Quote: littlerich "That would be pretty bloody amazing. Imagine that program of tournaments being reality!! It would surely cement the notion of internationalism into our game and would turn the whole concept into a habit and not just something thrown together as an afterthought at irregular intervals.'"
Yep, that notion is what I wish could be cemented in rugby league. As I said, clubs will just have to manage without a few top players for a couple of weeks.
With the end of season internationals, I think a set programme would help. The GB tours provide incentives for players to still play for the other home nations. And I think adding another team to the 4 Nations will expose another nation to top class rugby more often and also give the current 4th Nation a chance of winning a game too.
As for the annual mid-season comp, I understand England will walk it to begin with but give France a guaranteed schedule and the opportunity to build I have no doubt they can become competitive in time, the same goes for Wales. But they're not going to without regularly playing England. See Italy in union.
It will be a tad harsh on clubs but the clubs will ultimately benefit from the higher profile RL will eventually get. Plus if SL is reduced by 2 clubs that's 2 weeks free, so there's only 2 more weeks to be found in a 5 team, 4 game comp.