Let's face it.. The Rugby league hierarchy are just not interested in international RL .The last England v France game proved that.. it was a disgrace hardly any crowd. No TV coverage. Etc etc etc.. 😢😢😢
So this is a Dutch Union guy sailing bye (the algorithm eh) and I think that Dutch participation would've really helped. The rivalry between the codes is almost non-existent here (at least in my experience) so I could really see the Union community (which is like 70 clubs and 20k+ players) getting behind it. League is played in the Union off season, and I believe most League teams are aligned with a Union club. So a world cup could inspire more clubs and players to become dual coded and I know for sure it would create a lot of buzz. Also this whole thing is insane: all major international tournaments in all sports have exotic novelty participants. That's the charm. Sport is about narrative.
Very well said my friend, and bedankt for stopping by. You're right about League in the Netherlands - it feeds off union and there's a healthy relationship there between the two sports. The Netherlands playing in a competition like this would put them on the map in the union community over there. It'd be such a great opportunity. And your last point is spot on. People here say that teams like the Netherlands shouldn't participate because they can't win... So I guess the Socceroos should be excluded from the next FIFA World Cup.
My son and nephew have both declared that they want to play for Greece in the future as well. I imagine that will be the case for many Australian born players with Greek heritage.
It just makes me more mad with the IRL. To add insult to injury I'm pretty sure Troy Grant said due to the smaller world cup and the world series would result in more meaningful games is so disapointing especially since the full members are the only nations that can participate in them as well. I don't know how Greece qualifying for the world cup when the sport was illegal and Jamaica managing to qualify isn't meaningful when they played their first games. Also another weird thing that threw me off was why did they do 10 teams? It basically means teams can't be seeded properly and there will be unbalanced pools. Group A in 2008 had Australia, England and New Zealand all in the same group giving PNG absolutely no chance of making it through. Then only the top teams from the next two groups went through. They could have at least done 12 teams in 3 groups of 4 and had all the teams into pots based on rankings like they did at the last world cup. Then they could do top 2 teams from each group qualify for the knock outs along with the 2 best 3rd places or something. Not ideal but better then 10 with a group of 4 and 2 groups of 3
Yep. At least with 16 teams you could have 4 groups of 4. Someone along the line, whether it be IRL, ARLC or otherwise, made this call. I want them to tell us why
i think that’s what they’re going for. spreading the game to america promoting the womens league nearly if not more as much as the mens they will almost definitely put their hat in with it also being held in brisbane
@@tokzup36 9's would be more competitive because a) requires less talent depth so the smaller countries would be more competitive b) It's a new game format so teams would need to figure out the optimal strategies c) Rugby League has loose eligibility laws, Small teams like Serbia could have Tom, Jake and Ben Trbojevic, Nick Cotric and Tom Opacic in the team . Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, United Kingdom, Australia, Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand would all be competitive enough to medal. Could probably get Lebanon, Ireland, France, Italy, Serbia, Jamaica and the Netherlands reasonably competitive by the next Olympic cycle.
@@Waywind420 less talent? fk it’s annoying hearing people who have never played the game talking like this,you don’t understand the time these players dedicate to stay in the nrl let alone the ones that try to make it. stick to watching fox league ya bandwagon
One thing I've been thinking based on the creation of the Pacific Plate and Bowl is why not invite teams ranked 8th to 16th for a World Cup play-in tournament? Two groups or straight knockout, it doesn't really matter. Just give those "bottom" eight sides the World Cup experience without having them all in the World Cup. You can play three games in two weeks. Then you also have a bunch of sides there for the inevitable warmup matches the following week. I reckon someone would pay for the TV rights to cover funding for the new tournament. Unrelated, Kodi Nikorima has quietly become really good.
It's a great idea that would tick a lot of people's boxes - but yep it's entirely contingent on whether a broadcaster would be willing to pick up the TV rights for it. I fear that interest in a second tournament would be too low to justify it - but I would have said the same thing about the two-tiered Pacific Championships too. Even then though - you could structure it as essentially a two-tiered comp whereby only the best 1 or 2 teams get into the knockout stages. And yeah Kodi is really solid. He's being everything Isaiya Katoa needs him to be. He was the Broncos' halfback when Ben Hunt left in 2018 and had decent success there - so it's great to see him return to that form.
Those teams that missed out for 2026 RLWC....I hope up n coming players will represent their Parents or Grandparents Country of Origin and help push the great game forward. GREAT EXAMPLE ... 2017.MATE MAA TONGA (MMT) 🇹🇴 2022...TOA SAMOA 🇼🇸 The support and game changing atmosphere hit the roof...❤❤❤❤
Yep, but that's with the 10-team tournament structure. If there were 16 teams i'd imagine a lot more spots would be available, and I've allocated those spots to the highest ranked teams.
@@TheLeaguie yeah they recently kicked a lot of teams from being able to qualify as there federation arnt up to scratch their opinion not mine. In saying that the teams who cant compete in mens qualifying can in womens qualification. ie Ireland, Netherlands, Kenya, USA and a lot more. WHich makes no sense why only the mens teams get punished for their federation / organization. Also im seriously annoyed that france didnt follow through as they had a wonder plan of every comp having 16 teams including a youth world cup
Or even in their respective ethnic communities within Australia. An Italian immigrant who doesn't care about Rugby League might well get into it if a guy like James Tedesco is running around for his side.
Stacking these teams with NRL heritage players can sometimes be harmful to a country's local league though. Imagine battling your heart out to make a nataional team only to be replaced at the last moment by some guy who doesn't live in the country he is supposed to be representing, doesn't speak the language and knows very little about the culture. It'd be weird to say the least and downright disrespectful at worst.
@@majoroweunless they're NZ or ENG, then yes but as for the emerging nations that wouldn't apply because the players aren't professional so having an NRL or SL player in camp would help them develop and maybe get some press in their country that could bring in new supporters from other sports that don't have rap footy.
@@JRPete yes, you have to strike a balance. but the vision portrayed in all of these fan videos is heavily, heavily biased from the point of view of those external to any domestic scene (read NRL fans in Australia). oh something else I didn't mention - countries that do manage to field 99% domestic teams, notably France and to a good extent Serbia, that get pummelled by teams with ring-ins do NOT find that encouraging at all. To them it is not a fair fight, why bother competiting at all? Imagine if Qld had access to poly players but not NSW and what that would do to State of Origin. That's the reality for international teams that don't have broad diaspora in Australia or England.
When it's 16 teams, it's an achievable goal. Even if you're sitting just below it - it's within reach. 10 simply isn't. The top 7 of Aus, NZ, Eng, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and PNG are untouchable. And the next level of Lebanon, Cook Islands and France are very, very hard to reach.
Crazy info brah. Man I’m sure funny enough they’d be a lot more Polynesians that could qualify for these nations too as a lot of Polys do have European bloodlines too
As a Greek this really hurts me that Greece won’t be able to play as I had planned to go to a game that the Greek team would play as it’s being hosted in Australia
@@xxrevengefulxx0379 Hahaha oh whatever. Are you really even Greek of just some guy from Mascot or Sydenham or something? Rugby League has NO profile in Greece. Greeks are only vaguely familiar with Rugby Union.
I am a norwegian leaguie through and through. I spend most of my free time with rugby league and i fucking hate how incompetent RFL and IRL are at growing this beautiful sport. But it isnt the professionals in NRL that are important here. Its the natives, the people born in the countries left out that miss an oppurtinity to represent their country in their sport. I do not care a single bit about these big and pro players. I want the working class grasroots to get their chances. Like they did back in the days. I do not want the norwegian side filled with NRL grandkids. I want my teammates and my opponents that work and spend money to play to get a chance one day.
I understand that completely. In an ideal world, you would have a squad full of domestic norwegians who can play Rugby League at a competitive level. But at least for now, to justify those teams participating, you'd have to have heritage players. And it isn't all bad. I'd expect that you and your teammates would be able to learn a lot about preparation, tactics, etc from guys like Brandon Smith or Kyle Feldt who are Norway-eligible.
I'd like to see some of these international teams come to Australia and play in our Preseason comp. They would get a lot of experience at top level league
Sad to hear that some of the countries trying to develop and grow the game will miss out of the RWC. Group them differently in a qualifying pool and they can play in advance and the 2 or 3 top teams can qualify to take part in the WC tournament.
Let’s be honest with ourselves, on an international level Rugby Union is far and away the most popular and successful form of footy. There is nothing wrong with League being the preferred code in Australia only. Why not invest all these wasted World Cup funds back into the NRL and make it the best possible product it can be? I see the RLWC and Vegas rounds as genuine money wasters. The AFL for example seem to be doing just fine as a code exclusive to Australia
I don’t think anyone’s disputing that Union is bigger internationally. But when there are people independently trying to grow the sport around the world (which there are) - it’s a real insult from the IRL and the NRL to essentially give up on them and block their pathway.
Irish Rugby man here, I played League for the Irish Universities and much like this Video all the Focus was on 'Irish Players Overseas', I think Rugby league would be better suited growing from within and sprinkle with Overseas Talent than focus on teams of English and Australian born talent in an Irish Jersey. Between Union and GAA (Our national sport) we would no doubt have the athletic Talent to excel to be a Top nation in Rugby League. However the systems and pathways are so archaic that all the focus is on England and Australia. Irelands Participation wouldn't mean much to Irish people for that reason.
In an ideal world, I 100% agree. But the aim of this video was to convince rugby league fans (primarily Australians) that these teams could be competitive, and therefore deserve a spot in the RLWC. A domestic Irish team unfortunately wouldn’t be
As much as I would love to see a larger tournament, It shouldn't be the the NRLs responsibility. The IRL board are a basket case and need to sort there shit out. I hope in time the NRL will simply buy them and SL out.
A follow up to my comment on your last video. Could they have not done a World Cup with prelim rounds and then a super 8s split in to 2 pools of 4. So basically the top 4 Aus, England, Samoa, NZ are automatically there whilst the other 4 qualify from the winners of 4 pools of 3 sides each. Keeps the same number of teams, means everyone plays at least twice but reduces the blowouts. Rugby union for all its problems is smart enough to keep preserving despite knowing there is realisticly only a couple teams who will compete for the trophy. Why can’t we find a way to do the same?
Yep - there’s a heap of formats it could work with, and that’s definitely one of them. Until we get an answer from the international rugby league federation, we won’t know if it was format-related
Yep! The best potential German side is really, really good. Off the top of my head it could also include Toby Rudolf, Reuben Cotter, David Klemmer, and a number of other solid NRL players.
@TheLeaguie we may have text when you had a role in the Netherlands. I tried to get a few boys together for the Rotterdam 9s and have brought up the European leagues/competitions with James Graham and others but unfortunately not really gained any traction in promoting the lesser known competitions. It seems hard for people to even to recognise that the game exists outside of the nrl or superleague. An old coach of mine was coaching in Serbia and only by looking do you find out what is going on elsewhere. I'll try to tune in more often.
I was quite disappointed when this was first leaked sometime last year. If there is any reason for a world cup it should be to grow the game, not hinder it. World Cups are an investment in future growth, not a quick cash grab for greedy executives who only care about origin. I hope this decision will be changed with public outcry. I will go to as many games as possible for the 2026 rlwc, especially if any are held in Melbourne. We must support the International Game, and show IRL and the NRL that it matters. At least it will be on free to air due to being on Australian Soil, thus triggering the anti-siphoning rules.
My concern is with a lack of public outcry around it. My two videos on the topic have done very well but other media are simply reporting the decision, not criticising it. This video won't be my last on the topic and I intend to ask people to make themselves heard on the IRL's social medias
I’m writing to voice my displeasure of the Ten team Rugby League World Cup format, if anything, in my own personal opinion, it should’ve been changed from a Sixteen Team format to a Thirty Two Team format, with the pools looking like the following with team playing each other once within their own pool:- Pool A:- Australia, New Zealand, England, Samoa Pool B:- Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, France Pool C:- Lebanon, Cook Islands, Serbia, Netherlands Pool D:- Italy, Malta, Greece, Ireland Pool E:- Wales, Jamaica, Scotland, Ukraine Pool F:- Czech Republic, Germany, Philippines, Poland Pool G:- South Africa, Chile, Kenya, Norway Pool H:- Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil, Turkey with each Pools minor premiers advancing to the following single elimination finals series Round One; Quarter Final:- Game A- Pool D vs Pool E Game B- Pool C vs Pool F Game C- Pool B vs Pool G Game D- Pool A vs Pool H Round Two; Semi Final:- Game E- Winner of GA vs Winner of GB Game F- Winner of GC vs Winner of GD Round Three; Grand Final:- Game G- Winner of GE vs Winner of GF We could have made it into a true international celebration of the greatest game of all that could’ve spanned six weeks with not only Australia and Papua New Guinea playing host, but also including games that could’ve been played in New Zealand as well.
Serbia is the only country on that list with a decent amount of rugby league played in the country and a history in the game that goes back to 1950's in former Yugoslavia, when France played a game in Yugoslavia. (IRL) International Rugby League has minimum domestic participation criteria for being a full member and playing in World Cups. IRL minimum domestic participation standards for nations with populations larger than 500,000 are - 4 team domestic comp, 250 adult registered players, at least 6 domestic rugby league clubs, 150 registered juniors aged 15-19 in a 4 team comp. Scotland does not currently meet these Criteria currently, I doubt Malta or Greece meets these criteria. Ireland probably only just scrapes through as well. If Nation can't meet the Criteria, they are ineligible to be a full member of IRL and participate in World Cups, no matter how many NRL Players grand parents come from a country!
You have missed out all of the players playing in super league, championship and league one that would be proud to play for countries that have been left out. We keep getting told that expansion of our game is important but the truth is they don’t really want it. I have a motto to put to them.where there is a will there is a way. The wrong people have always been in charge and with this decision they have really proved it.
Yep - my knowledge of UK-based players and their heritage is much lower than my knowledge of Aus-based ones. But particularly with Ireland, I tried to push home the fact that they'd be strengthened by Super League talent and field one of the more competitive sides in the bottom half of the tournament
I have zero interest in watching teams with heritage players. What's the point in watching an Italian team with no Italians? Maybe in 10 years the league world cup can be expanded to include more countries that can field teams without relying on heritage players.
But you're simply expecting those countries without heritage players to... just appear. That's never going to happen, ESPECIALLY if they're excluded from tournaments like this. The domestic competitions increase in quality when they can participate in these tournaments and learn from heritage players. And either way, 'an italian team with no italians' is a massive exaggeration. I named 8 heritage players. A RLWC squad would have roughly 24 players.
@TheLeaguie Reducing the WC to 10 teams will make the tournament more profitable so money can be invested in growing the game in Lebanon, Jamaica, France, Serbia...etc Last year had a record amount of internationals, Netherlands, Ghana, Serbia, USA, Canada..etc Spending money giving these countries more games and more money for grassroots is a better way of spending than having 6 extra teams in the WC with no players from thier country. In the last WC Jamacia and Lebanon only had 1 domestic player, how is that helping the game in those countries? In regards to Italy, they don't even have a domestic competition at the moment ( Mascord did a great IV with the Italian coach on his youtube channel ) that's where the money needs to be spent, we shouldn't be wasting our money on having an Italian team in the WC made up entirely of Aussies.
@@jnic2165 If that's the reasoning, and the profits will genuinely be reinvested into the domestic competitions in these emerging nations, then I support that decision. But if the intentions behind it are as pure as that, I don't know why the IRL wouldn't be flaunting that fact. People would be more keen to engage with this RLWC if they saw it as a fundraiser for domestic competitions worldwide. The fact they haven't said that, and in fact have said nothing at all, leaves me to speculate that the reasoning isn't quite as pure as that.
Why does Rugby league even bother with a sham World Cup? It’s not really a true international sport, it’s only a big thing in two states of Australia and Papua New Guinea.
@@danieleyre8913 I reckon that's poor on two fronts: 1. You're saying 'this thing is bad, why are people trying to make it better'? That makes no sense - it's the responsibility of these organisations to keep trying. And as I've said, international rugby league has never been in a better place. 2. Your comment is a massive insult to the thousands of volunteers around the world who are trying to grow our sport.
Apart from Patrick Carrigan and probably Tom Trbojevic, I don't see anyone here being picked for Australia. And even with Tommy - I reckon he'd commit to serbia if his two brothers were.
@@TheLeaguie You look rather small and light for such a position. Seems hard to believe you’re not like most of the other Australian fans of loig who have barely touched a ball in their lives.
@@danieleyre8913 I'm 6'3'', but go off king if you think you can judge my height and weight from a video that shows me from the shoulders up while I'm sitting down...
@@petasmith6258 Given that I went through every NRL player who could plausibly play for these teams, and on average they had maybe 5-6 NRL players each, that 95% stat is quite literally impossible.
It’s a great decision, what’s the point having nations which hardly play the sport filled with heritage players. It does nothing to grow International rugby league.
Rugby league World Cup is a pathetic joke , the state of origin and NRL get more public interest than the World Cup itself 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂what’s the point ,where Australia is going to win it anyway 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
@@TheLeaguie I’m just saying this decision is like adding salt to an open wound , rugby league great sport with amazing athletes, but really need some drastic changes to get more public interest and international interest , the previous World Cup was terrible,low turn out , some nations are just there getting participation trophies
@@Kongo-Slade007 That's phrased in a much more constructive way, thank you. I really disagree though about your assessment of hte last world cup. If you expected Tonga v Cook Islands to sell out stadiums in Northern England - you're unfortunately mistaken. I reckon the turnout was as good as we could reasonably expect
@@danieleyre8913 I'm not disputing that he's wrong, but his argument had no point. The Premier League gets more coverage than the Bundesliga. That isn't justification to put an end to German soccer.
Folks sit back and think about this, the Cook Islands are ranked number 10! Meaning if the world cup was expanded there would be some real blow out games at the tournament. Do you really want to see your Nation put to the sword to the tune of 80+ points, it becomes meaningless. The IRL have to work on building during non-world cup years, with tours from the top teams to the lower rank teams, something they seem steadfastly unable to get working, because the only meaningful competition are in the UK, Australia, and to a lesser extent France. NZ ranked in the top three has a shambles of an internal competition, and if we were being brutally honest are only competitive against the Roos once in a blue moon. Once again the event is being held in Australia, why hasn't it been taken to North America, Asia, or Africa? Very good reason, lack of support, fingers crossed we get decent crowds here in Oz, not a guarantee as most Aussie fans don't give a flying frack about International League. Good vid as usual, but we need some realism in the equation, no one is going to show up in Melbourne to see GB overrun some made up team from a Country that has minimal RL competition between World Cups. As stated earlier, for International League to grow it needs regular tours, not once every four years a cobble together competition that most fans really don't care about. Having said that, go Samoa!
I don't disagree that growth in non-RLWC years is crucial, and ideally we'd have much more of a stable structure with that. But there IS value in these nations participating, even if they are completely blown out of the water. The resources they gain by getting to the tournament, and then the learning experiences they get from it, are huge.
The pacific islands tonga, samoa, cook islands, fiji, niue etc should nations should join together and make one team which would be incredibly competitive - similar to what the west indies cricket team does with the Caribbean islands
Are you serious! They are separate islands with their own I identity. How would you like it if someone said, ireland, italy, france, all make one team. Pacific islanders make up almost 50% of players in the NRL and the island teams have beaten the big teams. Just becuase the minows can't play don't punish other teams just to fit them in. Piss off.
@@Yongs17 lol i would say that the european or mediteranean countries should also join and make one team. It’s about making it more competitive. Gets boring when aus and nz win all the time
Not sure how you watch this video, where each nation has an average of maybe 5-6 NRL players available to them, and say it'd be just 'Australian NRL players'.
@@Truthshallsety0ufree ...Okay? But that logic doesn't make any sense. I'm saying that it's small and currently well below its potential. You're just saying that it's small.
@@TheLeaguie There's no global potential for league, except maybe to expand in the pacific islands more. Rugby Union has way too much dominance right around the world. In every country except for Australia, and NZ, Union is only getting bigger.
@@Truthshallsety0ufree I get the impression you're just saying that though - as opposed to having any lived experiene you're drawing upon. League and Union aren't rivals in most places. In these developing countries they often use the same facilities, and even the same players. The dominance of Union isn't a threat.
Which of these teams would YOU want to see in the RLWC the most?
Ireland definitely have the biggest mix of quality. Germany also have a very strong best side but they aren’t ranked high enough
Malta 🇲🇹🇲🇹🇲🇹
Greece and Ireland
Danmark og Sverige.
@@largechips you’d need 50 teams for either of them to qualify
Let's face it.. The Rugby league hierarchy are just not interested in international RL .The last England v France game proved that.. it was a disgrace hardly any crowd. No TV coverage. Etc etc etc.. 😢😢😢
So this is a Dutch Union guy sailing bye (the algorithm eh) and I think that Dutch participation would've really helped. The rivalry between the codes is almost non-existent here (at least in my experience) so I could really see the Union community (which is like 70 clubs and 20k+ players) getting behind it. League is played in the Union off season, and I believe most League teams are aligned with a Union club. So a world cup could inspire more clubs and players to become dual coded and I know for sure it would create a lot of buzz.
Also this whole thing is insane: all major international tournaments in all sports have exotic novelty participants. That's the charm. Sport is about narrative.
Very well said my friend, and bedankt for stopping by. You're right about League in the Netherlands - it feeds off union and there's a healthy relationship there between the two sports. The Netherlands playing in a competition like this would put them on the map in the union community over there. It'd be such a great opportunity.
And your last point is spot on. People here say that teams like the Netherlands shouldn't participate because they can't win... So I guess the Socceroos should be excluded from the next FIFA World Cup.
Get this guy to 1k by the end of the year!
That’s the goal! 💚
1 subscriber closer! Good luck.
Serbia should have a team for certain
Well shit buddy we did it within 6 days 💚
@@TheLeaguie Congrats
Wow blown away at the struggle of the Greece team
Dam I want 16 !
Our game needs to expand !
That Greece story is crazy.
From here on, I'll go for Greece unless playing Aus.
I remember hearing it a bit in 2022, but in hindsight I’m surprised that narrative wasn’t pushed more!
My son and nephew have both declared that they want to play for Greece in the future as well. I imagine that will be the case for many Australian born players with Greek heritage.
It just makes me more mad with the IRL. To add insult to injury I'm pretty sure Troy Grant said due to the smaller world cup and the world series would result in more meaningful games is so disapointing especially since the full members are the only nations that can participate in them as well. I don't know how Greece qualifying for the world cup when the sport was illegal and Jamaica managing to qualify isn't meaningful when they played their first games.
Also another weird thing that threw me off was why did they do 10 teams? It basically means teams can't be seeded properly and there will be unbalanced pools. Group A in 2008 had Australia, England and New Zealand all in the same group giving PNG absolutely no chance of making it through. Then only the top teams from the next two groups went through. They could have at least done 12 teams in 3 groups of 4 and had all the teams into pots based on rankings like they did at the last world cup. Then they could do top 2 teams from each group qualify for the knock outs along with the 2 best 3rd places or something. Not ideal but better then 10 with a group of 4 and 2 groups of 3
Yep. At least with 16 teams you could have 4 groups of 4. Someone along the line, whether it be IRL, ARLC or otherwise, made this call.
I want them to tell us why
@@TheLeaguie exactly that was the most ideal system and they blew it
Rugby League 9's would be cool to see at the Olympics
i think that’s what they’re going for.
spreading the game to america
promoting the womens league nearly if not more as much as the mens
they will almost definitely put their hat in with it also being held in brisbane
League isn’t big enough for that rubbish
Probably in the next 200 years 😂😂
@@tokzup36 9's would be more competitive because
a) requires less talent depth so the smaller countries would be more competitive
b) It's a new game format so teams would need to figure out the optimal strategies
c) Rugby League has loose eligibility laws, Small teams like Serbia could have Tom, Jake and Ben Trbojevic, Nick Cotric and Tom Opacic in the team .
Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, United Kingdom, Australia, Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand would all be competitive enough to medal.
Could probably get Lebanon, Ireland, France, Italy, Serbia, Jamaica and the Netherlands reasonably competitive by the next Olympic cycle.
@@Waywind420 less talent? fk it’s annoying hearing people who have never played the game talking like this,you don’t understand the time these players dedicate to stay in the nrl let alone the ones that try to make it. stick to watching fox league ya bandwagon
The RLWC in a nutshell: Congratulations Australia, and everyone else, thanks for participating.
NZ beat Australia 30-0 last time they played btw
Bro i have just learnt alot here thanks very informational 💯👏🏾👍🏾
Thanks mate from a new subscriber - all the best!
One thing I've been thinking based on the creation of the Pacific Plate and Bowl is why not invite teams ranked 8th to 16th for a World Cup play-in tournament? Two groups or straight knockout, it doesn't really matter. Just give those "bottom" eight sides the World Cup experience without having them all in the World Cup. You can play three games in two weeks. Then you also have a bunch of sides there for the inevitable warmup matches the following week. I reckon someone would pay for the TV rights to cover funding for the new tournament.
Unrelated, Kodi Nikorima has quietly become really good.
It's a great idea that would tick a lot of people's boxes - but yep it's entirely contingent on whether a broadcaster would be willing to pick up the TV rights for it.
I fear that interest in a second tournament would be too low to justify it - but I would have said the same thing about the two-tiered Pacific Championships too. Even then though - you could structure it as essentially a two-tiered comp whereby only the best 1 or 2 teams get into the knockout stages.
And yeah Kodi is really solid. He's being everything Isaiya Katoa needs him to be. He was the Broncos' halfback when Ben Hunt left in 2018 and had decent success there - so it's great to see him return to that form.
Hi Leaguie! Fan from UK here, would love to see an in depth video on the story of Greek Rugby League
I’ll add that to the list! For a video like that I’ll get in touch with the people there to get their inside story - I like that idea a lot!
Those teams that missed out for 2026 RLWC....I hope up n coming players will represent their Parents or Grandparents Country of Origin and help push the great game forward.
GREAT EXAMPLE ...
2017.MATE MAA TONGA (MMT) 🇹🇴
2022...TOA SAMOA 🇼🇸
The support and game changing atmosphere hit the roof...❤❤❤❤
Serbia, Ukraine, France, Wales, Cook Islands, Jamaica and South Africa are the only nations who can qualify
Yep, but that's with the 10-team tournament structure. If there were 16 teams i'd imagine a lot more spots would be available, and I've allocated those spots to the highest ranked teams.
@@TheLeaguie yeah they recently kicked a lot of teams from being able to qualify as there federation arnt up to scratch their opinion not mine. In saying that the teams who cant compete in mens qualifying can in womens qualification. ie Ireland, Netherlands, Kenya, USA and a lot more. WHich makes no sense why only the mens teams get punished for their federation / organization. Also im seriously annoyed that france didnt follow through as they had a wonder plan of every comp having 16 teams including a youth world cup
I see your point. If they'd add those nations, maybe V'ylandys could try and create press in those countries by name dropping them.
Or even in their respective ethnic communities within Australia. An Italian immigrant who doesn't care about Rugby League might well get into it if a guy like James Tedesco is running around for his side.
could you imagine if both Ireland and Italy had full strength teams and played in Las Vegas.
@@dion5300 they'd have to apply for league 1 of the RFL, though. Toronto Wolfpack would've gone to Vegas if they weren't removed from the RFL IMO.
It’s amazing the number of players that are eligible for all these countries
And the number of very high-quality players!
Stacking these teams with NRL heritage players can sometimes be harmful to a country's local league though. Imagine battling your heart out to make a nataional team only to be replaced at the last moment by some guy who doesn't live in the country he is supposed to be representing, doesn't speak the language and knows very little about the culture. It'd be weird to say the least and downright disrespectful at worst.
And Don’t forget NSW/QLD Eligible Players from Including Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Cook Islands (Valentine Holmes), Lebanon (Mitchell Moses) and PNG
@@majoroweunless they're NZ or ENG, then yes but as for the emerging nations that wouldn't apply because the players aren't professional so having an NRL or SL player in camp would help them develop and maybe get some press in their country that could bring in new supporters from other sports that don't have rap footy.
@@JRPete yes, you have to strike a balance. but the vision portrayed in all of these fan videos is heavily, heavily biased from the point of view of those external to any domestic scene (read NRL fans in Australia).
oh something else I didn't mention - countries that do manage to field 99% domestic teams, notably France and to a good extent Serbia, that get pummelled by teams with ring-ins do NOT find that encouraging at all. To them it is not a fair fight, why bother competiting at all? Imagine if Qld had access to poly players but not NSW and what that would do to State of Origin. That's the reality for international teams that don't have broad diaspora in Australia or England.
As an American, it's a disappointing decision. I'm not sure we'd qualify anyway, but at least we had a realistic chance, at least in theory
When it's 16 teams, it's an achievable goal. Even if you're sitting just below it - it's within reach. 10 simply isn't. The top 7 of Aus, NZ, Eng, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and PNG are untouchable. And the next level of Lebanon, Cook Islands and France are very, very hard to reach.
@@sa35992 Why would you want to waste your time with Rugby’s small-time wannabe spin-off?
@@danieleyre8913 elitists like you don't, but people who actually love the game would like to see it grow
@@sa35992 Hahahaha do you even know what the word “elitist” means?!
@@danieleyre8913 I actually do, it must blow your mind that an American would know what a word like that means
Greece actually scored one of the best tries in the last world cup if my memory serves me well...
Crazy info brah. Man I’m sure funny enough they’d be a lot more Polynesians that could qualify for these nations too as a lot of Polys do have European bloodlines too
Thanks mate, and yeah for sure. I know Critta is eligible for Scotland - but they weren’t ranked high enough to be in this video.
They should have a Maori team + An Indigenous Australian team & A Native Hawaiian team all be allowed to compete at a Rugby League World Cup-!!!!
Interesting, so much happening in the world of RL.
As a Greek this really hurts me that Greece won’t be able to play as I had planned to go to a game that the Greek team would play as it’s being hosted in Australia
Almost nobody in Greece plays Rugby league, the entire team would be Australians with Greek heritage.
@@danieleyre8913 I am aware of this but still i would want my country being represented in this
@@xxrevengefulxx0379 But how would Greece be represented by a bunch of Australians, and why want it if the sport barely exists in Greece?
@@danieleyre8913 it exists in Greece it’s just not as near popular as soccer, there a lot of Greeks that love rugby league
@@xxrevengefulxx0379 Hahaha oh whatever.
Are you really even Greek of just some guy from Mascot or Sydenham or something?
Rugby League has NO profile in Greece. Greeks are only vaguely familiar with Rugby Union.
I am a norwegian leaguie through and through. I spend most of my free time with rugby league and i fucking hate how incompetent RFL and IRL are at growing this beautiful sport. But it isnt the professionals in NRL that are important here. Its the natives, the people born in the countries left out that miss an oppurtinity to represent their country in their sport. I do not care a single bit about these big and pro players. I want the working class grasroots to get their chances. Like they did back in the days. I do not want the norwegian side filled with NRL grandkids. I want my teammates and my opponents that work and spend money to play to get a chance one day.
I understand that completely. In an ideal world, you would have a squad full of domestic norwegians who can play Rugby League at a competitive level. But at least for now, to justify those teams participating, you'd have to have heritage players.
And it isn't all bad. I'd expect that you and your teammates would be able to learn a lot about preparation, tactics, etc from guys like Brandon Smith or Kyle Feldt who are Norway-eligible.
@@TheLeaguie of course, it wouls be an honour if we were to get qualified. and the product would also be much better. gotta be pragmatic sadly
End of the day the Country/Team comes first. Having a few NRL Grandkids would be invaluable in every measure for the rest of the team.
I'd like to see some of these international teams come to Australia and play in our Preseason comp. They would get a lot of experience at top level league
hold on...theres a rugby league world cup? What with 3 teams that actually play it?
Sad to hear that some of the countries trying to develop and grow the game will miss out of the RWC.
Group them differently in a qualifying pool and they can play in advance and the 2 or 3 top teams can qualify to take part in the WC tournament.
Let’s be honest with ourselves, on an international level Rugby Union is far and away the most popular and successful form of footy. There is nothing wrong with League being the preferred code in Australia only. Why not invest all these wasted World Cup funds back into the NRL and make it the best possible product it can be? I see the RLWC and Vegas rounds as genuine money wasters. The AFL for example seem to be doing just fine as a code exclusive to Australia
I don’t think anyone’s disputing that Union is bigger internationally. But when there are people independently trying to grow the sport around the world (which there are) - it’s a real insult from the IRL and the NRL to essentially give up on them and block their pathway.
Irish Rugby man here, I played League for the Irish Universities and much like this Video all the Focus was on 'Irish Players Overseas', I think Rugby league would be better suited growing from within and sprinkle with Overseas Talent than focus on teams of English and Australian born talent in an Irish Jersey. Between Union and GAA (Our national sport) we would no doubt have the athletic Talent to excel to be a Top nation in Rugby League. However the systems and pathways are so archaic that all the focus is on England and Australia.
Irelands Participation wouldn't mean much to Irish people for that reason.
In an ideal world, I 100% agree. But the aim of this video was to convince rugby league fans (primarily Australians) that these teams could be competitive, and therefore deserve a spot in the RLWC.
A domestic Irish team unfortunately wouldn’t be
Totally agree with you, but to be honest, that would be the Super League's 🇬🇧 job to strengthen Ireland 🇮🇪 by organizing a midson 4 nations.
As much as I would love to see a larger tournament, It shouldn't be the the NRLs responsibility. The IRL board are a basket case and need to sort there shit out. I hope in time the NRL will simply buy them and SL out.
Such a ridiculous decision by the IRL , hard to understand
As someone who watches Rugby union idk why this got recommended to me😂
You deleted the original video while i was watching it😭
Haha sorry mate! I picked up on an editing error that had slipped through the cracks. Took a while to fix but we got there!
Clifford is a generation out, they tried to get him to play but it was his great grandparent that was born in Italy
Ah - in that case the NRL.com article I used was wrong. Doesn't surprise me because it did pre-date the last RLWC.
Where do you get your information about player’s heritage?
A mix of places really. The NRL have a number of articles on it, and the Wikipedia pages of players are a good place to start.
Can we form a Melenesians all stars or Polynesian all stars
Big L for Rugby League world wide🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️would've been AWESOME to have those teams.
A follow up to my comment on your last video.
Could they have not done a World Cup with prelim rounds and then a super 8s split in to 2 pools of
4.
So basically the top 4 Aus, England, Samoa, NZ are automatically there whilst the other 4 qualify from the winners of 4 pools of 3 sides each.
Keeps the same number of teams, means everyone plays at least twice but reduces the blowouts.
Rugby union for all its problems is smart enough to keep preserving despite knowing there is realisticly only a couple teams who will compete for the trophy. Why can’t we find a way to do the same?
Yep - there’s a heap of formats it could work with, and that’s definitely one of them. Until we get an answer from the international rugby league federation, we won’t know if it was format-related
Where’s the Maltesers at isn’t the great Luke brooks Maltese? Had afew players over the years but the don would have to be the falcon Mario fenech 🇲🇹
Hey bloke, I follow European leagues particularly the Netherlands 🇳🇱. Love to chat one day about spending the word on the great game.
Also the drinkwater are eligible for Germany
Yep! The best potential German side is really, really good. Off the top of my head it could also include Toby Rudolf, Reuben Cotter, David Klemmer, and a number of other solid NRL players.
@TheLeaguie we may have text when you had a role in the Netherlands. I tried to get a few boys together for the Rotterdam 9s and have brought up the European leagues/competitions with James Graham and others but unfortunately not really gained any traction in promoting the lesser known competitions. It seems hard for people to even to recognise that the game exists outside of the nrl or superleague. An old coach of mine was coaching in Serbia and only by looking do you find out what is going on elsewhere. I'll try to tune in more often.
We want 16!
Nice vid
I was quite disappointed when this was first leaked sometime last year. If there is any reason for a world cup it should be to grow the game, not hinder it. World Cups are an investment in future growth, not a quick cash grab for greedy executives who only care about origin. I hope this decision will be changed with public outcry. I will go to as many games as possible for the 2026 rlwc, especially if any are held in Melbourne. We must support the International Game, and show IRL and the NRL that it matters. At least it will be on free to air due to being on Australian Soil, thus triggering the anti-siphoning rules.
My concern is with a lack of public outcry around it. My two videos on the topic have done very well but other media are simply reporting the decision, not criticising it. This video won't be my last on the topic and I intend to ask people to make themselves heard on the IRL's social medias
The eye taliens would of had a decent squad but still would of got smoked by every other team
I’m writing to voice my displeasure of the Ten team Rugby League World Cup format, if anything, in my own personal opinion, it should’ve been changed from a Sixteen Team format to a Thirty Two Team format, with the pools looking like the following with team playing each other once within their own pool:-
Pool A:- Australia, New Zealand, England, Samoa
Pool B:- Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, France
Pool C:- Lebanon, Cook Islands, Serbia, Netherlands
Pool D:- Italy, Malta, Greece, Ireland
Pool E:- Wales, Jamaica, Scotland, Ukraine
Pool F:- Czech Republic, Germany, Philippines, Poland
Pool G:- South Africa, Chile, Kenya, Norway
Pool H:- Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil, Turkey
with each Pools minor premiers advancing to the following single elimination finals series
Round One; Quarter Final:-
Game A- Pool D vs Pool E
Game B- Pool C vs Pool F
Game C- Pool B vs Pool G
Game D- Pool A vs Pool H
Round Two; Semi Final:-
Game E- Winner of GA vs Winner of GB
Game F- Winner of GC vs Winner of GD
Round Three; Grand Final:-
Game G- Winner of GE vs Winner of GF
We could have made it into a true international celebration of the greatest game of all that could’ve spanned six weeks with not only Australia and Papua New Guinea playing host, but also including games that could’ve been played in New Zealand as well.
If NRL want more teams in NRL they should Greeces team because Melbourne the 2nd biggest Greek population outside of Athens
We Want 16!
''world cup'' but every team needs a couple australians in there to make them a little bit competetive
Serbia is the only country on that list with a decent amount of rugby league played in the country and a history in the game that goes back to 1950's in former Yugoslavia, when France played a game in Yugoslavia. (IRL) International Rugby League has minimum domestic participation criteria for being a full member and playing in World Cups. IRL minimum domestic participation standards for nations with populations larger than 500,000 are - 4 team domestic comp, 250 adult registered players, at least 6 domestic rugby league clubs, 150 registered juniors aged 15-19 in a 4 team comp. Scotland does not currently meet these Criteria currently, I doubt Malta or Greece meets these criteria. Ireland probably only just scrapes through as well. If Nation can't meet the Criteria, they are ineligible to be a full member of IRL and participate in World Cups, no matter how many NRL Players grand parents come from a country!
You have missed out all of the players playing in super league, championship and league one that would be proud to play for countries that have been left out. We keep getting told that expansion of our game is important but the truth is they don’t really want it. I have a motto to put to them.where there is a will there is a way. The wrong people have always been in charge and with this decision they have really proved it.
Yep - my knowledge of UK-based players and their heritage is much lower than my knowledge of Aus-based ones. But particularly with Ireland, I tried to push home the fact that they'd be strengthened by Super League talent and field one of the more competitive sides in the bottom half of the tournament
We NEED 16
I think in all cup only two qualify for the World Cup the depending World Cup champions and hosts national(s) that’s far
No USA, no Canada, and if they hadn't made the qfs previously, no Lebanon.
10 is good.. should actually do a elimination for 8 to 16
We Want 16
Iam the 1000th subscriber😂💯
Let’s gooooo! Thank you my brother, I rly appreciate it 💚💚💚
We want 16
i will say after watching this video dang! should have allowed an irish team in.. could push up the ratings
I have zero interest in watching teams with heritage players. What's the point in watching an Italian team with no Italians? Maybe in 10 years the league world cup can be expanded to include more countries that can field teams without relying on heritage players.
But you're simply expecting those countries without heritage players to... just appear. That's never going to happen, ESPECIALLY if they're excluded from tournaments like this. The domestic competitions increase in quality when they can participate in these tournaments and learn from heritage players.
And either way, 'an italian team with no italians' is a massive exaggeration. I named 8 heritage players. A RLWC squad would have roughly 24 players.
@TheLeaguie Reducing the WC to 10 teams will make the tournament more profitable so money can be invested in growing the game in Lebanon, Jamaica, France, Serbia...etc
Last year had a record amount of internationals, Netherlands, Ghana, Serbia, USA, Canada..etc Spending money giving these countries more games and more money for grassroots is a better way of spending than having 6 extra teams in the WC with no players from thier country. In the last WC Jamacia and Lebanon only had 1 domestic player, how is that helping the game in those countries?
In regards to Italy, they don't even have a domestic competition at the moment ( Mascord did a great IV with the Italian coach on his youtube channel ) that's where the money needs to be spent, we shouldn't be wasting our money on having an Italian team in the WC made up entirely of Aussies.
@@jnic2165 If that's the reasoning, and the profits will genuinely be reinvested into the domestic competitions in these emerging nations, then I support that decision.
But if the intentions behind it are as pure as that, I don't know why the IRL wouldn't be flaunting that fact. People would be more keen to engage with this RLWC if they saw it as a fundraiser for domestic competitions worldwide.
The fact they haven't said that, and in fact have said nothing at all, leaves me to speculate that the reasoning isn't quite as pure as that.
Why does Rugby league even bother with a sham World Cup?
It’s not really a true international sport, it’s only a big thing in two states of Australia and Papua New Guinea.
@@danieleyre8913 I reckon that's poor on two fronts:
1. You're saying 'this thing is bad, why are people trying to make it better'? That makes no sense - it's the responsibility of these organisations to keep trying. And as I've said, international rugby league has never been in a better place.
2. Your comment is a massive insult to the thousands of volunteers around the world who are trying to grow our sport.
Rugby league should include one team from African continent
@@pjharris5820 hahahaha So dumb.
Tbh RLWC only 3 teams are in the running NZ GB and OZ
Samoa and Tonga are absolutely also in that conversation.
USA and Canada will field teams
Half of these dudes would just play for Australia or other countries.
Apart from Patrick Carrigan and probably Tom Trbojevic, I don't see anyone here being picked for Australia. And even with Tommy - I reckon he'd commit to serbia if his two brothers were.
WE WANT 16!
no matter what should have had france ireland england nz aust ppng samoa tonga and fiji automatic and the rest to fight the last 2 spots
Wish Malta was in it 🇲🇹🇲🇹🇲🇹
What about the Filipinos team
I’ve got a question for the guy whose channel this is (the guy in the video):
*What position in Rugby League do you play?*
I don’t actively play, I’ve more recently been a referee than a player. But if I played it’d be centre/backrower
@@TheLeaguie You look rather small and light for such a position. Seems hard to believe you’re not like most of the other Australian fans of loig who have barely touched a ball in their lives.
@@danieleyre8913 I'm 6'3'', but go off king if you think you can judge my height and weight from a video that shows me from the shoulders up while I'm sitting down...
@@TheLeaguie You look like a wuss.
And how would height be any advantage in league? It seems to favour stocky guys.
@@TheLeaguie You look like and come across like a total wuss.
Are Lebanon still eligible?
Lebanon have qualified for the tournament yeah. They’ll be playing
Why don't they go back and play for their country, they got skills
👍
Hahaha, the World Cup of Australasia! Biggest joke of a World Cup 😂😂😂
Didn’t realise the Netherlands was in Australasia mate. Guess you learn something new every day
@@TheLeaguie C’mon now, 95% or the supposed “League World Cup” is made up of NRL players? Are you obtuse, or in denial? 😂
@@petasmith6258 Pretty bold to accuse someone of being 'in denial' while quoting an intentionally ridiculously exaggerated figure of '95%'.
@@TheLeaguie It’s not exaggerated at all, it’s from articles on the Roar & ESPN…google is your friend.
@@petasmith6258 Given that I went through every NRL player who could plausibly play for these teams, and on average they had maybe 5-6 NRL players each, that 95% stat is quite literally impossible.
Is Papua new guinea in
Yep, they automatically qualified due to their performance in the last World Cup
Why don't they call it NRL B Grade comp even in Australia no one watches it only the NRL.
Crap decision I'm disgusted with this decision indeed.
I’d rather teams get dropped for other teams
How come? And who would you drop?
@@TheLeaguienot sure, but I feel like if they really wanted to get rid of teams like France they could have replaced them with another team like USA
@@TheRedV-odcastFrance is one of the biggest rugby fans in the world
@@xxrevengefulxx0379yes, and I don’t think they deserved to be dropped
It’s a great decision, what’s the point having nations which hardly play the sport filled with heritage players. It does nothing to grow International rugby league.
Rugby league World Cup is a pathetic joke , the state of origin and NRL get more public interest than the World Cup itself 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂what’s the point ,where Australia is going to win it anyway 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Putting a whopping 14 laughing-crying emojis on your comment neither makes your opinion funny or correct bro.
@@TheLeaguie I’m just saying this decision is like adding salt to an open wound , rugby league great sport with amazing athletes, but really need some drastic changes to get more public interest and international interest , the previous World Cup was terrible,low turn out , some nations are just there getting participation trophies
@@Kongo-Slade007 That's phrased in a much more constructive way, thank you. I really disagree though about your assessment of hte last world cup. If you expected Tonga v Cook Islands to sell out stadiums in Northern England - you're unfortunately mistaken. I reckon the turnout was as good as we could reasonably expect
@@TheLeaguie Emoji’s aside: He’s not wrong. And you know it.
@@danieleyre8913 I'm not disputing that he's wrong, but his argument had no point. The Premier League gets more coverage than the Bundesliga. That isn't justification to put an end to German soccer.
Folks sit back and think about this, the Cook Islands are ranked number 10! Meaning if the world cup was expanded there would be some real blow out games at the tournament. Do you really want to see your Nation put to the sword to the tune of 80+ points, it becomes meaningless. The IRL have to work on building during non-world cup years, with tours from the top teams to the lower rank teams, something they seem steadfastly unable to get working, because the only meaningful competition are in the UK, Australia, and to a lesser extent France. NZ ranked in the top three has a shambles of an internal competition, and if we were being brutally honest are only competitive against the Roos once in a blue moon.
Once again the event is being held in Australia, why hasn't it been taken to North America, Asia, or Africa? Very good reason, lack of support, fingers crossed we get decent crowds here in Oz, not a guarantee as most Aussie fans don't give a flying frack about International League.
Good vid as usual, but we need some realism in the equation, no one is going to show up in Melbourne to see GB overrun some made up team from a Country that has minimal RL competition between World Cups. As stated earlier, for International League to grow it needs regular tours, not once every four years a cobble together competition that most fans really don't care about.
Having said that, go Samoa!
I don't disagree that growth in non-RLWC years is crucial, and ideally we'd have much more of a stable structure with that. But there IS value in these nations participating, even if they are completely blown out of the water. The resources they gain by getting to the tournament, and then the learning experiences they get from it, are huge.
Irl doesn’t want to piss off the nrl bossses, who control most of the resources and talent. Nrl is their money maker, not international rugby.
The pacific islands tonga, samoa, cook islands, fiji, niue etc should nations should join together and make one team which would be incredibly competitive - similar to what the west indies cricket team does with the Caribbean islands
Are you serious! They are separate islands with their own I identity.
How would you like it if someone said, ireland, italy, france, all make one team.
Pacific islanders make up almost 50% of players in the NRL and the island teams have beaten the big teams.
Just becuase the minows can't play don't punish other teams just to fit them in.
Piss off.
Disrespectful prick.
@@Yongs17 lol i would say that the european or mediteranean countries should also join and make one team. It’s about making it more competitive. Gets boring when aus and nz win all the time
League "World Cup" is a complete joke. Australian NRL players making up a mishmash of random teams based on tenuous heritage
Not sure how you watch this video, where each nation has an average of maybe 5-6 NRL players available to them, and say it'd be just 'Australian NRL players'.
@@TheLeaguie Dude, rugby league World Cup is a complete farce. League is not a world game. State of Origin is the pinnacle of the sport.
@@Truthshallsety0ufree ...Okay? But that logic doesn't make any sense. I'm saying that it's small and currently well below its potential. You're just saying that it's small.
@@TheLeaguie There's no global potential for league, except maybe to expand in the pacific islands more. Rugby Union has way too much dominance right around the world. In every country except for Australia, and NZ, Union is only getting bigger.
@@Truthshallsety0ufree I get the impression you're just saying that though - as opposed to having any lived experiene you're drawing upon. League and Union aren't rivals in most places. In these developing countries they often use the same facilities, and even the same players. The dominance of Union isn't a threat.
We want 16!
We want 16
We want 16
We want 16
we want 16