St James' Park where we got better attendances than the Etihad? the Etihad being in Manchester where we also get 75k every year? (for a game which, by your logic, they can only start planning a week before

)

Magic weekend features all 12 SL teams, the WCC will feature just one of those. I've been to several Leeds WCC games, you don't get many neutrals at these games like you do the GF and CC.

You certainly won't get 20,000 like you do now.

of course, it is well known in rugby league that neutrals don't attend finals and big games.

Of course you do for the CC Final and Grand Final....as I said in the previous post. You don't get many at WCC games.

I understand that one cup winner would be the challenge cup winners but which cup would the 2nd cup winners have won? The Aussies don't have a knockout cup.

Of course, sweetheart.

It's true though regardless of your attempts to brush it off.

WCC's do not attract anywhere near the amount of neutrals that CC and GF's do and that's when it's held in February and not potentially sandwiched between a GF and England internationals.

Who on earth has suggested it has? The CC gets nearly 90k and the GF nearly 75k. Only an idiot would suggest a comparison to the CC or GF as a barometer of success.

One thing i can tell you though is there were a hell of a lot fewer neutrals who watched the first GF in 98, than watched when it was replayed in 2015.

The '98 GF and ones after it have managed to fill (or pretty close to) Old Trafford. Whereas St James' Park will barely limp over 10k for a WCC game where the NRL champions leave half the GF team at home and treat it as a end of season holiday/ up.

I think it's absolutely fine the way it is!

Australian clubs do take it seriously and even Brisbane want to continue to play in the "meaningless" games whether there are points or trophies up for grabs or not and I'm sure there are a few other clubs who'd be happy to play, even the Wooden Spooners would provide a cracking game. St George players were very impressed with the Wire atmosphere when they came over and it was a decent game.

Why scrap it when teams are willing and enthusiastic to play in it? So what if Brisbane come over every year if they don't win the NRL GF? They're the biggest, best supported, most profitable club in this sport so if they're up for it then how much better can it be? Every single test cricket match bar the Ashes is "meaningless" there are no trophies up for grabs but the teams play each other without needing the meaning of a trophy to play for. The Yawnion Autumn internationals are just test matches, no trophies up for grabs yet they are big games. I can't wait for this "meaningless" Wire v Brisbane game and Brisbane's social media team seem to feel the same and there is not a bigger name in this sport.

I'm getting sick of fellow RL fans and their pessimism and constant calls to change things. We do NOT need to constantly change things, it's getting painful the calls for change all the time! Just stick with something for a few decades, leave it alone, stop the chopping and changing if everything all the time because THAT is what's the problem, not the things we have that are good and work.

I keep hearing/reading "scrap the Magic Weekend"...Why? It's brilliant! Leave it alone! "Scrap the WCC"...Why? It's brilliant! Leave it alone! "The other games in the WCS are meaningless"...So what? It's good! Leave it alone! "Scrap relegation", "bring relegation back", "oh, no, lets scrap relegation again", "expand the play-offs", "reduce the number of teams in the play-offs", "oh, hang on, what's this Super 8s stuff about it doesn't work"(after one year? Hahahaha, give over!), "top four doesn't work"...............just ing give over constantly calling for change! STICK WITH SOMETHING FOR MORE THAN A FEW YEARS!

The WCS has been really good. It shows that we need to bridge the gap between the comps as there is a widening gap, but so what? Keep it up! People laughed when Argentina joined the Tri-Nations in Yawnion and people moaned when a Japanese team joined Super Rugby, but it's worked after being stuck with! The WCC has been brilliant over the years and it's an absolute myth that the Aussies don't take it seriously. No, it isn't the most prestigious game to them but neither are the UEFA Super Cup or Club World Cup comps in Association Football but the likes of Barcelona and Bayern take it seriously, still, even if they are just exhibition games the season after the trophies are won to get into those comps.

Fellow Rugby League fans, stop your bleeding moaning and constant calls for change. It's tedious, absolutely ing tedious! Change isn't always good!

Just to pick up on your point about the Aussies taking it seriously.

Why is it that they didn't send over their 3 "true contenders" last season ?
So, not that seriously then

Maybe because "they" are not a homogenous whole, but separate football clubs which may well have different opinions and priorities to each other?

Yes, but, IF the NRL were fully on board, as the previous poster suggested, it would have been The NRL's 3 top contenders.

AS I said in my earlier post, we love seeing the Aussie club sides (or National side) playing over here and if the WCC was done differently, it could be a much bigger/better event.

They didn't.

You just completely made that bit up.

Eh ?
I know they didn't and that was the point.
THe previous poster had said thet the NRL were taking the World Club Series seriously, which, if they were, we would have seen some different clubs competing last year

You only have to have a quick look at the aussie RL sites to get the gist that apart from Brisbane Bronco's no one else is remotely interested in the WCC.

It's obviously not working

I don't even know what time these games are being played. I know I could look them up- but if they'd been promoted I'd already know....

You've not read my post have you? I said it's a myth the Aussies don't take the WCC seriously. Not the series. But before that said what's the problem if some aren't interested in the WCS when the biggest name in this sport is. I know it's more than a few lines long, but this isn't Twitter, read posts properly before picking one tiny bit of it out and getting it wrong.

That's like saying Europeans have no interest in the UEFA Super Cup because Bayern Munich and Barcelona and Juventus and Manchester United had no interest in it last Summer. But it was between Real Madrid and Sevilla so why would anyone else give two hoots about that game but the ones involved?

I know a few NRL clubs turned down the chance to play in the WCS, but as I've said previously I'd even take the Wooden Spooners as they'd provide a cracking game as their competition is a decade more advanced than ours so why the need for 2nd and 3rd to play our 2nd and 3rd as long as we know that 1st v 1st is the big one and the one the Aussies do take seriously?

What if you've missed the marketing of them? Are you not part of the email list for the RFL? Do you live in Warrington or Wigan where is been marketed very well? Have you missed all the Sky live games this season where it's been mentioned five times a programme?

The whole point of the WCC and or the WCS is that is is supposed to be THE BEST clubs from both hemispheres and not just clubs that are up for a pre season game against a club side from a different nation.

Are you proposing that we have a couple of games every season, featuring Wigan v Brisbane and say, Leeds v Sydney Roosters just because they are "big" clubs and forget the original concept ?

Sorry for not hanging on your every word but, the sport needs to do things properly and not go half cock at everything.

You mention test matches and the six nations as examples of "meaningless competitions".
Last time I looked, the six nations played in a round robin style league and the top of the league were crowned Champions.

Cricket is slightly different in that National sides compete in test series' and the only thing at stake is being "the better team". The point here is that they are not "selling" that game on the basis of becoming the "best in the world"

As I said, sorry for not going through your whole post previously but, it didn't really warrant it.

Quote the bit that says that.

Why are Warrington and Brisbane posing with a trophy neither of them can win..

Must have, Nope, Nope, Yes because I either watch the game from the stadium, don't watch the game because I'm doing something else, or turn the sound down so I don't have to listen to the drivel from our commentators.
What if I'm someone who enjoys watching sport and could potentially be a new recruit to the game- the WCC could be an excellent selling point- you know- supposedly the best teams from the northern and Southern Hemisphere battling it out for supremacy. It's no wonder the sport doesn't grow if it only markets to itself.....