If Manly had have won nobody would mention their preperation methods. They are aware of what theyre coming over for, they know the score so the only person to blame is themselves. lets not have a dig and take it away from Leeds. Its a long way to come not to take it seriously and it shows lack of respect to the travelling Manly fans who spend a lot of money coming over. So at kcik of it was all square with no balance of favour.

As for us playing at Headingley. Regardless of where we played in the UK the bulk of the crowd would have been Leeds fans even if it was in Scotland or London so it would still be "home" advantage

That's right.

If you start arguing along those lines it's easy to say the advantage is with the NRL side as they have money and play kin a better competition so are more battle hardened.

Fact is, Leeds won. In my opinion, they won against the odds as Manly looked set to steam roller them in the last 20. Regardless of Manly lacking match fitness, it was an impressive win for the SL.

I'd take that point to an extent, though I think timing and whatnot play a part too.



Well, what do you expect? It's a one-off pre-season game. They're hardly going to up sticks in the middle of their pre-season training to come to the UK for 2-3 weeks.



That I can't understand. Is this fact, or just popular conception? I can't imagine any SL side would fancy a trip down under part way through a season, given the disruption it would cause to their preparations for the next SL game. If it is the case that the Aussies refuse to stage the game, does that tell us something about how they view the fixture?



Again, it seems unreasonable to expect them to play a few warm up games for a one-off pre-season fixture when they're trying to prepare for the new NRL season. If they played a couple of games prior to the WCC, they'd also have to play more warm up games after it to be ready for their first league game. Their main focus is on the NRL, not the WCC.



Internationals are stacked in favour of the antipodeans? Really? They've been played almost exclusively in our country for ages. The refs and reffing calls depend on the individual ref, so I wouldn't say they favoured one team over another. You could have a point with the playing more games thing, but I don't think that outweighs everything else.

No, they'd have said how disappointing it was that an under-prepared Manly team could have travelled halfway around the world and still beat our best side in their own backyard.



As I pointed out in a previous post, they're already disrupting their pre-season to travel thousands of miles for a one-off game. Is it reasonable to also expect them to get here earlier and/or play warm up games for the event too? I don't think it is.



This isn't about Leeds. I have massive respect for what they've achieved in the domestic game, and how they've done it with a hard core of home-grown talent. I think Sinfield is not only Leeds' best ever captain, he's a true legend of the sport. What this is about is the fact that the whole concept is a waste of time in its current format. If the British side is going to win the thing every year (or nearly every year), let's make it count for something or scrap it.



Of course it wasn't all square. Leeds were a couple of games into the season, in their own country and at their home ground. As every other SL side to contest this trophy has been for long enough.



True.

Correct.



And what?



Correct.



Woooah, you brought up the point about an English team going to Australia and winning!

as much as we all hate wigan...and i hate wigan more than you all.......we should accept that wigan beating brisbane in brisbane in the middle of their season is one of the greatest achievement in the history of british RL......probably 2nd to the rorke's drift test in 1914 in my eyes........


and until a british team goes down under and wins every british win kinda pales into comparison really...........well done leeds though,cracking game

probably by invitation of the Manly assistant coach Matt Parish who signed him up to the Salford backroom staff before he quit.

Winners find a way to win, losers make excuses.

If Manly want to be world champions then they needed to win. They couldnt. If that was down to a lack of preparation on their part? Thats a failing in their squad, its a weakness to be exploited no different to how you would try and exploit a small pack, or poor defending around the ruck.

That wasnt Manly's greatest performance, but it was nowhere near there worst. There are probably 5 or 6 SL sides who could crack the NRL and be competitive there, some at the top end.

There is a simple way of checking, play more games.

How much did Manly actually want to win ?
Was it a case of playing the game, taking the cash and using the fixture as part of their pre season, or do we think the really really wanted to win the fixture ?

What always puizzled me is why the NRL and SL seasons dont start and finish at the same time. Move ours a couple of weeks on way and theirs in the opposit direction and then aternate the fixture, England one year then Aus the next, it seems simple !

I’m pretty sure that if you were on the end of a few of their tackles last night you would know the answer to that question

The attitude to this game really infuriates me. If the SL side win people say the Aussies didn’t care and if the NRL side win it is because they are superior players in a superior competition

The NRL players are full time athletes playing in one of the most competitive leagues in the world. That league starts in 2 weeks time, if their players are not conditioned right now then they had better hurry up!

The Manly players wanted to win and they didn’t because Leeds played better than them

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/17082173 Logistics are simple. End of season 3 or 4 of our teams go over to OZ, play the WCC then the internationals start after that has finished. The next year, reversed in the UK Most of the internationals will play for the top sides any extras catch a plane over together before the internationals.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/17082173 Logistics are simple. End of season 3 or 4 of our teams go over to OZ, play the WCC then the internationals start after that has finished. The next year, reversed in the UK Most of the internationals will play for the top sides any extras catch a plane over together before the internationals.

Big nige along with Neville Smith?

It seems noises are being made for a reason. I certainly hope so.

Guessed that when watching again this morning. When Eddie mentioned Parish I finally got there!

Makes sense, the sticking point will be thie size of SL and the number of games to be played.

If the expanded wcc is a commercial success then hopefully this will offset the loss of earnings for less club games in the regular season.

Took my friend to this as his first RL game, all was doing was moaning about how bad the atmosphere was, he did have a point to an extent. The Leeds fans in the West Terrace were silent until the last 5 minutes. Had some decent banter with the Manly fans in the Oak pre match, decent people. Well done to Heinz Big Soup too, great sponsors.