Ferguson has spent more of his career at FB than he has at Centre indeed he only switched to Centre when he joined the Chooks because they had Minichello then RTS playing there.

I really don't agree with all this rubbish on the amateur game, and the Aussies youngsters are better than ours. Yes, there is coaches that win at all costs rather than development, but that happens at Super League too.

We match the Aussies all the way with lads up to 16. We have quality players in this country, and a lot of those amateur coaches put a lot of hard work in to aid that development. Where we lose it big style is the development of players once signed pro with clubs, 16-19. For some reason that quality is often coached out of them, and instead they are played in unfamiliar roles and have to work to a robotic system.

Some come out of this still with their natural quality intact. We still have these players in super league, we have plenty. Plenty of Super League players could walk into NRL sides given the opportunity, but as a percentage of players in the game that isn't anywhere close to how many NRL players would walk into our sides. But Super League is a far better competition than given credit for at times. We will just always have those average players making up the numbers, and it is those average ones where we are behind the Aussies.

Said it plenty of times, over the last decade Leeds have had plenty of average players, but also quality players, and we have been lucky that those average players have managed to get a performance out to work with the quality. That doesn't always happen.

Some fair points Gotcha - Having had personal experience of two boys going through the amateur system - one at Lock Lane and one at Kippax the quality of coaching can be very patchy. The commitment of amateur coaches should not be questioned but how do you focus on skill development and retain interest if the team never wins a game?

Clubs like Stunningly and Oulton seem to strike a very good balance between participation and excellence. Maybe AG is correct and the RFL should be in charge of development between the ages of 16-19 and only at that point are the players released to the clubs? That way you stop clubs developing players in a certain way to suit the needs of the club rather than player development.

To beat the Aussies we need a core of 10 high quality players in that 10 we must top players at 1,3,4,6,7 and 9 and this is where we struggle - Bateman at centre at international level isn't going to scare anyone.

Apologies for being a bit spammy but it's too long for a forum post even by my (or Printer's) standards.

There's a piece on the four keys to a Rhinos win tonight up on my blog, see link in signature.

As you were...

FFS! I just caught a bit of Monkey Life on TV too! Primates chucking sh.. at each other.
Stop bitching!
We need to look toward the RFL and it's inept management of the game, the lack of nurturing of young talent, the patchy skills focus for youngsters, the choke-hold on fresh money and ideas, the salary cap, the disrespect to the game via incompetent refs being held up as 'top flight', the laughable level of presentation via Sky - EH, MS , and the standard of coaching - does anyone really think that we have a full complement of top coaches in SL? We do have some world class players who must be sick to death of being put down, running into brick walls more often than the oncoming opposition. I fell in love with this game late, having grown up on soccer. What I love about this game is the athleticism, the skills, the teamwork, the passion and the heart. As I said earlier we are not on a level playing field in some of these areas BUT in some we sure are! We can aim higher. The lead should come from the top. IMO the Rhinos are the closest to being able to compete - everything about the club is worthy of respect from the financial management to the Foundation, to the team ethos, to the work ethic, to the involvement in schools, the interaction between players and the community, the focus on skills development for youngsters across the city and beyond,etc etc...
I hope we can compete tonight too. I know one thing for sure - the team will take to the pitch determined to do their best, despite the injuries, despite the previous cynicism, despite the constant hurdles put in the way of British clubs. If they pull it off great. If not then it will not be the end of the world or the WCC, but let it be the final kick up the backside of the RFL, which needs a wholesale change to progress, and can lead eventually to a more level playing field. Here's to a win!

Isnt that simply going to keep more young 15/16/17 year olds playing at a lower level, in poorer facilities, with poorer coaching for longer?

And how does 8 academies fit to 12 (realistically for this system to work 24) sides? An independent development system seems incompatible with this system in my opinion.

i dont think that our problem stems from a lack of commitment or will to learn from 15/16/17 year old kids.

Excellent post.

Athleticism is a significant component that's lacking in those average players. Their body shape is too bulky/top heavy when compared to the Broncos players.

No. It's going to uplift the most promising players out of the well-meaning but ineffectual coaching and poor facilities of their community clubs, and hothouse them alongside other players of similar quality with the best coaches. The difference is, it takes the self interest of the clubs out of it. The focus won't be on winning youth titles or academy championships, it will be about producing the most skilful, rounded players for the professional game.

When players graduate the regional academies at the age of 18, they will then be at liberty to sign for any professional side they want.

thats fine and id be in favour of such a thing. Bar cutting the number of academies.

Who pays them at 16/17 then?

I've just been out this morning coaching my U16s and as our team were arriving and I was setting up I watched yet another group of u7/8s queue in a line of 18 waiting to run the ball into 2 'coaches' holding tackle shields. This poor practice is unfortunately common throughout most clubs.

I took my current team on as u9/u10s they were in group/division 4 and were the 'B' team at the club in our age group. I went into coaching 13 years ago (this is my second team) in order to develop my career and to develop players In the right way at the right age group. My knowledge and expertise allowed me to see what the long game should be about, to develop sustainable core principles, skills and of course the enjoyment of the game without the concern of winning and losing, as a product of these methods we have climbed the divisions and are in the premier. Some parents took convincing but my role as coach was to deliver the right messages to the players so that win or lose they could see why we were doing things the way we were (...and of course having fun). Unfortunately at a crucial age our children on the whole are being coached in the way I referred to at the start of this post, and therefore our talent pool at the top of the game is largely reliant on the natural (yet still restricted) ability of a relatively small number of players.

What top Aussie player did we have in 2012 or 13, by then Buderus had gone and Webb was being pushed out the team by Hardaker
In Moon and Cuthbertson weve got better imports than we did then

I think we know that if the Aussies had won that 4N game by 20/30 points that he'd say it WAS a meaningful game.

Thing is all this talk of meaningful, I actually think the English level has dropped slightly from a few years back. Yes of course they still want to win but I remember previous years when the WCC game was the main talk from the moment the GF finished.....this year only really in the last 2 weeks has it come to the front of minds.

This from McDermott

"Hooker Beau Falloon, who sustained a broken toe in training last month, has yet to make his competitive debut and McDermott admitted there was a “temptation” to risk him tomorrow. He said as well. They are both not far off, but then you look at the grand scheme of things we have got another 28 rounds to go in the league season and it would be silly.

“We could lose them long-term, really long-term and that would damage our journey along the way in Super League. The smart option is to be disciplined and wait while they get back fully fit.”

Simply wouldn't have happened a few years back to have that attitude towards the game. I also doubt now that if in 12 months time if Wigan are yet again in one of the 2 non-title games they'll be in any rush to risk players or take it as seriously as previous years after what happened to McIlorum and others last night.

If Warrington keep going strong in SL and after Leeds had such a strong start in 2015 when they didn't participate in the WCS then it won't be long until SL clubs deem it to be an unneeded distraction. Add to the scorelines then the attendances will start to drop towards normal SL game levels.

People defend it saying playing these games will help improve our clubs.....they won't. We've been playing these games continuously since the turn of the century and 16 years later people are still saying we're as far away as the ill fated 1997 competition. So what do we do, play these games in the hope that in the year 2039 we might be close, it's a pipe dream. If playing an NRL team once a year was going to improve SL then you'd have seen that idea come into practise by now.

Truth is all these games really do is offer a chance for some fans to drool over NRL players and say SL is rubbish.