Its only their own fault for not qualifying but it is a travesty that France are not in this comp. Had they been given one or two home games they would have came up with very healthy crowds and at least been competitive if at close to full strength. What is the point of Cats in SL if we're not committing to creating a strong French international side? They should have been given the spot, for certain.

We should swap Wales for Scotland, they have just won the Euro cup, have two semi professional clubs and are actually developing players. It's crazy to include Scotland next year.

Here is how I would line the games up...

Round One
Opening Ceremony - [iWembley Stadium, London[/i
Scotland vs New Zealand - [iWembley Stadium, London[/i
England vs Australia - [iWembley Stadium, London[/i

Round Two
England vs New Zealand - [iJohn Smith's Stadium, Huddersfield OR KC Stadium, Hull[/i
Scotland vs Australia - [iKingston Park, Newcastle[/i

Round Three
Scotland vs England - [iTynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh[/i
Australia vs New Zealand [iDW Stadium, Wigan[/i

Final
Closing Ceremony - [iElland Road, Leeds [/i
1st vs 2nd - [iElland Road, Leeds[/i

If venues are willing, what about staging all the fixtures as double headers?

That's what I'd do. Scotland on its own will get low crowds and needs to be boosted by the other fixture.

I think the opening game should be England v Australia & Scotland v NZ at Wembley. We can get a decent crowd there and I think it's vital we have at least 1 England game at a major venue in London.

I understand peoples desire to get a crowd in Scotland but I just can't see it happening. The game has no profile there at all. It has no teams above amateur status and no real history of the sport to draw upon.
So I'd have all Scotland's games in England.

Round 2 I'd have at somewhere like Hull or Wigan. A double header of England v Scotland and Australia v NZ. It's a shame that Kingston Park isn't bigger or St James Park isn't smaller or I'd hold this round there.

Round 3 I'd have at Man City.

Final at Elland Road.

England vs Scotland should be played at the Hampden Stadium in Glasgow.. They could promote it by playing the Paul McCartney and Wings song video Mull of Kintyre as advertising material in a 30 second ad. They would fill the stadium.

Please not Elland road.

Anywhere but Elland Road.

Believe me, being a fat knacker who struggles to squeeze my vast bulk into the seats at ER, I totally agree. It's just about the right size though, and in RL territority.
If we could guarantee England being in the final then I'd go bigger. But if we're not then the crowd could be relatively low.

I'm sort of tempted to go down the Union route and not have a final. Just go on the league leader. Maybe play each other twice instead?
Only a thought.

A Six Nations-style mini-league would make more sense, if, as suggested on here, there were two 'minnow' sides, who would have the interest of battling it out to avoid the wooden spoon.

I'd be happy with that. I think the 4 Nations needs expanding to at least 5. Does anyone involved with the Scotland camp, even in their wildest dreams, think they'll win a game in the series?
They have very little to play for.
Give them a game against France or Wales and suddenly there's an achievable goal for them.

Well we have dates and tickets on sale for the WCC and associated NRL friendlies, magic weekend and the challenge cup and grand finals. Next job RFL is to get these international venues and tickets on sale. Now please.

I think Scotland qualifying pushes us towards double header territory. Any game in Scotland would be very optimistic. So four rounds, four stadiums. I'd go for Leeds, Manchester, London and Newcastle. I'd tie extra marketing for each international in with the other events we have. WCC associated push for international games at Elland Road, Magic associated push for internationals at St James Park etc We are coming back on... with another chance to see the best in the world.

Id put England v Aus up first in London, Olympic or Wembley are both fine. Both got history as a national stadium too.

Eng v Sco at Elland Road, probably the smallest crowd expected so need to go core audience and NZ v Aus should also draw that. Historically been an international venue but as we don't have much success there is might be time for a change in final venue. It's also where I think Leeds should play NQC.

Eng v NZ at St James park, hopefully a good area for growth, sport mad and a place where being a "northern
game" is actually a good thing play the decider there and show a growth area that we think they deserve more big games after how well magic has gone.

Final at Old Trafford or COM stadium. History at Old Trafford or great chance to build on Magic weekends at COM.

I don't think we can risk using Man City's ground for the final. If England aren't in the final it could be less than half full. The last time we got 26k for Australia v NZ in the final.
In Man City's ground that'd look bad, at Old Trafford itd look appalling.

I think the world cup sold out old Trafford and no one knew who would be in the final and it was Australia new Zealand.

Why would those people not go back for a 4 nations final?

Indeed
But those tickets went on sale before Christmas the year before...

Yep. And the whole event had more marketing available to it than the 4 Nations will. Plus a World Cup is a much bigger deal than the 4 Nations. Especially as we hadn't seen one for 13 years. We last had a 4 Nations here 5 years ago.