Agreed.

Ironic considering we sneer a little at NRL for being to robotic, all nrl teams can play.

Their speed of thought is far superior to SL in addition to the extra muscle and skill (kicking in particular)
that they clearly have.

The old ARL was certainly robotic. And during its first years so was the NRL.

It's only over the last six or seven seasons I'd say they've really pushed on.

As a Warrington fan, I can certainly say I am in no position to laugh. Souths were comfortably the best NRL side on show this weekend. Brutally effecient is the way I would describe Souths.

I would question whether either of Warringon or Wigan would have breached that defence.

"Honest" Tony Clubb spent most of the time on his back with the footprints of Brisbane's front row up his jersey.

Bateman discovered that against big packs quick feet don't make many yards when your body is made out of compressed duck feathers.

Farrell is too small. Always will be. Sure he's a handful against weak edge defences in SL. But in front of Australian opposition (both in the internationals and against Brisbane) he was totally neutralised. Even worse - when he came inside he couldn't break the advantage line.

Tomkins is ok. But in the centre?

Swift is only occupying the wing position until he gets an opportunity to move inside where I reckon he'll be far more effective.

What position will that be? Boot cleaner and kit washer maybe.

Give the kid a break. He's done well in a position he's not suited to. It's not like he'll face Souths every week.

Swift was the only player to make over 100m against Souths.

I think he's a better winger than Makinson was at his age.

He's quicker off the mark than Makinson. More elusive, too.

But Makinson seems faster over the longer distance. Tommy's a better defender (both under the high ball and in the tackle), finisher and he's also reliable at full back.

To be honest, I thought Tommy was a goner the season before last. I just didn't think he was big enough. It's still a problem. But it's been offset by his finishing which is peerless.

There are a couple of things SL sides can do much better that don't need better athletes etc. One is cut down the errors. It really makes me cringe at times watching SL sides or the national team against the Aussies, because the error rate is dreadful. The stats might not show it, but its the unforced errors that are the biggest problem (particularly dropping the ball on contact) and the position on the field when it happens. Its not by accident that time and again our teams cough the ball up close to our own line but the Aussies don't. its because its punished ruthlessly in the NRL, and simply isn't in SL. But even with that, all clubs and players could do better with hard work.

Another is the kicking game. A full time pro halfback ought to be able to do far better than aimlessly kick the ball into the full backs arms every time, or make aimless attacking kicks (also requires the outside backs to train more as well but you get my point). Do SL halfbacks not train at this?

It should be remembered that Souths revamped their entire threequarter line last year. In 2013 they had a big pack, Greg Inglis and Reynolds' kicking game. Last year most of the 2-5 was new - big, strong and (Tuqiri apart) quick). Because when it came to the crunch in 2013 they simply didn't have enough points in them (and in fact the Dogs team they faced in the final had exactly the same problem out wide). As has been said, the chances are they'll lose more players over the next couple of years as the young backs demand pay rises. But they were no more dominant last year than the Roosters the year before.

I'd also add that if anything people here claim that the NRL is more robotic than ever. What you see with Souths cutting loose is that the robotic play actually enables the off the cuff play to be more effective, as the supposedly "robotic" players have the ability to time and make passes under pressure more reliably than otherwise.

Tommy has been given 3 years to develop an edge to his game. Don't get me wrong, Tommy M has grabbed the opportunity with both hands and is one of the top 5 wingers in the country now, and certainly the best finisher, but I think people forget he spent years being drip fed into the team as he developed, I think it would be foolish to not grant the same to Swift. His defence has already improved beyond recognition from this time last year, and I think he'll really benefit from being outside Turner this year.

He's prone to a silly mistake once a game at the moment which he needs to work on cutting out. But I wouldn't want us wasting cap space to replace him just yet.

He's a better winger than tommy with the ball at this current time. Tommy looked way out his depth against Souths with the ball.

Bateman made 160 metres and 60 tackles in the game

Faz around 150 metres and 40+ tackles

Clubb 128 metres and 28 tackles

Joel Tomkins made only 80 metres in comparison.

We made too many errors but our go forward was fine apart from a couple of the props.

Tommy is much more reliable, less error prone and a sublime finisher in a yard of space. 3 years ago he wasn't. Tommy struggled against Souths because we couldn't find him an inch of space, let alone a yard. He is still far to lightweight for carrying the ball up, but again, there's really no team in SL that make his cons outweigh his pros.

Really good post.

I found it interesting to see Reynolds out on the pitch long before both teams came out, practising his kicking short and long. It's the sort of work ethic embodied by Cooper Cronk as well, and goes to explain why we lag behind in that department.

If you are a full time pro surely practising your game is just as, if not more, important than spending hours in the gym. The kicking of the Super League teams at the week end was woeful in comparison with the NRL teams. Marshall gave a master class against Wire for further example.

I worry about how much ball work Wigan did in pre season. I read a comment somewhere saying it was weeks in to pre season before they got out on the field with a ball. That's crazy IMO! Yes they need to be fit but there has to be a balance.

At times this season we've played like we've never seen a ball!