Quote: Fat Boy "Who, exactly are you talking about here? In recent years, which players have gained experience in the NRL then come back to SL and imparted their new found wisdom to increase the quality of our own competition?
Richie Mathers, Jordan Tansey, Adrian Morley... who exactly?'"
Richie Mathers and Adrian Morley played in a very successful Warrington side that won the challenge cup twice after they played in Aus. I absolutely believe Morley has shared valuable knowledge with the forwards he's played with at Wire and now Salford. I've no doubt Graham will return to Saints at some point and will play/coach and some, maybe not all, of the Burgess clan will return to do the same one day. Tomkins also is one I see doing great things (coaching/playing) and I thought his defence in the 4 Nations was outstanding, something he's definitely improved since leaving for the NZ Warriors.
Why did Tansey never kicked on after showing promise at Leeds? Well I think an individual can sometimes not live up to their potential and settle to just being a squad player. But if we sent no one, then we would not get any experience, sending some and maybe more, will help the English game.
It also benefits the national side and for a month or two, the best English players get to train and be around the Aussie based crop. That must benefit English rugby?
Quote: Fat Boy "On British coaches - I would agree with the correct training that would be a great thing, sadly most haven't had the training within the really elite level i.e. the NRL. So we are entrusting our elite youngsters to sub-standard coaching IMO.'"
Wane and McDermott haven't coached in Aus, though I've no doubt thy have benefitted from being understudies to Aussie coaches. I'm also glad McNamara is learning his trade as assistant at Sydney Roosters. When the next crop of players who become coaches start to filter through, they will have been coached by these three men, further enhancing our pot of coaches to pick from. Anderson, Agar, Chester, Radford, Harris, Betts and now Cunningham (who is an unknown but hope he does well) are all people I've seen on the pitch and it's great to see we are now seeing us not rely on the southern hemisphere to coach our teams.
Surely a coaches quality should be judged on how their team perform, a la Darryl Powell, who spent the majority of his coaching career in the Championship. He's now, IMO, one of the best in the league. Did he go to Aus?
Quote: Fat Boy "World class means you can mix it with the best in the world and still hold your own. To say "you're not a world class player because someone else is slightly better than you are" is just plain ridiculous.'"
Well that's where our opinion differs. I'd rather have a smaller pool of "world class" for players to aspire to than every man and their dog being classified as such. Do I think Sinfield has been world class in 2014? No. Do I think he's been world class in the past? Yes. Is he a true legend of the sport, absolutely. Do I think Hardaker is a fantastic player? Yes. Can he mix it with the best in the world? No idea, he doesn't get picked for the national team. Is he the best in SL? Yes, but that doesn't make him world class. If he gets picked at FB and plays against the current players considered best in the world at that position AND plays better then I'm happy for him, in my opinion of course, to be considered as such.
On a final note, listening to Andrew Voss commentate on the 4 Nations he said something like "You know, these English boys play a different style of Rugby to the NRL and it's great to watch, their deep lines and passing ability is better than the NRL". Surely that means we are developing our own brand of Rugby that can now complete with the NRL style. That hasn't produced a trophy yet but we are closer than we've ever been and that for me is as a result of standards in SL getting better, having a bigger pool of talent to pick from, more British Coaches and more players going to mix it in the best comp.
Come on lads, lets be positive!
