Quote: NickyKiss "If we don't start involving the emerging teams more after this World Cup we need to pack up. The likes of Fiji, Italy, Scotland and the USA have been a revelation and others like Samoa and Tonga have offered great value. I'd set up a tournament to run alongside each four nations involving these sides and have them playing in double headed fixtures alongside a four nations game.
Let's use it as a mode of qualification for future four nations and as a means to expand that competition. If we give players the opportunity to play in more high profile competition we may not see as many players keep swapping nations.
There's a passion for international rugby league and that's been evident these past few weeks, let's take advantage of that.'"
I think double headers are the way forward, if the 4 Nations is in the Northern Hemisphere, have games like France-Scotland as the warm-up to England-Australia. Same when its in the Southern Hemisphere, have PNG-Samoa as the warm-up to NZ-Fiji.
the smaller nations get the chance to play in front of bigger crowds at better grounds, and the game doesn't incur the cost of hiring 2 grounds out for the day, and the fans get a better knowledge of the smaller teams players and 'star' names which can only help sales when a World Cup comes round. Everyone's a winner.