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Interesting to see the NSW Blues were training at Ballymore today, not sure I've seen them there before. Benefits of having the training centre as well as the stadium itself.

Yeah, it's the auto promotion/relegation that I have an issue with. The gap between 1st and 16th isn't so different to 1st and 12th but based on the mismatches in the trophy this year I'd be worried about the gap between any of the top 4-6 and 17th/18th teams, which invariably comes up when you...

Very sombre and respectful

Yeah, it does really highlight how the effort has been missing across the Australian rugby landscape for some time now. There's so many easy wins available to them I happy to see them finally chasing them.

Yeah, bringing 4 more teams up to the trophy level should be fine, particularly once you've pulled the current top 4 up a level. The remaining group look reasonable even, particularly in terms of professional environments and development systems the players are coming out of that create those...

Scale of mismatch is the issue - if Scotland and Japan are racking up 100ish point victories over some of these teams, what is it going to look like when they come up against the top seeds in their pools on being promoted? I'm not sure World Rugby will be too keen to see that in premier age...

I think the move to 16 needs to happen, even if only to get an even 4 pools of 4 and a more straight forward finals series. The only problem I really see with it is getting the promotion/relegation right. The current system works ok at the top level because there are a few teams in that group...

3 Daugunu 2 Valetini 1 McReight

This is good gear: Reds socials/marketing team have really been on top of things this year

Jock Campbell re-signs for another year: https://reds.rugby/news/jock-campbell-resigns-with-the-queensland-reds-2024714 Really happy to see this, I was a bit worried we were going to lose him.

Assuming the top section of the Eastern stand is unusable that has to be pretty close to a full house

Front row releases might be tricky, even if they've had a full replacement front row warming up with the squad. Schmidt might need to call in extras if he's going to release any of Nonggorr, Hodgman, Faessler or Nasser.

You could write a very factual piece about how the ultimate decision in Gordon's switch came down to Carter's thoughts and feelings, but it loses a bit of steam when you realise it's a story about only one person...

Possession stats favoured us heavily last week, particularly while Wright was on the field. Didn't start to level out until the last 10 or 20 minutes. Makes it a bit harder to directly compare defensive involvement week to week.

Is a retired New Zealander watching the rugby league on the Gold Coast really that interesting?

I think Slipper desperately needs a break and we need to make sure we have our cover ready if he goes down. I'd be having him sit this game out.

I'm almost as hyped for the impersonator as I am for the game

Really excited for this game. Had a go at working out the squad we're working with: Available: Richie Asiata Sef Fa'agase Massimo De Lutiis Jeffery Toomaga-Allen George Blake Josh Canham Connor Vest Taine Roiri Connor Anderson Seru Uru Joe Brial John Bryant Louis Werchon Lawson Creighton James...

Nasser really strengthened the scrum after a shaky one or two when the bench came on. Great to see him out there and making the most of his strengths

I'm glad it came off, but we really should've taken the 3 there