Would it be the teams who finished in the top 3? Or the two Super League Grand Finalists and another?
I like it because it gives teams another incentive to do well in the league and something else to play for.

Bloody hell, I've just reread it! That's what I get for rushing to type on an iPhone!
Apologies.

Hetherington was making noises about alternating the 3 nations with this club challenge idea. Having internationals every two years might well increase enthusiasm for that competition too. Having said that, he wasn't nearly as upbeat about the prospect of the club comp as the linked article might suggest, judging from his appearance on Boots n All.

That would make a lot of sense.
The 4 nations is great but, its wrong to play that comp every season (not withstanding the break in world cup season)
Whether that maybe this would give an opportunity for say the top 4 from SL and the NRL and then have a mini konckout ?

we shouldnt, and quite frankly cant, have a WCC and four nations alternating.

We shouldnt because the WCC needs to be every year to build it as a competition (though i still argue it shouldnt be in this format)

we cant because we have a WC to fit in there.

I've said before that the structure international competition should be very simple.

8 team WCC every year. Between the GF and international competition, GF winner and top 3 clubs in each hemisphere. (obviously quite often one of the top 3 will win the GF in which case it would be top 4)

2013 World Cup N/H
2014 4 nations S/H
2015 Proper tour, GB + France tour NZ and Aus
2016 4 nations N/H
2017 WC S/H
2018 4 nations N/H
2019 Proper tour NZ and Aus tour GB + france
2020 4 nations S/h
2021 World Cup N/H

2 4 nations, a Tour and WC every four years.

Given fans won't pay to attend games that aren't included in the season tickets, I would suggest sorting out play-off and CC attendances before adding more "one off" games for them to watch on TV being played in 3/4 empty stadiums

The prize money on offer will need to be considerable for NRL teams to send anuything other than their second strings across the planet.....

I didn't think that's what Hetherington was suggesting. I thought he was saying that if the 4 Nations was held in the UK then the WCC should be held in Australia and vice versa.
I don't see why we can't have the 4 nations each year. It's a max of 4 games. Personally I think there should be an end of season international schedule of:
Year 1 - 4 Nations
Year 2 - Test Series GB v Aus or NZ alternating
Year 3 - 4 Nations
Year 4 - World Cup

Plus an annual mid-season 5 Nations of England, France, Wales, Scotland & Ireland.
Yes it's more fixtures but it's only 4 additional games for the top players, they might have to do like in Union and miss some domestic league games while the mid-season comp is on. Do away with the Exiles and that's saved 2 games.

The fine print needs to be resolved, and the comp may or may not eb a success though I would hope they'd give it a crack of about at least 10 seasons to tinker and improve, before scrapping it, if they start it.

But we had a number of sages on here loudly telling us that there was NO WAY the Aussies would ever agree to any such thing and the talk of an extended WCC or similar was fantasy. Where are they now? Are they the same ones who now calim there ain't a cat in hell's chance of it working? Love it!

We need this. My only concern is that we go into it half baked, in a kind of 'start small and see if we can improve it' way, which risks a dissappointing start and then two opposing camps from day one: "scrap it, its rubbish'' and " we've got to stick with it and hope it improves", both of whom are half right and half wrong. What we must desperately avoid is a flop which kills the concept for another generation.

It can't be beyond the wit of man to design a really meaningful international club competition right from the off. Not a silly couple of games pre or post season, but a proper competition that spices up the season over an extended time frame and helps keep RL in the news *regularly* ( not a couple of times a year ). Like the Champions League and Heineken Cup. Do that, and I'll be firmly in the 'give it time' camp.

Even group stages can be done without insane travel - you just play your two overseas away games ( assuming 4 teams per group, two SL, two NRL ) in one single overseas trip.

Perhaps it needs to be given the go ahead first before any fine print is resolved?


Eddie HemmingsGary HetheringtonEddie HemmingsGary Hetherington: Well, I think so, yes... err... err... we had a really good chat with... err... err... with the Melbourne... err... officials as well... err... err...


Excellent definitive news on the future of the WCC.
Nice work Gary.
Glad it's all been sorted and given the... err... err... go ahead.

Perhaps. Or perhaps not. Or maybe somewhere between the two. Who knows .. so many questions. Please don't let it keep you awake at night, though. Concentrate on trying to troll better. There's a million times more chance of an expanded WCC than you ever posting anything a chimp couldn't.


You need to get some therapy for that stammer, too.

Chimps are more intelligent than Pavlov's Dog. Is that you salivating at GH's latest unsubstantiated [i"world series/expanded wcc gets go ahead"[/i headline?

Thought so.

How's the SL attendances going this year?