Seems very interesting what is going on at the moment because i think what must be happening with all the players going over seas must be having a good affect on rugby league, unlike what i might have been thinking. With the under 20's toyota cup up and running is helping get the players through the system alot quicker, and by doing this the expansion that now seems to be a reality by todays announcement will only improve the stocks, maybe we could see a 20 team comp before to long once we introduce the likes of perth and sunshine coast.

There was a article in the rugby league week today that said toowoomba was going to come back into the queensland cup because all the talent were heading to other teams, and they have said that they are going to find backing from the mining industry, i would say that perth will also look at a mining giant to bring them sponsorship along with the sunny coast, Who wouldn't want to back a queensland team? Looks like we are moving in the right direction at last.  We might end up with a China company backing us if they invest with B.H.P. Kevin Rudd would be able to translate the deal.

Super Steve:

Great news Oikee.

The Sunshine coast would be a great option, although I have heard alot of talk about a team in western Brisbane, ie Ipswitch area. The population growth there is second only to the gold coast I believe. Either way, the NRL will again establish themselves in a booming area long before the AFL have even opened their eyes.  

I think you will find that many of the northern Brisbane fans will gravitate away from the broncos to the new sunshine coast team which will allow more of the western Brisbane fans to come out to see the broncs. I actually wouldn't mind seeing a few broncos games head back out to QEII stadium... I know its not 100% ideal with the running track but it does hold 40,000 odd and is much closer for ipswich fans.

Having said that I think you will also find that many of the ipswich RL fans are making the effort to go to titans games as well. Ipswich Jets are a feeder for the titans no?

---

For all The latest Rugby League scores from around the world:
http://www.rugbyleagueinternationalscores.com
Contact
info@rugbyleagueinternationalscores.com
-------------------------------------

dogged:

i keep getting accused of ignoring things..what you've all ignored is a broken down AFL player was signed and trained for two season with a top tier RL team...and he did play reserves for them and one first garde trail match...to be involved at that level over two seasons meant he was at least in contention - and all this from an old retired AFL player...a retired football player who couldn't hack aussie rules any more because it was too demanding but who was given a go - and paid as a professional - to play the supposedly  tougher game of RL...clearly for him RL wasn't the tougher game at all - it was the softer option he went to when he was too old, slow and unfit to hack aussie rules any more....anyway as usual i expect you all to ignore my point,....aussie rules players retire to the easier codes of NFL and NRL...aussie rules is levels above NRL in terms of being physically demanding so much so that old retired AFL players are still able to be considered to play first grade and paid as professional players...the majority of RL players wouldn't even pass minimum fitness tests or skinfold tests AFL teams require....

Inductive fallacy! 

dogged:

and as for skills!? - mate kicking/catching skills of RL players are laughable - NRL players look so uncoorindated - really an u13 AFL player has far better kicking and catching skills that a professional NRL player and you would expect this because the whole game of aussie rules is based on kicking/catching...

Speculative drivel!

dogged:

kicking/catching is not really a big part of RLeague....you just need to be able to run headlong into three stationary tacklers and keep that up for 80 mins....that's the main 'skill' you need...if there are skills in RL it's certainly not kicking/catching....

Hundreds of passes are thrown in a Rugby League match.

The recipient of a pass is said to have "caught" the ball.

Therefore, catching is a large part of Rugby League.

dogged:

and the so called precision in bombs and scrubbers you're talking about is very very basic stuff any u13s kid could do - and do far better...

Can you prove it?

dogged:

what a bunch of hypocrits!!!,.,,,you all constantly, and incorrectly, moan about me ignoring posts and then not one of your even attempts to explain why a top tier RL team had an old and washed out AFL player on their list....how this 'hard' and 'tough' game had a player too old/slow/unfit to hack aussie rules yet had him and paid him for two seasons, including in a trial game for their top grade side....clearly RL is the easier game physically....

If he wasn't selected to play a premiership match with the Reds' first-grade team, then his affiliation with the club was probably for the purpose of drawing the media's attention to them .  Barrich's affiliation with the Reds would have generated a fair amount of attention from the Perth media.  The administrators from the Reds probably thought that Barrich's affiliation with the club would convert HIS fans to the Reds.

dogged:

Western Sydney won't be easy at all...it is very risky and in the short term support may not be great...but even if it fails in the end it was worth a shot - and worth a persistant long effort (20 years)...swans and lions came good in hostile territory and on that basis I think the AFL is smart to have a crack at this area which has massive potential....if they never never go they'll never never know....the AFL is smart to give this a crack because the long term it may pay big dividends...

It'll be hilarious if the AFL's plan fails and causes them to lose lots of money!  If the game's market value has reached its peak and starts to decline over the next few years, then the AFL won't have the financial means to fund a 20 year plan that isn't guaranteed of producing a profit.

dogged:

you try to pour cold water on Western Sydney....what about the Storm in Melbourne - the team with great on-file success, very little real support, no juiniors to speak of and never made a proft...they are a basket case and simply waiting to collapse...it's a case of 'when' will the Storm collapse not 'if' they will... 

I don't know much about the Storm's marketability.  Where can I find information about their financial situation?

inductive fallacy....mate if it satisfies you to dismissively label my reponse as that that's up to...the proposition put to me was that AFL players are too soft to use RL in their training becasue RL was such a tough game - to respond to this 'speculative drivel'  (to borrow your lame phrase) all I did was 1. point out that the tackling in each game is dfifferent and 2. highlight an example of a washed up and retired AFL player actually be drafted by a top tier RL club for not one but two seasons - so how hard can RL actually be if a pensioned off AFL player gets a run in a frist grade squad...that he didn't crack for a game is irrelevant..the point of course is that he finished a long AFL career, was an older player and he still gets a run at a RL club - for TWO seasons!!

catching skills?...you're not serious are you?...95% of the catching are three to five meter passes  that always come form the same direction (front/side and sinliar trajactory... and as for the 'bombs' RL players technique on catching them is all wrong - often they don't run to meet the ball at the highest point (they wait for it to come to them), they never time their leaps correctly (if they leap at all!!), they catch it with their hands below the waist so if they fumble it hits the deck, they allow their opponent a good position and have no concept of protecting/shielding the drop zone...watching RL players attempting to 'catch' these bombs is like watching a two year old kid walk down a flight of stairs- sometimes they make it but the journey is uncoordinated and prone to failure...as i said you can't expect RL is be that good at catching - it is a rarely used skills...when i see RL players trying to catch a bomb all I see is a two year old stumbling down the stairs...so many are 'bombs' are dropped that would never be droppped by an AFL player...the catches that AFL players do drop are almost always due to direct man/man spoils that RL players don't have to, or rarely have to, contend with due to offside rules 

  

Yes , yes yes, ok dogged you made your point, good for you bravo, who gives a toss and all that, you have not answered my last point, we are expanding into perth and another team in queensland, this is what the subject is all about, not some poncy aussie rules player who can catch a ball, a 3 year old kid can catch a ball, cricketers can catch balls, big deal,

Expansion, this subject is about expansion, we are expanding and will be welcomed . The super league is expanding, our world cup game is expanding, rubber bands are expanding, soccer is expanding , union is expanding, Aussie rules is expanding, i wonder who will over expand, lets see who is the first to snap.

Good point made about Rugby Union expansion, they dont have the players quality to meet there needs. Do you think the strongest comp called the N.R.L has the strength to meet needs, well we have 80 players playing over in the super league and lower leagues in the U.K, you be the judge. We have introduced a new under 20's comp this year with games shown on pay t/v , we have all the stuctures in place to expand and did it successfully with the Storm and recently the coast, we also top up the union ranks so they have some talent in their rosters, we allow soccer to be played at our home grounds so they can get started.

what more can we do , we also have aussie rules in both states so anyone who cant play league can try there hand at your game, what more do you want from our code, blood, We give our all and you still condem us and want more, you sure your a aussie.  Your the number one code at the moment, enjoy this fact while it lasts,

Read the posts about aussie rules, you cant even keep the irish happy, how are you going to expect other people to accept aussie rules, like i have said all along, crowds are what make your games look good, check out the death of your game this week-end on the coast, this is what it looks like when you dont get atmosphere at your games. Origin is growing into a major world event, this is what the world wants to see, not some goose half catching a ball and being paid a mark.

no one cares about AFL. It's a victorian girl's sport.

Can we get back to expansion. Great to see a new qld and perth team. Has there been any news on who the new teams will be in the super league?

Dogged. You are without doubt one of the most ignorant contributors I have read! Please  at least play Rl before you bag it. Then come back an state which game is toughr/harder. Their is a reason why Rl players can play other codes for training and a reason why other codes cannot play RL for training! One of the games hurts! Until you get this into your stuborn mind,you will have no respect in this forum! I'm dissapointed in myself responding to your tripe but it is a goodwill thing.

dogged:

inductive fallacy....mate if it satisfies you to dismissively label my reponse as that that's up to...the proposition put to me was that AFL players are too soft to use RL in their training becasue RL was such a tough game - to respond to this 'speculative drivel'  (to borrow your lame phrase) all I did was 1. point out that the tackling in each game is dfifferent and 2. highlight an example of a washed up and retired AFL player actually be drafted by a top tier RL club for not one but two seasons - so how hard can RL actually be if a pensioned off AFL player gets a run in a frist grade squad...that he didn't crack for a game is irrelevant..the point of course is that he finished a long AFL career, was an older player and he still gets a run at a RL club - for TWO seasons!!

Barrich's inability to gain selection in the Red's first-grade team proves he wasn't deemed fit to play first-grade Rugby League.   It strengthens my claim that he was with the Reds for publicity purposes only.  It's similar to the English athlete who recently played lower-grade Rugby League.  It allowed the sport to gain a lot of media attention.

dogged:

catching skills?...you're not serious are you?...95% of the catching are three to five meter passes  that always come form the same direction (front/side and sinliar trajactory...

The recipient of a a spinning pass that is thrown at pace can be farily difficult to catch.  the difficulty increases when the recipient has to catch the ball as quickly as possible, shift it around so that he can pass it, and then pass it while the opposition players are chasing him down.  Australian Rules Football aren't subjected to the aforementioned pressure.

An analogy can be made between a 20-metre bullet-like pass from a halfback to his winger and a bullet-like pass from a quarterback and a wide receiver.  The wide receiver and the winger will be probably be tackled fairly quickly after they catch the ball.  In the winger's case, he'll be subjected to his opposite number charging at him very quickly.  The winger will probably have to offload the ball at some stage, too.

I have attempted to catch an American Football that was thrown at me.  I have taken a few marks during the few Australian Rules Football matches that I played.  It was far harder to catch the American Football than it was to take a mark during the Australian Rules Football matches.  In fact, catching a pass in Rugby League was far more difficult than taking a mark during an Australian Rules Football match.  The pressure that was on me to not knock-on made it even more difficult.

dogged:

and as for the 'bombs' RL players technique on catching them is all wrong - often they don't run to meet the ball at the highest point (they wait for it to come to them), they never time their leaps correctly (if they leap at all!!), they catch it with their hands below the waist so if they fumble it hits the deck, they allow their opponent a good position and have no concept of protecting/shielding the drop zone...

Leaping in the air to catch a bomb is dangerous for a Rugby League player.  The reason it is dangerous is because the defence is allowed to tackle the recipient of the bomb when his feet are on the ground.  Therefore, if a Rugby League player leaps into the air so he can catch a bomb, then the opposition will line him up and pulverise him as soon as his feet reach the ground.

From an attacking point of view, leaping into the air to catch a bomb is counterproductive.  The only time it is productive is when a bomb is placed into the in-goal area.  This is because it allows the attacking player who catches the ball to fall to the ground as soon as he catches it.  He cannot do this when he catches the ball just outside of the in-goal region.

dogged:

watching RL players attempting to 'catch' these bombs is like watching a two year old kid walk down a flight of stairs- sometimes they make it but the journey is uncoordinated and prone to failure...as i said you can't expect RL is be that good at catching - it is a rarely used skills...when i see RL players trying to catch a bomb all I see is a two year old stumbling down the stairs...

You're comparing apples with oranges.

dogged:

 

so many are 'bombs' are dropped that would never be droppped by an AFL player...the catches that AFL players do drop are almost always due to direct man/man spoils that RL players don't have to, or rarely have to, contend with due to offside rules 

Stop comparing apples with oranges.  Leaping to catch a bomb is productive in Australian Rules Football.   It's rarely productive during a Rugby League match.  To make matters worse, the majority of Rugby League players who are peppered with bombs tend to be very short wingers.  It's easier to grasp something that is falling from the heavens when you're tall.   

Oikee...mate...you've outdone yourself!! ..."Origin is growing into a major world event, this is what the world wants to see....." ..i needed a laugh on a Friday...thanks a lot for that...

on expansion i though you said a few posts agao there would be no expansion until 2013? ..i could be wrong...i think there will be a couple of new RL teams on Central NSW region and South Queensland...i also think more metro Sydney teams will fold/merge...i think Storm will eventually fold - News Ltd will drop their $8/annum subsidy and unless the NRL wants to subsides them then they are gone (already Parra CEO and others keep poiting out - correctly - that Storm are nto viable).....not sure about NZ - maybe it will fold also; NZ seems to be more into RUnion...the future of 'expansion' for NRL as I see it is a redistribution away from Sydney metro....NRL will face ongoing challenges with RUnion and UK RLeague.l...

IF I was a RLeague person I'd be thinking the best available way ahead for long term expansion would be somehow to bridge the gap to RUnion... i don't know how...but somehow couldn;t RUnion & RLeague both benefit greatly from some better alignment or maybe coming together in some way for a local hybrid which woudl fed into a nation RUnion side......i think have the two strains of rugby remaining seperate is very damaging for your code......i kwno they are two different games with different supporter groups but wbecause of this RL and RU lacks the deiversity of supporter base that they could have as a combined sport....I have no answers but this is just an observation....RLeague will never have RUnion's global prescence and RUnion seems very unlikely to develop the local NSW/QLD presecence it should have (although I think RUnion is more likely than RL to overcome its weakness)....so that's be my way of expanding RL - modify it and align it to RUnion...and modify RUnion to align with RL....both woudl benefit and i think you'd still be able to go through and play world tournaments by having a nationa side step up to world RUnion....anyway i don't think this would happen in a million years which is probabaly just as well - it allows aussie rules to stay miles ahead of all the other codes in Australia

 

 

Well it is dogged, it use to be only telecast through n.s.w and qld , but if you look now it is being telecast all over the world, and i am not laughing about that, we all have our own agenda's and league's is origin, without this we would probably be merged with union, they have the money and we need money, otherwise like you have said "union would be the dominate sport in australia", and thanks to league we have helped aussie rules become the dominate player, not for long i would suspect, now soccer has got it's foot in the door, shortly you will be fighting this new threat and even union cant compete in england with soccer, by about 1 billion dollars behind, so do you get the picture.? And union doubles what we can pay players.

League just wants to be left alone, and continue its battle with all the elements and all the odds stacked against us to continue on like a old soldier with shell shock but still fighting till the death. We will never surrender , we will fight them on the beaches , we will ,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,     we wont surrender.

Imagine crowds you get to the a.f.l and think soccer here in oz, can you compete with that, would you want to try.? They had 80 thousand turn up to see a broken down David Beckham at Sydney, why do you think we dont worry about soccer, its a battle that cant be won. Get on with it, enjoy your game and stop worrying about the other codes.We dont go to other forums to sprout shiite , it's a waste of time.

Going back a bit here. You know what i find funny? The fact that dogged thinks WA RL expansion won't work because the game isn't popular over there, on the contrast he thinks the AFL move to GC is a good move and there is popularity for AFL in the GC already. Now you laughed off that article druzik suplied but think about this. The game on AFL Saturday night at the GC got 6k, the NRL game on GC on friday night got a solid 22,676 which is good for origin week (I was there BTW, Great game, stadium and atmosphere). Now the last time an NRL game went to Perth the crowd was 15,000 give or take a few. Also the WA reds get crowds of over 2,000 to all their home games this year in a 2nd/3rd grade RL competition. Hmmmm some of very blatant double standards i tend to think...

From a purely sporting perspective I believe , "You cant keep a good game down! "This is what has happened to RL on a global scale for many years courtesy of biggotted policies from R.Union administrations. Now that RU has adopted the market driven angle, that sport has tried to modify its rules but cannot match the quickness of RLs play the ball rule.In the long run RL, cannot be hidden & put down as it has been in the past. Ultimately the sport with the superior product(RL) will come to the for. But it will take time.

Hodgofan:

no one cares about AFL. It's a victorian girl's sport.

Can we get back to expansion. Great to see a new qld and perth team. Has there been any news on who the new teams will be in the super league?

End of july announcements are gonna be made.... speculations running wild who will get in etc... The Test in Toulouse will see if there is SL interest there, I was in Toulouse yesterday and it certainly is a mad cap Rugby town, more Union but there were a few RL shirts around the shop.

---

For all The latest Rugby League scores from around the world:
http://www.rugbyleagueinternationalscores.com
Contact
info@rugbyleagueinternationalscores.com
-------------------------------------

jim_57:

Going back a bit here. You know what i find funny? The fact that dogged thinks WA RL expansion won't work because the game isn't popular over there, on the contrast he thinks the AFL move to GC is a good move and there is popularity for AFL in the GC already. Now you laughed off that article druzik suplied but think about this. The game on AFL Saturday night at the GC got 6k, the NRL game on GC on friday night got a solid 22,676 which is good for origin week (I was there BTW, Great game, stadium and atmosphere). Now the last time an NRL game went to Perth the crowd was 15,000 give or take a few. Also the WA reds get crowds of over 2,000 to all their home games this year in a 2nd/3rd grade RL competition. Hmmmm some of very blatant double standards i tend to think...

 

jim_57,

Excellent observation!