the hysteria and fawning of the Aussies on these forums after a couple of comprehensive results is borderline cringeworthy.

What Seth said!!
He brings a ray of sunshine to this subject getting a good airing. Far too often we see those lines of small striggly legged kids in extra-long baggy shorts, jumping up and down with such joy in the queue, only to catch the ball once before dashing off to the back of the queue again. That is unlikely to produce skilled, motivated world class players in a million years. What is seen in Oz on any Saturday morning is, as we have seen this weekend so far, a different ball game.
Good luck with your efforts Seth.

In spite of all the negativity currently being expressed, I'm excited by the fixture this evening and can't wait for kick off. It's an all too rare opportunity to witness some world class players at Headingley exhibiting world class skills.

I've booked my ticket and seat in the North Stand and just need to sort out my cushion, blanket and flask of Twinings Australian Late Afternoon Tea!

Hope it's another fantastic advert for the game

It's disappointing to observe your half-empty glass on such a big day for the club as this.

You know the pressure of the NRL academies has caused a ton of suicides in the past few years right?
for me that intense pressure isnt worth it, and wont bring much better players
we just need to change the way the game is coached from a young age, to appreciate the 1 per like you said

enjoy the game.

Thank you, it's been an incredibly enjoyable journey and I've had the pleasure of working with some great players. Unfortunately (I think!) I will be retiring from voluntary coaching at the end of this season with a heavy heart but it is a huge commitment and it's time I 'got a life'

I've been heavily involved in coach education, though this only gets us so far with our current infrastructure and reliance on committed yet misguided parents who in most cases don't possess the skills required to be a coach/teacher. Some of the principles though at the age I mentioned earlier should be easy enough to grasp; fun, as many touches of the ball as possible and keep it simple.

I'm generally not a fan of Sean big flop' oloughlin but he was about right in his post match comment that the Aussie's didn't do anything we don't see in sl, they just did it faster, harder and with more accuracy.

Broken down rl like all sports is a simple concept. It's understanding as said earlier how to get those marginal gains.

For example .How many unforced errors have the nrl clubs made in their own half? When do the nrl clubs start to move it wide? Bearing in mind the nrl is still mid pre season they just play the game smarter.

That is a pretty ridiculous statement, Watkins and Mcgilvery were in the world XIII last year and imo Watkins was better than James Roberts (Dally M centre of the year) who has a very good running game but isn't very skillful and was anonymous last night
Also as exited as you are about seeing Matt Scott, you presumable saw JP play for us for 10 years, and he is clearly the superior prop
If there are no world class players in SL then why did Graham get in the Dally M and World team of the year in his first year down under, the sad fact is some players dont get rated as world class (by people like you) until they play down under, a key reason for us loosing a lot of our top talent

I dont think that the game tonight is as hopeless as you guys are making out:
Even with all the injuries weve got weve still got 4/5 of our backline plus ferres and Cuthbertson who are better than their opposite numbers

Lets hope the team dont have that attitude or it will be like Saints last year, there is no reason we cant win even if it is unlikley
If every player commits everything and defends switched on and to their capabilities then weve got a shot
If we get beaten by a last minute effort like Brisbane last year then so be it, but I wont except that it is a forgone conclusion and if the team are looking at it that way they should take of their shirts as they wouldnt be fit to wear them

I can say I can vouch for this, as seen him first hand, and his team play. Very highly regarded is Seth at his club.

And to answer Sal from earlier, I do accept there is some not so good ones out there, but to give another example of getting it right. Last year Kippax under 13's started off the season in division one of their age group, and hammered everyone with ease for the first 8 games. Then Yorkshire juniors decided to change the split in the leagues at all age groups, so the Kippax coach requested that his team be put in the under 14's league for the rest of season. He explained to all the parents who were concerned, that winning every week so easily was doing their development no favours. He told them all, that yes the age group above is more physical, and therefore they will probably lose games, but he made a commitment that the style they would play, by the end of the year they would beat these under 14's teams.

That team learned to pass and move with speed. The physical side did not become a problem, once they knew they would beat teams by passing. That is a skilful team with some very good players. Those players were not poached from other teams, they have developed. It can be done right.

The RFU effectively banned that. We were all warned not to do it because one kid got hurt by an "enthusiastic" coach who pushed back. Yet still the muppet who was our self appointed head coach tried to do it every week. Every week I would have to stop him.
I tried for 5 years to progress skills and eventually gave up after one too many full on shouting matches. In every one of the six minis age groups at our club we had a self appointed head coach who ignored the club coaching structure (designed so all the kids got to 16 with the right skills, calls and club patterns) and did whatever their bull***t personal "rugby" philosophy was - usually shaped to fit the limitations or perceived strengths of their own kids.

To be fair my lad switched to swimming full time last year and our experiences of the ASA and the people who have taken positions of responsibility (most in our county are well over 70 and never swam at all) make other sporting bodies come out as superstars.