I wish people would stop peddling this "series" nonsense.

It's two friendlies and a World Club Challenge.

I couldn't disagree more.

Calling games friendlies does nothing fir the game.

It's what people were calling the regular rl season and it is shooting ourselves in the foot.

If we want those outside the game to take notice then we need to promote promote promote.

Yellow Giraffe is spot on, if it was a proper series the NRL would have sent 2 top teams instead of mid table teams

Call it whatever you want, i loved last night and I'm throughly looking forward to going the DW tonight.

Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the game last night too and I'm also going later.

But let's not take away from the fact that tomorrow's game is the only one that "counts."

+1

www.sportsnews.com.au/nrl/dragon ... ton/135237 According to this article, there is a trophy for the "series" winners. News to me. Maybe the Aussies know something we don't?!?

www.sportsnews.com.au/nrl/dragon ... ton/135237 According to this article, there is a trophy for the "series" winners. News to me. Maybe the Aussies know something we don't?!?

I agree and it's been irritating me as well. It's nothing but two friendly games against a team that finished 11th and 8th in the NRL.

Sky been banging on about it like the Wigan and warrington game actually means something. It means nothing at all!

I enjoyed the game last night and was wanting Warrington to pinch it ( I hate Aussies) but wolves just fell short.

It's a worry that one of our best teams in Warrington who are always there or there abouts lost against a team that finished 11th in the NRL, traveled half way around the world and hadn't plsyed one competitive game.

I think Wigan have best chance of a win against a team that obvously don't wabt to be here and Bennett already said they down to 17 players and doesn't care about the result

I think the ref was a big factor last night and in a negative way for the hosts.

Yet again, we seem to be pandering to the Aussies and the two high shot incidents should have been a red and a yellow IMO. Smith said after the game he felt sorry for Ah Van and in a SL game it would have been a red and yellow card,
He also said that if they want to change the way they ref then fair enough but how about communication with the teams.

The ruck speed was appalling and much slower than the NRL or SL so I'm not sure what was going on in Thaler's head. St G realised this early on and decided to hols down for basically as long as they liked. For some odd reason Wire didn't seem to take advantage of this and the momentum changed. Even the St G coach said the line speed was very slow compared to the NRL. What he didn't seem to realise it was very slow compared to S as well.

I hope we get better interpretation of the rules by the ref's tonight and obviously for the real game tomorrow.
The worst result for SL is the matches being ruined by referees all because we don't want to upset the aussies by refusing to give penalties to make the game look faster when it actually does the opposite by encouraging lying on.

Here's another review about the Wire's loss to the Dragons www.nothingbutleague.com/dragons ... es-opener/

Here's another review about the Wire's loss to the Dragons www.nothingbutleague.com/dragons ... es-opener/

strange view....

were you around when The Australian test teams toured these shores and would play club sides in between the Test matches for no trophy, no title, .....nothing..... well nothing but pride???

And more often the second string test teams would play the club sides, but were those matches ever belittled? No. They were the most anticipated matches of the season, and often places that had never sniffed a capacity crowd for years were sold out....

we could have all labeled them friendlies or test match warm ups and treated them as a waste of time and not bothered attending. Fortunately stupid internet club rivalry and "my clubs in a bigger game than yours" mentality wasn't around then.

Wire fans and Wigan Fans know which the "trophy" is for maybe you could give us credit for both trying to expand the format and turn it into a real and credible tournament.

I mean under normal circumstances the one off game is often labeled as a pre season warm up game for the Aussies...one they haven't really took serious...make no bones about it, Souths Will not want to be the only side Aussie side to lose, so thanks to us both losing if you win tomorrow it will be a tremendous result.

I'd class playing for your country a little higher than a friendly game.

I quite like the series, gives the new viewer something to root for when its England v Australia.

Judging from Twitter its already converting some people over from non heartland areas and surely that's the goal.

It's been good. Our game wasn't the best quality but nobody could accuse the players of playing them like friendlies. The crowds have been good and the passion on show has been admirable.

Good luck tonight by the way. I think you've got a real chance! They're a top side but you're full of confidence and unlike us last night, have a good bit of size to try and combat what they'll throw at you (good side I suppose with the Burgess twins trundling it up and guys the size of Inglis in the backs).

Exactly.

Put it out as friendlies and warm ups or saying the cup match is the only match worth anything is not exactly a sales mans dream. He can't sell that to anyone outside of RL. Hell even most RL fans don't turn up for friendlies.

But selling it as a series between SL and the NRL ie England v Austrailia, that's something the marketing men can sell outside of the game. Which will attract more corporate money to the game.

People bemoan SL not having any money, not being able to keep hold of the talent, but then in the next breath will call it all a waste of time and a friendly.

Sell it as a series of games between SL and the NRL and get the casual watcher to turn in, just like the casual watcher will take in a football game, a Cricket 20/20 or test match or a RU game.

More casual watchers is what the game needs. This series will then get people looking for the next big match, maybe MW, maybe the CC final, the GF or an international game.

So far its been pretty good, hope the boys go out and show what they can do tonight and bring the bacon home for Saints/SL and the UK.

He's not on about that, he means when club sides used to play the rest of the touring Aussie squads midweek.

For nothing, other than pride.

But Wigan played a team that finished 8th in NRL that went out in round one play offs. They brought 18 players over. Wayne Bennett said pre match that he didn't care about the result. Wayne Bennett said post match that he didn't know it was a series comp and couidnt beleive played golden point!

St George finished 11th in the NRL and was in the world series!


The Aussies ain't took this serious. I bet half the Aussies didn't even watch it. If we are going to do something like this, let's do it proper and not just pick any team who want to come over to come. It's pretty laughable really.

It may help if we also had officials who knew the rules. Just had a "tweet" from an aussie journo friend of mine. Extra time golden point is 10 minutes (5 minutes each way). So Wigan should have had the advantage of pinning Brisbane back in that second half of extra time.

Come on! remember the Aussie season has not even started, have you forgot even what Saints looked like in the first few games? but now with some real match time under their belts it is a different ball game.

And they still beat our top teams! That makes it worse that two poor NRL teams who ain't played any rugby can fly half way around the world and beat us in a game they don't really care about!

That's all lovely in make believe fairy dust land, back in the real world we had to work with what was available - and that was Brisbane, St George and Souths.

This is effectively a "proof of concept" series. It's far from perfect but it will prove that these games can be hosted, the fans will turn out, Sky will build them up, they will make money and they are close games.

Having watched the first two (and attended the Wigan game) I can safely say I very much hope we build on this, although I admit it's easier to "do a Bennett", talk everything down and don't even try.

I'm not trying to make direct comparisons but its important to remember State of Origin was a failure nobody cared about for a few years.

We should give this a good few years to grow as it clearly engages casual supporters.

We weren't playing NRL rules. Stop moaning.

Well what is the rule regarding extra time/golden point?

Agreed. I wouldn't be surprised if the top Aussie clubs are more interested in coming over next time, as it's been clearly demonstrated that there's a public appetite for it.

There may have been a lukewarm response to the concept from Aussie administrators, but I don't think their players can be accused of not caring after the two fixtures we've seen.