I agree with TonyM19.

Much as I would like longer tours like Rogues suggests, because of State of Origin, it would be very difficult to get the Aussies over midway through the season.

I would scale back the ambitions and go back to Ashes tours more like we had in 2001 and 2003.

You could have a four year calendar which was like this:

Year 1: World Cup (home nations play separately, no GB)
Year 2: Ashes tour in the UK
Year 3: Tri Nations (or Four Nations) series down under
Year 4: Kiwi tour to the UK

Then you repeat that cycle but just swap the venues, ie year 2 becomes Ashes tour down under, year 3 is a Tri Nations/Four nations in UK/France etc

The format of the Ashes tour in the UK could be:

Week 1: GB v France (or GB v Fiji/Samoa); Australia v SL team
Week 2: First Test
midweek: Australia v a different SL team
Week 3: Second Test
Week 4 Third Test

That would allow for 3 tests plus 2 Super League teams to play Australia

I like the idea of the touring side playing SL clubs. Wigan would easily get 20k for a game against the Aussies, if not sell out. It'd be like an extra test match and the sport needs the money.

Pre SL, we always went on tour at the end of our season and they came over here at the end of theirs. This would be no different. In fact it would be the same as the current WC, but about half as long

It was a key part of tours and was an honour for the clubs chosen to play the tourists. IIRC Bradford missed out one time because they put out a reserve team or something like that in order to concentrate on the league.

The last tourist game I saw at CP was when Inga scored a great try opposite Renouf and there was a big crowd that day.

Playing club sides was part of the test a touring side faced. The squad had to be good enough to play the club games and also play the three tests. The club games were not warm up matches but full bloodied affairs and going unbeaten in all games club and test matches was the aim.

The fact the club games were so integral to the whole series is why I'd love it if Rouges plan could happen. I can't see it though. The fact the International game has been neglected for so long is what led to distractions such as the Magic Weekend IMO. I'd much rather watch Internationals than that.

Mind you there is another threat to any sort of International game looming and that is the idiotic proposals on the table for the 12x12 then 8x8x8 league structure. That involves 30+ games a season and that ignores the Challenge Cup. Even if time could be found for any Internationals in that fixture list the players would be knackered anyway.

Agreed. Hopefully the new league structure will be quietly binned. As you say it's too many games and ignores the effect on the Cup and internationals.

Perhaps a GB or England tour to Aus is do-able either before or after origin? It need only be a 5 or 6 week event with 3 tests and a couple or warm ups. Maybe have it during the early rounds of the cup over here? If we do it the Aussies or Kiwis may want to try it further down the line. A few Aussie players have already gone on record saying they'd prefer proper tours to the half baked tri nations type ones they get now.

Whatever we do I think the WC has shown there is a big appetite for internationals again. I hope the RFL capitalise on this and the RLIF make it happen.

Given that we have split up GB into England Wales etc, maybe the Aussies should split up their country into states?

The Aussies already consider winning an origin spot as on a par with an international cap.

Seems a natural progression to me.

We need to ditch the Magic Weekend and drop a couple of teams out of Super League to give internationals and the players room to breathe and a chance for the league to get more competitive. There, I said it...

Somebody has suggested an England v NZ rematch at Wembley the same week as Origin. Scrap the Magic weekend and make it happen now, while Saturday is still fresh in people's minds. Far more useful and lucrative than the Exiles games.

Think club v country games are gone forever.

Could still have a full tour. PNG, Fiji, NZ, then 3 tests v Australia would still take 6 weeks. Plus you'd like to be there 10 days/2 weeks before the 1st test so it's gonna be up to 8 weeks away. That's plenty IMO. Plus players are seeing parts of the world you don't normally see such as PNG and Fiji and your also helping the developing nations and increasing awareness of the game in those countries.

If we could get a mid season test in place for 2014 against the Kiwi's and it was marketed correctly I think we could push that 67,000 crowd up to 80,000+. I don't see how any of the crowd in attendance on Saturday wouldn't want to go back because that was pure entertainment and I'm sure there's plenty who watched on tv that wished they'd took the plunge (for 79 minutes and 35 seconds anyway). I had a great day and what was really evident was the massive number of 'non heartlands' supporters in attendance. We need to keep them interested and keep giving them events to go to. I would look to have a main event game of England vs New Zealand with a double headed fixture of the England Knights vs Wales/Scotland or similar beforehand.

I say all that when deep down I know there's no chance it will happen. I doubt we'll see another fixture on these shores now for 3 years which would be a tragedy.

Just drop the 8 team playoff, first plays fourth, second plays third then the final, 2/3 weeks could be saved there.

Problem is with NZ in a mid season test, they don't seem to bother and only come alive at the end of the season when a trophy is up for grabs.

It must be 10 years or more since they won the Anzac Test, but beat the Aussies reasonably regularly at the end of the season.

If the Kiwi's win today, they have won 4 out if the last 8 tournaments the Big 3 have all played. They also lost the the 06 Tri Nations even thought they scored more tries than Australia, they just didn't land a single conversion.

I wouldn't mind a 4 team play off per se (I'd prefer 5) but there needs to be a decent incentive to finish higher up within the 4 which there isn't with either the current system or yours. If it was a 4 I'd go:

Week 1 - Qualifiers
A - 1st v 2nd
B - 3rd v 4th

Week 2 - Final Eliminator
C - Loser A v Winner B

Week 3 - Final
D - Winner A v Winner C

That way you aim for the top 2 rather than just the top 4 so that you can have either a week off or a second chance. Also you always have to beat every team above you to win

Would be fantastic if in next few weeks, the RFL came out and announced an Ashes 2015, 3 tests, Wembley, Old Trafford and Elland Rd. We'd all be buzzing for that.

I think its critical to develop Tonga, Samoa and Fiji and incorporate them into a comp with PNG and perhaps have the opportunity to play one off tests. If they cleared the programme down under for SOO then players from these countries could play for their nations during the season. Perhaps then we can get rid of the prospect of players playing for several different countries and really broadcast the game to these hotbeds. Games between these nations could serve as a curtain raiser to the SOO game, unless of course they play juniors before the main game.