Have to give a big round of applause for Wales Rugby League and the strides they have made in pushing the sport forward in the principality and in the next 3-4 years we will really start to see the benefits of the work they have done.

There seems to be plenty of grass roots activity happening every weekend for youth teams at all ages, plus The Scorpions, Crusaders, Valley Cougars and another league team to be added next year.

In the short term they need the Evans brothers to commit to the Wales international team to accompany the rise of players like Rhys Williams, Lloyd White, Ben Flower and others in order to at least be competitive with the top nations.

Off the field the next step is to start producing more match officials from wales, referees, line judges and also coaches, I'd like to see what plans WRL have in this regard. But if they keep doing what they're doing and develop the commercial arm of their organisation more on top of all this grass roots work then Rugby League in Wales can really kick on and challenge whats considered to be the 'Big 3' in the next 3-5 years.

pfffft

And that means? Yeah great contribution, tell you what just crawl back into your hole.

I suspect the majority of the RL community will continue to ignore/belittle anything to do with WRL until the M62 is extended into Wales

Or until the pro club can go 3 seasons without going bust.

The grass roots work is great, as it is in London. I just worry whether the figurehead pro clubs in those areas (and the RFL themselves) have the nouse and financial ability to capitalise.

I desperately hope both clubs can find the right guise and structure to succeed.

Agreed. Well done to all the people battling against the tide in Wales.

Oh good, won't be long now until we see that average attendance up above 3,000 just like Lon...oh yeh.

I'm very encouraged by the young lads and although the Scorpions arent doing too great at the moment they're giving young Welsh lads a chance in greater numbers than Crusaders and the more numbers playing the game the more likely you're going to find quality players within that pool.

I'm more worried about Crusaders than anything from grass roots up as I think the owners are trying to cut corners, with rumours that they are trying to cut down on the wage bill we have this season. If they cut the wage bill of a club that are bottom of SL then what is the best you can hope for. Not a lot to be honest.

Below that the Welsh Conference seems to be coming along nicely, Valley Cougars have taken a few scalps already in the national conferenc including Bramley and Warrington Wizards and the feeder system, including age range Crusader teams right through, is better than anything we have had in Wales in the past. My logic is given the players produced with little or no development pathway in the past, it will only be a matter of time until we start producing a larger volume of quality players for the future. Let's just hope the RFL keep an eye on Crusaders and ensure there is a top level club for them to ultimately play for should they have the ability.

So really despite your sensational headline not much life altering stuff is going on regarding RL in Wales then?

I wondered when the third chuckle brother would appear.

Reckon you could trim your wage bill and not do worse on-field. You have some star players, but you also have some imports that should be replaceable by developing a player or two from your academy. I wouldn't make it a priority, but if you can't afford it, you can't afford it.
Clearly there a big things going on in Wales, they've leapfrogged France in a couple years of being in the top flight, despite the better results of the Catalans, that shows the great depth of a Rugby Nation. If they can tap into that, converting it to SL standard players, they'll be flying.

Not only the developments in Wales but also the huge growth of teams and players in London, the success of the French players in the Catalans team, the growth , despite occasional hiccups, of the summer conference ( three countries no less ), the possible/probable expansion of championship one from the top tier of the summer conference, the beating of the Aussies at youth level are huge,massive improvements from the past and show, despite what many naysayers on these boards claim, that RL is on the verge of unprecendented success.

If you also look at the number of teams now playing internationals and forming their own leagues, I would say that RL has never been more popular or widespread in its history.

I am old enough to remember when BARLA was formed there was only amateur rugby league in the North and that had shrunk to a pitifully small number of teams. No wonder we fell behind the Aussies and have yet to recover. Despite many remaining problems, I think the future could be very bright indeed and not only in Wales.

Crusaders-best supported sports club in North Wales.

YOU MUST BE JOKING! Put the Welsh domestic champions against the French Elite champions and lets see what happens. In fact, put the Welsh champions against the bottom of the Elite league and lets see what happens....

Lets be honest there only competition is a conference football team.