Haha, I was thinking that too!

We've had this discussion before, and I agreed that it was an awful format. It's not what I thought they'd be doing.

Yep, one of those ' The Office ' moments, when some clueless wonder comes up with another stupid idea without actually thinking it through, or asking the opinions of those involved

Or...
"Well Gary suggested it for the big boys, so it must be a good idea."

I'd like to see us work on a 5 year cycle. It would not be feasible to run an expanded WCC year on year, however it could work at the expense of an international tournament. This year for example would be the perfect time to trial it.

We should have a cycle of tours against Aus/NZ, 4 Nations and a World Cup. In the year where Aus and NZ play each other then we could have a European series or an extended Exiles series.

The normal SL winners v NRL winners should continue but take place 2 weeks after each GF and alternate between the hemispheres (in the location where that year's international tournament is).

The extended WCC should be 8 teams split in to 2 mini leagues followed by 2 semis and a final.

No. Internationals should never be replaced. There aren't enough as it is.

Also, you couldn't have an extended WCC this year as the Aussie players won't be available.

As long as there is no interest from Australian Clubs, Sponsors, Fans or Media.
Its not much chance.
Even prize money will not have any bearing on fans and that will reflect in the media interest and the Sponsor interest.
Without the support of the Australian public the rest will not fall into place.
Have a look at where last weeks WCC was shown on Oz TV and the media coverage it got.
Was barely mentioned before during or after the event.

That is not quite factual.
All Aussie Super League Clubs played, they were by far the weaker competition.
1 Brisbane
2 Cronulla-Sutherland
3 Canberra
4 Canterbury
5 Penrith
6 Hunter
7 Auckland
8 Perth
9 Adelaide
10 North Queensland

ARL Clubs
1 Manly
2 Newcastle
3 Parramatta
4 North Sydney
5 Sydney City
6 Illawarra
7 Gold Coast
8 Balmain
9 Western Suburbs
10 St. George
11 South Sydney
12 South Queensland

Bang on !, although pretty much all SL fans would enjoy and appreciate watching the Aussie teams, what is the point of the 2nd or 3rd best in each league playing each other.
Is this just another pre season, overhyped pseudo competition ?
If they are going to give any credibility, then it must have a proper format and be played when all teams are equal in preperation and match fitness.

Some interesting points made in the 'Super League Back Chat' episode. www.skysports.com/video/inline/0 ... 51,00.html

Some interesting points made in the 'Super League Back Chat' episode. www.skysports.com/video/inline/0 ... 51,00.html

Seriously what was wrong with the Ashes?

Last time we played it was in 2003 and all three venues were a sell-out. 25k at Wigan, Hull and Huddersfield.

In 1994 the Aussies had a full tour which including 57k at Wembley (more than the 4nations double header), 43k at Old Trafford and 39k at Elland Road.
This tour also including Leeds getting 18k on at Headingley against Aus and Wigan got 20k at central park.

Maybe more importantly, the aussies bought into the ashes. It was succesful over there. In 1992 there was 40k in Sydney, 31k in Melbourne and 32k in Brisbane.

1991 Ashes had 54k at Wembley, 46k at Old Trafford and 32k at Elland Road.

Even 2011 proved that the rugby league faithful will still turn out for a massive game at Wembley with over 40k attending. We can even pull between 30-40k for the final of the four nations at Elland Road against Aus. Why not have big games there more often? Despite me going down to Elland Road and enjoying the final last year, it didn't feel as big as the ashes games I used to go to, the ashes is a concept everyone believes in, neutral fans would be interested by it. The four nations is plastic and has replaced genuine rugby league history.

The Ashes was something the public liked. Fans attended in large numbers. Why do we need a plastic WCC when we could have a real international series with unique games between club and country?

SSN cream themselves when the Lions go on tour down under, we should do the same!

I wouldn't argue against an expanded WCC, it could be great if it was done properly IMO... but the game has much bigger fish to fry.

I think a bigger club competition like an expanded WCC could be whats needed to enhance internationals and the game as a whole. Look at the Champions League in footy, the IPL in cricket or the Heineken cup in union.

The current format of having a 4 Nations tournament every year is getting stale imo. I think a 5 year of cycle of tour, 4nations, tour, world cup, extended world club challenge could work.

Also why would the aussies not be available for a world club tournament this year? The ARL have said the international team won't be playing this year, but this doesn't mean they can't play for their club sides.

I agree that we don't have enough international rugby league and it needs to become more mainstream, but as there are only 3 teams that can compete at the top standard then an 8 team WCC every 5 years would freshen things up. SL in general needs to have its profile risen as well as the international game.

Have it straight after the final, one year up here the next down there.

GF Finalists
CC Winners
League Leaders

If there are only two teams in that scenario, CC finalists, still only two you take league position.

2011 would have been Leeds, Saints, then Wire, then Wigan
2010 Would have been Wigan, Saints, Wire and Leeds (same)

To help with expansion

Year 1 England
Year 2 Oz
Year 3 France
Year 4 NZ
Year 5 USA or somewhere else.

Straight after each WCC, you play the 4N in said country except the year 5 one (that could be a World Cup year).

What format?

Not sure

Rank the teams as

GF Winner 1
Runner up as 2
League leader 3
CC winner 4

No cups in Oz so for CC winner highest placed league place in the semi.

A) 1v4
B) 2v3> A v B
...............................> final
C) 3v2> C v D
D) 4v1
----------------------------------------------------------
or

[uGroup1[/u
Leeds
Saints
Brisbane
Melbourne

[uGroup2[/u
Manly
NZ
Wire
Wigan

All play each other once, top 2 in final

We need to get into 4 year cycles, not 5 year cycles. Football, RU and the Olympics work in 4 year cycles, so if we want to avoid clashing with them we need to stick to a 4 year cycle so we know what to expect. Football World Cup 2010, RUWC 2011, Euro 2012/Olympics 2012, RLWC 2013. (Cricket just make things up as they go along so no-one knows when their big events are! We need to avoid that, but we haven't as of yet).

An extended World Club Challenge WOULD NOT WORK in a 5 year cycle. You could have a club win the SL one year, qualify for the WCC held 4 years later, go into strife then get battered. Bradford 2005 SL Champions. Bradford 2009 didn't even make the play-offs, but would be taking part in a competition that they qualified for by using a team that contained only two players that were currently playing in their mediocre squad.

Not only that, but it would replace internationals once every five years, and again that is a massive NO. There aren't enough as it is.

And the ARL haven't said the international team won't play. The Players' Association have given their players a season off international duty or something to that ilk.

I do agree that having the Four Nations every year is a bit stale. I'd like to see a 4 year cycle of World Cup, Tri Nations, 5 Nations (Euro & Pacific qualifier), Ashes.
In reckon if pushed right, we could build up a fairly decent crowd for a three match series at Wembley, Old Trafford and Elland Road.

This.

Would only take 4 weeks. Would have nearly twice as many games as a knock-out format, so twice as much coverage, and only a week longer.

Just finding where to fit it in. To me, it's one of two choices. You either reduce the SL by 4 games, or you have it at the end of the season when internationals are BUT have internationals during the season and make it compulsory that players have to be released for international duty during the SL season.

I wasn't meaning the 4 participants would qualify over the four years for the tournament to be played in the 5th. I would keep the current champions v champions game every season (though ideally play at the end of the season and alternate hemispheres) and then for the extended comp the top 4 from that year would enter the tournament and play in a 2 group stage format as you have been discussing there.

Increasing mid-season internationals isn't really going to work as our only worthy games are 10000 miles away. It would dilute the overall quality of SL too much to make our players play in them like what happens with the 6N in yawnion. I don't see how we can fit in a 4 week, 8 team club tournament without it taking the place of the current 4 week international tournament, or it meaning that players are playing far too many games with a much shorter off-season.

FWIW I think an extended WCC would also get stale if it was played every year which is why I have suggested doing it every 5 years. The "year off" for internationals could be filled with a mini tournament of Eng, Aus and NZ "A" teams featuring players not involved in the club comp, perhaps playing other European/Pacific island teams without a guaranteed whitewash occurring.

The other option as you say would be to reduce the number of SL teams, if that happened then a WCC tournament could fit in as a pre-season event. Like I say though I don't think we should have it every year so these extra games would have to be made up somewhere else or clubs are going to lose gate money.

13 games all in all, plenty of coverage, lots of games for the sponsors it's win/win

Apart from where to fit it in to the season. I think adding a semi-final round i.e. Winner 1 v RU2 and Winner 2 v RU1 would be better as well.

" De plane, De plane boss "

We can only dream, bit like Leigh in SL

Now that would be a nightmare