RL World Cup 2017 Thread...* SPOILERS

I know its poor opposition but Milne does run good lines , looks powerful in attack and can set up his outside man - interesting times ahead.
 
It would be a real disgrace if losers play losers and a clear last is established - at that subterranean level they could never live it down. But at least they could finally enjoy a game playing equals, it would be more difficult picking last than first.
 
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The Italian jerseys are weird - looks like they all have gigantic sweat patches under their armpits :laughing:
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I remember seeing an Greek comedy decades ago titled The Iron Lady, she told a smelly fellow passenger in a bus "what do you use for deodorant? onion!"
 
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Robbie played well considering he nearly had his arm bitten off, lucky they taped it back on

Twal was brilliant in defence, gets better and better all the time, will be a machine next year for us.

Mitch was Mitch, a skirt who told the officials off at every chance he got

love your humour. Robbie did appear to have two teeth bites when displaying immediately afterwards to camera. Mitch may have been a skirt was also a tomboy in getting to the Poms solidly, he hindered many an attack. I think Mitch running off Farah is a lethal combo. A brilliantly hatched plan near end of game when Farah throws pass about 30 metres across about 4 other players to give Moses an open run. Was it Fittler's brain?
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Moses was surprisingly successful with his charges out of the defensive line and snuffed a few attacking raids. BUT, if he tries that against Australia next weekend, it will lead to tries galore,

I didn't think he was great but he certainly tried hard. Shame we didn't see efforts like that.
 
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I know its poor opposition but Milne does run good lines , looks powerful in attack and can set up his outside man - interesting times ahead.
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Missed the game. Was he playing right centre?
 
If we want a stronger game internationally we need to help smaller countries develop players in 6, 7 and 9.

Lebanon has first grade quality in these positions, 2 decent props and is not even reserve grade standard everywhere else. They are less painful to watch than teams with decent edge players but no direction.

Having said that I'm expecting a 60+ loss this week to the roos.

Tonga and Samoa could legitimately push for the title with better spines. NZ always are a chance because they have had players like wiz, benji, sj who at their peak can set up scoring plays against Aus.

Maybe a 6 nations is a better format, round robin with play offs for every position. Too many dud games, not quite the time filler I was hoping for.
 
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If we want a stronger game internationally we need to help smaller countries develop players in 6, 7 and 9.

Lebanon has first grade quality in these positions, 2 decent props and is not even reserve grade standard everywhere else. They are less painful to watch than teams with decent edge players but no direction.

Having said that I'm expecting a 60+ loss this week to the roos.

Tonga and Samoa could legitimately push for the title with better spines. NZ always are a chance because they have had players like wiz, benji, sj who at their peak can set up scoring plays against Aus.

Maybe a 6 nations is a better format, round robin with play offs for every position. Too many dud games, not quite the time filler I was hoping for.
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I feel sorry for Lebanon's talented captain who tries his heart out but are guaranteed a flogging this weekend and there is nothing he can do about it. They can only play for pride.
 
Player impressions from World Cup on fox sports:

Taane Milne

The Wests Tigers are on to a winner. Having signed the centre from the Dragons, Milne has found form despite limited opportunities in the top grade this season. He scored two tries and played a hand in three more for Fiji over the weekend.

Grade: B+

Alex Twal

The 21-year-old prop was impressive in a beaten pack. Wests Tigers fans should be excited for what next season holds with the 103 kilo worker putting his hand up to fill the vacancy Aaron Woods has left in the starting side. Not only did Twal top the running metres with 142 for his men but he topped the tackle count with 55.

Grade: A
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https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/rlwc-2017-report-card-for-nrl-players-outside-the-kangaroos-team/news-story/83e1e00f78384945d61f852af0de16c4
 
Are there any other players who could play for Tonga who are either playing for Australia or NZ?

I'd like to see Tonga have the best available players, to see how they would go.
 
Felise Kaufusi, Addin Fonua-Blake, DWZ could all be eligible.

I think there's a few Kiwis that could also play for Samoa.
 
To grow the international game players need to be encouraged to play for second tier nations.
Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and PNG should face off in a series that coincides with State of Origin.
As for the World Cup maybe there should be 2 separate comps. The main comp with 8 teams with the likes of Australia, England, NZ and determined by international ranking and then a secondary comp. The secondary comp would then showcase some of the nations like USA who lets be honest are there as novelty value.
 
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To grow the international game players need to be encouraged to play for second tier nations.
Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and PNG should face off in a series that coincides with State of Origin.
As for the World Cup maybe there should be 2 separate comps. The main comp with 8 teams with the likes of Australia, England, NZ and determined by international ranking and then a secondary comp. The secondary comp would then showcase some of the nations like USA who lets be honest are there as novelty value.
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not a bad idea as does no good these minor teams getting thrashed. The winner of the minor event should have the opportunity to qualify for next World Cup top grade by a play off with the last team in top grade.
 
Realistically, growing the game internationally is a tall stretch… To grow the game in developing nations, there needs to be 2 major changes.

1\. A serious increase in financial commitment from each nations governing body, who in turn receive grants from their own governments.

2\. Development of local/grass-roots football within those countries.

While its a nice gesture that countries like Australia, England & New Zealand support and help these countries, it is not their responsibility and at some stage they need to reduce/limit their involvement if it is going to be truly successful.

The embarrassing part of all this, is NZRL cant even get a local competition which can match the Q Cup & NSW Cup to ensure internal pathways within their own country.
 
I was surprised they even have rugby in Holland, Argentina and other far out countries. RL is 50 years behind, maybe because it was just a working class off shoot that became the majority rugby game in Australia and mostly got spread through Catholicism in the colonies and islands. But RL is not even Australia wide. If USA dedicated some of their top gridiron players to RL they would be world champs - we are lucky in a way it is only a parochial game.
 
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