The NRL teams were invited for their drawing power, but Crowe believes the credibility of the competition is undermined by not having the three highest finishing NRL teams.

"Some of this World Series I disagree with because we are in a mode where two of three games are friendlies," Crowe said. "If there is not blood on the line it is not rugby league.

"This is kind of a hybrid of an idea I put forward a few years ago. It is a serious thing, you split it up if we could actually play at the end of the ESL (Super League) season and the end of the NRL season and have a top four from both that play in a competition.

"My vibe on it is to leave the tribalism in place, the tribalism is fantastic but let's spread the tribalism, make it OK for other people to form their own tribes and take your best players there and teach them to play at the highest level.

"I think there is a a great future ahead of rugby league but that requires us treating it as more than the local past time. It is a professional sport and we have got to platform our athletes to be the role models we want them to be."