I'm not a big fan of this to be honest. It would work great on a computer game but in real life 'Exiles' means nothing to their players and fans. In turn this encourages coaches and players from both teams to arrange 'planned surgery' or have miraculous 'niggles' than keep them out of the game. It's a shame France or Wales can't give us much of a challenge.

RLFANS News Hound wrote:

Exiles International On the Cards for 2021

From news breaking on Twitter it appears that there may be a mid-summer revival of the Exiles for a game to be played over the international weekend of the 25th to 27th June 2021 with most likely England, but possibly a GB Lions team, taking on an international side made up of overseas players plying their trade in Super League.
It has come to light after the RFL published a job advert for a Team Manager to attend all team events and training session and to be part of the camp during the competition period.
READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

I always liked Exiles idea & we've probably got the best crop of Exile players in a long while. Maloney, French, Sezer, Reynolds, Inglis, Hurrell etc.

I'd actually love them to open it out a little and pick anyone not in the GB squad too. Guys like Mcilorum, who won't get a look in, would probably add a lot more steel and bite to the game. It also gives them another opportunity to impress Wane too.

Post COVID I'd like to see us do regular mid season tours down under if the budget is there for it. Link up with the NRL-based England players and play three games against some of Tonga/PNG/Samoa/Fiji. That way it's the actual England squad playing against a genuine team who care about the jersey and have fans. It would be a tough challenge playing them in their backyard as well as we saw with the GB tour.

If taken seriously I think it is a great concept and it needs everyone involved in it to get behind it and back it.

Sadly that hasn’t happened in the past.

I think the GB under Wane will give it the right approach as he is that kind of guy and I think selection for the World Cup will dangled as a carrot.

Getting the Exiles to buy into it is more of a challenge, and I hope the rugby league media/pr department get behind it and generate a bit of a rift/niggle to get a bit of feeling into it as a contest.

The game will need at least 34 superleague players to go ahead. That’s presuming no NRL players will come back to represent England and it’s going ahead on a weekend where superleague games are scheduled. That’s laughable IMO and not because the game is happening, it should happen and from England’s POV it needs to happen but just knock one of the loop fixtures on the head and give it the proper focus it needs. I guess now limits will be put on how many players can be selected from each side and then it makes it a pointless exercise for me.

jonh wrote:

If taken seriously I think it is a great concept and it needs everyone involved in it to get behind it and back it.

Sadly that hasn’t happened in the past.

I think the GB under Wane will give it the right approach as he is that kind of guy and I think selection for the World Cup will dangled as a carrot.

Getting the Exiles to buy into it is more of a challenge, and I hope the rugby league media/pr department get behind it and generate a bit of a rift/niggle to get a bit of feeling into it as a contest.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. There has to be some ownership from the players too. I know it isn't like for like, but you hear about the early Origin stories and how the players bought into the concept - team biff on biff.

I know it bastardises the concept, but I'd really want to see some guys who aren't in the GB squad given a go. Imagine if someone like Faz misses out and is given a chance to play against GB. He'll bring the standard up as he's got something to play for. Outside of that guys like Mcilorum will do the game. Heck if Hastings isn't selected for GB he's that much of a competitor that he'll be all out to win. A small nucleus of the right players sets the tone.

NickyKiss wrote:

The game will need at least 34 superleague players to go ahead. That’s presuming no NRL players will come back to represent England and it’s going ahead on a weekend where superleague games are scheduled. That’s laughable IMO and not because the game is happening, it should happen and from England’s POV it needs to happen but just knock one of the loop fixtures on the head and give it the proper focus it needs. I guess now limits will be put on how many players can be selected from each side and then it makes it a pointless exercise for me.

Wasn't there always limits? Was 3 per side IIRC

Egg Chasing wrote:

Wasn't there always limits? Was 3 per side IIRC

yeah

Egg Chasing wrote:

Wasn't there always limits? Was 3 per side IIRC

Not sure but in a World Cup year England need to play a game with all its best players available and against the very best exiles side that can be picked.