to be fair the wallabies have achieved so much

as representatives of mosman and randwick in sydney, and a small part of brisbane, they achieved so much off the back of 3 suburbs

3 suburbs is overly generous...

10 schools is more apt.

Dally, you do realise in the bath instance wigan were full time pros and Bath were amateur. They might have gone pro about 6 months before, I can't quite remember the dates.
Someone mentioned beating the English union clubs? Problem being the union clubs are better than the SL clubs, your NRL sides can't even beat our Super League sides, what chance do you have against the superior union mob at their own sport??
FACT
It's one freakin' boring sport and I wish union over here would go the way it's going in Aus but in England they get the far superior athletes.

The NRL has some tremendous athletes for RL players who, because of the fantastic spectacle look brilliant. But in reality they're a VERY small fish in a very large pond in terms of world athletes. If League did ever really take off in England, we'd muller you. As it stands you look high and mighty because you're the best at an extremely small minority sport

mate its just a rev up.

i see union as something like a cancer on society or an STD.

i just hope they get whats coming to them

I wish they would...in England.
As it is, SL for all its strong points took a major hit during this recession year and we're struggling.
Unions also struggling in the north but if we could take even a quarter of their TV deal extra we'd be laughing..and half their juniors etc etc
In aus you're in a very very unique position, no soccer. I only wish we were in the same boat. A country with 66 million odd in..we'd lap it up.

Just as long as it didnt become as ridiculous money as soccer has, league clubs could run as successful businesses attracting nice backing.

in NZ and aus RL will do the job on union - and yes i include NZ purposely.

that will leave union in very poor shape internationally

SLs got decades of growth ahead of it under the current administrators.

union will be lucky to hold what theyve got

just be patient.

its inevitable with our game that they will decline

Is it though Dally.
Maybe it's teams bringing through more youngsters, maybe we went to 14 too quickly but the standard of players this year seemed poorer than the last few.
If we get SL of 05/06 back we should be laughing the thing is people just dont want to listen. This year alone i've converted 3 or 4 to regularly watching but even though these guys live about 18 miles from Warrington they'd never even heard of RL. Union is massive at amateur level and they're all so bitter because they know we've the better product.
I don't think i'll ever see the day Union is overtaken by league, to be fair to them it seems to be going very well internationally for france, Argentina and better for Italy, lets hope you're right and the Kiwis can take the all blacks. That would be a MAJOR powerhouse down as lets be honest, the wallabies are dusted

i think we can easily surpass them over time.

its such a s**t sport.

all their commentators are saying they need to change their rules its boring. they are all aware how good RL is

more of their clubs will want to play RL.

and to be fair on SL, you did expand the number of teams so even though average crowds fell a little, it wasnt too bad.

look at our international scence was say 10 years ago till now

the Quad nations was quite good and if CC can survive, then wales will make it 5 nations.

on NZ, its more about the club game killing off theirs that will be key

we need a 2nd NZ NRL side ASAP and higher salaries so we can compete for players

union in NZ will get picked off by france and english clubs and the Super 14 really is dieing off

if you english guys come to australia you will be shocked how small union is, and how big RL is.

you are used to RL being treated as a small sport over there.

when you come here youll see what can be achieved

union has nothing to be feared. from us

wales' big problem will be, and i dont see how people haven't clocked onto this..people compare CC and say, oh well the ospreys only got this many, or the dragons..we're not far away.

..thats kind of the point, people dont tend to turn out the same in wales for club matches, SL seems to be obsessed with attendances, the crusaders will NEVER get them. Ospreys et al have a huge tv money payout to cover them.

Some good talent in Wales, you wont agree with it Dally but look at their union backline, would walk into almost any team of either code, that fullbacks something else

i saw 5 minutes of a recent wales game and it was awful. i was laughing and comiserating with the people who had to watch it. such an overhyped sport


the worry with crusaders is its like past welsh clubs moving around

if they can survive its very important cause they can develop juniors over time etc

Wales is a small country/province/whatever yet they get 75000 watching the national team.
10 miles down the road they cant get 6000 for a club game.
Crusaders aren't a wealthy club, this would bother me..i'd rather the RFL even bankrolled them for some stability

dont post that on the VT, theyll lynch you

Any true expansion club, either in the NRL or SL, should get financial support above and beyond the normal grant. If it is strategically importnat to have that club in the first place then we should be investing in the area. I would limit it to spending on marketing, attracting corporate support and jnr development though.

Union by far the superior athletes? In the UK...hardly.

You spend a lot of time discussing the australian game so i'll forgive your ignorance.
Any players of ours they want they come and buy. Even in the RL heartlands the best players at school level all play union, signed up at about 12 years old.
Ireland, Scotland and Wales union teams would stick 80 on their league counterparts at league in this place.
The list of failed converts over the last few years would suggest league players struggle in a union environment, the other way around the players find it fairly simple. They aren't as fit but they are far far stronger.
Eorl Crabtree was called a giant, he's small compared to union forwards.
If GB had the Wales union backline we'd have had no problems putting away the kangaroos over recent years

There is zero evidence to suggest league players are better athletes yet when you see almost every kid that owns a rugby ball playing union, their talent pool is 5 times ours.
The only professional meeting between the two codes i've seen was a very poor sale team put away the SL champions Saints, terrible game yet better athletes.

Most of that is mere opinion. Not a fact to be seen here. Move on...

I agree, but there is evidence to back up my opinion.
Your very small opinion: there is none
It's very simple; they have quadruple playing than what we have; they're going to get the better juniors

You know nothing about me or my knowledge of rugby league throughout the world.

1. Your ignorance is clearly greater.

2. They buy the odd player; hardly everyone they want.

3. No union team has ever beaten a rugby league team at rugby league. Rugby league teams have defeated union teams at union.

4. "Failed converts" - when players go in their prime and for the right reasons, they flog them. This issue must be considered over the 114 year history of the game, not 5 minutes worth of anecdotes.

5. Comparing the Wales union backline to Australian RL's is a complete joke.

6. Zero evidence? You are blind. The game of RL itself produces players who can run, score tries and break defence. Union players can't play what is in front of them.

7. Comparing the two codes - I repeat RL teams have won union tournaments at union, union has not achieved the reverse.

Why don't you consider the absolute flood of people from rugby league involved in union coaching before shooting off your mouth on subjects you clearly know nothing about...???

When?

I wasn't aware of these.

Or do you just mean 7's tournaments, which can't count, because without rucks/mauls/lineouts/scrums it isn't really Union?

Both sevens [iand[/i 15 a side union for that matter...

wow that's quite a scalp. Well done to whoever it was.

I've only heard of the Bath v Wigan thing in 1996, when each side won thier game. And then the Sale v Saints match a couple of years ago, when each side won their half.