International Rugby League Future

[tiger_sean]

Watching the Rugby World Cup has got me dreaming of where International Rugby League could head in the future.
It is obvious that International Rugby Union is improving at a rapid rate.
All the minnow teams seem to have had huge improvements since the last world cup and the future for International Rugby looks very bright.

I can't help but start dreaming/hoping that International Rugby League gets its act together and starts trying to aim to have a world cup as successful as the Rugby World Cup that is truly on the world stage.

To be honest I am not sure how rugby league can be improved on the international stage.
What are people's thoughts on improving international league and how much is currently being done to improve it?

 

[jirskyr]

Or maybe just the higher teams in rugby are getting worse. I mean Scotland just pipping Georgia is atrocious.

 

[WestsSupporter]

Or maybe just the higher teams in rugby are getting worse. I mean Scotland just pipping Georgia is atrocious.

no if you understand rugby union you will know they have improved and are actually competition. League is only three countries really…Australia, NZ and England. Samoa, Fiji and Tonga have quite a few NRL players who didn't make Aussie or Kiwi teams. such as jarryd hayne and feleti mateo at the last world cup.

 

[Bazzinator]

i think the only way for them to improve is to play the top teams and get better that way the last world cup was ridiculous how they had the 3 top nations in the same pool and were pretty much guaranteed qualification and only PNG getting the opportunity to play them for other teams to improve they must play the top teams in a competitive match european, african and islander nations could become the focus of rugby league on a international scale.

another way is to do what the afl did a couple weeks back where they had a lot of nations compete against one another this will be a way in encouraging minnows to get involved and improve

 

[jirskyr]

Or maybe just the higher teams in rugby are getting worse. I mean Scotland just pipping Georgia is atrocious.

no if you understand rugby union you will know they have improved and are actually competition. League is only three countries really…Australia, NZ and England. Samoa, Fiji and Tonga have quite a few NRL players who didn't make Aussie or Kiwi teams. such as jarryd hayne and feleti mateo at the last world cup.

Yup Georgia and Canada are competition.

 

[tiger_sean]

Or maybe just the higher teams in rugby are getting worse. I mean Scotland just pipping Georgia is atrocious.

no if you understand rugby union you will know they have improved and are actually competition. League is only three countries really…Australia, NZ and England. Samoa, Fiji and Tonga have quite a few NRL players who didn't make Aussie or Kiwi teams. such as jarryd hayne and feleti mateo at the last world cup.

Yup Georgia and Canada are competition.

I think he meant competitive.
I agree that Scotland haven't played great but these teams like Georgia, Romania, USA, etc. have definitely improved since the last world cup and not just a little bit but a lot. At this rate they will be more of a genuine threat within another 8-12 years.

 

[Digeze]

Target all the countries that are improving so well in Rugby Union. The transition from Union to League isn't a massive one so if these up and coming countries in the sport are making so many leaps and bounds, take advantage of Unions good work.

 

[happy_tiger]

Watching the Rugby World Cup has got me dreaming of where International Rugby League could head in the future.
It is obvious that International Rugby Union is improving at a rapid rate.
All the minnow teams seem to have had huge improvements since the last world cup and the future for International Rugby looks very bright.

I can't help but start dreaming/hoping that International Rugby League gets its act together and starts trying to aim to have a world cup as successful as the Rugby World Cup that is truly on the world stage.

To be honest I am not sure how rugby league can be improved on the international stage.
What are people's thoughts on improving international league and how much is currently being done to improve it?

I think the big difference is the English and french cluba were forced to release players to play in the world cup this time my understanding is
So a lot of the minnow sides are at full strength IE Romania Tonga Samoa etc

 

[tiger_sean]

Watching the Rugby World Cup has got me dreaming of where International Rugby League could head in the future.
It is obvious that International Rugby Union is improving at a rapid rate.
All the minnow teams seem to have had huge improvements since the last world cup and the future for International Rugby looks very bright.

I can't help but start dreaming/hoping that International Rugby League gets its act together and starts trying to aim to have a world cup as successful as the Rugby World Cup that is truly on the world stage.

To be honest I am not sure how rugby league can be improved on the international stage.
What are people's thoughts on improving international league and how much is currently being done to improve it?

I think the big difference is the English and french cluba were forced to release players to play in the world cup this time my understanding is
So a lot of the minnow sides are at full strength IE Romania Tonga Samoa etc

Surely those competeitions wouldn't be running during the World Cup?

 

[Yossarian]

Watching the Rugby World Cup has got me dreaming of where International Rugby League could head in the future.
It is obvious that International Rugby Union is improving at a rapid rate.
All the minnow teams seem to have had huge improvements since the last world cup and the future for International Rugby looks very bright.

I can't help but start dreaming/hoping that International Rugby League gets its act together and starts trying to aim to have a world cup as successful as the Rugby World Cup that is truly on the world stage.

To be honest I am not sure how rugby league can be improved on the international stage.
What are people's thoughts on improving international league and how much is currently being done to improve it?

I think the big difference is the English and french cluba were forced to release players to play in the world cup this time my understanding is
So a lot of the minnow sides are at full strength IE Romania Tonga Samoa etc

Surely those competeitions wouldn't be running during the World Cup?

They are. These people don't care about the outside world. You may recall speculated WT target Ryan Cross is on a short term contract to play in France to cover players missing due to the world cup. Crazy but true.

 

[Yossarian]

Or maybe just the higher teams in rugby are getting worse. I mean Scotland just pipping Georgia is atrocious.

no if you understand rugby union you will know they have improved and are actually competition. League is only three countries really…Australia, NZ and England. Samoa, Fiji and Tonga have quite a few NRL players who didn't make Aussie or Kiwi teams. such as jarryd hayne and feleti mateo at the last world cup.

I'm not totally convinced. I've watched a couple of games and the overall standard looks pretty lousy but then again I'm not a big fan of over-officiating, constant rucks and mauls, and scrums. Some of the teams look more competitive, some have always been so (Canada for example made the QF in 1991) some seem to have gone backwards (Tonga for one) and others remain crap (I'm looking at you Namibia).

It's not surprising that NRL players are going to turn out for Fiji, Tonga etc. Most of the union teams feature players from Euro comps. If they qualify good luck to them. Having seen RL in Fiji I'm convinced that most of those Pacific countries are better suited to playing league.

 

[Juro]

I would have thought it would be relatively easy to bring countries like PNG up to speed if the NRL wanted to do so.

If they brought in salary cap concessions or other incentives for teams to take on young PNG players, clubs would be more willing to take a risk with them.

Then have the players sign an agreement that they would only be eligible to play for their home country to avoid the problem of players being in Australia for enough years to gain citizenship and then Australia cherrypicking the best players.

So, in 5 years time, you end up with maybe a dozen or more PNG players with NRL experience, with access to the same coaching as Australian and NZ players. If one or two turn out to be star quality, the team could be very competitive. And the more competitive they become, the more clubs will look seriously at young players coming through, and the whole process would be self sufficient, even if the incentives were dropped at some stage in the future.

And of course, this sort of plan could be applied for any emerging countries. I just chose PNG because they are amongst the top teams in the second tier and have plenty of young players.

 

[Yossarian]

My thoughts on International RL is that more time, thought, and money needs to be put in. There are some fairly well established comps in places like Serbia, Jamaica, Lebanon, and Russia that need some help. Likewise the Pacific countries could field great teams if they could pick from anyone eligible. I'd like to see:

1\. Salary cap exemtions for anyone who is eligible and plays for a minor country (let's say anyone who isn't Aust, NZ, or England).
2\. NSW and QLD to be able to choose 2 non-Australian eligible players each year. Players could not switch states and you could restrict it to non-NZ and England players.
3\. Grants for developing countries to send players/coaches (teams would be awesome but even some players would be good) to stronger countries for training.
4\. Stronger leagues to send appropriate strength teams to play overseas
5\. IRL or someone support more games between teams

 

[Yossarian]

I would have thought it would be relatively easy to bring countries like PNG up to speed if the NRL wanted to do so.

If they brought in salary cap concessions or other incentives for teams to take on young PNG players, clubs would be more willing to take a risk with them.

Then have the players sign an agreement that they would only be eligible to play for their home country to avoid the problem of players being in Australia for enough years to gain citizenship and then Australia cherrypicking the best players.

So, in 5 years time, you end up with maybe a dozen or more PNG players with NRL experience, with access to the same coaching as Australian and NZ players. If one or two turn out to be star quality, the team could be very competitive. And the more competitive they become, the more clubs will look seriously at young players coming through, and the whole process would be self sufficient, even if the incentives were dropped at some stage in the future.

And of course, this sort of plan could be applied for any emerging countries. I just chose PNG because they are amongst the top teams in the second tier and have plenty of young players.

Totally agree. I was typing my own manifesto along similar lines when you posted this! The issues with players turning out for Aust are nearly always to do with SOO and/or money.

 

[WestsSupporter]

Samoa have come a long way since being beaten 76-0 by the ABs at 07 cup.
Romania look good.
Argentina just got beaten by England.

 

[derailed]

Argentina will only get better playing in the 4 nations next year. The Rugby has been good this world cup, all of the countries have really stepped up. No more 140 - 6 score lines.

For League they really need to get teams playing more. Having the extra team in the four nations is great but that is only 3 games every 2 years against top teams. They really need to have regular tests against each other either before tests or Origins would be great.

The leagues also need to work together to find a way to keep the stronger players for each country playing for their country rather than moving to Australia or New Zealand at the first opportuinity.

 

[Yossarian]

Argentina will only get better playing in the 4 nations next year. The Rugby has been good this world cup, all of the countries have really stepped up. No more 140 - 6 score lines.

For League they really need to get teams playing more. Having the extra team in the four nations is great but that is only 3 games every 2 years against top teams. They really need to have regular tests against each other either before tests or Origins would be great.

The leagues also need to work together to find a way to keep the stronger players for each country playing for their country rather than moving to Australia or New Zealand at the first opportuinity.

The "4th" nation needs to qualify in regional tournaments so there is a bit of that.

 

[Goose]

Or maybe just the higher teams in rugby are getting worse. I mean Scotland just pipping Georgia is atrocious.

Georgian rugby is on the rise.

The international team play in front of crowds larger than the NRL, they haven't quite got infrastructure happening yet, but more and more Georgians are playing in the bigger european leagues. Their forwards are particularly strong.

There is some big moves in the weaker nations, we are only 10-20 years from Japan being very strong, their comp has money, crowds and they have the population to develop very strong competitions.

The US national, fully professional rugby comp kicks off next year, they already have more players than Australia and NZ combined and now have the infrastructure, it is only a matter of time before they are competing with the big boys.

Argentina, who are hardly a weaker team, but now they are in the new 4 nations, they will return to being a strong player just as they were pre professionalism.

Rugby internatinally is on a big upswing. The domestic game prob isn't going so well.

I think alot of the problem with international league is that alot of powers that be are too arrogant to see the good in other games and implement other sports good ideas, especially other Australian sports.

 

[Yossarian]

I think your overly optimistic Goose. US rugby will NEVER compete with the big boys. It's okay to have a lot of numbers but unless you have some chance of getting the better class of athlete you're only going to go so far. Georgia looks a bit better because they're getting more players playing in the French comps. But really the fact they got so close to Scotland says far more about the Scots than anything else.

Italy are about the same place they've always been. France seem worse.

I'd say overall the standard of play in the RWC has been terrible. Australia, supposedly one of the better attacking teams, have gone 3 halves without scoring a try. As usual the big Euro nations get a massive leg-up from the schedule and refereeing compared to the lower ranked countries.

 

[MightyMaggy]

I read all of the posts with great interest. There are a lot of ideas going around, but I think that the ARL, NRL, QRL and NSWRL lack any semblance of the lateral vision necessary to build the game into the future.

While it is correct that we should be building the code in other countries, NOBODY in any of the four main leagues (WHY IS THERE STILL FOUR BODIES RUNNING THE GAME IN AUSTRALIA?) has any plan to build the game in Australia! Why is it that we have all these dinosaurs (Usually ex-footballers, why?) sucking the finances and breath out of the game?

The start for the future, WHICH SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED FIFTY YEARS AGO, is to build the number of school children playing the game. Soccer do a better job attracting young children to their junior sport, BUT in the Hawkesbury district it costs close to $200.00 to register a soccer player. It costs much less to play League and in the Penrith district and the League competition is much better organised. Why do junior soccer numbers outstrip League by over ten to one?

The NRL teams have stripped all the good young players from the country areas, without putting anything back into the game in the country areas. In fact there are fewer players in the country, so that the Country League has had to amalgamate some of the Groups to overcome the loss of clubs. Where is the plan from the NSW Country League to re-build the game in the country areas?

Even though there is a cry about the restricted number of NRL-quality players, so expansion of the NRL into other states is "impossible", where is the plan to fix this?

After spending some time helping in the Penrith Juniors at primary school level, I put a plan to David Gallop, which would increase the numbers of primary school children playing the game. Gallop passed the e-mail onto an underling, who rang me to let me know the League had it all under control. Six years later, THEY HAVE ACHIEVED NOTHING in the ensuring period!