Robinson wants greater promotion of World Club Challenge


(MENAFN- Kora) The Roosters added the world crown to their 2013 NRL title with a convincing 36-14 triumph over Super League champions Wigan Warriors in front of more than 31,000 fans at Allianz Stadium on Saturday



Yet Robinson believes the fixture could and should have been a sell-out, pointing to insufficient advertisement and promotion of the game



He said: "How much time and effort did we put into preparing this as a competition?



"Our focus was on the (Auckland) nines. There wasn't a huge amount of advertisement about it; there wasn't a huge amount of preparation as far as the event and the week, yet 31,000 people turned up



"We underestimated the crowd and we underestimated the occasion for Australian fans



"We can easily make this a huge event. It's an important one. We need to support our code.



The match saw Australia play host to the English champions for the first time in two decades, when Wigan defeated the Brisbane Broncos



Robinson believes the time has come for the event to be shared between the two countries every second year



"Next year, if a team goes over there, there'll be more supporters watching that game," the Roosters boss said



"Every second year we need to rotate countries. That should have been 42 or 43,000. We could have got that if we market it really well



"There was Souths (South Sydney Rabbitohs) versus St George (Illawarra) down at (the) WIN Stadium in Wollongong) two hours before we played. Have a stand-alone game, make it a big thing and you'll fill a stadium. We need a better effort than that.



Robinson is adamant the NRL can go even further and implement a six-team World Challenge series with three teams from each country



"I think it should be Friday, Saturday, Sunday," he said



"We could really lead up to this game on a Sunday. Those clubs over there (in England) are saying we want to come down here and do that



"Our pre-season is a bit muddled at the moment. Some teams play three (trial matches), some teams play one. We have the nines, which is a great concept as well. We just have to organise it better



"We can really make something of this pre-season to improve the commercial product in the nines, improve our competition in the northern hemisphere and get ready for the NRL season.



On his side's performance against Wigan, Robinson added: "We were confident but we looked short of a run. Hopefully that game will make up for that time before round one



"I'm really happy with the way we performed but you can still see a fair bit of growth in us.



Wigan coach Shaun Wane had no complaints about the result



"We were poor, the best team won. They are the world champions," he said



"When you complete at 67 per cent you don't give yourself a chance to win



"I'm just upset we undersold ourselves out there. That wasn't the best we can play and you can't start that way against quality teams.


Kora

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