Richie Mathers!

So so true.

I remember a coach stating, at training, that the players should not play with the balls, that is not what they are there for!!! 2 laps round the pitch and 10 press ups.


I really don't think it has improved beyond that

Players like Tandy and Aaron Heremaia, even Flanagan, show that this cannot be treated objectively. We could send 25 down to the NRL but what's the point unless it's something which will improve each one of them individually? Certain players will head down under and prove a real success. Some others will develop better if they stay in SL, probably for reasons away from the pitch as much as anything. As has been mentioned, Richie Mathers' NRL nightmare probably cost England its best full-back since Kris Radlinski. If he stayed put at Leeds, the number 1 jersey would be printed with his name above it before any squad announcement.

So, we make our national team stronger by making our domestic competition weaker... yes, that's a long term strategy that’s bound to work out

A good rule of thumb when working out how to develop the game is to see what Schofield says and then do the opposite!

Ha....its hard enough getting these Northern players to move 200 miles down the M1 to London! They always end up missing their mummy and daddy....only a small handful manage it...can you imagine what it'd be like if they went to the otherside of the world?!!

Sure their lifestyle would probably improve ten fold....but some people seem to like the wind and rain!

Two knee reconstructions probably had more of a detrimental impact on Mathers prospects, rather than just the fact he moved to the NRL.

I would love to see Sam Tomkins go over to the NRL. Not to see how he would initially fare but just to see how much he would improve. We really don't want him to stagnate and not fulfill the outstanding potential he has.

Mr McGuire is the perfect example of that, certainly an outstanding Super League player who has achieved alot in the game but does nobody else have that nagging feeling about what might have been had he been subjected to the rigorous and evolutionary training methods in the NRL during his peak years. Add to that the intensity of the (80 minute!) competition that he would have played in and I really feel we could have been talking about him in the same bracket as Lockyer, Marshall etc...

I can think of a few others aside from Tomkins who would be enhanced for going down under, lets just hope some of them are brave enough to take that step.

If our best head to Aus what are we left with?

Why do our players need to go over to Aus to try and inprove us at international level, they will get homesick they miye not like the weather and just out of intrest there is only about 6/7 players in the currant england squad that would hack it week in week out in Aus.

Its rubbish to suggest that the players have to be playing NRL to improve. Peacock reckoned playing lower grade rugby in Australia made him. Anyone who has watched Queensland Cup or similar will know that whilst the lower grades aren't packed with stars, they do the very things well that SL doesn't - structured attack, kicking games etc. Widdop came out of reserve grade and didn't look any more off the pace than our SL 'stars'.

Its true that Atkins for example wouldn't get a regular NRL gig unless he improved. That's the point. Some players would learn and improve, others wouldn't. I'm actually thinking more in terms of sending juniors to the NRL to train and play in reserve grade rather than established players.

I have a perspective on this as I played a lot at senior amateur level, and gained all the coaching qualifications that existed in England... I now live and work in Sydney

I have two boys who were just 12 & 13 when we emigrated to Australia in 2008.. we lived in the wilds of north yorkshire so neither had experience Rugby League before we arrived here.... we joined a nice little club in the Cronulla Sharks catchment area and the kids started training... every training session was fitness, strength, ball work, team formations for plays and kicks.. I watched the kids from under 8 to first grade do the same twice, sometimes 3 times a week... first season the under 14 team got smashed...

another season of skill, drill and fitness saw my two lads play in and win the under 15 grand final... and my youngest son played in the district school final a few weeks later...

I am really excited as to what they will achieve next year, but that is down to the league and club structure, the coaching and the intensity of the sport even at that age group...

within 30 minutes walk of my home there are 4 or 5 clubs which all have the same structure...in the Cronulla area there are about 20 clubs with the same structure... each age group fights for the right to represent the area in their age group against other areas... the competition is fierce!

all the professional players at the sharks are allocated a club in the area and the head coach may send them to play for and or do some coaching for that club...

Adam Cuthbertson and Mark Lennon both pulled the club colours on this season, and had to work hard to make an impact.

yes we need the aussie structure in our players but that has to be from a young age and in a very competitive environment.

and the cronulla area is only a very small part of the sydney city.

parramatta and penrith have masive junior numbers and are still growing

Not nesscarily 'invade' the NRL but maybe set up a loan system between NRL club's and ESL club's. This is how I would do it the ESL club's send over 2 of their U20's players to play in our junior system for a season but the NRL club loans the ESL one of their players.
I'll use my team as an example....
Manly enters into an arrangement with Bradford - Bradford get someone like Matt Cross (would have said Chris Bailey) who is still getting paid by Manly, meanwhile Bradford send over the Burgess twins and they play in the U20's/Qld Cup (Qld Cup is probably more beneficial for a player's development though).

Schoey needs to engage brain first sometimes.

How would this work? Lets say just for a second that we could actually cobble together 30 players that NRL clubs would be interested in (big if). You would have to assume that those 30 would be some of, if not the, best players we have. Yes Tansey/Flannagan/Mathers etc have all been over but how many of them have made it big?

So we send our best 30 players to Oz. What then happens to SL? The aussies already laugh at SL. What would happen is that TV and attendance numbers would drop and the game in this country would go backwards.

What we need to do is develop our own players and our own game not try and dump some in Oz and hope RL skills somehow rub off on them.