I think I've just derailed this thread. Time to move this bit.

World Club Challenge is nothing to do with internationals and shouldn't be considered here.

Year 0: WC
Year 1: 4N/Pacific Cup/European Cup
Year 2: 4N/WCQ
Year 3: WCQ/Test series
Year 4: WC

That's how it should and hopefully will be from now on.

The Challenge Cup is historically important but I'd draw the line at the ties being "big earners" for the clubs.

It all depends on what is perceived as best for the game. If the clubs see the benefit to a set International scene, if the governing bodies can get agreement from all parties and if the media partners and sponsors can be tied down, I see it as key to the long term development of the game that more emphasis is placed on Internationals.

This will be the most spotlight the game gets for at least another 8 years......what's needed is a media buzz every year like the one Union gets for the 6 nations and then again in the Autumn internationals.

There's nothing so jingoistic as an Englishman and playing Johnny Foreigner at any sport generally gets white flags flapping from car windows!

I included it as part of my post on the structure of the game thread but here's what I'd do:
A consistent 8 year cycle

Year 1: World Cup
Year 2: 5 Nations in SH. (Eng, Aus, NZ, PNG, Fiji)
Year 3: Australia tour of UK/France. 3 Test Series v GB plus games against a couple of clubs and France
Year 4: GB tour of NZ. 3 Test Series v NZ plus a game against PNG
Year 5: World Cup
Year 6: 5 Nations in UK/France (Eng, Aus, NZ, Wales, France)
Year 7: GB tour of Australia. 3 Test series v Aus plus games against clubs
Year 8: NZ tour of UK/France. 3 Test Series v GB plus game v France

Plus an annual, mid-season 5 Nations comp in UK/France of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales & France. And an annual, mid-season 4 Nations comp in SH of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

We need to build on the esxcitement of the RLWCwith an Ahses series the year after

I'd go
Year 0 RLWC Europe
Year 1 Ashes test series down under, Pacific and European cup
Year 2 6 nations (Eng,Oz,NZ, +PNG or France depending on hemisphere being payed in + cup winners (or runners up if winner france or PNG) from previous year)
Year 3 Ashes test series UK, World cup qualifying tournaments
Year 5 RLWC OZ&NZ

You've gotta give the top players a break sometimes.

Have a domestic international series in the season.

The world Club challenge is an odd one. I’d love to see an extended one but fitting it in to a crammed calendar is difficult. I think it needs to us to either be a bit more creative or cut down on the number of league games the top players play.

I think the international calendar is pretty simple, 5 nations mid season tournament in NH every year with home nations and France. Italy look to be next boat off the dock when applicable. Games played on designated free weekends. Oz, Nz, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa play same tournament at same time in SH. 4 games, 5 weeks. Includes a rest week.

End of years 8 year cycle (starting next year)

year 1 4 nations SH
Year 2 Proper tour SH
Year 3 4 nations NH
Year 4 WC SH
Year 5 4 nations NH
Year 6 proper tour NH
Year 7 4 nations SH
Year 8 WC NH

I think it is also important that we be clear that an SH tour by England doesn’t just mean 3 games against the Aussies. I can imagine the governments of Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and PNG would be very welcoming of an England side playing those nations in those nations. I also can’t imagine too many players having a big problem spending 6 weeks in paradise playing RL.

We line up the seasons so they start and end on the same day. One month between end of club season start of international comp. The WCC to be played in whichever hemisphere the international tournament is to be played. Top 4 in each competition. 1st/3rd SL in a group with 2nd/4th NRL and vice-versa. Each side plays the 2 teams from the other comp once, top team in each group go to WCC final. Champions of each comp start on 1 point. That’s a three week competition that would take us up to the international season.

For fitting it in to the season, we can scrap the exiles game which is two weeks back, one WCC week would be replace. That would leave us needing to find 4 weeks (mid season internationals would be 4 weeks, expanded WCC would be 3 meaning we need to find 7 weeks). I would also look at limiting players to playing a certain amount of club matches per season but expanding the SC and squad size to cover this, say add another 8 players taking squad sizes to 33 expand the SC by 250k for those additional 8 players but insist 5 of them are under 21.

Well my thoughts may be ambitious but I think the bottom line is to allow countries to build and stop players from changing allegiance every country must be given an opportunity to play competitive internationals. More work must be done to allow U21's competitions for a start and eventually we may get to a point where once your capped for one country you have to stick to it. That I believe must be the long term goal. I'd also like to extend the four nations to a five nations, its absolutely valuable we give more countries the chance to play the big teams.

I would go for.

Year one : Five Nations in Northern Hemisphere (Top 3 ranked Countries from NH and Top 2 Ranked Countries from SH) Northern Hemisphere Shield and a Pacific Cup for other nations.
Year two : Northern Hemisphere Cup (Top 8 Ranked European Nations) and a Southern Hemisphere Cup (Top 8 Ranked Southern Hemisphere Nations).
Year three : Five Nations in Southern Hemisphere (Top 3 Ranked Countries SH and Top 2 Ranked Countries from NH) Northern Hemisphere Shield and a Pacific Cup for other Nations.
Year Four : World Cup in X Nation.

Northern Hemisphere Teams to consist from. England, Wales, France, Scotland, Italy, Russia, Serbia, Ireland, USA, Canada and Jamaica.

Southern Hemisphere Teams to consist from. Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, PNG, Tonga, Samoa, Cook Islands, South Africa.

Thats 19 countries we could potentially have playing competitive international RL every year.

I'd posted this in another thread before seing this one:

Ideally I'd have for England/GB:

2013 - WC

2014 - Spring Fortnight - Two 'Friendly' tests vs European Nations.
2014 - Mid-Season - Annual test vs France. (like the Anzac test).
2014 - Autumn - Southern Hemisphere games/tournaments (NH to travel).

2015 - Spring Fortnight - Two 'Friendly' tests vs European Nations.
2015 - Mid-Season - Annual test vs France.
2015 - Autumn - Northern Hemisphere games/tournaments (SH to travel).

2016 - Spring Fortnight - Two 'Friendly' tests vs European Nations.
2016 - Mid-Season - Annual test vs France.
2016 - Autumn - GB Lions Tour to SH (other nations playing eachother too).

2017 - Spring Fortnight - Two 'Friendly' tests vs European Nations.
2017 - Mid-Season - Annual test vs France.
2017 - Autumn - WC.


I think the International calendar needs to be 'fuller', not just limited to the back end of the season. SL moving to 12 teams and scrapping the Exiles fixture should free up the time.

I've see two articles today regarding countires playing their first domestic leage matches, Greece and Ghana. Greece will be playing in the first full internation vs Hungary and will feature Michael Korkidas & Braith Anasta. Brilliant news.

2013: RLWC

2014:
Tri Nations between top 3 in WC (so should have a 3rd place play-off). All three auto-qualify for RLWC2017.

European Cup (round robin between top 6 Euro Nations, e.g. France, Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, Scotland, Wales). Winner into RLWC2017 and 5N.
Pacific Cup (round robin between top 5 Pacific Nations, e.g. Cook Islands, Fiji, PNG, Samoa, Tonga). Winner into RLWC2017 and 5N.

European Shield (two groups of four, e.g. G1: Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, Malta. G2: Germany, Norway, Czech Republic, Netherlands). Winner of each group to Euro Qualifiers. Winners play in final for Shield. Runners-up play off for final Euro Qualifier spot.
Asia/America Cup (Canada, USA, Jamaica, Japan). Part one over two years.

2015:
Five Nations (3N + EC winners + PC winners). Already qualified for RLWC 2017.

Euro Qualifiers (seeded groups featuring 5 remaining Euro Cup 2014 sides and 3 Euro Shield qualifiers). Top 2 in each group qualify. 3rd in each group into repechage round.
Pacific Qualifiers (remaining Pacific Cup 2014 sides). Top 3 through to RLWC 2017. Last into repechage round.
Asia/America Cup (second round). Winner through to RLWC 2017. Runner up to repechage round.

2016:
Lions Tour to Aus.
French Tour to Pacific.

Repechage Round (two 3rd place Euro sides, 4th place Pacific side and 2nd place Asia/America side). Straight knock out semis/final, like in 2008.

2017:
RLWC. 14 teams.

---

Meaningful and connected tournaments all the way through.

If we play France mid-season, how about on French Liberation day.

Big public holiday in France

As for the WCC, it will never extend beyond one match unless it is successful in Australia. It would have to see a reduction in the league season in both SL and the NRL to fit it in, so both leagues would have to see more money from it than they get from their current deals. The clubs not involved would also need someone to play as they'd lose income otherwise.

Suppose it could be interesting to have the 3x8 system come into play here.

NRL split into two conferences -
Sydney: Canterbury, Cronulla, Manly, Parramatta, Penrith, Rabbitohs, Roosters, Wests;
Oceania: Brisbane, Canberra, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Newcastle, New Zealand, North Queensland, St George-Illawarra.

Play each other in your conference once + 3 cross-group games. 17 games.

Top four in each conference join top 8 from SL (16 teams).
Split into 2 groups of 8 (2 Sydney, 2 Oceania, 4 SL per group).
Play each other once (7 games).
Quarters, semis, World Club Final.

Bottom four of each NRL group can play off for the NRL Shield in a similar format (7 games, semis then Shield Final).
Bottom four in SL go into the relegation group with Championship clubs.

Effectively, that is the beginnings of a World League.

Hi all,
two more teams who recently played there 1st international fixture. The Philippines played Thailand over the weekend. Ph won 46 : 10. Former Royal Navy & Combined Services RL player Andy Steel, who now lives in Thailand has done a brilliant job setting up Thai RL.