I think that's a bit of a pipedream in all honesty. Especially in its current one-off guise. Even if it had the biggest profile possible in this game, the fact that the game itself doesn't have a worldwide profile would make hosting it in those places ineffective.

It is only a big event when Leeds win the honour of playing, for that reason I doubt Leeds will play in Aus because the number of fans they attract to the game is unmatched in the UK and i doubt Manly could match them either

if leeds can go on pre season jollys to jacksonville, then they shouldn't have any problems wanting to face manly in OZ.

its about time our champions tested themselves in oz after years of having the upperhand in the fixture

also it seems the nrl champions are taking this comp a lot more seriously now

I'm not holding my breath

Totally agree, I think its criminal that neither the NRL or SL have taken games to Hong Kong, Japan, Dubai etc.

Mystic Meg tells me the score ends up Manly 60 - 6 Leeds. Seriously it would be a totall nightmare for the Rhinos and could derail the start of the season for them.

An even better reason for it to happen

In all seriousness, so what if they get stuffed? I'd rather know how we did than listen to all the cynics. We shouldn't not test ourselves for fear of failure. It's defeatist.

But that trip to Jacksonville is a lot closer in flight time than a trip to Sydney and was in January. Considering the NRL starts in March I can't imagine Manly being too happy playing it 6 weeks to 2 months before their first NRL game.
With SL & NRL starting when they currently do, I can't see anything but the WCC being held in the UK.

It wouldn't get 80,000. My hunch is maybe nearer 30,000 to be honest.

They should do.

For this to happen the game would have to be played in January, and Manly are not going to do that.

Why can't Leeds start sl a week before everybody else (apart from thier opponents) then I'm March play a sl game on the Friday, fly to oz the next day, play wcc on the following Friday, back to the uk the next day, sl the following Sunday?

RFL will want to keep the start of the season the same as last year imo, ie all teams playing on the same weekend in Cardiff. And when did Aussie stadium hold 80000 anyway, SFS as it is called now, holds about 48000!! Homebush holds 80000.

The article said "ANZ Stadium", which is Homebush Stadium, Stadium Australia, Olympic Stadium, etc, etc.


Names change a lot over here.