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Who will win the 2009 Four Nations?

Australia
9
69%
New Zealand
0
No votes
England
1
8%
France
3
23%
 
Total votes: 13

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Simmo79
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Post by Simmo79 »

are any games going to be played at Wembley?

keithroosters
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Post by keithroosters »

no. ruchard lewis , nigel wood and the rfl have come under critisim for underselling this tournament. aus v nz was played at a 14,000 seat venue (twickenahm stoop) in london. australia v england (the big one) was played at a 25k seater in wigan. australia v france in paris holds only 12,000. the final will be played at the 40,000 seater elland raod in leeds. ill be frank and admit i shared that opinion aswell. aus v england wouldnt look out of place at wembley IMO. however , none of these matches have been sellouts so maybe they just knew the market really well. in saying this though , the atmosphere at each game has been fantastic. perhaps australia crowds could learn a bit from it. englands second half against australia last week has really helped this out.

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kilonewton
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Post by kilonewton »

I'd say they know the market. I was at the Aus v NZ match....well most of it after the debacle of trying to get in. Lets just say the post strike caused havoc, our tickets turned up yesterday!
Back to the point, the vast majority of the crowd at that match were expats. The "locals" that I spoke too whilst endlessly waiting for tickets, beer etc were all from the north. There really isn't a grat deal of appetite for Rugby League in this country once you stray too far from the M62. Hence matches being held in League strongholds like Wigan & Huddersfield.

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Jeffles
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Post by Jeffles »

Simmo79 wrote:are any games going to be played at Wembley?
With England in the state they're in no match look good on Wembley. In the 1990s they were more competitive.

I'm most disapointed they didn't schedule a game for City of Manchester Stadium. It hosted a Test match in 2004. I reckon it's a great venue.

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Simmo79
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Post by Simmo79 »

I like CoM for RL too

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Post by keithroosters »

some good games this weekend with the culmination of the european nations cup:
wales dft scotland in the final winning 28-16
lebanon dft ireland (ranking match) 40-16
italy dtf serbia 42-14

a shock in the four nations with england triumphing over nz at huddersfield 20-12. crowd: 19,390
across the channel france went down to australia 42-4.
a disapointing crowd for the france but thats paris. its not a rugby league town

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Jeffles
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Post by Jeffles »

Bloody NZ. They were the form team in the 4N up until that game. I'm expecting the Roos to win big on Sunay morning.

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Post by keithroosters »

official crowd for the french game: 6,234

yeah i was confident NZ were going to take the trophy home. ive said all along that krisnan inu and keving locke (the two main goalkickers) should have been in the team at the expense fo at least bryson goodwin. nz seem to reward players who declare their allegences at first. stephen kearney is apparantly very big on training ethic and rewards players he sees training hard. inu doesnt seem the type to train till he drops.

i dont think australia have this one in the bag just yet. if i bet my house on it sure id tip australia but i sure as hell wont be suprised in england take it out.

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Post by keithroosters »

Eden Park targeted for Four Nations venue
International rugby league bosses are in negotiation with Eden Park to host a double-header during next year's Four Nations tournament.

The series shifts back to the Southern Hemisphere in 2010 with Pacific Cup winners Papua New Guinea taking the place of France and games to be split on both sides of the Tasman.

Australian Rugby League chief executive Geoff Carr said the feasibility of a double-header in New Zealand was being investigated.

"Things are at a very early stage but we are talking to the major New Zealand venues about a double-header," Carr said.

"Eden Park is one of the venues that have been mentioned. I would imagine a bidding process will take place."

Carr said that at this stage Papua New Guinea would not host any games in the 2010 Four Nations.

Meanwhile, the Kiwis team management has completed a review of the season - but a statement issued to the media on Tuesday did not provide many specifics of the findings.

"We've had five Tests this year and, while there were pleasing aspects overall and especially over the last few weeks, the season obviously hasn't finished the way we wanted it to," coach Stephen Kearney was quoted as saying.

"We've identified some areas where we didn't quite come up to the standards we set ourselves.

"It's more about getting our processes to the point where they give us the chance to be our best for every match we play."

The reigning world champions opened an unsatisfactory 2009 calendar with a 10-38 loss in the Anzac Test in Brisbane before beating Tonga 40-24 in Rotorua last month - their final preparation for the Four Nations.

A last-minute converted try left the Kiwis to settle for a 20-20 draw in their Four Nations opener - and trans-Tasman rematch - in London before beating France 62-12 and bowing out to England 12-20 in Huddersfield last Sunday (NZT).

"The season obviously hasn't finished the way we wanted it to," said Kearney, who added a positive was the blooding of 11 new internationals, including six on this tour.

Meanwhile, unhappiness with Frenchman Thierry Alibert's performance in the 20-12 loss to England at the weekend could result in the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) reviewing its support for a referee from each competing country being appointed to the Four Nations panel.

There is a push for two fulltime professionals from each hemisphere to be used next year.

Five of the Kiwis' management team plus the NZRL's high performance director Tony Kemp will visit the Manchester United Football Club on Thursday.

The Golden Boot award for the world's best player will be presented immediately after the Four Nations final between the Kangaroos and England at Elland Road (Sunday NZT).

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Jeffles
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Post by Jeffles »

That story was first revealed a few months ago. I'd definitely go to Auckland for a double header.

This weekend has 2004 written all over it. England have been talking themselves up again this week. Big mistake. Their best matches come when they are a bit more humble.

Leon Williamson, who refereed the Jets' first win of 2009, will be in charge on the weekend. Good on them for having a neutral referee.

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Jeffles
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Post by Jeffles »

England gave up. What a sh*t finish,

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Post by keithroosters »

yeah they definately gave up. biggest forward pack ive ever seen! crabtree is 6'7
what a future for england and nz though! there will be 6 really competative teams for the 2013 rlwc IMO; australia , england , nz, PNG, france and wales. perhaps the last three couldnt take it out but they could put up a decent fight.

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Post by keithroosters »

a summary of this weekend , the last one for international league this year.

Australia defeated England in Four nations final at Elland Rd Leeds. 46-16. Crowd: 31480 (due to upper tier being announced closed earlier in the week)

USA (entirely domestic players) defeated Jamaice (mix of domestic & overseas) in the inaugral Atlantic Cup 37-22 at UNF stadium. crowd:3500

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Post by swede »

keithroosters wrote:no. ruchard lewis , nigel wood and the rfl have come under critisim for underselling this tournament. aus v nz was played at a 14,000 seat venue (twickenahm stoop) in london. australia v england (the big one) was played at a 25k seater in wigan. australia v france in paris holds only 12,000. the final will be played at the 40,000 seater elland raod in leeds. ill be frank and admit i shared that opinion aswell. aus v england wouldnt look out of place at wembley IMO. however , none of these matches have been sellouts so maybe they just knew the market really well. in saying this though , the atmosphere at each game has been fantastic. perhaps australia crowds could learn a bit from it. englands second half against australia last week has really helped this out.
when no game can sell-out a 25,000 stadium even with cheap tickets, hiring expensive Wembley would be quite a risk in a financial sense as well as a likely PR-disaster with swathes of empty seats on show.
Even worse so, with RU attracting close to half a million for a handful of internationals on the same day.

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Post by keithroosters »

yeah i must admit not being able to sell out the england australia game was a bit of a suprise. englands performance in the tournament might ahve helped a little. people now know england can compete well (as can nz) its shown that international union is miles and miles ahead of internaitnal league. thats not to say international league isnt growing. this year saw significant growth with the european cup and the pacific cup. baby steps though. unfortunately it all requires a lot of money that league ahs always been short on.
the success of this tournament was the competetiveness. 3 teams could have taken it out and france showed great promise (not in the last 20 minutes of each game). the disapointment was the crowds. league fans can only dream of the types of crowds seen this weekend at croke park , millenium , twickenham and murrayfield

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