yes they could be some but we could end up with a lot like Dwain Chambers the headless chicken

Looking forward to International Super League.

I can just imagine the crying from the likes of Jon Wilkin, Jamie Peacock and Kevin Sinfield about how much the travelling to France X2, North America & London really takes it out of professional athletes.

I guess there is potentially never a great time. You don't know if another well funded club will enter into League 1 i.e. New York. Bradford could also get some momentum as well.

Toronto not going up messed things up for a few people. Clubs in the Championship that wanted to see the back of them are probably the biggest hit. As well as Widnes who now have a credible rival to gain promotion.

Toronto (2 years into a 5 year plan) and still looking a little green are probably not too bad off as a result. Another year of smashing part time teams should help get a more stable fan base.

The major test for Toronto comes if/when they start losing games.
It's easy to gain momentum when you are beating everything that's put in front of you but, if you start to lose a few or,
not gain promotion, it becomes far more difficult to grow the fan base etc.

Getting back to the 5 year plan, I'm sure the investors will start to get hacked off if they miss out on promotion in the next couple of seasons and with the kind of spend they have on their squad, they should be winning the comp at a canter.

I dread to think how much TWP's 17 cost at the side of London's 17 in the final ?

But that’s very different anyway.

Rugby league has been played in Melbourne since 1914. They’ve had their own league in Victoria since the 1920s.

Rugby league fans have been turning up to games in Melbourne since 14000 turned up for a GB Lions your game and even before the Storm entered the NRL 87000 turned up at the MCG to watch a SOO game.

Melbourne wasn’t expansion and neither were Aulkand/NZ and neither have Catalans been. They were all given a chance to have a team given a spot in the dominant league in the continent after having a strong background and history of playing the sport for decades with a base that can be said to be stable with a player pool.

Toronto are a case we’ve never seen before in rugby league.

Who is “we”?

If it’s the sport then I’ll tell you what we need before we need Toronto in SL:

1. Cleaner rucks
2. Proper PTBs
3. Two on-field refs
4. A ban on diving
5. A ban on pretending to be injured
6. A ban on swearing at officials
7. More investment into grassroots
8. Less reliance on the same old junior/amateur clubs providing professional clubs’ Academies with players and more getting into schools to find a greater player pool
9. A better TV deal
10. The RFL’s move to Manchester happening ASAP
11. Getting rid of the Sky commentary team and getting some fresh blood in who are positive about the sport and being fresh voices and views
12. Getting the sport played in bigger cities in Great Britain and France (London getting promoted is better for the sport than Toronto because of the player pool already playing the sport in London... Manchester Rangers being allowed to flourish - they are ready for bigger and better!)
13. Open up opportunities for future places in the Challenge Cup to more [iEuropean[/i teams (like we have Belgrade next season)
14. Getting the Super League show on at a prime time on nationwide terrestrial television
15. Live SL games on terrestrial television
16. More games on the road like Leeds v Cas at Elland Road this year
17. Getting our “stars” into the mainstream media a bit more: get one on Strictly Come Dancing one year, get more on A Question Of Sport, get them in the studio on the news on terrestrial television more for an interview in the sport’s section
18. Find famous people who are fans of the sport to Tweet/Insta about the sport more
19. Get the international game having a proper structured cycle
20. Strengthening Tonga/PNG/Fiji/Samoa/France/Wales’ national teams
21. GB Lions getting going again ASAP (the name and kit is more iconic than we realise!)
22. Larger Salary Cap to allow teams to keep hold of or entice more stars rather than see them go to the NRL or Union
23. Clubs who can afford it being encouraged to spend more on transfer fees especially down to clubs lower down the league or leagues than them so that there’s more money washing around the sport and get away from the dangerous business of waiting for players to finish their contracts at places so they just leave on free transfers

I like Toronto a lot ,i think theyre a extremely important club to the future progress of Northern Hemisphere RL but i dont disagree about London being important as well for the reasons you give.

I agree with the rest of your post especially number 12,Manchester Rangers being held back ? WTF is that all about ?

Toronto are a long term project regardless of what league they are in. Another year in the Championship could be a blessing. Allowing the fans to come to terms with the game before they risk losing more than they win, giving them time to grow more naturally.

I am sure the investors are investing for the love of the game rather than guaranteed profits. No one who has a few million in the bank that they earned can't be daft enough to believe that Rugby League or sport in general, is a good way to make money. Who knows if they get a good TV deal it could work out well for them, but more than likely they will spend more than they earn for a long time.

The key is to get a team that doesn't crumble when the expectation gets too big. They need a team capable of beating Toulouse/Widnes in a final in 12 months time. However I guess can be said about Toulouse and Widnes.

Toronto will just buy the quality of player to get them into Super League. Remember this was only their 2nd season

Rubbish. The main competition in Australia was a Sydney based league from 1904 to 1994. Just look when the other clubs were created and added to that competition. Canberra Raiders in 1981, Brisbane Broncos in 1988, Newcastle Knights 1988, North Queensland Cowboys in 1995, Auckland Warriors in 1995 and Melbourne Storm in 1998. All those clubs, along with Catalans are expansion clubs.

Yes there was already amateur local rugby league played in some of those areas before the professional club was created, but to claim they are not expansion clubs is wrong. How much amateur rugby league was played in Melbourne prior to their inception? I don’t think a great deal, they still rely on bringing in players from elsewhere just as Toronto do. Melbourne’s reserve grade team are based in and play in Queensland, expansion clubs can be successful without creating their own players, as the Storm have shown.

Indeed, they have no other option.
Just keep outspending their competition until they have bought a place at the SL table.

If Toronto weren’t there Widnes would be outspending the rest of the Championship to as you say “buy a place in SL”. It’s a poor criticism of Toronto.

Will Toronto have any Canadians in their side next year, or the year after that, or the year after that?

They have Quinn Ngawati who is a 19 year old Canadian they picked up from one of their trials. But as I said above expansion clubs can be successful without producing their own players, like Melbourne Storm have done.

I,m almost sure they started with 3 native Canadians at first but that’s diminishing.
I wasn’t aware that Melbourne Storm in the same context didn’t use any Australians.

Its not like only expansion clubs can be successful without producing their own players, with enough money anybody can, its just another nothing line to go with the million other nothing lines that mean FA.
There is no balance, its just an agenda supporting exercise without substance, nothing he posts hits the thing square on the head, if it ain't BS its not worth posting.

Next up >>>> an anti Wakey/Salford/Widnes/Leigh tirade.....because that's as deep as it gets.

That depends on whether they wish to be part of the chancers' club that settle for the bare minimum standard required to dodge the drop. But if they've a genuine ambition to hit the heights then probably not, at least not in that time frame.

Give them chance. Theres SL clubs who don't even run academies. Even those that do, the amount of players they produce is minimal.

They did have a Canadian player I think he was called jacks but ironically they had to get rid of him because of the quota which seems strange I could be wrong though

Genuine question here as I honestly don’t know the answer. Do Toronto have a higher salary cap than anyone else as according to this thread they will “buy” promotion?

Regards

King James

A former Toronto half back named Jacks is Canadian through his father. His brother Riley Jacks plays for Melbourne Storm.

Canada can have the Jacks brothers as their halves in any future internationals.

Genuine question, do any Champ teams other than Toronto have the funds/backers/sponsorship next season to pay to the maximum cap

Translation : “wahh wahh it’s not fair we don’t have as much money as them”

That’s rugby league to a tee. Relegating the do haves to a level of the don’t haves

Regards

King James

I wasn't complaining you divvy, I was just explaining why they were in a position to "buy" promotion as you put it - good luck to um I say

Widnes’s owner is quite rich, as are a number of other clubs owners, the question is are they prepared to invest their money in the sport of Rugby League as David Argyle is.