The Aussies game is going the same way as English football.
All( a large % for the pedants!) the worlds best players playing in the Premier league with a useless national side. They will get less interested the more beatings they take. The clubs will dictate.
They have opened up a standalone round for SOO which will include an opportunity for test matches for non Australian players - meaning all the PI countries can play all their NRL players, and there is nothing stopping NZ organising a test against Samoa, Tonga, Fiji or PNG - with full squads available.
The fact of the matter has been pointed out elsewhere. The best players in the world don't play in SOO. The best players in the world are not Australians
A big ask, for a country where league is very much the #2 sport, but they might well be. Such a shame that SJ won't be here for their tour, but it should still be a belter.
Going by several NZ-based websites RL is at best the #4 sport in NZ behind RU, netball and cricket (some sites say 5th behind soccer) and the NZRL made a tiny profit of $16,000 last year, you'd have to be a fool to think NZ could make RL an international game.
Going by several NZ-based websites RL is at best the #4 sport in NZ behind RU, netball and cricket (some sites say 5th behind soccer) and the NZRL made a tiny profit of $16,000 last year, you'd have to be a fool to think NZ could make RL an international game.
If they had NRL clubs in Wellington and Christchurch there would be a chance of making rugby league into New Zealand's No. 3 sport if not number 2.
Going by several NZ-based websites RL is at best the #4 sport in NZ behind RU, netball and cricket (some sites say 5th behind soccer) and the NZRL made a tiny profit of $16,000 last year, you'd have to be a fool to think NZ could make RL an international game.
And they made that profit on the back of the ANZAC Test. How up their own a-rrse the Aussies are:
The National Rugby League scrapped the Anzac Test without consulting the New Zealand Rugby League, announced the change without informing their Kiwi counterparts and, incredibly, did not even return the New Zealand governing body's calls when it attempted to seek clarification today.
Going by several NZ-based websites RL is at best the #4 sport in NZ behind RU, netball and cricket (some sites say 5th behind soccer) and the NZRL made a tiny profit of $16,000 last year, you'd have to be a fool to think NZ could make RL an international game.
And they made that profit on the back of the ANZAC Test. How up their own a-rrse the Aussies are:
The National Rugby League scrapped the Anzac Test without consulting the New Zealand Rugby League, announced the change without informing their Kiwi counterparts and, incredibly, did not even return the New Zealand governing body's calls when it attempted to seek clarification today.