www.skysports.com/story/0,,12211_7232631,00.html Quote Leeds could travel Down Under to play their World Club Challenge, with NRL champions Manly Sea Eagles keen to host the fixture next February. It is understood Manly coach Des Hasler has begun preparing to play at Elland Road on February 11 - but the Sea Eagles have floated the idea of taking the fixture to Australia. Chief executive David Perry is set to discuss the idea when he meets NRL officials this week. "If it is possible, we would certainly like to play it here," Sea Eagles chairman Scott Penn told the Sydney Morning Herald. "I don't know if there are any contractual issues with the Rugby Football League but, if Leeds were happy to come here, that would be our preference. Finances "David is having a meeting with the NRL this week so we should know more after that. If it comes down to finances, I think the game would make more money here as we could get 80,000 at ANZ Stadium or 50,000 at Suncorp Stadium." The Rhinos' 32-16 defeat of St Helens in Saturday's Super League Grand Final sets up a repeat of the 2009 WCC in which Manly beat Leeds 28-20 at Elland Road. England has been the venue for each of the 12 WCCs since the concept was resurrected in 2000. Brisbane were the last Australian club to host it back in 1994 when Wigan triumphed in front of a 54,220 crowd at Suncorp Stadium. '" Hopefully this comes off. The game really needs to be shared between Australia and Europe. Good to see Manly want to host it and hopefully the RFL and Leeds will have no issue. If the rest of the NRL can get behind the concept then we may just have a game which can become a real spectacle.

www.skysports.com/story/0,,12211_7232631,00.html Quote Leeds could travel Down Under to play their World Club Challenge, with NRL champions Manly Sea Eagles keen to host the fixture next February. It is understood Manly coach Des Hasler has begun preparing to play at Elland Road on February 11 - but the Sea Eagles have floated the idea of taking the fixture to Australia. Chief executive David Perry is set to discuss the idea when he meets NRL officials this week. "If it is possible, we would certainly like to play it here," Sea Eagles chairman Scott Penn told the Sydney Morning Herald. "I don't know if there are any contractual issues with the Rugby Football League but, if Leeds were happy to come here, that would be our preference. Finances "David is having a meeting with the NRL this week so we should know more after that. If it comes down to finances, I think the game would make more money here as we could get 80,000 at ANZ Stadium or 50,000 at Suncorp Stadium." The Rhinos' 32-16 defeat of St Helens in Saturday's Super League Grand Final sets up a repeat of the 2009 WCC in which Manly beat Leeds 28-20 at Elland Road. England has been the venue for each of the 12 WCCs since the concept was resurrected in 2000. Brisbane were the last Australian club to host it back in 1994 when Wigan triumphed in front of a 54,220 crowd at Suncorp Stadium. '" Hopefully this comes off. The game really needs to be shared between Australia and Europe. Good to see Manly want to host it and hopefully the RFL and Leeds will have no issue. If the rest of the NRL can get behind the concept then we may just have a game which can become a real spectacle.

It should rotate alternately where the games played, market it properly.

Manly v Leeds in front of 80000 at Aussie Stadium.

How good would that be!

Manly v Leeds in Sydney in front of 80,000 people? It would be lucky to get 15,000 at the most

They don't take the WCC seriously in Australia and I'm guessing the only reason Manly would sooner play there is because it would save them a fortune on airfares

Oh look. It's the annual "aussie team wants to host the wcc story".

I thought they only pedalled that myth because they weren't winning it



The RfL haven't taken internationals seriously either

In regards to the topic, I hope they do. This game needs it to increase its credibility and stop the negative comments like the above.

And if they did manage a huge crowd in Aus, hopefully it would have a knock on effect when it comes back here. Playing a flagship game (and it is a flagship game no matter what some people think of it) at medium sized grounds like Galpharm and DW allows the cynical people out there to pedal it as worthless. I thought we might be going somewhere after the near 40k crowd in Leeds, bit it was back to the same old same old after that.

I think eventually the aim should be to take the WCC around the world if they an raise it's profile. Get it to Hong Kong and Dubai etc.

We have this every year. It's the same old story. When they find out that the reward for winning the Grand Final is to come to freezing cold England in February a lot of the players will kick off about it.

I don't expect for one second they'll even entertain this idea. They won't see it as a realistic challenge for Manly and they won't be confident about marketing it. I hope they do though, would be a wonderful thing to see, particularly if Leeds could rise to that challenge.

Agreed 80K is a tad optimistic!! Although I can see them getting around 40K.
A WCC at Elland Road could fetch around 33K like previous years.
Manly are only onto this for the obvious convenience to themselves.
Leeds have expressed there desire to play a WCC down under, but I really cannot see how Leeds could do it with the travelling factor plus SL starting too soon after internationals.

I think that's a bit of a pipedream in all honesty. Especially in its current one-off guise. Even if it had the biggest profile possible in this game, the fact that the game itself doesn't have a worldwide profile would make hosting it in those places ineffective.

It is only a big event when Leeds win the honour of playing, for that reason I doubt Leeds will play in Aus because the number of fans they attract to the game is unmatched in the UK and i doubt Manly could match them either

if leeds can go on pre season jollys to jacksonville, then they shouldn't have any problems wanting to face manly in OZ.

its about time our champions tested themselves in oz after years of having the upperhand in the fixture

also it seems the nrl champions are taking this comp a lot more seriously now

I'm not holding my breath

Totally agree, I think its criminal that neither the NRL or SL have taken games to Hong Kong, Japan, Dubai etc.

Mystic Meg tells me the score ends up Manly 60 - 6 Leeds. Seriously it would be a totall nightmare for the Rhinos and could derail the start of the season for them.

An even better reason for it to happen



In all seriousness, so what if they get stuffed? I'd rather know how we did than listen to all the cynics. We shouldn't not test ourselves for fear of failure. It's defeatist.

But that trip to Jacksonville is a lot closer in flight time than a trip to Sydney and was in January. Considering the NRL starts in March I can't imagine Manly being too happy playing it 6 weeks to 2 months before their first NRL game.
With SL & NRL starting when they currently do, I can't see anything but the WCC being held in the UK.

It wouldn't get 80,000. My hunch is maybe nearer 30,000 to be honest.

They should do.

For this to happen the game would have to be played in January, and Manly are not going to do that.

Why can't Leeds start sl a week before everybody else (apart from thier opponents) then I'm March play a sl game on the Friday, fly to oz the next day, play wcc on the following Friday, back to the uk the next day, sl the following Sunday?

RFL will want to keep the start of the season the same as last year imo, ie all teams playing on the same weekend in Cardiff. And when did Aussie stadium hold 80000 anyway, SFS as it is called now, holds about 48000!! Homebush holds 80000.

The article said "ANZ Stadium", which is Homebush Stadium, Stadium Australia, Olympic Stadium, etc, etc.


Names change a lot over here.

Hi mate
Responding to second comment down, didn't read article and only just worked out to respond with quotes.