Not that I've got anything against the idea of the plate, but why is it the role of a World Cup to provide revenue for regional or lower league teams?

It's not but these games would be better in a smaller stadium and a better atmosphere would be generated. Could play plate games as curtain raisers to quarter finals also

I wonder if there`s anyway of incorporating a grand final element to a world cup.

Its a fairly unique format to league.

Perhaps an 11 team format that could lead could lead to a 7 team finals

Grp A 3 teams playing for a position in the finals
England
Aus
NZ

Then 2 groups b and c of 4

top 2 in each take up the remaining 4 places based on results

so the finals may look like

1 aus
2 grp b winner
3 grp c winner
4 Eng
5 grp b runner up
6 NZ
7 grp c runner up

Give 1st a game off and have quarters of 2v7 3v6 and 4v5

Then give 1st a team call for the semis.

super pool was a good idea, stick with it
playing all the games in one country was a good idea, stick with it
playing games at a variety of grounds but in areas with established rugby league fan bases was a good idea, stick with it
making all the matches affordable was a good idea, stick with it
holding the final in the area where most rugby league fans regularly turn out was a good idea, stick with it

in fact just copy the 2008 model entirely (include 1995 ideas too if you need english examples), mistake to expand the team numbers but hopefully we can stick at one mistake please Mr RLIF

Top Tier - Australia, New Zealand, England
Middle Tier - France, PNG, Wales
Lower Tier - The other 8. (Scotland, Ireland, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands etc)

Two "Super Groups" of 3 (Randomised from top six, but using tiers to ensure the top three aren't all together).
Two "Minor Groups" of 4 (Randomised from the other 8 ).

Everyone plays each in their group once over 3 rounds, thus ranking within each group. This would be done over around a 2 week period.

4th Place in Group A and Group B do not reach finals.

[iSuper Qualifier 1[/iSuper Qualifier 2[/i[iElimination Qualifier 1[/i[iElimination Qualifier 2[/i[iElimination Qualifier 3[/i[iElimination Qualifier 4[/iLosers of Elimination Qualifiers are out

[iQuarter Final 1[/i[iQuarter Final 2[/i[iQuarter Final 3[/i[iQuarter Final 4[/iAll losers Eliminated

[iSemi Final 1[/i[iSemi Final 2[/iAll losers Eliminated

[iFinal[/i: Winner Semi Final 1 vs Winner Semi Final 2

why on earth have you included Wales in a 'middle tier' when they are ranked 12th in the World rankings and included Fiji (ranked 4th) in a lower tier?

You might want to see how England fare against PNG in the 4 nations as well before having them as lesser team than England!

you mean like playing in London?

I'm sure he meant the likes of Hemel, Guiseley, Whinmoor, and Wigan St Pats. I'm sure he wasn't hoping to use the WC as some kind of subsidy to the championship mid-tier leagues

14 is a ridiculous number for a finals. It should be 12 or 16 and given the lack of competition I'd suggest 12. Then 4 groups of 3 with the top placed side in each group qualifying for the semi finals, losers of this play in a 3rd v 4th match, and the winners through to the final. Simple.

Does anyone know why we've got 14 teams qualified for the finals? If it wasn't for the fact it's an RFL decision, it would be unbelievable.

Given it's 14, we're almost certainly going to go down the route of a "super group" again which was very unprofessional.

That was two years ago. Wales won the European Cup last year. Fiji came 3rd in the Pacific Cup, knocked out by a team ranked 14th in the RLIF rankings. The RLIF rankings mean very little two years on.


I think England will be fine. They got to the final last year, didn't they?

Mind you...

Steve McNamara?

are you saying that's a mistake or a good idea?

i think its a good idea, but thats not what i was saying

i was asking whether you thought it was a good idea, considering what you had written previously regarding copying 95

What's unprofessional about it?

And unless you want 4 groups of 3, the format would still be a bit strange.

maybe you would like to bet on it then bazza,

PNG win i will give £100 to a charity of your choice
England win you give £100 to a charity of my choice