The quality of their reserves is amazing as well, watched a few games this year and it’s probably on par with SL.

yeah they have all that in Aus aswell, aswell as a smaller population, its just marketed far, far better over there and was never neglected and let to sink into the small sport.

I think the biggest issue we are going to have is player drain. They will have a minimum wage of £70k and an average wage of £200k. Just looking at us they could probably double the wage of the likes of Burgess, Gelling, Manfredi, Bateman,& Farrell and still pay them less than their average wage.

On last season's form, they'd be lucky.

With the possible exceptions of Manfredi (if he ever plays again) and Bateman (though he's done little in the WC so far), none of those players are NRL standard.

That said ... if they play to the best of their ability, which as Wigan fans we are desperate to see, then it's a different matter.

It's a real Catch-22.

If players want to go let them. It’ll make SL even worse quality than it is now and then finally the RFL might do something about it.

Like what though?
The game over here can't afford to play those sort of salaries, if we try then the game will be bankrupt in less than a decade.
Somehow we need more investment, the next t.v deal needs to be a very good one and the men at the top should be starting to look at and negotiating sooner rather than later otherwise Sky will just walk in with a take it or leave it offer, and we know what happens then.

amazing how we became World club champs seeing as they are so much better man for man that the British game......

We are a salary capped sport and we all understand why. The issue is the difference in the size of the cap. If both competitions had an equal cap then we’d at least be able to compete for the best players. As it stands, the slight increases in our cap mean very little. We still have the same pool of average standard players to choose from but they’d be paid a bit more. Unless we can compete for top quality players, the standard of our game has little chance of improvement.

to be fair the like of Whitehead and Hodgson werent great in SL but are killing it in the NRL

That's true, but why is that?

Arguably, better coaching in the NRL, and certainly, being surrounded by better players. Which brings us back to the same problem...

They didn't sell out to Rupert Murdoch..

Would they be lucky? My point was the NRL teams can now sign that level of player as a squad player, doubling their wage which would still put them on less than the average player in the NRL.

agree

SL needs a bigger TV deal from SKY / BT, and more of them.

The only salvation I see for the SL competition is TV money coming in from North America and France.

The 2022 TV deal(s) will be critical to the future of the competition.

The key to the next deal is to take exclusivity away from Sky and have some matches on terrestrial TV. Cricket as a sport is slowly killing itself in this country because it went with Sky for the last ten years or so. Very few kids nowadays can identify more than a few of the England team in cricket or rugby league. Twenty five years ago everyone knew Ellery Hanley, Andy Gregory, Shaun Edwards et al.

It must be about raising the profile of the game not just taking the highest bid.

That's why the World Cup is so important. If we could get to the final and it is shown on BBC live it will do so much for our game.

Agree. Not getting to the final in 2013 was an absolute disaster.

The bottom line is and will always be money. We don't have any and we certainly don't have enough as a sport to support so many leagues and teams. Some tough decisions have to be made, but the powers that be don't have the bottle or the ideas.

This is why I don't get the critisism of our Chairman, at least he has tried new things (London games, games in Aus etc) whether we agree or like them at least he has tried different things unlike the RFL which appears to be stuck in a cycle of do nothing and hope things will get better somehow by magic.

Sadly the increasing salary cap in Aus will act as an even bigger magnet for talented players over here and could further ruin the game in this country - especially given the do nothing to upset the smaller clubs mentality that seems to exist. Rugby League is a minority sport in the UK and always will be as it gets nowhere near the coverage on mainstream TV (although I have to admit I find the World Cup BBC coverage cringeworthy to be honest).

I have watched the games solely on premier sports. they have had the aussie channel 7 coverage. Good build up to the games and commentators and guests that actually know the sport. BBC coverage is embarrising

the games dying in the uk,some idiots a re even playing home games in aussie.you couldn't make it up.

British RL is biggest laughing stock of all major sports in the UK
ill make a couple of reasons way

1 Video Refs at 2 games a week however every one else as to rely on a ref 2 touch touches and 2 in goal judges
2 Catalans were"relegated" in 2006 but was "exempt" in 2006 and 2007!
3 Catalans get a video ref at EVERY home game
4 Wigan spent more than the cap for at least 3 seasons but only got a small points deduction
5 Why as the world club challenge only once been played in Australia and Wigan playing!
6 Australia has 2 ref at every home game but in Britain 1 ref
7 Every game is on tv in Aus but not in the Uk
8 What sport do you no of that the top side wins a shield but dosent win the championship!
9 What sport do you know of has the bottom side not relegated!
10 The "doc" tried to make Salford a team of starsbut got into trouble for it!
11 Crowds at Challenge Cup games are almost non existent Wigan only took 12,000 to the Final!
12 The "million pound" game is a JOKE
13 How can a team lose 66-10 but beat that team later on in the season!

You lost me at point 1) What is a "a ref 2 touch touches" very poor post. Seek help now!

I've been watching Channel 7 too, but that main host is annoying. Reminds me of Eddie Hemmings.

Whilst I agree that being solely on pay TV is a bad idea I disagree with some of your other arguments. Here’s why:

6 Australia has 2 ref at every home game but in Britain 1 ref

Opinion is still divided on whether two refs are better than one. The lack of communication between the two refs causes issues, also they missing things because one assumes the other is going to make a decision. They have changed it recently to have a main ref and a pocket ref who is responsible for the play the ball. But even this has its issues.

7 Every game is on tv in Aus but not in the Uk

Crowds are dropping in Australia for the NRL, but TV audiences are up. All the games are on Pay TV and 2 on free to air. The NRL now has a dedicated channel and shows Queensland Cup, NSW Cup as well a many Under 20’s games. Compare it to Aussie Rules where the crowds at games are on the up, and like the NRL they have a dedicated channel and every game is on pay TV with 3or so games on free to air. Melbourne teams often get bigger crowds than Premier League teams for regular league games. Something similar in the UK would be much better.

8 What sport do you no of that the top side wins a shield but dosent win the championship!

The NRL and Australian Rules to name two.

9 What sport do you know of has the bottom side not relegated!
season!'"

And rugby union in England too, surely? They have a play-off system as well. So you really don't have to look very far.

In fact it may be harder to find sports that have no playoffs!!!!