This is a sad loss.

I don't think people will realise how good he actually is until he's gone.

best full-back I have ever seen in Super League.

the french are producing good young players

hardly any RL fan in France gives a monkeys about the international team

does England have a 'credible' international team compared to Oz ? or is the gulf between the two just as wide ?

I think the gulf between england and France is as wide as between England and Australia. In order to close the gap with Australia, England need more competitive games with other nations. France are arguably in the best position to deliver this

quite correct so it's the old problem for England with only France to give them a reasonable game (the game in Avignon last time around was pretty competitive) so it's a case of Hobsons Choice I suppose ?

good to see Elima back in France for the Catalans

Whilst I don't wish to speak for him the quality of the international team is not the point Andy was making. For many years now Leeds and St Helens have been producing players for the international team with Wigan catching on latterly. Catalan have been a super league entity for a while now and whilst I am delighted with their progress and have a real affection for the club I too am disappointed at the extent of their continued reliance upon non French players.

Yes, too many Super League clubs are just as guilty for their over reliance upon Antipodeans but they don't enjoy the same monopoly that Catalan do in their region.

yes I respect what you are saying but the Catalans catchment area cannot be compared to the Leeds area for example - if you consider realistically the catchment area is the two big counties of Aude & Pyrenees Orientales their combined population is about that of Leeds ! with the vast majority of the land and population being agricultural - the demography is completely different not to mention the culture and population density etc It's actually quite remarkable that so many quality RL players have come from this area without too much investment in youth development - the same applies to any of the other sports