The appeal is natural - it is bad enough for Wigan and Warrington fans to have their Saints counterparts putting on airs because of their status as Super League champions, without them being able to claim world domination as well. While your average Wiganer may feel no great natural affinity with the Broncos, he knows he isn t likely to face a year of ear-bashing from their fans either. Union fans know the structure of the international programme years in advance. But I hope they resist that appeal, and instead support the Saints. Rugby League as a whole, and not just the town of St Helens, desperately needs Saints to do a great deal better than last season, when they were demolished by the Melbourne Storm.
League badly needs a proper international dimension.
That means ensuring that Australia takes an interest in the outside world and not giving it any more excuses to conclude that nothing worthwhile happens north of Cairns. The World Cup, excellent though the final was, did nothing to shake this inward-looking complacency. It has to be shaken - and by far the best way to do this is to start beating them occasionally. Should Saints win we will doubtless be told, insofar as the Aussie press bothers to report it at all, that this was a meaningless preseason exhibition. One element in a reformed international calendar would surely be to move the match to the end of the season, to create a true World Championship playoff as a natural follow-on to the two Grand Finals.