How do they manage in the NRL? - doesn't impact on the intesity there - maybe we just need to get our players upto their standards of fitness and endurance?

But we have got rid of him for this year.
My point is that he is much more likely to have more minutes on the field than Kylie is ever going to have.

IMO we should be looking to make life harder for attacking sides to encourage creativity and game craft, not making it easier for them by putting more tired defenders on the field for the little guys to run at from dummy half four plays out of six.

I think its short term vs long term. Short term there may be more tired bodies though the combined effort across the 17 should remain the same. IN the long term I guess you'd hope that the players would be conditioned to it better, and at least remain on a par with the aussies on that side of things

Not yet we haven't. Can't we recall him any time up to July?

This doesn't happen in Australia and they only have 10 interchanges - why is that? because the players are much fitter - perhaps if our players were fitter we would be making it harder for the attackers? If you fill your games with very average overseas players who could not cut it in the NRL and pay them more than their counterparts from the UK what kind of message does that send out.

The majority of our players would not be able to physically cope with training in Australia never mind the skills element of what is required - there is an excuse for lack of skill, there is no excuse for lack of fitness.

Cannot agree with the last part, a complete myth people like to band about. Even average SL players go down under and can cope. Think the only issue with some is the heat but that is just climatising. We may not have the skill but think most of our players can cope with fitness in NRL.

You don't think that more games and smaller squads means that many of ours are expected to play and train while carrying injuries? Might this not be a factor?

Oh right wasn`t aware of that.
Still would have rather we kept him maybe instead of Ambler and the ever improving Kirke!

We need to rotate forwards and not the same forwards each week, Mac needs to be selective and rest Peacock and Lauluai in some less important games, we have the best squad of forwards in the comp by a country mile and we cant just expect the same forwards to cart it up week on week. We were very lucky last season that we did not get any injuries after we showed cross and burgess the door IMO.

You should say we have the MOST forwards with experience, not necessarily the best. We haven't got a real line-breaking forward now Ali's left - it's more of a grafting pack unless Hauraki steps up a gear. For all his faults, a player like pre-suspension Gareth Hock would add enormously to our forwards IMO.

It is a myth that our players play a lot more games.

If the Aussies don't make the play offs they play 24 games 3 less than our players in far more intense competition

If they do make the play off again they play 3 less games in a far less intense competition

The top players if the make the final will play 24 regular season, 4 play off games and 4 SOO/test games 32, our players will play 27 regular games, 4 play offs and 1 mid season i.e. 32 games.

As for the CC the vast majority of these games are less taxing than a training session.

On squad size Melbourne Storm had a squad of 23 players less than Leeds at 25

In test matches we see the Aussies run away with it in the last 20 minutes regularly which suggests their fitness is significantly superior. The idea that our players are incapable of 80 minutes once a week withouth the need for a regular week off agains suggest we have some conditioning issues.

I didn't claim our players played a lot more games. You added the term "a lot". But more than 10% more could be a factor none the less. Picking a squad at random - Canterbury Bulldogs - which you appear to have done by picking out Melbourne Storm, I find that their squad last season comprised 28 players. And while many CC games may lack the intensity of a training session (I've no way of knowing whether this is true BTW), the remaining proportion almost certainly take a fair bit out of the players, as evidenced by the number of times we see a team win the CC only to collapse during the run in or play offs.

Jack Reed, hardest worker in the NRL. How many games did Sinfield play? www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/j ... 6207436748 Note that Reed's record includes pre-season trial games. The Aussie off season is at least 4 weeks, maybe up to 6 weeks longer than ours. That's the major difference since that's when all the bulk of the conditioning & strength work is done. Fewer games would help our chances of competing on a level playing field, until then we have to accept that SL is probably behind the NRL.

Jack Reed, hardest worker in the NRL. How many games did Sinfield play? www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/j ... 6207436748 Note that Reed's record includes pre-season trial games. The Aussie off season is at least 4 weeks, maybe up to 6 weeks longer than ours. That's the major difference since that's when all the bulk of the conditioning & strength work is done. Fewer games would help our chances of competing on a level playing field, until then we have to accept that SL is probably behind the NRL.

Me too.