I am just annoyed that the criteria has been loosened this year, a lot of it to seemingly appease Bennet by the rfl. Its not just RL fans, I think you would see similar backlash if, for example, fifa decided to apply the rugby union eligability rules, and allowed any premier league player to play for england.

I just think it is part of a worrying trend that is actually decreasing the importance of test matches. I am sure you have noticed in recent years that if a player needs surgery he will do it over the international period, which in theory should be the most important time for a player.
The main reason that test RL isn't growing is because it is not taken seriously enough in Aus. I think that it will be taken even less seriously if the 'England' team field a team where nearly everyone plays in Australia and many of the people were born in Australia.

I think most peoples biggest complaint though is that they want the people who play for England to WANT to play for England, and not just play for us as a second choice, if he is out of favour in the australia team, like the Morris twins.
I have no problem having a kiwi as an RU england captain because he decided to play for England when he decided to play in the premiership.

This cannot happen now.

The new rules that apply or at least are being brought in mean that once you've played for one tier A team (England, New Zealand, Australia and I cannot remember if any other Nations are included) you cannot play for another tier A team, which is why the RFL came out the other month to diffuse all the uproar when it came out that Bennett was sounding out the Morris twins, then they announced the above, confirming that neither of the Morris twins could play for us because they've already played for Australia.

So, so long as Austin or whoever hasn't represented Australia, if he played for England he couldn't then go play for Australia 2 years down the line

This is a really good point. I was watching a programme on sky about English cricket in the 90's. They became the lowest ranked test team and Nasser Hussain said the change in fortunes came when central contracts were introduced. This changed the mindset of their county teams being the most important to it being about playing for your country. Now I can't see the RFL bringing in central contracts, but something needs to happen to the whole game to make international rugby the pinnacle again. This needs to include better marketing of the international game to get it out there and in the public eye. It's not an overnight fix but we need an internationally body focused on expanding the game and growing the international game. I know there's lots of nations playing, but it's small time.

Test RL will not be taken seriously until England compete with Australia. That means that England need to be able to beat them, and for it not to be a complete shock if they do. Uncertainty and tight contests is what makes international RU a sporting event.

Central contracts etc etc won't make squat difference ATM because SL just doesn't produce enough good players. We're struggling to find a single quality halfback and have full back options a million miles behind Australia. Yet our backline options now are better than they have been in years, at least 2-5.

But if we pick Australians more and more then that takes even more pressure off the rfl to encourage the production of quality young players, meaning that in the long term it would only decrease our competitiveness

Also, the Australians didn't take it seriously when the Kiwis beat them three times in a row, and even declined to take part in any post season fixtures, so why would us beating them (especially with a team full of players who may never have been to England before) make any difference?

International RL won't be taken seriously until we have several more top nations competing, not if/when England beat Australia.

People who think the international game can get anywhere when it basically consists of 3 teams needs to give their head a shake. International RU and cricket would struggle if it was only really made up of Eng/NZ/Aus with all the others well below them.

Exactly. Something needs to be done to develop the game in this countries dipping their toes in the water.

In terms of producing players. Our youngsters regularly compete and beat their counterparts. It seems we're struggling turning these kids with potential into top quality players

Not this year they don't. Getting tonked for the second week in a row at the minute. Physically and technically miles behind in the one and a half games of this series so far.

I believe we beat them earlier this year though when the Aussie schoolboys came to England. I agree though that the Aussie backs look better than ours.

A positive from a Leeds perspective though is that Oledzki looked good and was getting on top of his counterpart, in fact the England pack struggled a lot when he went off. Looks like he should be in the first team squad next year.

The Australian backs look good because they're playing off fast ball from their forwards winning collisions. When they put their foot on the gas we don't look quick enough or strong enough to cope with it.

Oledzki went ok, but he needs to work on his lateral movement in defence. Too many times he plants his feet then can't adjust his body if the target moves. Must have been getting fatigued though, IIRC he played the first 30 minutes straight.

What I will say from these two games is I really don't get why people were upset at Morgan Smith moving on. Done very little in either game of note with the ball and his field kicking has been ordinary at best.

But if he is playing on this tour then he must be better than the halves we have in the academy

Whats the age limit for this game btw?

Yep. We need to focus on developing France and Wales. 2 nations that have a basis (albeit a small one) of people who play RL and there's a network to work from and that can be developed.

In my opinion international development in RL should focus sharply on getting France and Wales competitive with England.

The problem with that is that the gap between England and France/Wales is much bigger than the gap between Australia and England. England are focusing on getting close to Australia and rightly so.

Without big name signings from RU, which will never happen again, Wales will never be close to England. With a bit of luck from a couple of star kids in the right positions France could get competitive, but right now they are not much better than Championship standard at full strength. Over time they could get better, but its really hard to see them ever being strong enough to challenge England, let alone Aus/NZ.

And that's the problem and why International RL will never get big because it's only made up of 3 teams.

Imagine if in RU, the Welsh, Irish, French and Scottish teams were as weak/far behind England as their RL counterparts. They probably wouldn't even have a 6 Nations and even if they did it wouldn't be anywhere near the success it is in terms of money/attendances/media coverage with England winning every game every year 50-0. Likewise with the Southern Hemipshere with Argentina and South Africa, the latter a 2 time World Cup winner in RU, in RL they don't even qualify for the WC.

Unless RL gets bigger in other countries (which will take over a decade or more at least) then England beating Australia will be nothing other than a nice moment for long suffering long term RL fans to enjoy. The international equivalent of Wakey finishing above Leeds this season.....something to brag about now for the fans in question but in the long run doesn't mean or change anything.