Ever since I first laced on a boot to play rugby league, rugby union has looked down its nose at us when it comes to the international arena.<\/p>\n
The rah rahs point to Australia\u2019s dominance on the world stage and laugh out loud that it\u2019s like beating your grandma in an arm wrestle.<\/p>\n
They joke that while their game is truly global, league is played by a handful of countries hastily cobbled together to be blown away by the Kangaroos.<\/p>\n
Sign up to The Nightly’s newsletters.<\/p>\n
Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n
By continuing you agree to our Terms<\/a> and Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n But over the next few weeks, the 13-man code will showcase just how far the game has come at international level when Australia hosts the World Cup.<\/p>\n It comes a year before rugby union\u2019s own World Cup is also staged here.<\/p>\n While I\u2019m not suggesting interest levels will be higher for a league World Cup than for those who prefer box kicks and scrum after scrum, I think us leaguies will put on a show that will turn plenty of heads.<\/p>\n Sure, there will be some blowout scorelines just like there are in the rugby version.<\/p>\n But I think our World Cup will be much more competitive than theirs and is sure to create plenty of interest, even among those who like to pretend it\u2019s an inferior product.<\/p>\n Australia has won 12 World Cups, including the last three, and again stand as the team to beat.<\/p>\n Any side featuring Harry Grant, Cam Munster, James Tedesco, Liam Martin, Reece Walsh, Latrell Mitchell, Sam Walker and Tom Trbojevic deserves favouritism.<\/p>\n But the gap in quality between us and the rest of the world is narrowing.<\/p>\n And I can tell you from first-hand experience, the expectation to win when you\u2019re playing for the Kangaroos is enormous.<\/p>\n Losing is simply not an option and the pressure will be on the home team like never before.<\/p>\n New Zealand, who we play in the tournament opener on Thursday night, is the major threat.<\/p>\n Their squad is dripping with class and grunt, from Kalyn Ponga at the back through to Jahrome Hughes in the halves and James Fisher-Harris up front.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t wait to see the likes of Naufahu Whyte, Erin Clark and Xavier Willson rip and tear.<\/p>\n Tonga and Samoa are equally blessed when it comes to quality players.<\/p>\n The Tongans have one of my favourite enforcers in Addin Fonua-Blake at prop, explosive backrowers Haumole Olakau\u2019atu, Kulikefu Finefeuiaki, brilliant halfback Isaiya Katoa and pace at the back through Tolu Koula and Jojo Fifita.<\/p>\n And how about the crazy good Samoan line-up.<\/p>\n Stephen Crichton, Spencer Leniu, Jarome Luai, Sua Fa\u2019alogo, Connelly Lemuelu, Brian To\u2019o, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow\u2026the list goes on and on.<\/p>\n Remember, Samoa made the last World Cup final.<\/p>\n And the Pacific Island teams will also enjoy huge support wherever they play, which is another reason to believe one of them could go all the way.<\/p>\n England and Fiji won\u2019t win the Cup but they too will flex some muscle and ensure the big four don\u2019t have everything their own way.<\/p>\n AND DON\u2019T GET ME STARTED<\/p>\n Jack Gibson always said winning starts at the front office.<\/p>\n If that\u2019s the case, the Perth Bears are losing big time and are a long way behind their rivals heading into next season.<\/p>\n CEO Anthony De Ceglie is the latest to pull the plug, resigning five months before a ball is kicked.<\/p>\n If you believe the rumours, he was a dead man walking anyway.<\/p>\n His sudden exit comes after head of football David Sharpe quit in April.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also been speculation over coach Mal Meninga\u2019s position, with the big fella having to constantly deny talk he won\u2019t be in control when the 2027 campaign begins.<\/p>\n Not surprisingly, the bookies have the Bears clear favourites to run last.<\/p>\n It looks the easiest money you\u2019ll ever make.<\/p>\n Any new franchise will have teething problems but the Bears look miles off the pace, especially when measured against some of the other new kids on the block<\/p>\n The last franchise to enter the NRL \u2013 the Redcliffe-based Dolphins in 2023 \u2013 hit the ground running.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve just made the finals for the first time in only their fourth season, finishing one win away from the grand final.<\/p>\n And then there\u2019s the PNG Chiefs, who come into the comp in 2028.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve signed a heap of quality players and appear to have a really strong off-field structure in place<\/p>\n You can\u2019t really say the same about the bad news Bears.<\/p>\n Aside from their off-field dramas, the playing roster really worries me.<\/p>\n When November 1 rolls around, they need to land a big fish instead of the tadpoles they\u2019ve signed.<\/p>\n I\u2019d be going all out for Cameron Munster if I were them.<\/p>\n Offer him $1.5m a season and build a team around him.<\/p>\n You\u2019d have to wait until 2028 but it would be the statement signing they so desperately need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ever since I first laced on a boot to play rugby league, rugby union has looked down its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":925316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,158,1721,760,588,85],"class_list":["post-925315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nrl","tag-opinion","tag-rugby","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}