The 2020 Rugby League World Club Challenge will see St Helens host the Sydney Roosters in a match that has really gone under the radar. Between Australian apathy for the event, the Sydney Roosters small supporter base, and the growing feeling in Great Britain that this game really is nothing more than an exhibition match, the World Club Challenge needs a change to keep any sort of relevance.
The NRL is easily the top club competition in the world, but like everyone, I’d like to see that set in
stone by what happens on the field and with direct competition. To do so I always browse unbiased reviews of betting sites that provide me with informative and up-to-date content.
Imagine if the Rugby league World Club Challenge put the top club teams from a number of different nations against one another in a knockout competition.
Australia: Sydney Roosters
New Zealand: New Zealand Warriors
Papua New Guinea: The Papua New Guinea Hunters
England: St Helens
France: Catalan Dragons
Canada: Toronto Wolfpack
United Stated: Brooklyn Kings
Serbia: Red Star Belgrade
Most of these teams would gain their place by winning their respective competitions. Other teams would take their place in this competition simply by the fact they are clearly the best club team from that nation but they play in another countries competition.
The competition in this format would only run for 3 weeks, not too much of a burden for any team on this list. This competition would have relevance to 8 different nations from all over the world. By combining a global aspect of the game with the strong club level of Rugby League, you get the best of both worlds.
The best time to plays this competition would be towards the end of the calendar year, and that is where you run into some problems. Having this competition run into the International season would not work at all and our way too much pressure on elite players.
That is why I would like to see one international window at the end of each season during the 4 year World Cup cycles freed up for not only this competition, but maybe a Rugby League World 9’s circuit or other competitions that we normally don’t have the space on the calendar to play.
Im a big believer that we need a variety of different competitions in Rugby League, but most importantly we need competition between different parts of the Rugby League world so that the game improves across the world and we don’t become too compartmentalised as a sport.
I think an expanded competition like the World Club Challenge above would help do that. It would be a competition that is worth playing, worth winning and one that would be interesting to watch.
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