yeh i would love to see a strong five nations tournament, however i would still rather see my plan as stated in a previous post. this involves all world wide RL teams being involved in competition against similarily ranked oppponents. with this the the world of rl could improve each other with constant competitive games. I would love to see this system and in my belief we would soon have 10-15 nations near the level of the top guns.

On the topic of four nations, its great to see that 3 of these countries are getting involved in test matches and tours international season, even other big nations like wales, tonga and fiji are getting involved in tests and PNG are touring UK/France. Howver what is australia doing? they have only played 1 game this international season not including hte PNG PMXIII game because untill they send the kangaroos over there that doesnt count for me as a game for australia. unless i am mistaken they have no more games until the anzac test, why wouldnt the best team in the world be playing more games to help the int game?

Yes, many have wondered why Australia is not playing more games. Basically they now have only one game untill the world cup!

... does this smell of arrogance from the ARL?

... could this backfire in the facese of the Aussies, particularly if they are looking to have a young team that is inexperienced?

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jim_57:

why wouldnt the best team in the world be playing more games to help the int game?

 

because they couldnt care less about the international game 

Druzik:

... does this smell of arrogance from the ARL?

YES 

Druzik:

... could this backfire in the facese of the Aussies, particularly if they are looking to have a young team that is inexperienced?

very doubtful, but i hope so 

as an aus supporter i hope it doesnt blow up in our faces, although there is a part of me that does hope it happens so that aus can learn a lesson and pay more respect to the international game in the future. this time of year oz should be playing at least 2 other games maybe V France, PNG, Wales anyone really. and they should have an aus A or jnr aus side touring minnow countries like russia, serbia, germany, south africa, argentina etc.

jim_57:

as an aus supporter i hope it doesnt blow up in our faces, although there is a part of me that does hope it happens so that aus can learn a lesson and pay more respect to the international game in the future. this time of year oz should be playing at least 2 other games maybe V France, PNG, Wales anyone really. and they should have an aus A or jnr aus side touring minnow countries like russia, serbia, germany, south africa, argentina etc.

 

top shout jim 

jim_57:

as an aus supporter i hope it doesnt blow up in our faces, although there is a part of me that does hope it happens so that aus can learn a lesson and pay more respect to the international game in the future. this time of year oz should be playing at least 2 other games maybe V France, PNG, Wales anyone really. and they should have an aus A or jnr aus side touring minnow countries like russia, serbia, germany, south africa, argentina etc.

yes jim, you are correct. The Aus A team you refer to... and I have posted this on another thread... should be made up of players from the varios stste comps around australia, the VRL, WARL, SARL, QRL etc... This does two things, it gives those players something to aim for, reping a ntional side, which can go onto building anme for the sport outside the east coast and exposes those players to the NRL teams, as well the other countries are still getting a look at a quality opposition but probably will be more competitive and not get a thrashing by a full roos team.

When Australia is not playing in a Tri-Nations/tour year then they should not only have tests against the PNG'ns but the tongans and Fijians as well. These are th other two top teams in our area and are desperate to have a shot on a consistent basis against quality sides... this also would increase the value of their jumpers for any NRL/ESL player on the fence, thinking where he should go and play.

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Great calls Jim and Druzik.

Aussie A or minor league rep teams playing the Islands and PNG and even the emerging nations like Lebanon, Russia, Serbia etc.

I'd also play the games in their countries, not in Australia as i think this would give the opportunity for the host country to build it up as a really big event.

I know for a fact that Moscow and Russian national tv would be very keen on a Russia vs Australia game .

Oh yes definitely have them tour most of the time to the countries, however nothing wrong with getting the other countries out here. You could do something like the Cricket tri series or a quad series.

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Druzik:

Oh yes definitely have them tour most of the time to the countries, however nothing wrong with getting the other countries out here. You could do something like the Cricket tri series or a quad series.

Yeh i think they should have 2 or 3 countries touring aus each year to play aus A. having a tri series or quad series would also be a great idea say:

yr1: AUS A V STH AFRICA V ITALY V RUSSIA

yr2: AUS A V GEORGIA V SERBIA V GERMANY

yr3: AUS A V USA V ARGENTINA V JAPAN

y4: AUS A V LEBANON V COOK IS V SAMOA

yr5.....

Play these matches in country NSW and QLD and in league starved states. this would give these parts of aus good competitive international league each year.

also it wouldnt be a bad idea to have NZL, England and maybe France having a simlar system going.

 

Jim that sounds great on paper but the sad truth is that RL in Italy, Argentina and South Africa is practically non-existent (South Africa couldnt fulfill their WC qualifying matches and Argentina couldn't even get a team together!)

I still like the idea of the 'bigger' nations sending A teams to play the likes of Russia, Serbia, Japan etc., but for me you have to have the matches played in the emerging nations.

Germany/Serbia/Russia/Georgia etc. playing in Australia wont raise awareness of the game in those countries as much as 'the mighty Australia' going to their backyard.

How many people in Serbia for example do you think are going to go and watch them play the Aussies in Melbourne or Brisbane? 

Yeh this quad nations tournament would be the only aus based games the AUS A side have, the rest of the year they would be doing exactly what you said, touring minnow countries and going on tour with the kangaroos.

However i stress that it should not justbe AUS A tourning, but NZL A, ENG A, FRA A and maybe even PNG A TGA A or WAL A a couple years down the line.

Yeh i know there are some countries that have basically no international league team. however South Africa have a domestic comp and ibelieve the main reason they dont play internationals is the cost of travel. So if AUS A, ENG A, FRA A and NZL A Toured there on a 4 year cycle it would give them big games without cost.

From what i understant argentina and italy have both recently started domestic comps so hopefully in a few years they will be capaple of fielding national side.

The argentina domestic comp starts in november and is a 9's tournie and the italian one almost didnt happen because one of the teams mangers passed away and the team decided not to play out of respect. So it was only two teams in the end. Germany will have a domestic comp next year as well and with the Czechs now having a full time development officer I suspect they'll have something up and running soon too.

any one heard whet the Greek domestic comp results were? Also Malta's?

 

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Druzik:

The argentina domestic comp starts in november and is a 9's tournie and the italian one almost didnt happen because one of the teams mangers passed away and the team decided not to play out of respect. So it was only two teams in the end. Germany will have a domestic comp next year as well and with the Czechs now having a full time development officer I suspect they'll have something up and running soon too.

any one heard whet the Greek domestic comp results were? Also Malta's?

Great to hear RL is developing well across the world.

i really hope the RLIF take on board the AUS A idea. I think the four nations should be played ever 2 years, the year afer and before the WC. The vacant year NZL, AUS, ENG & FRA should tour the world. say France and England go to the pacifics, Aus and NZ go to the UK noting england will be away touring. Whilst the A sides should be touring all of these years.