is actually a bit of a genetic split between West and East England which has been the same since about 600AD (West being Brythonic; East being Anglo-Saxon) and has surprisingly barely changed.

Of course it would.

The league's elite players playing more elite level games is needed.

Well, match 1 would be played at Huddersfield in front of 500 RL fans. Meanwhile, the stay at home RL fans would sit in their armchairs bemoaning the fact that 80000 hooray henry's can fill Twickenham five or six times a year for what they regard to be an inferior sport played only by posh southern tw*ts.

Do you think Burgess x 3, Sargison, Jammer......... would fly back for it and would there clubs let them come to games that historically get low crowds and little interest?

Didn't Peacock amongst many more moan there is to many games as it is?

Sorry, i'm not aiming my comment at you in particular at all, just the fact that this is dredged up after every inevitable defeat to the big two. Facts are, we have tried it a few times, there was no appetite for it from the fans or the players in general back then and it's hard to see how we recreate the feelings that those two states have towards each other for starters, which make it what it is.

Personally I'd get rid of Magic Weekend and play it then instead. I dislike the uneven league which magic makes anyway so it would be ideal to get shut of it. I'd also only have players who are currently playing and contracted to UK clubs

It's okay, Biff. I understand the points you make. I guess I'm just trying to think of ways that RL can improve. It was pretty demoralising yesterday to see England against Australia in front of 35000 in a stadium that holds 60000. England RU played SA on Saturday in what effectively is a friendly match (in the sense that it's not part of the six nations or world cup), and yet the place was a sell out as always. I've already said before that I like RU as well, so I'm happy about that, but I just wish that the England RL team had the same backing.

I'd make it so Magic Weekend is just one of the normal games and half the teams lose one home game this year then swap the fixtures the year after (this sport needs MW, the money it generates must be third only to Wembley then Old Trafford) and then fit in the Origin game as well.

The problem with our sport (it's the biggest problem of all, not Union's money or NRL's pull, nor the lack of teams outside the heartlands or anything else) is that we just don't stick to anything. Any signs that one person in the press or a pundit or one player says any sort of negative about anything and we sack it off.

Get Lancashire v Yorkshire back on the cards and ing stick to it.

Bill it as an England/Great Britain trial.

I remember this discussion a couple of months back as well, nothing has changed, we will put on a three match series that none of the nrl boys will fly back for, play in front of sub-10,000 crowds in 2/3 empty grounds and scrap it after a couple of years and when we do people will complain that it was rubbish and RFL are useless and it was nowhere near as good as state of origin which is a ridiculous comparison to make because it would be impossible to recreate.

Bring back Great Britain!

Okay, so we maybe wouldn't be able to include the players you mentioned, but that would still leave plenty of others that could be selected. And if there are too many games already, I'd rather England didn't bother playing 'Scotland'.

What a great intense game that would be

He did and in fairness, he's right. We play too many of the wrong games.

Yes, you're right. RL should stick only to great and high intensity games such as Australia v Scotland. That was an amazing game that captured the interest of sports fans throughout the UK. How people must envy the lucky 5337 fans that were in Hull to witness such an incredible spectacle.

We don't need gimmicky origin games. We need a fit for purpose International Calendar, with a three week mid-season break backed by both the NRL and SL as to allow the release of players.

The three-week period would coincide with Origin.

Year 1; Northern hemisphere sides (England, Scotland, France, Wales, Ireland) travel to the Southern hemisphere and play three games ( vs NZ, PNG, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga). Year 2; the Southern hemisphere sides travel. Etc etc.

We quite clearly need more games to help get an England side ready to compete. We also need Tier 2 Nations playing whenever possible and against Tier 1/2 Nations as to develop them and help retain their players.

The time where our International Calendar is shoehorned into an 'International Month' needs to come to an end. Football & RU play throughout the season, they can build their sides, the domestic seasons breaks to allow it, they have the consistency in their calendars which allows them to build their fan base, sell tickets way in advance and build their 'brands' as sides. Time to think bigger for a change.

You call English origin a gimmick when it absolutely doesn't have to be so. The Australians have made theirs work brilliantly.

You then suggest an international calendar that, in my opinion, is just ridiculous. What seriously is the point in England etc. going out to places like Fiji and Tonga every two years? People in the UK have little interest in international RL when it's on their (relatively speaking) doorstep, let alone when it's being played the other side of the world, at inconvenient times of day, and against teams that no one really cares about. Not to mention that the only credible northern hemisphere team is England. Scotland are just a joke - it's basically an England/Australia rejects/reserves team.

RL needs to do the opposite of "thinking big". It needs to focus on where its strengths are. It needs to make sure that England or Great Britain plays NZ and Australia more often, and in the appropriate venues. Those are the matches that people who don't regularly watch RL will want to see.

Good for them. Ours would go out with a whimper by Year 2.



Yep, that's the attitude needed to improve the International game - give up on it and play an origin match.



It's about the sporting contest, it's about expanding our International game beyond three sides, it's about new audiences. It's about giving our national sides the games they need, and the chance for the Tier 2 nations to get the vital game time needed to improve and therefore create a more competitive international game. I can't quite believe I'm having to explain this to you.

It's a much bigger picture than what you're painting it out to be, which you're saying is all that matters is what the average SL fan wants?

The average RL fan might not give a crap about Fiji or Tonga, probably because they see them once every few years at a World Cup. They don't care because there's nothing to really care about at the moment is there? I'm saying that needs to change via regular fixtures.



The Aussies aren't going to do it, are they? They have Origin mid-season, hence why I didn't include them. I did include NZ, in the format I described, we'd play them every year. Focusing on strengths is a good strategy, but I don't see a three-team international game as a strength.

And play it in a traditional ground like Batley, Hunslet in leather studded boot, where we can all p155 against walls etc

Can you think of any other ways of taking the game backwards?

Origin works for Austrailia, it doesn't for England. Playing more full England internationals is the answer, play France, go down under and play games mid season, if Austrailia won't play us then play New Zealand on the planned stand alone origin weekend.

Having said all that, if we do (wrongly) decide to go with a orgin type concept, I would have Yorkshire v Rest of The world.

The possibility of entering England as a third state into the origin series should be explored. I think the aussies might actually buy into this - if it's done right. It'd mean the top clubs would lose some players for a while but there are bigger issues here.

What ridiculous comments. Did Scotland play in kilts? Did England play Australia in full morris dancers outfits?

The people holding RL back are people like yourself. If you love RL, why not get behind an English origin game instead of having such a negative attitude?

We haven't the systems in this country to create such things.
Never mind, sign another oceanic rather than train and develop you own " talent "

But people have never been interested in war of roses series. Biggest attendance since 1895 was 15,054 in 1960.

Last game in 2003 attracted 6,454. Average attendance since 1895 looks about 5,000.

Fans in Yorkshire and Lancashire have never been interested in this series. Bringing it back is a complete waste of time.

Yes England need to play more internationals, but the big issue here IMO is Super League. Players play at 60% of their max for 80% of the season and are then expected to perform at 110% for three weeks on the trot against the best players in the world. It ain't going to happen. SL needs to up the intensity, starting by getting rid of two teams. There just aren't enough quality players to go around. The current system encourages a mentality where you just need to do enough to get by.