whats the point of just reading endless posts from tedious, docile "yes men"?

Cut nonsense out - stick to the topic of conversation!

Meanwhile, on the Warrington/Steve Price thread :

That was me editing a post that wasn't within the topic of the thread!

Cheers
TS

I hope that you're not going to start every post with this same 'prologue', as that would become a bit tiresome?

I agree wholeheartedly with your comments regarding Tonga, Fiji and PNG this time around. It would have been great to see Samoa kick on and perform following 2013, their exploits fondly remembered in Warrington, but, it seems as though they have lost their way a bit, so the idea of a regular platform would help.

The Fijians were again knocked back in their application to join the NSW cup in 2018 and are regrouping for a tilt at 2019....I can't see any reason for this rejection unless they are concerned about the financial costs involved but you can fly Sydney to Nadi direct for about AU$700 with Fiji Air who may well see the benefit of sponsorship via a contra-deal like Transit with the wolfpack?


I'm not sure of how the Pacific Island communities are represented in Australia, but in terms of heritage players, the Fijians seem to be the team of the three who rely more so on Australian born players whilst Samoa and Tonga come mainly from NZ.....so maybe if there is going to be a Tongan/Samoan bid to join the QLND/NSW Cups it could come from New Zealand...there aren't any direct flights from NSW or QLD to Tonga but there is from Auckland....and flights would be considerably cheaper to Auckland rather than the Islands......question is do we need another Auckland NRL side or would it just dilute the Warriors fan base?

Is the reasoning behind Fiji being rejected simply down to air fare?

I'm not sure, but they were making negative statements like :rejection won't stop us" a full month before the bid was rejected. They would be responsible for paying for the travelling costs of visiting teams and they have claimed it's hard getting major sponsorhip...

[urlhttp://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/fiji-targets-place-in-2019-nsw-cup-after-falling-short-on-latest-bid-20171014-gz0zjg.html[/url

Not sure if this means Union is deliberately getting in the way, but the Union side is sponsored by Fiji Airways.

sell out for the final then??!

or at least more there than the fiji semi final?

[urlhttp://www.news.com.au/sport/cricket/ashes-extras-strong-brisbane-crowds-show-gabba-deserves-india-test/news-story/eb2f94908c22d770365862e89936d77d[/url
Brisbane is a pretty good sporting city with 45k there for the dead rubber v the All Blacks and 124,000 at the first 4 days of the ashes at the Gabba, so let's hope they sell it out.....If it doesn't sell out the Aussies shouldn't ever get a sniff of hosting it ever again.
As an aside, I think the Aussies have lost their last 3 tests at Lang........



EDIT: Just seen that the Final in 2008 was sold out months in advance (according to wiki)...how come we've seen a step backwards from the Australians in the last few years? New Zealand beating England at Lang in 2008 got more spectators than Australia v Fiji this year?

Has anyone any idea what the attendance was for the Australia/Fiji semi? Not for a whinge, prediction comp points at stake!!