The Rugby League World Cup will be held in Australia, New Zealand and PNG later this year. It starts in October, and there is some League fatigue associated with it, as the GF will have been run and won and the cricket season will be upon us. Nonetheless, it will provide some great football and should be an open tournament. Ten teams, including Lebanon, will challenge for world supremacy.
World Supremacy has a vastly different meaning in the world of Rugby League as opposed to the round ball game. Australia, population twenty-seven million, but only fourteen million of those in the heartlands of QLD and NSW, is the largest cohort, given that League is only played in parts of the north of England, and even smaller parts in the south of France.
PNG has ten million people, NZ, 5.6 million, but the rest are tiny nations; Fiji just under one million, Samoa, 210,000, Tonga, 104,000, the Cook Islands 7,500. Of course, that does not count the large numbers from those nations that reside in Australia. The same can be said about Lebanon, who I would imagine would be made up entirely of expats in Australia and England. So, the entire pool comes from areas with a total population of less than forty million. Not a lot, but the winners of the NFL, NBA and MBL call themselves World Champions, so the winning RL nation are more than entitled to lay claim to the title of World Champions.
Compare that to soccer. The FIFA world ranking lists 211 countries. It is interesting, however, that of the ten most populous countries in the world, only 2 are currently playing at the World Cup, those being the USA, who get a start anyway for being a host nation, and five-time winners, Brazil. The rest of the top ten is India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia, and Ethiopia. According to the rankings, Nigeria, 25, and Russia, 34 would normally be a chance to qualify but the rest of them are back with the cap catchers. India, 138, China, 91, Indonesia 118, Pakistan, 198, Bangladesh, 181 and Ethiopia, 139. I don’t think we will be seeing them at a World Cup any time soon.
Here are some things you will NOT see at the RL world cup.
“Snoozefests” that go for 120 minutes, plus stoppage time, which is significant, where one team is trying to score and the other has “parked the bus”, which is soccer speak for having 10 defenders and a goalkeeper, all desperately trying to hang on for a draw or a penalty shootout. Sadly, sometimes this tactic is successful.
Players hitting the deck and writhing in agony at the slightest touch. Thankfully, this is not the way of Rugby League players.
Teams having 80% of the ball and losing.
Players having to take a penalty kick to win the game when all else has failed.
I would like to retract my positive comments about the soccer that I made in my column last week. For some reason, I started watching the extra time between Germany and Paraguay on Monday. Paraguay was hanging on for dear life. A Paraguayan fouled a German, but the Paraguayan hit the deck and started carrying on. One of his teammates picked up the ball and walked away with it. A German tried to get it off him and yes, you guessed it, he hit the deck and started rolling around. So, we had two Paraguayans rolling around on the ground at the same time, with the result being a free kick to Germany. And of course, the Germans were sent packing after being rolled in the penalty shootout. The corporate bookmaker ads take the mickey out of it, but sadly it is too close to the truth. A team should not be able to beat a much better team unless they play extremely well or their opposition plays poorly. For example, the Titans beat Penrith recently. The Titans played well, and the Panthers were well below their best. The argument always seems to be, “that is how the game is played.” Well, give me the Rugby League any day of the week.
Back to Rugby League. The coaches have pushed their chips in for SOO3. NSW and QLD have both made some changes, NSW more so. Last week I spoke of the mythical “Gorge of Eternal Peril” with reference to NSW and their habit of discarding players. I have gone back to 2022 to compile a list of players who we were told at the time were “Origin Players” or “Made for Origin”. As it turns out, they were not, at least not in the eyes of the selectors. As you would expect, the list is a long one and contains some interesting names.
Never to return: Regan Campbell Gillard, Tariq Sims, Ryan Matterson, Siosifa Talakai, Tevita Pengai Jr, Tyson Frizell, Nico Hynes, Cody Walker, Clint Gutherson, Cameron McInnes, Spencer Lenui, Daniel Tupou.
Unlikely to return: Jack Wighton, Josh Addo Carr, Max King, Junior Paulo
Not being selected now: Burton, Edwards, Luai, Koloamatangi, Utoikamano, Watson, Lucas, Staggs, Radley
That is 25 players in 5 years, quite a turnover, but not a huge surprise. It matters little in what is essentially a one-game, winner-take-all shootout. Logic points to a QLD win, given their total dominance in games 1 and 2 with thirteen players on the field. However, you never know. Surely the Blues are going to show something at some stage of the series. A defeat for QLD would be particularly gut wrenching this year given the events of Game 1. It does not bear thinking about. Talk to you all next week.
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Prospector, I agree with you that some teams, particularly in the knock-out phase, seem content to defend and hope for a good outcome on penalties – it’s just not in the spirit of sport generally. On the other hand, you have to admire the class of the French, their skills, precision and artistry. Their second goal yesterday was sheer poetry and a thing of beauty.