International RL Blog

From the Pacific peso to parity with the greenback and now beyond: the Australian dollar goes not so much from strength to strength but from historic new high to historic new high. CLICK HERE to read more RL teams in the UK can no longer afford to sign top Australian stars and transfer traffic now predominantly heads towards the NRL where GB stars, if they're good enough, can earn good money. James Graham, the Burgess brothers and others now play in Australia and demonstrate this. Ryan  Hoffman, Brett Finch etc have returned from Wigan to Australia, Leeds have signed two unknowns and Warrington haven't signed anybody at all.  Nobody can doubt that top international Australian and NZ stars enhance our competition but on too many occasions our SL clubs have employed far too many ordinary players (and coaches) from down under. For too long our young players have been denied opportunities as a result and too many talented players have become disillusioned   The curre...

As we contemplate yet another SL Grand Final involving the same teams, Brent Webb, Danny McGuire, Danny Buderus and the whole Warrington and Wigan teams now understand that truly great players save their best performances for big matches. The biggest matches of all take place on the international stage and the looming Four Nations is something that UK RL fans can look forward to with relish after months of gloom. I think I'd prefer an Ashes Series, if only for novelty value, but entertaining our antipodean "Friends in Low Places" in big matches in large stadia is surely an opportunity that even the UK's inept RL administrators cannot squander.

The SL play-offs are under way and and should be the pinnacle of the UK domestic season. Unfortunately, three out of the four matches played so far have been one-sided non-events in front of relatively poor crowds, with one in particular spoiled by inconsistent refereeing. An obvious contrast can be made with the NRL play-offs which have been wonderful.     Since the SL Grand Final was initiated, only five teams have taken part including the big four of Bradford, Leeds, St Helens and Wigan plus Hull. Three of these teams are still in contention despite the salary cap and licencing regulations which says very little about progress being made. All neutral supporters should cheer for Warrington & Catalans It has recently been announced that Jack Reed of the Brisbane Broncos and Chris Heighrington of West Tigers will play for England in the upcoming Four Nations along with Gareth Widdup of Melbourne Storm. They are good players and I don't blame Steve McNamara ...

Do you realise that during the Super League era from 1995 onwards, all the major finals have been contested by members of the big four of Bradford, Leeds, St Helens and Wigan except for Sheffield, Hull, Huddersfield and Warrington twice. Thankfully, as we move towards the business end of this season, things seem to be improving. We are not quite at the stage where a club can finish bottom one year and top the next but it has been a very competitive with eleven teams still competing for the play off places. Bradford are not the force they once were, Leeds are looking increasingly like yesterdays men and Huddersfield and Warrington seem to be emerging as strong competitors. Harlequins and Wakefield have had their moments, even bottom placed Crusaders have been competitive and been very unlucky to lose some close games. It's good to see some different trophy contenders and all true RL fans must be cheering on the Catalans, Huddersfield, Warrington or any other team from outside th...

The RFL will continue their nines competition on 7/6/11 at a series of venues across the north of England involving various established clubs and others including Cumbria. I can remember enjoying similar ventures including the British Coal nines (won by Warrington and shown on BBC 1 on Sportsnight) and the World Nines played in Fiji. It is a good showcase for our game, an excellent way of introducing newcomers and great way of spreading the word It is hoped that nines will become a popular vehicle for the sport in the same way 20-20 has helped boost the popularity of cricket. Some clever and effective marketing will be needed to achieve this and TV coverage will be vital. I suggest that the competition should be given an international flavour rather than relying on club teams with the addition of some interesting guests e.g. Cumbria, GB Police, GB Army ... etc. It would be easy to organise teams to represent England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Australia and NZ while the partic...

Just like the X Factor, we were all quivering with anti........cipation and finally.......... it was announced, Widnes would be re-entering the Super League competition next season. We should all applaud this because it begins to rebalance the competition away from Yorkshire and back towards the former Lancashire Rugby League stronghold. Although they haven't got massive potential, Widnes have got good facilities, will get reasonable crowds and will be competitive on the field of play. Warrington are in the process of becoming a major Super League power and Widnes are their natural derby opponents. This is a major advantage in it's own right. We should not applaud the decision (which apparently has been made) to abandon the mid season international against France and play an Exiles XIII instead. Although I can understand the need for England to play competitive matches in preparation for the Four Nations this is a step backward for Int...

During the Super League era, almost all silverware has been won by the so called "big four" of Bradford, Leeds, St Helens and Wigan. If my memory serves me well, Sheffield and Warrington winning the Challenge Cup are the only exceptions. The last three Grand Finals have involved the "big two" of Leeds and St Helens. Surely all fair minded RL fans deplore this situation and hope another team can triumph. I am certain (anybody want to bet?) that Bradford won't win anything this year. Under Steve McNamara and his successors they have been woeful. I realise they have worked under financial constraints but so have other teams - look at Crusaders. Bradford have under performed and need to improve dramatically My really hoped that Warrington would break the monopoly of the "big four" but their defeat by St Helens in the first round of the play offs has put this in doubt. They under estimated St Helens who played well and the conditions were certainly a l...