There is 1% of me, thinking that yesterday's announcement was just a ruse for some much needed RL publicity. The NRL will then back down (i'm sorry, Australia and New Zealand's governing RL bodies will then back down), and the RLWC will go ahead, as planned.

Is it possible to be cynically positive?

I don’t think it’s true, but what a great move that would be. RL is currently a hot topic nationally for the first time in what, 30 years?

Could do with His Royal Harry & Meghan getting Oprah to do a programme about it.

It won't help much. They'd only talk about themselves and how tough life has been.

How's that possible?
Surely they don't want ANY publicity.


Actually. GENIUS IDEA !
Get those two to be the new face of Super League.
We'd make the Premier League seem like the Monday Night Darts League

What odds can you currently get on Australia as the 2021 RLWC winners?
Have they risen in the past few days?

Being stripped of the title of patron of the Rugby Football League, is just about the only thing that Harry hasn't cried about.

What about now the cases are falling?

Will now be from the 15th October to 19th November 2022.

That means it finishes before the football world cup starts. It also starts after the Commonwealth Games finish.

Hopefully 2022 can be a good year for the sport.

Sounds like the SL GF will (probably) be moved to the end of Sept then

Which may present an issue with it being at Old Trafford. The GF is usually in domestic football's international break.

We really need to have a decent international calendar next year.
There is usually a week at the start of the season when only some SL clubs play in the CC. That weekend could be used for an international.
I think the current format of magic weekend should be scrapped and replaced with a 9"s weekend and the last slot on each day is an international test match (France v Wales on Sat and England V exiles on Sunday). With this format clubs could still commit players to the 9"s competition and at the same time release players to the international games.
The 9"s competition would be a great showcase for players like Mamo, Ashton that have blistering speed to showcase the game, if played at the etihad then some 9's games can be played at the campus stadium next door.
I suspect one of the proposals to come out will be a midweek 9"s competition to try and emulate the 100 cricket format
There is virtually a blank weekend for the Challenge Cup final. We could slot in an international on the Sunday after the final but obviously wouldn't include players from the clubs involved in the final.
The SL clubs need to support the international game as a win for England in a credible world Cup might take sponsorship to the next level from mushy peas to Fray Bentos pies or pot noodles.

Albeit the football calendar will be different next year due to the Qatar World Cup being played over the winter, so a PL mid-season break.

Which probably means that no-one in RL has accounted for any of that when considering the availability of RLWC or GF venues.....

I know it's a bit of a Catch 22, but today's announcement is coupled up with :

"Tournament bosses are still in talks with host towns, cities and venues and hope to release a full match schedule by the end of this year."

So it's like here's the dates, we'll let you know where games will actually take place sometime later.....

If attendances continue their current trend, we can hold the Grand final at a limited capacity Odsal for free.