You missed some cracking quarter final games and a good semi-final. The final was very exciting, I agree. It was in fact absolutely outstanding.

Wasn't it good to see an ex- Warrington man, and a former dustman to boot, play such an important role in the final game?

2nd year in attendance for me and whilst it was another great event, it wasn't a patch on last year. They need to work hard on getting people into the stadium earlier and making them stay even if the Warriors get knocked out early....it was a shame that the semi's and finals were not watched by many.

never heard of the Auckland 9's...Bless, who cares.

They spent 25 years in a British jail. Found guilty of possession of an offensive accent.

edeeeeetid for accuracy

Could be worse...could sound like Fatty Vautin...

disappointing to see melboune for the 2nd year running leave all the top names at home. would it have hurt to send one of the stars to auckland??

the bulldogs treated it like dirt, des hasler never even showed up. i wouldn't mind seeing the NRL ask which teams would rather now take part and replace them with super league sides.

the "gloss" seems to have vanished somewhat, but the winners do pick up a decent cheque.......I suspect if it lasts 3 more years It'll end up on the Gold coast during school holidays...

To be frank. The clubs don't fancy it much and see it as an inconvenience. They are told how many top players to play etc etc.

It's amazing how in the last two years players have been "injured" before the tournament and can't play. Nudge nudge wink wink.

Australian RL priority
1)State of Origin
2)NRL
3)the footy show
4)grade footy
5)park footy
6)the bar
7)the beach


touch football
9)Auckland 9s
10)pre season warm up games in against Aussie teams
11)pre season warm up games against English teams
12)Cabramatta 9s
13)Kangaroo games

I enjoyed the Auckland 9s - but I am a sharks fan!

If you get chance to watch the ladies test matches at the nines don't miss it. Highlight of the weekend. Its a great concept and nines is the perfect balance of attack and defence. Nines could be the format to take RL global, if we had leadership with any sort of vision.

Ha!

and
14) World Club Challenge?

Only when they lose.

JB down under, it is a great concept taken from Unions rugby 7s. How ironic that you of all people should be praising Union

Really? I seem to remember Leeds and, I think, Wigan hosting 7s tournaments in the mid 70s. Didn't enjoy them much. They probably date from much earlier than that as that's only the time when I started watching the game.

Rugby 7s has been played since 1883 at Melrose RFC and has been going ever since.

Didn't watch it ............... I find 9's very dull, and would be interested to know why those who watched it, found it entertaining ........... for me, there's no defence; no big hits; and too much space for attackers, which makes it too easy to score; it just appears to be an endless stream of unopposed running, passing and try scoring.

At a guess.

Each to their own I suppose, but for me, without the defence, there's no challenge and no interest? If I wanted to watch people running unopposed, I'd watch Athletics.

Bit of an exaggeration nickcat, particularly when you didn't watch the nines. Have you seen the results from the weekend, they're not the high scoring, try-after-try affairs you might have thought they were.

As you say, each to their own. It's a different format, and suits certain players/emphasizes certain skills.

I can tell you didn't eat watch it! Nines is the perfect balance of attack and defense. Sevens one break and you score, nines actually has decent defence but rewards flair and speed. I'd even go as far as to say many of the NRL nines games were more entertaining than some regular season NRL games. As for no big hits, watch the women's nines test match. The girls were smashing it!

JB, you continually say RL is better than RU because it has more tries, yet you now say 9s is better than 7s because it has fewer tries? How convenient

Life is about balance sir, there is always too much of a good thing! League is better than Union as union is sht!

Nines has the almost perfect balance of attack and defence. Like 20/20 in cricket one day RL will wake up to the value of nines as a vehicle to reach new audiences.

Whilst I agree that of the 2 games, league is more enjoyable, the general public buy into internationals more Than club games......and international union is too far ahead to even get close to.

Auckland was a great event but was nearly 20% down this year.......i suspect it will drop again next year too and eventually move to Australia.

JB, you yourself said its a great concept, which is derived from unions 7s. If union is so poop, why does RL need to copy a poop sports ideas?