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I for one am shocked that someone with a name like @KentwellCup>ShuteShield believes club rugby is the messiah that will lead us to the promised lands

Jokes aside, even if there’s clear alignment, think it dilutes the brand/competition a touch, and again creates another barrier of entry for fans. NRC and the comps that preceded it also struggled with this, and it’d be misguided to just think it’ll work this time.

I think the squads being picked for the Super teams' overseas tours align with that thinking, and I'd imagine that would permeate into a competition such as this should it get off the ground.

Stop, you're making too much sense. As @Strewthcobber points out though, the proposed is a more frugal alternative

I'd assume, perhaps erroneously, a competition such as this would also be cause to increase squad sizes and capture some of those in-betweeners

I absolutely wouldn't. In saying that, if this idea progresses, they'll need to be pretty careful how they frame the teams. Given them the 'A' label probably hurts engagement, but so would giving the teams a separate name altogether, and carrying on with just the Super names probably dilutes...

Strongly disagree. For it to work and reap maximum rewards, the tier 2 comp should be as strong as possible. If a Wallabies squad member goes down, do you want to be calling up a - for argument's sake, let's say James O'Connor - who has been toiling away for Brothers or the Reds A side.

Could potentially lead to a promotion/relegation type setup with Super Rugby Pacific?

Interesting. Agree that I like it more than any other proposed option. In terms of 'building into the season', it does feel a bit arse-about to have the 'lesser' domestic comp following Super Rugby Pacific though, and probably to the detriment of fan engagement - although obviously this enables the A...

So Super Rugby AU in addition to Super Rugby Pacific, with essentially Super Rugby A teams? Is that right?

To be frank, I'm less optimistic given the factors at play in Aus. I do believe we can probably get back to a top 6 or 7 team, and maintain if not slightly grow player numbers / public interest, but I don't think we can get back to where we were in the late 90s / early '00s. Nice to see some...

Sure - and similar arguments could be made about the dispersion of coaching talent. The main point I'm trying to make though is that there really isn't a silver bullet or two. As others have highlighted, there are numerous and longstanding contextual, systemic, and self-inflicted factors at...

Not a novel comment from me, but there's also the fact that a nation like Scotland, and the others you mentioned, aren't having to split their naturally gifted athletes (who would likely excel in any sport) between four footy codes, two of which require very similar talents.

By way of comparison, Ireland and Wales have the same number of pro clubs as we now do, yet - according to a quick Google for numbers - they have about half the registered adult rugby players. Similarly it appears Scotland only have ~10k registered adult players and Italy ~16k, compared to our...

His speed and elusiveness was arguably a bigger asset than his size and, at least from what we've seen on the field, he really seems to have lost it. If he gets an NRL contract, I'd imagine he'll be taking a reasonable pay cut because we paid overs...

You absolutely can. If the skill gradient between, for lack of a better term, 'Tier 1' and 'Tier 2' is reasonably flat, but overall skill / performance level is still below that of other nations, you have exactly that situation.

Jesus wept! I didn't even realise Canberra had this many suburbs

Because Wright was incumbent captain before McReight was even in the team Edit: I apologise, this is incorrect - Wright first captained in 2020; McReight was first capped in 2019

@Dismal Pillock feedback welcome