You're right, they do lack in the halves Wallace is solid but he needs a good creative five-eight. Norman and hunt are ok but not that effective, they need Quade Cooper? i doubt they get him but that's the sort of play Broncos need, forget his defence, that can be covered by other players, to be honest Lockyers defence isn't that great either.

Samoa won? good on them, Wallabies didn't have their best side playing but so what they lost, are the wallabies cocky? i don't know why they haven't had much success in the last few years, they need a reality check and a new coach btw.

didnt mean to reply, meant to alter quote.

I think Quade Cooper is the number 1 target of the Brisbane Bombers! (terribly unoriginal name it must be said). He's contracted to the ARU til the end of 2012 so if they come into the comp in 2013 the timing would be right. On the other hand Cooper might decide to stay in rugby one more year as the british and irish lions are touring in 2013 and that'll be big. I think there's more than a 50% chance he'll be playing league by 2013 or 2014.

Samoa played really well and comprehensively outplayed us. They're just so physical...some of the tackles were enormous and they hit the rucks very hard. It wasn't a full strength wallaby team, but it shows that when these pacific island sides get their best players together (which is rare because most of them play throughout europe) they are very competitive. I remember Fiji almost beat South Africa in the quarter finals of the last world cup which the boks went on to win. One of the pools of this year's world cup contains South Africa, Wales, Samoa and Fiji. That's a very hard pool. I'd actually be surprised if Wales got through it and I think even South Africa are no certainties.

I'm tipping the wallabies to bounce back this weekend against the boks. 13+

Here's hoping the Warriors finish in the top 8 for finals. One of the most exciting teams to watch on a good day. I'm praying that the Cowboys are able to perform well without Thurston. Also hoping that the Rabbitohs and Knights make it, too. I can't express how disappointed I am to see the Sea Eagles at second place on the ladder. Ugh.

On another note, it'd be great to see the Central Queensland region (where my hometown resides) and even Fiji have a team in the competition.

Fiji? No chance...it's tiny, poor, politically unstable and not even a rugby league country. It's a massive rugby country and rugby 7's in particular. If any PI country got a team it'd be Papua New Guinea as rugby league is the national sport and the population bigger...but it won't happen either for purely economic reasons.

Everything I've read has led me to believe if they add two new teams they'll be Brisbane 2 and Perth. Unless of course one of the sydney teams relocated, then the central coast bears may come in (which would make me happy as I grew up supporting the bears).

Perth Sharks sounds good to me.

How terrible is it that I meant to say Papua New Guinea? I do agree, anyway. Hopes of them getting a team's completely idealistic. C'mon, CQ though.

Does Rockhampton even have a stadium?

Yeah, it'd be great to see other states (and territories) involved. Not too sure of Rockhampton's stadium. I know they have one, but it isn't much of one. I think I read somewhere that a new one would be needed.

I wouldn't mind PNG having a side, they are Rugby league fanatics but is it financially viable, can they generate the income to sustain a side? i think Perth is the best option, and perhaps another Brisbane side based in Ipswich, central coast bears are being brought up, but there is enough Sydney sides and Newcastle is up the road, i cant see the point of that.

Warriors playing well can shake any side,cowboys are a good side and can do well when thursten is back, Rabbitohs are an outside chance and need to win this week, then there is saints and then they get Taylor back and maybe Asotasi. They have a few QLDers in their side, Wesser, McQueen, Inglis, Sandow, tyrrell, Ben Lowe, Ben Ross,Taylor, Crocker, and Langy the coach, its almost the QLD Rabbitohs lol.

Probably why I like them.

Probably, i didnt realise they had so many, there is a perception that the storm has the most outside of cowboys but its not the case. GI is hitting form and he and Sandow could get them into the 8.

don't want cooper. don't want anythign to do with nasser and his clan of arse clowns. his attacking prowess wouldn't be as great without all the space afforded to him in union. i'm sure he'd still be competent and potentially damaging.

hope the bunnies get pumped. it's not that i hate them, i just enjoy watching them lose . every year "we'll make the finals this time", "best forward pack in the comp". russell crowe . john sutton . dave taylor . lol. sandow's gotta be one of my least favourites in the comp. didn't enjoy that field goal. unfortunately, now dom has to put up with that cocky little shit.

another team in brisbane would be better than a cq team - pop's too dispersed. papua or fiji wouldn't succeed. both wrecks of countries and would need absurd amounts of investment. they would be veritable money drains. perth is where league needs to target. burgeoning population - plenty of corporate investment and money floating around. league matches always draw decent crowds when they are played over there. there's a bit of an afl identity but nothing the nrl couldn't muscle in on with some competent management. i'm burning that neither of my first choice teams (newtown/norths) will never get a run but they're no chance and fair enough.

wallabies were terrible. glad the broncos got rid of rod davies. all that bloke has is speed. a total turnstile. half a dozen of their other debutant's were woeful and giteau not much better. last test he plays barring injury.

edit : basically i agree with mint re: expansion. except nulla already have the sharks. i think red's (ie red kangaroo) is good. clashes with qld reds but that's hardly unheard of (different mascot anyway). brisbane bombers is an ordinary name - my favourite of the one's bandied around was the barracudda's.

Certainly not looking forward to having Sandow at Parra, though halves in debut seasons at Parra always seem to perform well (Tim Smith, Michael Witt, Mortimer from memory), so maybe he'll have some success in 2012. They must have one of the worst recruitment team in the comp (Carl Webb, Chris Walker, Renny Matua all in one season!) Maybe the most up and down team of the last ten years. Grand final and minor premiership in '01, minor premiership in '05 and a grand final in '09, with rubbish in between.

Gotta agree with with borracho re the bunnies. While supporting Parra is sometimes a tough task I can't even imagine supporting Souths. They are the only team since they've come back into the competition that have not even come close to winning a competition. Even the sharks have made a few semis. I guess only Canberra have been equally as useless but who gives a shit about Canberra?

WA needs a team, QLD needs probably 2 more teams and Sydney needs to get rid of maybe 3 more teams. The competition is seriously becoming a bit of a joke and it's getting to the point where I just don't care about NRL anymore. There are so many things they need to iron out and every year it seems there just becomes more problems. I don't really follow any other sport as closely as NRL but do the other codes have this many issues? Terrible crowds, golden point, origin periods, the rules in the game (grounding, video refs, forward pass) relocation, expansion.