Look on a well know video site for a review of the 1990 kanagroo tour.

Great crowd at Wembley.
Packed Old Trafford/Elland Road.
Great rugby from both sides.
Creative halfbacks.
Good crowds for the club/Aus games.

And that was an era when Australia were oozing class all over the paddock and the series was tight as anything. The standard of rugby IMHO was miles better than the '13 gym monkeys' smashing hell out of each other we have today. Players with injuries were desperate to make the Ashes tours on both sides, it meant that much to them.

Since that series, and that era. The International game declined.

I think the format of the regular SL season is intimately tied up with the formatting of the international game.

SL needs to have a sensible, and fair, number of rounds (for instance, Warrington, Huddersfield & Catalans get an additional 2pt gimme by having their magic weekends against Widnes, Salford & London, as against Leeds, Wigan & Saints, who play Bradford and each other).

Plus, the Challenge Cup needs to involve all teams and be a straight knockout competition. With all of Super League, Championship, Championship 1 & Elite One Championship you have 44 teams. That would leave 20 spots to open qualification from all teams at all levels who wished to enter, with a subsequent pure knockout over 6 rounds to the final at Wembley.

6 CC Weekends, 26 SL weekends leads to a 32 week (call it 8 month) season, starting the last weekend in February and finishing in October. 5 Nations to be played in June/July, and Autumn internationals to be played in November.

Any stats on number of imports? I seem to remember most clubs having 5+ imports in the 90's

I think it was no more than three in the 1990s.

Why would Sean O'Loughlin play for Ireland when he can play for England?

A minor point, but i would like to point out that Eamon O'carrol plays for Widnes.