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โ๏ธ RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP WRAP #1 - Red Alert
A growing rivalry, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak's Academy Award, an early England inquest and much more.
My reflections on England's defeat to Tonga ๐ฝ
thetryline.blogspot.com/2026โฆ
ICYMI - England's World Cup hopes lie in tatters after just one match. There is evidence that several nations are accelerating ahead of us. How do we arrest the decline?
READ MORE ๐ฝ
thetryline.blogspot.com/2026โฆ
I don't watch much NRL so the six-man subs bench is a new one to me. I think it's a good idea. Allows greater flexibility in case of injuries, gives greater tactical flexibility.
Would like to see similar in Super League, but are our squads deep enough?
If Super League is contemplating selling some broadcasting rights to DAZN, this doesn't seem good.
Dazn is already mulling the future of Foxtel just 18 months after buying the broadcaster from News Corp and Telstra for $3.4b afr.com/street-talk/foxtel-qโฆ
This has got a disastrous 12 month deal with Catalans written all over it.
The winger is facing a big NRL ban and club sack.
alloutrugbyleague.co.uk/newsโฆ
It's hard to overstate how much of a shock this would have been yesterday.
New Zealand's women's team was expected to easily dispatch of World Cup debutants Fiji. But they were pushed to their limits.
youtube.com/watch?v=7g6IjEfDโฆ
Makes you wonder if one of the net results of any NRL deal will see better English players moved to Australia (possibly at a younger age) with more low-quality Australian players coming the other way?
If so, could harm Super League but help us at international level.
The elephant in the room of England's defeat to Tonga is what it says about the Super League and its talent pathways.
This is a weak link sport, so if you spent most of your time playing against teams with obvious weak links, you don't get better.
So while top end SL talent is good enough, it's not tested enough.
The best players England had were the ones with the most NRL exposure, not necessarily the best raw talent or skill.
Anyone who celebrates a great young player - Nsemba for example - re-signing with Wigan is choosing a poorer England.
Welsby was the best talent England had in a long time, and has regressed because he hasn't had to get better. What worked as a 19 year old will work in most games he plays.
This could also be Harry Smith, Brad O'Neill or Zach Eckersley - all are at a core level good enough but for whatever reasons haven't moved.
Consider Jojo Fifita and Lehi Hopoate. Talent wise they're not better than Welsby - but they've improved out of sight by repeated exposure to higher competition.
Unless Super League improves - and probably contracts to 10 teams to fit the lower end of the talent pool - or the best 30 English players are in the NRL, nowt changes with England.
Here's a graph of underlying performance from 14 Super League clubs in 2026. 7 good ones, 7 shit ones.
An elite English talent only has to be elite half the time. If a Tongan did that they'd be in reserve grade.
I heard this mentioned on commentary during the match yesterday.
With greater international competitiveness, it becomes harder to succeed. Things like this make it harder still. I suspect this is a reflection of our perilous finances.
The @TheRFL doing their best to set them up to fail.
Did Nigel Wood go economy too??
I think we all know the answer to that.
Not seen Fiji v Cook Islands earlier today? Me neither! So no spoilers from here. But here are the highlights, if you want to watch!
youtube.com/watch?v=hlxjqSKDโฆ
If you were Brian McDermott, what changes (if any) would you make going forward?
Farnworth to full back? Change the half backs? More minutes for Litten? Use one of the backs from the bench?
๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ England's World Cup campaign is off to a poor start, and the same old issues are clear to see once again after defeat to Tonga.. here's where they go next. loverugbyleague.com/post/engโฆ
I didn't necessarily think England played too far off their potential today. In some ways, that is the worry.
Even our best is now short of the level of probably four international teams. As the NRL's quality is shared across more nations, we are getting left behind.
The Tryline ๐ retweeted
No warm up games
No training sessions together until a week ago
Appoint the coach just 6 months before the World Cup starts
And this is the result. Until the RFL prioritise the England team we will always have the same issues.
The Tryline ๐ retweeted
However depressing the result for @England_RL, Tonga are wonderful. More than 10% of Tongan population in the stands in Perth!! Will be 20% in Parra.
England are on the brink here. They now must win both remaining group fixtures and rely on other results if they are to qualify for the semi finals.
It looks unlikely.
Hard to overstate the importance of today's match.
If England lose, they are unlikely to make it out of the group stages. If they win, they are very likely to.
This is a scheduled tweet. If you're in the UK and are up this early to watch all 4 World Cup matches today, then give This tweet a like!
The Tryline ๐ retweeted
Hearing Perth almost a sellout after surge in ticket sales. @rugbyleaguewcup Bring it on @England_RL v Tonga tonight has potential to be every bit as good as tournament opener. @7Sport @NRL