Steve Mascord has reported that Brisbane and South Sydney have requested the right to play in an expanded World Club Challenge in England next year, as NRL clubs 2 and 3, if they don't win the NRL Grand Final, regardless of how they perform on the NRL table during the coming season.

I thought that the idea was supposed to be the top three from each competition, and that any club wanting to play would have to be in one of the three top places in their own competition. South Sydney have a good chance to be in the top three, but Brisbane are not showing such form as yet.

Brisbane and South Sydney also want to play each other in an exhibition match in London prior to the WCC. Another proposal is that the NRL Grand Final winner will play against Catalans in Perpignan in the weekend before the WCC. Those proposals sound interesting to me.

The WCC expanded format is expected to be three games, played on a Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday. The main game, between the NRL and ESL winners would be on the Sunday. Nobody is contesting that the main game will be between the winners of each competition. This issue raised is which clubs will play in the other two matches.

The main question is: should the NRL be allowed to choose volunteers, rather than the number two and three performers, decided at season's end, in an expanded WCC?

Would you attend games 2 and 3 if non-top 3 NRL clubs were picked for the second and third placed games?

I hate the idea of this 3v3, 2v2, 1v1 system. What exactly does it acheive? It either needs to be a one-off game between the 2 champions or a full tournament involving the top 4 from each league. This proposal seems like a pointless middle ground. It really needs to be contested at the end of the season, rather than the beginning of the following season, also.

I agree, and I'd be seriously willing to stump up the cash and fly out Australia to see that - whether Leeds are in it or not.

Unfortunately, the RFL has decided that I should have to sit through seven weeks of watching lower-end Super League clubs batter a select group of championship clubs in front of 4,000 people in some daft "SL2" scenario.

A full 8 team, 6 week tournament every 4/5 years would be massive IMO.

We need to play to our strengths, and for the forseeable future our club game is much stronger than our international scene. The NRL is very insular and we really need to tap in to it. A European 6 nations event isn't going to raise our profile, and neither will the international competitions with only 3 competitive teams, but an extended WCC just might. That's why I'd look at working on a 5 year cycle with regards to the October/November competition, with 4 years of international tournaments (4N/WC/GB Tours) and the 5th year being an 8 team WCC.

Yes. Those teams will still be significantly better than any SL team we watch. Ridiculous question. Would I prefer to watch Bridbane Broncos or Wakefield play my team? That sums up your daftness.

That wasn't the question I asked.



The fact that you could not understand the question sums up your daftness.

Its all a question of marketing. I didnt like the series idea at first.

But if you treat the 3 games as the SL v NRL challenge, one point for each game, and the final match also as a standalone cup then it could work nicely.

Either consecutive nights or as a triple header.

In fact start friday 3v3
saturday nines comp in the day 2v2 at night
Sunday nines finals 1v1 at night

Could be a better magic weekend.

On the SL side I would prefer Grand final winners, Hub cap and challenge cup winners selected then down on finishing position in the league.

If the aussies dont want to play ball for now the NRL winners plus invitees would still work - if it takes off we wont have a problem in future years.

And the friendlies in london and france the week before make sense too.

You can't have a WCC challenge that goes on for 5/6 weeks.

Clubs would have to make up several fixtures when they returned to SL action and it would leave the other teams sat around twiddling their thumbs. You can't reduce the number of SL fixtures to combat this as the clubs not involved with that are just going to suffer from less income from hosting 2/3 less home games a year and that's not exactly going to help those near the bottom who are already financially struggling.

Also it would require the Aussies to get on board. Now they might be up for a one off game plus a friendly the week before, but I can't see them going for anything longer or at a different time of the year (they see it as good preparation for the new season) and if the Aussies don't agree to it then I can't see it getting the go ahead.

It would have to be at the end of the season in place of the 4 Nations. The bottom line is any expanded WCC could not interfere with the regular season, especially the NRL as they would never go for it. The WCC as it is already interferes with one SL team's season, anymore would cause too much disruption, this is why I think including SL sides in to the Auckland 9's is also a non-starter (unless it's used as a WCC warm-up for a SL team already out there).

Ideally I'd like to see a SL Champions V NRL Champions WCC played every year, 2 weeks after each Grand Final, alternating hemispheres. Then every 5 years play an expanded WCC featuring the top 4 from each league.

What were you asking then?

I don't see how a expanded WCC could work because you have got to get an ESL v NRL final and how do you create that without making some kind of farcical round robin, but we have done it before so I guess we could do it again.

I was going to start a new thread about this and other idea's on RL policy but screw it, ill put it here were it will probably get lost in a thread that will turn into tit for tat personal spats.

Here goes....

All new season Round 1 matches start on Boxing Day, all Round 2 matches start on New years day.
We got to cash in on the biggest bank holidays of the year, if sky want to show 2 matches then one match played at noon and the other at 3pm or later.
Plus we will have to start the season 6 weeks earlier for my other idea of using the natural break in the new split season format for bringing back the big tours in the months of June and July.

Top eight from ESL tour Australia every 2 years to play in an expanded WCC or a WCC match and a 9's tournament involving all the NRL clubs spread over two weekends ( first week being group matches were the two WCC teams get a bye and week two being a straight knock-out) with a Lions Tour Combo , a 3 match test series with Australia in first tour and a 3 match test series with New Zealand the next, the reverse happening every other year with NRL clubs touring here with a New Zealand or Australia 3 match series , and that could open up the possibility of having a State of Origin match at Wembley every two years.
Every 5 years a world cup instead of WCC and tour combo.

During the 6 week break the SL2 comp can start with sky making a bigger deal covering it and that comp will finish earlier giving those teams a longer off season to prepare.
You don't need any end of season Internationals so you get a proper off season.

The remaining SL clubs could play in another tournament involving a group stage of four games (two home/two away) which count on your season ticket. The knockout stages of the 'Super League Cup' could either be completed entirely without the participation of the WCC teams or they could join in at that stage (having earned the right by finishing in the top four). Another cup to win. Obviously you would need to reduce the number of regular season SL games to accomodate.



I suppose the Aussies could do something similar with a new tournament of their own. But yeah, you're right, that would require a level of co-ordiantion and co-operation which seems unlikely.

Yep, commerce has to trump sport every time.

How about the League Winners playing, you guessed it the League Winners?
You could even have it as a second completely different competition!

Not for commerce reasons but for credibility reasons, what's the point of having two NRL clubs in the WCC Final when you already have the NRL Grand Final.

You could fit in an expanded, proper WCC in 4 weeks/3 games or so.

Played in the hemisphere where that years international comp is,
Example using 2011 comps and dates (as that’s the last time a 4 nations comp was played) and assuming highest placed team wins each game

Co-ordinate seasons so GF’s on same Weekend.

23rd/24 of Sept, semi finals. Melbourne and Brisbane lose. Fly out to UK
1st/2nd of Oct Grand Final Weekend, On the Monday/Tuesday Manly and NZ Warriors fly to uk.
teams split in to two pots 1st and 4th from one league, go with 3rd and 2nd from other.
So Pot one Leeds, Wigan, NZ, Melbourne, Pot 2 Saints, Warrington, Manly and Brisbane

7th/8th of Oct Wigan v Melbourne and Brisbane v Warrington

15th/16th Leeds v NZ and Saints V Manly

22nd/23rd Wigan v NZ, Leeds v Melbourne, Warrington v Manly, Saints v Brisbane.

Top teams go through to final,

28th Oct Leeds v Manly.

You could even do it including the SL v NRL idea so building up to that final, you would need to drop one side from each pot in case two teams from the same country got to the final. So of the 4 teams left in, the lowest placed UK team plays the lowest place Aus team etc, so In this example

Wigan and Brisbane would drop out

26th Oct Warrington v Melbourne, 27th Saints v NZ Warriors, 28th Leeds v Manly.

2 weeks later international comp starts.

The main issue I would see is that it pushes the International comp back 2 weeks, but this could be overcome by bringing the GF’s back by a couple of weeks or just a week and pushing the international comp back a week.

In that case it would be best to just stick to the current one-off game(s) format. After all, we've already found out which teams should be playing in the 'final' because we've had both the SL and NRL Grand Finals.

It just seems like a complete rush job trying to balance an international comp and a WCC. Players involved in both would end up playing 40 odd games a season.

The idea of the expanded WCC is a good one IMO but I don't think there's a way to successfully integrate it in to the season so it can be played every year. Plus if it was say every 5 years, with alternating hemispheres it would give fans a lot of time to save up so there would be potentially huge followings. If you're only finding out who you're playing a few weeks before the event there's very little time to market it or for away fans to make plans.

We know there is going to be a 4N this year, likely a GB tour in 2015 and a WC in 2017. 2018 could be the beginning of a 5 year cycle with an 8 team WCC over here. No rushed, half-d effort, but a full tournament with 2 groups of 4 with semis and a final.

Every 5 years would just seem like a novelty thing, it wouldnt be a world championship, just a bit of a run around.

i think an away following, especially for a yearly comp, would be a bit of a stretch anyway so i woudlnt be to bothered about that.

I honestly dont think a once every 5 years job would really grab my interest like a yearly comp would. There would be no rivalry, no history in it. it would be a fancy set of friendlies.

But the novelty aspect could well work in our favour. Look at last year's WC, one of the reasons it was so well attened IMO was because we hadn't had one over here for 13 years.

Say in 2018, the expanded WCC was over here. It could be laid out so each of the top 4 SL clubs played each of the top 4 NRL clubs to qualify for the semi finals. Are you telling me 4 consecutive home games against the best of the NRL wouldn't grab your interest?

In an ideal world we'd have our own annual Champions League/Heineken Cup but logistically we've got no chance of that.

not really. I just couldnt rationalise it as a real world championship. It would be a set of 4 friendlies with a trophy at the end.

I think there will be a world championship in most sports soon. Its the way club sports are going and barriers are breaking down. We could get ahead of the game here and i think a proper World Club CHampionship would grab huge attention, comparable with the WC.

I just think a once every 10 years set of games between teams which happened to finish in a certain position that year would be largely ignored outside RL.

But an international WC is only every 4 years, in pretty much every team sport. Why would a club version have to be annual to make it more credible? We've got an international game to consider as well.

because international tournaments are pretty much always 4 years apart and that time generally is spent in qualifying comps. There is also a big difference in that those eligible to play for a country are always eligible to play for that country.

And internationals are always more spaced out. It feeds in to the process, it gives players time to stake their claim for a place. It fits in to the pyramid and narrative that the club game is a training and proving ground for the international game.

There is also a big difference in that those eligible to play for a country are always eligible to play for that country.

You could have a great side in 2014, that is completely dismantles by 2018 and completely misses any kind of WCC.

I dont think you could claim to be the best club side in the world because you won a tournament played every four or five years. It would lack legitimacy

I would keep the one-off Champions v Champions game in the interim years (though ideally at the end of the season so it is the actual champion players and coaches taking part), but the expanded version would only happen every 5 years.

It's unlikely that either the NRL or SL are going to change the structure of their competition to fit this in, and it's difficult to arrange any sort of meaningful mid-season matches. The system you proposed would have some players pushing 50 games a season, which is completely unfeasible. For an expanded WCC to work it would simply have to be at the expense of an end of season international tournament (it should have been trialled in 2012 instead of the shambolic European Autumn internationals we got).

the system i proposed added 3 games (two if you include the currect WCC)