If anything, the performances of Tonga, Fiji and especially PNG should give some hope that success at international level isn’t only about having the best / highest paid players.
Where do we go from here? Well firstly we have to assess the brutal reality of where we’re at and drop the rose tinted glasses. We are currently a second tier nation and being overtaken by Tonga in particular.
The English game is not in total meltdown, we still produce fantastic players (occasionally) and have a proud tradition, but we are not competitive. I don’t know how many times we need to fail before we get real here.
Funding is certainly a big part of the equation. Our youth side recently beat their Aussie counterparts - but that’s not regular and it was in freezing conditions in our Winter. Are all the players in that Academy side getting access to the same support and facilities as the Australian lads? Probably not and that gap then grows over time.
On the plus side I think the continuing emergence of these Island sides is fantastic.
Quote: The Chin's Back "I've always had my suspicions about you and If you're a Rhinos fan rather than a mischief maker then I will eat my hat Shabzy
I've had a few suspicions too . It was a post he put on Wigan's forum stating that Sam Tomkins was the best rugby league player he's ever seen that caught my eye.
Traffic is really slow on here at the minute apart from the LUFC thread
I'm gonna start on page 3 of Shabzy's posts for some more anti Leeds Rhinos whoppers
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