Now the World Cup’s confirmed, let’s get the Lions Tour sorted

In some exciting news earlier today, the 2026 Rugby League World Cup has finally been confirmed.

Australia have been announced as hosts of a reduced tournament, which has been cut from 16 to 10 teams for the men’s event. The women’s and wheelchair competitions will both have eight teams though, as they did for the 2021 tournament.

So, now that’s all been rubber-stamped, it’s time for the powers that be to plan out the next few years of an international calendar, starting with a Lions Tour Down Under in 2025.

I’m sure we all remember the absolute farce of a trip the last time rugby league attempted a revival of the Great Britain side in 2019, but that’s no reason not to try again next year.

With Wayne Bennett long gone, we’re already in a better position as far as I’m concerned. That whole tour was a shambles with so many negatives, it’s hard to know where to start. But picking 23 players from one nation and using it as an audition for the England squad was probably the biggest disappointment.

Anyway, that’s in the past now and speaking of the past, there’s no reason why we can’t get back some of the old magic from Great Britain tours of yesteryear.

Sure, the world has changed a lot since we last had a successful Great Britain team, but if everyone’s invested in making this work then we can. After all, the Lions tours in the other code never seems to dwindle in popularity, so there’s every chance we can make a success of this as well.

So let’s go for it! And get something sorted for 2027 while we’re at it!