Rugby League: World critics `short-sighted'

The chief of Australia's Super League has accused critics of the World Club Championship of being short-sighted and pleaded for patience. But Ian Frykberg said the lopsided results would force those running the British game to have a long look at themselves.

"I hope the criticism hasn't hurt us," Frykberg said. "The idea behind the challenge is to make the game grow, to make it strong internationally.

"It has been three years since the last matches between clubs in each hemisphere. And by the results this time it is obvious a huge chasm has developed.

"Those involved in the British game will have to take a long look at themselves and make revisions. The critics are somewhat short-sighted. If they had followed their advice in cricket you would never had teams like Sri Lanka competing internationally. They were weak then. Now they are among the best in the world. The same thing will happen in rugby league."

Frykberg said the tournament would continue to be part of the Super League's programme.

"It won't be the same as it has been this year," he said. "Maybe it will involve only the top three of four teams from each league. It should be pointed out that while there have been one-sided matches, the reception by the public in England has been very good."

St Helens' Australian coach, Shaun McRae, had words of encouragement for British sides.

"I don't think the Australian sides have got much improvement to find," he said. "I'm not sure we are going to see any more British wins but we can get closer.

"Hopefully, we have learnt from both our games and certainly we can improve. We were prepared better for our second game and, hopefully, we'll be prepared better for this one."

The Bradford captain, Graeme Bradley, believes the odds could be evened up if Australian clubs were forced to play a similar number of games to British sides. Australasian Super League teams have completed 12 of their 18 fixtures so far, while British sides have played six more games over the same three-month period.

"When they had a midweek competition in Australia, everybody cried blue murder," the former Sydney St George man said. "If you subjected the Australian sides to the same amount of games we play, they would experience the same fatigue factor and accompanying injuries."