I'd take that point to an extent, though I think timing and whatnot play a part too.



Well, what do you expect? It's a one-off pre-season game. They're hardly going to up sticks in the middle of their pre-season training to come to the UK for 2-3 weeks.



That I can't understand. Is this fact, or just popular conception? I can't imagine any SL side would fancy a trip down under part way through a season, given the disruption it would cause to their preparations for the next SL game. If it is the case that the Aussies refuse to stage the game, does that tell us something about how they view the fixture?



Again, it seems unreasonable to expect them to play a few warm up games for a one-off pre-season fixture when they're trying to prepare for the new NRL season. If they played a couple of games prior to the WCC, they'd also have to play more warm up games after it to be ready for their first league game. Their main focus is on the NRL, not the WCC.



Internationals are stacked in favour of the antipodeans? Really? They've been played almost exclusively in our country for ages. The refs and reffing calls depend on the individual ref, so I wouldn't say they favoured one team over another. You could have a point with the playing more games thing, but I don't think that outweighs everything else.

No, they'd have said how disappointing it was that an under-prepared Manly team could have travelled halfway around the world and still beat our best side in their own backyard.



As I pointed out in a previous post, they're already disrupting their pre-season to travel thousands of miles for a one-off game. Is it reasonable to also expect them to get here earlier and/or play warm up games for the event too? I don't think it is.



This isn't about Leeds. I have massive respect for what they've achieved in the domestic game, and how they've done it with a hard core of home-grown talent. I think Sinfield is not only Leeds' best ever captain, he's a true legend of the sport. What this is about is the fact that the whole concept is a waste of time in its current format. If the British side is going to win the thing every year (or nearly every year), let's make it count for something or scrap it.



Of course it wasn't all square. Leeds were a couple of games into the season, in their own country and at their home ground. As every other SL side to contest this trophy has been for long enough.



True.

Correct.



And what?



Correct.



Woooah, you brought up the point about an English team going to Australia and winning!

as much as we all hate wigan...and i hate wigan more than you all.......we should accept that wigan beating brisbane in brisbane in the middle of their season is one of the greatest achievement in the history of british RL......probably 2nd to the rorke's drift test in 1914 in my eyes........


and until a british team goes down under and wins every british win kinda pales into comparison really...........well done leeds though,cracking game

probably by invitation of the Manly assistant coach Matt Parish who signed him up to the Salford backroom staff before he quit.

Winners find a way to win, losers make excuses.

If Manly want to be world champions then they needed to win. They couldnt. If that was down to a lack of preparation on their part? Thats a failing in their squad, its a weakness to be exploited no different to how you would try and exploit a small pack, or poor defending around the ruck.

That wasnt Manly's greatest performance, but it was nowhere near there worst. There are probably 5 or 6 SL sides who could crack the NRL and be competitive there, some at the top end.

There is a simple way of checking, play more games.

How much did Manly actually want to win ?
Was it a case of playing the game, taking the cash and using the fixture as part of their pre season, or do we think the really really wanted to win the fixture ?

What always puizzled me is why the NRL and SL seasons dont start and finish at the same time. Move ours a couple of weeks on way and theirs in the opposit direction and then aternate the fixture, England one year then Aus the next, it seems simple !

I’m pretty sure that if you were on the end of a few of their tackles last night you would know the answer to that question

The attitude to this game really infuriates me. If the SL side win people say the Aussies didn’t care and if the NRL side win it is because they are superior players in a superior competition

The NRL players are full time athletes playing in one of the most competitive leagues in the world. That league starts in 2 weeks time, if their players are not conditioned right now then they had better hurry up!

The Manly players wanted to win and they didn’t because Leeds played better than them

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/17082173 Logistics are simple. End of season 3 or 4 of our teams go over to OZ, play the WCC then the internationals start after that has finished. The next year, reversed in the UK Most of the internationals will play for the top sides any extras catch a plane over together before the internationals.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/17082173 Logistics are simple. End of season 3 or 4 of our teams go over to OZ, play the WCC then the internationals start after that has finished. The next year, reversed in the UK Most of the internationals will play for the top sides any extras catch a plane over together before the internationals.

Big nige along with Neville Smith?

It seems noises are being made for a reason. I certainly hope so.

Guessed that when watching again this morning. When Eddie mentioned Parish I finally got there!

Makes sense, the sticking point will be thie size of SL and the number of games to be played.

If the expanded wcc is a commercial success then hopefully this will offset the loss of earnings for less club games in the regular season.

Took my friend to this as his first RL game, all was doing was moaning about how bad the atmosphere was, he did have a point to an extent. The Leeds fans in the West Terrace were silent until the last 5 minutes. Had some decent banter with the Manly fans in the Oak pre match, decent people. Well done to Heinz Big Soup too, great sponsors.

The point I was making was blindingly obvious. Unless you deliberately choose to miss it, of course.

It's not about conditioning, as you well know. It's about match fitness and being ready for the intensity of top-level competition. The only way you can get that is by playing matches, which the Manly team hadn't done. Now, I don't know if you saw your own team in pre-season, but I saw mine and they were all over the place in the first couple of games: dropped passes, poor timing, things not sticking that normally might etc.

Why not? If they place less importance on it and choose not to prepare for it properly then that's their problem. In the same way some clubs choose to prioritise the league over the FA or Challenge Cup. It still doesn't diminish the achievement of the winner. They can prepare better if they wish to. They choose not to.


I know Leeds, Wigan, Saints and Bradford have all been prepared to play it down under if the Aussie side wished to. None of them did.


Again, why? It's not unreasonable, it might not be what they ideally want, but it's not unreasonable to play a couple of warm up games. Again they choose not to. They aren't forced to not prepare, they choose not to.


You mean apart from 2010, 2008 and 2006? In recent years it's been split down the middle. The refs and reffing interpretations are a bone of contention with the RFL and I know of one former GB coachs' disdain for how refs are chosen by the IRLF and for the schedule of games which has appeared to put GB/England at a disadvantage. The number of games, on lower salary capped squads is also an issue.
If you think the Aussies are seriously disadvantaged by the setup of the WCC then you must also acknowledge the disadvantages faced by England/GB in international setup.
If the Aussie clubs simply aren't taking the WCC as seriously as British clubs then that is their choice. They should either shut up whinging about it and admit the British clubs who win it are, by right, the best in the world or take it seriously.

If you say so, sweetheart.

I do, darling.

Hull did that for most of last season. It would have been surprising if they hadnt done it preseason aswell.

They choose not to because it's right in the middle of their preparations for the NRL, which is more important to them.



Fair enough. Probably isn't the interest down there.



It's unreasonable because it would disrupt their pre-season preparations. If they played a couple of warm up games before the WCC, then a couple of pre-season games ahead of the NRL kick off, that's a 4-5 game pre-season. Ridiculous for any club.



Seems like clutching at straws to me. Whether we're here or down under there's no difference to the final outcome. And I really don't think refs or reffing calls have had anything to do with our lack of success for the last umpteen years.



That could have a bearing, granted.



I don't, other than the playing more games issue. We have played them at least as often in this country as we have down under, with a variety of different referees, and with a variety of playing formats/schedules. The outcome is depressingly familiar.



That would all be well and good if it was played at a time that enabled them to take it more seriously without having a profound impact on their preparations for the NRL season.

With a largely new squad and a new coach, one could quite easily expect there to have been a change from last season, but not until that new squad had played a few games together and got up to match fitness/intensity. Even without new players, any team needs some pre-season games before they are up to the rigours of a SL/NRL/WCC game. Make it about my club/your club all you want, but that's not what this is. I have openly stated the respect I have for Leeds and everything they have achieved over the SL era only a few posts back. I can't be any clearer than that.

The Manly coach seemed dispell any idea of Manly not taking this game seriously. Manly on paper had one of the strongest line ups of any Aussie team to play in this game. Leeds played their bollards off and deserved to win.

On a side note it was great to see too young British centres have great games against two of the best centres in the game.

Winners find a way to win. Losers find excuses.

If manly cant prepare for the WCC it is because they arent good enough to win the WCC. If they were good enough, they would have won.

That's just silly. It's not just Manly. British clubs have dominated this competition for long enough. You really don't think that has anything at all to do with the timing/location of the fixture? We can't win an international competition for toffee, but (more or less) all of our SL winners are superior to their NRL counterparts?

Its not silly. Its rugby league, it isnt played on paper, it isnt played in your imagination. It isnt played on ifs buts and maybes, it isnt played with handicaps, it isnt played with advantages. It is played on a patch of grass, with two goals, officials and 34 players and what happens in that 80minutes is all that matters.