Of course the novelty has worn off......playing in a WCC final for the first time was exciting because it was new.

Now this is the 5th time we have played in it - the novelty is bound to wear thin.

For those who wonder if GF loses it's novelty value - then no, obviously not - it is a prestigious competition.

However, the WCC is nothing more than a glorified friendly. I want us to win, but I am not fussed if we don't. I would rather win the challenge cup or the GF (again).

In 2005 we were champions for the first time in 30 odd years (first time in my lifetime). The WCC was our reward, we hadn't played one before. Having seen Bradford and Saints win the previous ones, expectations were high. Thus it was novel and exciting for the good citizens of Leeds.

By 2010, it was our 4th in 5 or 6 years. Thus no longer novel. It wasn't even the first against Melbourne.

Given that very few people really believe that victory in this match really makes you the best team in the world on anything other than paper, the novelty was an important selling point, particularly to people outside the club's core support.

The fact that we've lost the last two has probably dented consumer confidence too.

For most fans (certainly for me, I speculate for the rest) this is the 3rd or even 4th most important trophy (depending on how you value the LLS). It's nice to win, don't get me wrong, but not the be all and end all.

None of them were sell out games.

Probably a fair assessment. I think a precedent was set last year when the Game was held at the DW. So assuming that the SL Champions play in a ground with a large enough capacity, that is where the games will be held from now on.

Still a decent money spinner for both club and the RFL i would guess.

Give or take a few tickets then. 40k was the cap for the 1st game and 33.5k was the cap for the last 3.

3,000 short of a sell out then, give or take a few £10 tickets here and there.


East Stand Upper was open for the first Melbourne game in 2008 so how do you arrive at a drop of 40k to 33.5k in capacity?

Not sure why you're attempting to paint a rosy picture of WCC attendances when they have clearly been on the decline since the first one due to reduced interest/novelty value.

From memory the upper tier of the east stand was closed for the 2008, 2009 & 2010 WCC. This knocked 6-7000 off the capacity and availability of cheaper tickets and tickets with a better view.

East Stand Upper was rlre-opened in 2008 in order to meet demandrl.

Attendance was still almost 4K less than for the Canterbury game.

The economics of of WCC are a bonanza for the competing clubs. I think the prize money is shared by the players but do some math on gate money alone and I reckon it amounted to £450k to £500k. Add in sponsorship, advertising and concessions.

Now, remember that the reported highest offer of sponsorship for the whole league was £750k from Betfair which would be shared between 14 teams over a whole year then you begin to understand why this one game is a very important fixture. Leeds will have been set up nicely by last night's match.

GH had promised to double last nights prize fund if Leeds won so he'll be an extra £50K down on whatever profit he did make on last nights game.

how does the prize money in the players pot stand as far as the cap goes? is it included or are we doing as a certain club does regarding cash payments?

This was discussed on here a year or two back and someone linked the RFLs rules that say it's excluded.

The prize money provided by the RFL will certainly be excluded from the cap. Not that it specifies this in the rules but I'd have thought the extra Hetherington wants to give to the players will probably have to go on the cap.

That would be my understanding and highlights the apparent availability of spare capacity within it despite plenty of renegotiated contract announcements already this year.

Hopefully by the end of the year Mr Hetherington will have made good on his 'spending the full cap allowance again' claim.