I've been talking with a few friends and we came up with a few things that we'd like the RFL to change to make rugby league better! And I thought it would be interesting to see if you lovely lot on here agree with them or if you have any ideas of your own?

Two Referees - The way the game is played and ref'd in oz is a far better system and allows more flowing rugby

The return of "The War of the Roses" origin or something along those lines to replace the crappy exiles game - if we stuck with that and developed it more we think it could eventually become similar to the State of Origin in levels of intensity and passion, creating an entertaining and eagerly anticipated part of the RL calendar.

Bring back relegation + promotion to the SL, adds more pressure to clubs and creates more and more intense/entertaining fixtures!

Training more referees - we've been stuck with the crappy standard of ref's for too long, had enough of Ganson prance around the pitch making up rules here and there. We need a new batch of referees who know what they're doing and we need quite a few of them.

Decrease the number of teams qualifying for the play-offs - seems a bit daft to have more than half the number of teams in the league able to compete for the title!

Obviously the RFL won't take any notice of these, but it'd be interesting to see what you come up with and whether you agree with us or not.

Anymore ideas (or criticisms of our thoughts) are more than welcome............

War of the Roses failed in the same way you're saying the Exiles game has. Similar crowds. Similar interest. Similarly a non-event. It is just as likely (or unlikely) to replicate origin as the Exiles game. We might as well stick with what's already there. We need to stop trying to replicate origin because we can't.

Train more referees? Do you think they've just stopped trying? If we're going to throw comments around like that, we might as well also add "train more players".

First of all the exiles game will never have any passion in it. It's just too friendly! Origin wasn't an instant success in Australia, and I don't think playing a load of players who either aren't good enough for the NRL or getting toward the end of their career is an entertaining fixture. The Aussies have stuck with playing two regions against each other and has over the years become more and more passionate among fans and players. (the exiles don't even have a fan base!!) Yorkshire vs Lancashire has been a rivalry dating back hundreds of years!

I aren't saying they've stopped trying to train more referees, but I don't see why we've been stuck with some of the same old rubbish for so long. It can't take that long to train a ref.

Since the scrum is not a contest and is just a way of restarting the game why not simply have a handover and play the ball?

I'd prefer it to be cotexted again, add some uncertainty to the game again.

However the purpose of the scrum as a set piece still has its place contested or not, it draws in the forwards leaving more space for the attacking side to work.

I'd rather see more push and aggression in the scrum

I'd love two referees but we have not got enough quality ones at the moment.

Stick with the Exiles game for now, it could develop and work. Maybe just one game for now though.

Two Gansons? *spit* They could form a scrum on their own.



I agree, one Exiles game is enough, I also think that midweek is a problem for a lot of fans. It's where/how you factor in a weekend game to allow for people to be able to travel [iand[/i enjoy the day.

Agree, I don't know if it allows more flowing rl though.



The Exiles game is a good concept, but if we want it to be like origin the clubs and coaches have to treat it like that.



It just doesn't work in rl anymore, the salary cap difference between the 2 top leagues sees to that.



Seriously?



Why? you say you want more intense fixtures and then try and get rid of at least have a dozen.



A better link up with NL sides, were the SL can only send players to one club and the nl sides can only accept them from one club.

A better international program.

I wasn't too sure on what my mate meant by that but insisted I put it in





Because it just seems stupid how someone could win the league from 8th place!

They can't win the 'league' they can win the sl title.

How about two tier play off system where the top four play off for the grand final and the 5-8 play off for another trophy with both games played in a double header at old Trafford

You knew what I meant, no need to be so precise. Still daft how someone in 8th can win the "sl title".

Don't know how it would work, but I'd love to see some kind of international club competition with English, Aussie and NZ teams competing! Similar to the Champions League in football.

Good Post. I think all of Airlie Bird 94s points are worthy of serious consideration by the RL HQ. Only the Yorks Lancs game is contentious as it's remembered as a failure from the days of a RL without any Marketing savvy and without the vastly improved product & stadia we have today. RL Marketing is far from perfect. Its ability to fully champion the Brand, it's values, positioning, and all promotional activity leave so much to be desired, it is not far short of amateurish. Nevertheless it is so much better than the RLs non existent Marketing of the 1970s 80s, and if they could only use the excellent NRL game marketing as a benchmark, then the Roses game could really come to life. It could become a believable gladiator battle for the right of their birthplace to be called the best, and over a few seasons could capture the imagination of not just the RL fans of its Northern heartlands but like the Auz Origin series it could become a must see TV viewing spectacle for the whole country and maybe even more with time. Why not ? The very very best of our game pitching themselves against each other with an intensity not seen before outside of NSW /Qld is a real Marketeers dream gig. It would also become the biggest trial match to represent country we've ever had. Follow the NRL on this and one day we may have a showpiece that may give some competition to the media monopoly that the 6 Nations enjoys. We do nothing and we'll stay exactly where we are in the sporting eyes of the nation.

Cheers mate. Probably the nicest thing someone's said to me on here

A two referee system and the top six teams qualifying for the play-offs definitely.

Some would argue it is from 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd and even 2nd.

It keeps 10 sides playing for something all year and then gives us more games at the playoffs to bring in much needed revenue.

I don't know why people persist with the myth that SOO was a slow burner which took years to develop. Right from game 1 in 1980 it was an intense affair with the players committed to the concept from the word go. If you watch some of the dvd's of 1980's Origin you will see why Wally Lewis is a RL God in Queensland.

One of the main reasons why it caught fire so quickly was down to QLD (the perceived underdogs) sticking it right up their (allegedly) superiors from the urbane south. There is more to the NSW/QLD rivalry than mere sport or RL. There are many political, social and economic reasons dividing the two states. It is these differences (particularly from the viewpoint of the maroons) which drive the fire and passion of this rivalry and which finds its greatest outlet in SOO.

The difference between NSW/QLD and Yorkshire/Lancashire is that the White and Red rose counties are essentially cut from the same cloth (politically, socially, economically) with the social divide in this country existing between the north (as one generalised homogenous mass) and the more affluent south.

As Wellsy points out, earlier in the thread, Yorkshire/Lancashire matches died on the vine for exactly the same reasons as everyone has had a downer on the Exiles game this week. A singular lack of passion and intensity, not only from the players but from spectators as well. I think a large part of this is down to most people's apathy with regard to games not involving their own club side (Fc fans included) apart from England v Australia games when we can naturally and easily assume the role of brow beaten underdogs.

Bring back Great Britain and ditch England for any 4 nations series. If we have to split the teams for the world cup, so be it, although a Scotland team full of 2nd rate Aussies doesn't do much to improve the credibility of the game .

Similarly it's daft how someone in 2nd can win the ''sl title?''

What does the L stand for in "SL title"?

You can't lambast a new concept for not taking off straight away, then suggest we create a new one and give it time if it doesn't take off straight away. It's hypocritical. Origin in Aus was a pretty much instant success BTW. It wasn't as big as it is now, but it was still a huge game.

As BP1 excellently puts, it's more than just two areas competing. There's underlying values that we can't artificially replicate. Our game has been quite insular, sticking to its northern values. Until there is some significant expansion, we will NEVER be able to replicate Origin. Lancs/Yorks will not catch the imagination of the nation anymore than an Exiles game will.


How long do you think it should take? And what is that opinion based on?

If we have two referees, they wouldn't need to be as high quality. They're essentially doing the job of one person. One 4-star ref and one 3-star would be just as good as (if not better than) a 5-star ref alone surely?

How many of our current officials would you rate as even 3 star quality?