There are many problems, some will take a long time to fix. One thing we could do without much difficulty is slow down the PTB a little which would force the halfbacks to develop the craft more. Combine this with some of the other changes mentioned and we start heading in the right direction. I also think that we threw away the licensing experiment way too quickly as we now have 3 or 4 clubs permanently looking over their shoulders as relegation would effectively kill their club. You can't build a future in that scenario.

I agree that promotion & relegation prevents teams currently at the bottom from being able to take their time to develop their own players.
Soccer & English RU are both blighted by this which means that the top resources are concentrated on the top few clubs.
The NFL, NRL & Southern Hemisphere RU are not subject to this so clubs can properly develop their own players even where there is a salary cap.

The aussies had some damn good fends too xD

Goof parenting in general is an issue in society full stop - way too many want a 'quick and easy' approach, leading to issues with diet, discipline, respect etc etc etc.... However that's a whole different subject - the issue you mention above (which is also one I've experienced) should be resolved with a quiet word in the ear of said parent about how and why it's done the way it is, and they either support it, or take their child elsewhere.... The same applies to he idiot parents who think match days are all about winning at all costs, and those who are getting a little too excited on the sidelines, or calling for their kid to 'smash' the other team....

At junior level, the game has to fundamentally be about the kids enjoying it and getting better with time - not 'smashing' the other team, either physically or metaphorically...



There are lots of things we could tinker with at the top level of the game to make us slightly more competitive, however that's a short term 'paper over the cracks' and will only really impact our highest level players, who aren't a million miles away... We need fundamental changes to the juniors to give us a larger pool of players in the game, and subsequently a larger number of elite players.

I echo points made about coaching, not just at the top level but right down to juniors, it's not on the same level.

In turn this hinders the competition as a whole, there is a clear divide between the top and bottom clubs in super league, no matter how many top stars they sign (look at Salford, look at some of the players Catalan have and have held too), the coaching just isn't good enough from that mid point to the bottom, I think the fact 6 different NRL teams have won it over the last 6 years, where as 3 super league teams have won our competition in that period and further back highlights this.

The english players must have been exhausted after the first few rounds going off the wcc results...

daryl powells sabbatical

Get rid of Association Football. Stop every lad in Britain dreaming of £100k a week.