Quote: FlexWheeler "
Someone said John Kear was part of the problem with NH teams. Nah, the problem is money, Irish have 30 dollars a day allowance, the rest comes out of the players pocket. 30 is nothing, cost of living in Aus is a joke, only good thing about that country is the weather.'"
My point about Kear was more that we can't keep blaming the Australians for not giving us the attention we think we deserve when the European nations simply can't keep up with the standard they are aspiring to. That's nothing to do with the cost of living in Australia.
Kear has (as, have all British coaches) been involved in elite talent development for the best part of 20 years, and yet we still can't build a competitive side - that's a failure of the game in Europe. Our best talent has to go to Australia to earn a fair salary - that's a failure commercially at club level (although I know people prefer to use the RFL as a lightening rod on that one).
We can't keep blaming the Australians for showing no interest in international RL when we're providing no reason for them to take any interest in us. England hasn't won a single fixture against the Aussies in something like 11 years - I can't think of another sport where arguably it's biggest rivalry is so pathetically one-sided.