Who cares if the NRL are reluctant, no other decent sport objects to their top players partaking in international competition in fact most welcome it. Throughout this pandemic major sports have struggled on, the Olympic Games are going ahead. The lions are in South Africa & we don’t here them or their clubs endlessly moaning , Union are quiet happy to have players missing through international duty (a lot more than league asks) . The NRL also don’t mind players stood down for origin games. It is just pure selfishness & total lack of interest in anything not Australian. People are correct saying it will be a farce without the NRL players but let’s put the blame where it belongs squarely in the arms of the NRL.

Agreed. It will be a poor excuse of a competition if the NRL players are not involved. I certainly wouldn't want England to win it if the other nations either don't turn up or put out weakened squads.

Using the Olympics as an example really isn't great when you could easily make the argument that the ioc are simply going ahead with it due to the financial fall out if they cancel it. There will be no fans at the Olympics, is that really a competition that should go ahead?

Origin is rep footy so yes players must be allowed to play but notice they didn't just go ahead and put an origin game in NSW did they? They played them all in queensland as it was safe to do so. Just as the NRL has moved to queensland.

I'm not convinced the NRL are doing this just for the sake of it. They have a competition which they can't afford to take unnecessary risks which may impact a season resulting in lost revenue from broadcasters.

The lions tour has seen games cancelled. Who's to say a test doesn't get cancelled?


Is the lions tour

I can understand that it will be difficult but International football is the pinnacle of the sport if it messes up the NRL so be it. Delay the start of their next season. Every other sport is making huge efforts to get competition’s played. It is time the NRL promoted the world game & not their competition, I won’t hold my breath as they have a long record of disrespecting anything not NRL. If we can have the Euros going ahead then a competition with fewer teams should be easy.

It's odd, albeit understandable with current Covid risk, that SL hasn't gone back to scrums, as I believe they'll be included in the RLWC.

The olympic stadium and venues are going to be empty, no public are allowed from what I last read. If the WC goes ahead with no fans then that's an even bigger financial disaster and would be a souless torunament

They should never have got rid of them. The idea that Scrums bring more risk when players are hitting each other at all other times is a joke.

The NRL never got rid of scums. They actually brought in rules to make set plays from Scrums more advantageous to the team with the ball.

It's not so easy to just delay it. The players Union won't accept a shortened calender but the same amount of games. Broadcasters also have to agree to a later start date for the season.

96 people died in the UK yesterday of Covid or a Covid related illness.

You're Guinea Pigs in a tory science experiment and it's not going to be an issue if Australia rock up, because at the moment, the UK is attractive as a hooker with T-shirt declaring STD's come as standard.....Tokyo Olympics will be the litmus. The Euros have shown how this thing spreads

A good read this on why they want to still go ahead. https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemeehal ... =true&s=08

A good read this on why they want to still go ahead. https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemeehal ... =true&s=08

Quite shocking that the NRL are putting themselves and their domestic competition above the world cup.
Without the NRL players, it becomes an absolute waste of time.
Can it be postponed to next season and will things be any better then ?

One of the major reasons as to why the international game has gone backwards is the "Aussies" feeling that they dont need the rest of the world and specifically the UK (and France) etc, as their domestic comp is "better" but, this is mickey poor on their part.

It's quite ridiculous that "everyone" has signed without the Aussies, a move clearly designed to put them under pressure and if we go ahead without them or, try to form "international" sides with players based in Europe, this will be a major, major flop.

Get the Aussies on board now or, postpone.
Any costs of postponing should come from the NRL but, this would be unlikely to happen.