It has been confirmed by your Chief Executive that you are operating at full cap.

when?

IIRC 7 of the 17 had played in the ARL for one or more off seasons. A further 3 went to ARL sides after 92.

In my experience, whenever a player went down under he came back a better player.

If you read the biography of just about any British RL player who had a stint with an Aussie club they'll say it was good for their game.

Lordy me, just think how bad Keith Mason and Richie Mathers were before they went

Ian Sibbit
Vince Fawcett
Andy Currier

I wish people would put to bed the absolute myth that sending our players to Aus would answer the ills of our national team.

It would be putting a plaster on a severed artery.

The answer is improving our own environment. Noone has ever benefited from such a silly move as to weaken your own domestic league. It is the road to serfdom and completely misses the point of addressing why we are inferior in the first place.

Dont give me the horse of the NZ Warriors, because Maori players are signed up to Australian teams all the time.

It's not going to be the answer to anything but it helps players to improve if they're playing in a comp that challenges them more. How many genuinely tough games did James Graham have for Saints last year? A dozen or so at most?

Now we could sort SL out and make it more competitive but that will require changes from the grassroots up and take years to bear fruit. Lets be honest it won't happen. Self interest will cause it to fail as it always has.

seems it isnt only graham who is after a go at the nrl, im looking at you mr roby!

Quote: seanm89 "seems it isnt only graham who is after a go at the nrl, im looking at you mr roby!'" Do try and keep up, soft lad viewtopic.php?f=18&t=475621

Quote: seanm89 "seems it isnt only graham who is after a go at the nrl, im looking at you mr roby!'" Do try and keep up, soft lad viewtopic.php?f=18&t=475621

He said it on the radio when discussing the new stadium.

How will sending our best players down under help SL get stronger? How will not playing against our better players make the younger players better players?

It won't make SL stronger. But IMO unless there's some big changes to the grassroots of the game it won't matter whether the better players stay in SL or not, we'll still always lose to the Aussies and lose most of the time to the Kiwis.

Short term, getting our best players playing in the best comp would raise standards for the international side. However players have got to want to try the NRL in the first place and I'm sure many will stay at home.

Given the current exchange rate and the opportunity to enjoy the nice weather and improve as a player I'd say going to the NRL can't ever have looked a better option than it does now.

I think the tightened quota rules and removal of relegation are already starting to see increased use of young players instead of journeymen Antipodeans. But that process is slow and not one that we'll see the benefits of for another 3-5 years at the earliest.



But that weakens SL. What happens when the current best players are past it? Do we send the next lot of our best players over to the NRL?



Undoubtedly.

Our two current NRL "stars" haven't looked any better than the rest of the team. I think this theory of the superiority of NRL is now discredited.
How come we win most of the WCC games?
I think our top 4 would compete well with most NRL teams.

Where we go wrong all the time is a lack in strength in depth, a complete lack of team and individuals confidence, having to play to the Aussie's interpretation, Aussie dubious refereeing and the Aussie's style of play and (currently) by employing our worst SL coach (just before he was actually sacked) as England coach (our only decent coach in recent years was Smith).
What next? Promote Bobby Goulding?

www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... 17hcw.html already in negotiations with Wests' apparantly. Is there not some anti-tampering deadline in place?

www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... 17hcw.html already in negotiations with Wests' apparantly. Is there not some anti-tampering deadline in place?