It's asking too much for an international team to be competitive with only 1 pro club. The number of French players playing professionally has increased hugely in the past couple of decades, but it's still nothing compared to the other major nations.

It’s an imperfect comparison and almost, but not quite, tongue in cheek - New Zealand

How many of NZ's first 17 play for the Warriors?

Do England need to look at playing a southern hemisphere side in the middle east or Hong Kong instead? Cuts down the travelling time and travel aint cheap but doubt the RFL have made much today off an 8k crowd anyway

If we picked all of the England team from Hull FC, and Bradford bulls, players that have now left these clubs and signed for another team in super League and a few more from the championship, how competitive would they be against Australia or New Zealand?

Or maybe just stop flogging a dead horse?

But to me that kind of reinforces my point rather than undermining it.

ateod, France is France and New Zealand is New Zealand.

Anyway, it just isn’t clear to me who or what the game today was for. feels like make-work.

Some hull fan complained that Catalans have been In SLfor 20 years and in that time the French national team has not improved.

In that same space of time the English national rugby league team also hasn’t improved despite having ten times as many teams in SL lol

#xenophobia?

It’s not baiting or trolling in any way shape or form. St Helens will naturally draw attention due to the sheer number of withdrawn players coupled with the fact they have form for it.

What’s more of a headline, club withdraws 8 players or club withdraws 2?

My criticism is aimed at all clubs who withdrew players unnecessarily. Some are without doubt justified and the right thing to do. Others aren’t. It’s no wonder our sport is viewed as a joke when internationals which should be the pinnacle of the game are treated with such contempt.

The thing was most of the players should never have been picked in the first place why pick and injured or suspended player.

Tommy Makinson, Mark Percival and Alex Walmsley are injured,

Morgan Knowles is suspended

while Matty Lees, Lewis Dodd and Jonny Lomax have now also been pulled out.

The rumour on redvee is that both Lees and Dodd did not train for Saints this week either so the only player withdrawn was Lomax the rest were all injured or suspended

Yeah, Dodd, Lomax, Walmsley, Lees and Makinson all looked really injured last night

He picks the 'squad' for a get together to talk about plans for the future and not just that one game. All of those players will be in his plans for Tonga at the end of the year.