Excuses about injuries will never wash when one team can spend more then double the other on it's players salaries. By definition they should have far more quality depth.

It also won't wash when Wigan are missing three of it's best players (Tomkins, Manfredi and McIlorum) and so were Wire (Hill, Currie and Ratchford).

Both our teams injuries were to more important players then theres were which just makes the victories all the sweeter.

Massive congratulations to Wigan, you were absolutely dominating them at points! Bateman was his usual outstanding self and you could do with resting him soon, the end of March seems like a good choice

.

Couldn't agree more with you about that, all 6 of those players would have improved both teams, plus we were missing Crosby to. We basically played with 16 men as Livett was only given the last few minutes. It would have been great to have had us both go over there, play the games against the Aussies and then have our season opener against each other over there to promote SL.

Holmes, Feki and Barba are big misses for Cronulla as well, they start there sets of well. Plus Ennis is a big miss to however i think that was 13 out of the 17 that played in the GF?

For Brisbane im not too sure who was missing? The backline was basically full strength and they were missing Blair and i would say Sims to from the front row.

I also dont sign up to the fact they are under done either. They have played the Auckland 9's, and been in Pre-Season training for months.

congrats , but not to put a downer on it but do you think you could class Wigan as the best team in the world after that ? to me it seems the Aussies just didnt turn up and where rusty and out of season , the whole format needs changing because the way it is now its pretty worthless , they should play the WCC after the NRL GF at a nuetral venue and play 2-3 games on the same day like a magic weekend and give the teams some incentive to want to win the thing , it should be billed as the biggest game of the year but instead it feels like a freindly that the Aussies dont really take seriously , its just a holiday p1ss up for them , at least put some serious prize money up for the game and play it when the teams are firing on all cylinders!

But they did a cracking job of beating the team in front of them yesterday , I can only remeber a few WCC that was taken seriously Wigan beating Brisbane at Brisbane and the league format they did in the 90s but these days it seems a bit like the old war of the roses games or ngland v Scotland ( not much interest)

I would argue that given the amount of handbags in both games that the Aussies take it very seriously indeed. In both games they behaved with a lot of petulance, almost like spoiled brats. They don't like it up 'em!

yeah plenty of handbags , stick a boxer in a ring with no sparing and youll see the same but he will probably get ktfo, they might take it seriously but the timings just dont allow for both teams to be at there best , its all a bit watered down , I remember the old GBv Aussies test series's they where epic , now we have England v Oz hardly the same buzz or intensity , it needs to be worth winning , it should be like the state of origin but UKs best V oz best.

Imagine playing Real Madrid at home in the CL final 3 weeks before your season starts add in 21 hours extra travel and jet lag and you can kind of see why its not taken very seriously.

Last year they kicked us hard and it was expected , this year we won , but do you honestly think SL is a stronger league than the NRL now ? never in a million years , the game is a poor benchmark for where we actually stand.

read a quote from Andrew johns today which I'm guessing was largely the popular thinking in Australia:

"Whatever you’ve got in the bank, back the Broncos’
They’re going to smash Warrington. Warrington have got two or three out. They are going to give it to them. And then put all of that on the Sharks because they are going to annihilate Wigan."

I'm glad the sharks also tried the rough stuff, as it sums the Aussies up as real bad losers...and Coach Flanangans comments after the game were a disgrace... I'll be glad to get back to oz to two refs........



I watched nearly all the nrl games last season and your two refs and your bunker make bigger howlers than our one ref and james child infront of a flat screen tv...

suck it up Aussies....

Many congratulations on a deserved victory. Your pack laid the foundations well led by Bateman and Farrell.

I saw Paul Gallen in an interview and n the Cronulla site bemoaning the fact that this is their first game whereas we've had two friendlies and a league game together. We played with a quarter strength team at Leigh for 40 mins and then about a three quarter strength team at Catalans for 40/50 mins.

We clearly had a decent run out at Salford but that is the only game I'd class as giving us an advantage and when your playing teams from a comp that's lauded to be full of super humans, they should be able to overcome that.

so then you switch the champions league final to the last game of the season....I think that might work...



But guess what the Champions league wasn't the be all and end all of Soccer at one time. Winning the old first division was what mattered and the European competition wasn't taken that seriously at all for years.
And if I remember correctly English clubs were persuaded by the FA not to enter..... (sound familiar)

look at it now teams want to just compete in it and finishing in the top 4 in the league is almost as important as wining the league... do we want to get to that ... not really.

but surely we want the WCC challenge to be a big event.

And while I'm at it....... the Aussies whinge about the Credibility of the event because the score was 6- 0 to NRL teams but they think Queensland wining Origin for 8 years in row was a ringing endorsement to spreading the game spreading the trophies and spreading the love..... I hate em...

I'm thinking of this more as a giant killing rather than proof we are the best team in the world. It's still something to be very proud of though given the difference in salary cap and the quality of the competition they will face every week. I'll think of us as the best team in the world the day we beat them in their back yard two weeks after the Grand Final. Until then, they can legitimately blame pre-season rust and jet lag. There is also an argument that Cronulla's 2017 team may not even be the best in the NRL, or our 2017 may not be the best in SL. I do think Cronulla took it seriously, but maybe not quite as seriously as they would with Origin or their Grand Final.

It's probably no more a sign that you're the best team in the world than winning the Challenge Cup is a sign you're the best team in the UK, but (again, as with the Cup) that doesn't prevent it being a great achievement and something to be proud of. It's also a good way to start the season, as it means you have to find your form and your confidence quickly.

The big factor with the WCC is obviously the close-season and who responds better to it. But aside from the game usually (though not always) being on foreign soil, the NRL sides have huge advantages over the British, not least the massively extended salary cap, the fact they are the main sport back home and have the pick of the athletes, whereas we are far down the pecking order, etc - so winning it is always going to be something we should have no qualms about enjoying.

But there's no doubt in my mind that many Australians' constant refusal to acknowledge when they've been fairly beaten is a big problem with this fixture. It's one of the few international square-ups RL has where there is a genuine air of real competition, and yet they persistently play that down because it's more important for them to save face. This year's tactic seems to be to barely give it a mention, which is probably even more destructive a response than making excuses. That's particularly galling when we've recently been hearing that they were considering cancelling this event because we supposedly weren't giving them enough a game.

The truth is that many in Aus wouldn't care, or even notice, if the British game disappeared tomorrow. Some flag-bearers, Rugby League has got for itself.

Thats my point and to be honest with the format its hard to argue against , set it up properly at a proper time , make it the number one trophy to win , get rid of all the excuses , at the moment if they win its expected , if they loose its because they didnt turn up or one of the other 100 excuses , when Wigan beat Brisbane you could say without doubt they where the best team in the world , same with Widnes v Canberra , Wigan v Manly , the league format was easily the best and that did show the difference between the two comps but the rest of the WCC's seem more of a none event a bit like the charity sheild , not good for the game or the clubs imo. Dont take this as a dig against Wigan I am happy they won its more of a dig at the RFL .

send the Wigan team over to Oz to work with some of there academies to show what it takes to be world champs and really rub there noses in it , make them wat to take it seriously !

Yes Wigan where hardly game ready not much game time under there belts , just cant belive its not held after both GFs instead of meaninless internationals.

This is a big issue of me too. As already stated this game should be played 2 weeks after the regular season ends and played in both countries in alternate years. The Cronulla side of 2016 was a good side but i have no doubt they will struggle to make the NRL play-offs this time around. On the other flip side, the Wigan side of 2016 was tough and gritty but i firmly believe that this seasons side is a lot better. If this game was played in 2016 with 2016 squads the outcome would have been different i think. But..... having said that, i don't care at the moment because we are outright record holders of the competition and that is a fabulous achievement.

I keep hearing this thing about playing it straight after the end of the season etc.
People do realise that pre sl that didn't happen either?
Wigan played Manly in October 87 (87/8icon_cool.gif, we'd won the league in April 87 (86/87), different season, slightly different team.
We beat penrith at start of 91/92 season without hanley who'd helped us win the league in 90/91.

Brisbane won the league 93 and played us in 94 at the end of our season but it was a different season for them.

We used to get complaints they'd come over on an end of season jolly after their mad Monday.
Now we complain that they're not ready as utd their pre season and a different team.
So they were missing 3 players from their GF 17, so what? We were missing arguably 3/4/5
They weren't "Ready", well so what? They could have had more friendlies, come over earlier, like others have. Maybe they didn't get their preparation right, that's their fault not ours.

It doesn't matter when we play it, where we play it etc. If they win were rubbish, if they lose its just a friendly and it was the refs fault, the pre season, injuries etc.

I don't give a monkeys about what the Aussies think, you know why?
They don't give a monkeys about what we think so F*** em!

I think we got slightly the better of the calls yesterday, makes a change because you can bet when you go down there you'll get nothing.

Only one thing better than beating an Aussie it's beating a whinging Aussie.
We beat them fair and square and I couldn't give a shoite if we got the rub of the green.

Quote ="Itchy Arsenal"Only one thing better than beating an Aussie it's beating a whinging Aussie. We beat them fair and square and I couldn't give a shoite if we got the rub of the green.'" The Sharks' fans view of the game and comp in general. Skip through the pages until you hit yesterdays (Sundays) Some interesting and deluded views Treat yourself www.sharksforever.com/forums/sho ... -Challenge

Quote ="Itchy Arsenal"Only one thing better than beating an Aussie it's beating a whinging Aussie. We beat them fair and square and I couldn't give a shoite if we got the rub of the green.'" The Sharks' fans view of the game and comp in general. Skip through the pages until you hit yesterdays (Sundays) Some interesting and deluded views Treat yourself www.sharksforever.com/forums/sho ... -Challenge

Quote ="Cherry_Warrior"The Sharks' fans view of the game and comp in general. Skip through the pages until you hit yesterdays (Sundays) Some interesting and deluded views Treat yourself www.sharksforever.com/forums/sho ... -Challenge'" It's up there with Red Vee for comedy value. According to one poster on there we were average yesterday and Saints would have belted us

Quote ="Cherry_Warrior"The Sharks' fans view of the game and comp in general. Skip through the pages until you hit yesterdays (Sundays) Some interesting and deluded views Treat yourself www.sharksforever.com/forums/sho ... -Challenge'" It's up there with Red Vee for comedy value. According to one poster on there we were average yesterday and Saints would have belted us

The thread on Red Vee is absolutely brilliant, pure vitriol and envy

I couldn't have put it any better, well said that man.

It's not uncommon to hear things like this. I don't know if it's just all of the one eyed fans that go on forums.

On RedVee there someone was saying our outside backs are poor.

I'd put ours up against any other team in the comp, even without Tomkins and Manfredi.

From reading what other people say about our club on forums it makes you wonder how we ever win a match.

Our outside backs are poor. Tomkins is an NRL reject who will never be the player he was. Burgess is an NRL reject. Gelling is crap and overrated. Powell is rubbish. McIlorum and Flower are nothing but thugs. FPN is past it and an NRL reject plodder. Tautai is a penalty machine and useless. Farrell is an overrated, average, penalty machine. Joel Tomkins is past it and rubbish. Lockers is and always has been overrated, and he's past it. And we are coached by a thick clueless gorilla.

These are just some of the comments I've read on these forums about our team



As I said, it's a wonder how we win any games at all. But then again, everyone knows we cheat of course

I just read it as attack being the best form of defence, and at present the likes of Leeds and St Helens have got a lot to be defensive about.

No doubt if Saints get to put one over us this year, as they always do at least once given that we play them so often, we'll yet again see celebrations at Langtree Park akin to the Second Coming. They just adore beating crap teams over there.

just having a read, very amusing