That's my point. It's just a disruption Imo for Wigan and wolves that could prove costly if any players pick up injuries.

I don't even think the Aussies want to come over to be honest. Brisbane only bringing 18 over proves that.

You can bet that Wane will be giving one of his famous motivational speeches, he will probably show the video of the Wigan v Manley WCC challenge of 1988.
This was the match when Wane got the MOM for charging about dishing it out to the Manley forwards, he was ably assisted in this by Nicky Kiss.

I thought the reason we are playing Brisbane and St George was that they wanted to come over, no?

Doesn't look like the Broncos want to only bringing 18 players.

That's not really my point tho. Its just a game that means notning but could prove costly.

Anthony Milford and Kodi Nikorima are two of the most talented young players in the Australian Rugby League. It'll be worth the admission money just to watch them play.

Should be a terrific game,with the biggest crowd of the weekend.

The Troll goes on various sites to spread his negativity - clearly a sad,lonely individual.Shame Admin don't monitor and ban him.

18 players or not, looking at the team Brisbane have names and the fact they stumped up the money to be part of this format shows that they do want to be here.

I don't buy into that. They have flown their best available players around the world to come to Wigan and turn us over in their own back yard. If I finally get to see us beat an NRL side it will mean more to me than any league game, regardless of whether we get a trophy for it or not

So winning a friendly against a team who finished 8th in the NRL last season would mean more to you than beating Saints on Good Friday for example?

Yep, to me it would. I've seen us beat Saints on Good Friday plenty times, unless it's a classic I'll struggle to distinguish it from quite a few other games once a few years have passed. Being there to see us upset the odds to beat an NRL side I would remember forever, particularly as I've never seen us do it before despite flying around the world to see us try

Upset the odds? Wigan are favourites to win the game.

I think you are hugely over-playing the stature of this game.

I can identify with this.

One of my best RL memories is GB winning in Sydney in what was effectively a dead rubber game for Australia and which ultimately counted for nothing as we didn't progress.

But I hadn't seen it before, so it remains a precious memory.

whether its a nothing game or not, physically speaking yes it is a nothing game other than an exhibition I suppose, but for some fans it will be one of the few chances to see their home town teams give their aussie counterparts a good game. for some teams this kind of fixture could only happen once or twice in a lifetime, so no matter the cause of the game I think many fans will be chomping at the bit to watch the newly expanded format and I think rightly so. watching the aussies against England is a different story, this is club rugby and although just a marketing ploy, is a great idea and benefits a lot of fans, even neutrals. the clubs may not agree with it being an interruption to the regular SL season so early on and I'm sure the aussies are using these games purely as warm ups for their upcoming season but both "nations" will want to be going home with a "series win" if you ask me. I'm certainly hoping for a SL series victory and will be supporting all of our teams this weekend. I actually think if there are some comfortable victories this year for the SL sides that next year the competition will be much greater and have more meaning for the clubs involved. it can only grow in my opinion. cannot wait!

Fully agree with all that. I'll be making the longish journey up to Wigan next weekend , taking my son, and I'm really looking forward to it. And reading a succession of sneers about it being a no-matter game is mildly irritating. We don't get an opportunity too often to see NRL players live, and I like to grab it with both hands. And, like the previous poster, I'd love to see a clean sweep (although I'd be very surprised if Saints turned over Souths).