Quote: Arkham "Are you willing to sacrifice the regular season to mediocrity, just to see a more competitive international showing at the end of the year? I can certainly understand that it's important to be competitive, but a mass exodus of all our brightest talent to the NRL leaves us watching games throughout the season without the magic that names like Tomkins, Briscoe, Roby etc. provide. I personally see it as a catch-22 situation.'"
I don't know if I accept that argument personally. Quite a few people believe SL is the superior competition in terms of excitement because of the less structured, attacking play. That's in spite of the fact the NRL is obviously the superior competition with superior players, capable of superior magic.
Without Tomkins, Briscoe, Roby etc the type of play will remain the same and they'll always be new players to step up.
Tomkins is in a league of his own, but Roby and Briscoe are hardly irreplaceable! Exciting players have been replaced before and they'll be replaced again.