Hanley's annoyed some people because he's right. That's why we haven't produced a world class halfback in 20 years, and why we have centres who can't pass and a general culture in SL that losing by 30 points is in some way OK.

A centre as well.
The last proper centre (by that I mean played in the English competition first) that came out here I think was Gary Connolly(brillant player as well).
I really think Zak Hardraker is up to it, when I went over for the WCC he contained Lyon pretty easily,now give him a show against Jennings, Hodges etc on a weekly basis and his game would grow to another level.
Sam Tomkins has to come over here, put it this way if Slater wasn't around he would be the top fullback in the game today easy.
Josh Charnley could be the next big thing - love watching him play.

The forwards aren't the problem statistically speaking in the last three major comps the English forwards outplayed Australia's. It's the backs.
That and playing guy's like Sinfeld out of position(yes in club rugby league you can get away with playing him at 6 but not against the best players in the world)

It might effect the quality of the SL for a bit but the positives will outweigh the positives (for the National side).

Why do I have an interest in making an English side strong - hate seeing the old enemy suffer and want to see a good English/GB side. My father and Grand Father use to regale me with tales of how good the GB team use to be prior to the 80's

Or the overseas players off and let them play in sl?

The trouble is the RFL increased the number of teams at the same time they decreased the available player pool.

The overseas quota, IMO, is what is hurting SL. I know that isn't a popular opinion round these parts, but I think the overall quality of the league has diminished since the reduction of overseas players.

Yes, there have been some aussie/kiwi journeymen who've played in SL over the years, however there's also been some star players who've improved and enhanced the competition. Vainikolo, Lyon etc have all added to SL as a spectacle.

I know there are some on here who feel that banning ALL overseas players will some how magically make England world beaters in RL. This is nonsense. All the current quota rules do is force clubs to make room for players of a lower standard just because they're English, AND because the clubs HAVE to have a certain number of them, English players come at a premium regarding their wage, something which hamstrings clubs in a sport like RL were we have a salary cap.

Players like Sam Tomkins, Sam Burgess and their like would break into the first team regardless of how many overseas players were allowed to play simply because their class would show through. As for some of the more questionable English players in SL, without the quotas perhaps these players would have been confined to Championship level as they would not have the ability to break into a SL side.

The best English players will always break through if they are good enough.

Overseas players are not the problem and people use it as some excuse. Picking players just cause they are English when they are not good enough does not help anybody.

The problems begin in junior RL. At a peak time to coach skills into kids, junior coaches obsessed with winning at all costs get the big kids to run through everyone and the little nippy kids to run around everyone, rather than teach them to pass their way through. I've seen it time and time again watching junior RL, and it poses a significant problem, as junior players are less likely to pick up essential ball skills once they hit academy age.

This thread only serves to confirm that there are so many factors involved, it will take a very long time for the gap to be bridged.

Hanley's on channel 9 now, he can talk.

It will never happen but i would love to see an England under 20 team play in the Toyota Cup like the New Zealand Warriors, they could be based in Sydney for the whole season. That would be a great environment for those youngsters to progress in.

New Zealand Warriors are a NRL club side, England aren't.

What makes people think English RL should be able to compete with Australia? Let's look at a few facts:

Money
Nrl income $150million a year (and about to go up to $250mill)
Rfl income $20mill

Nrl avg club income $15mil
SL avg club income $5mill

Jnrs
Australia 50'000 (+nz)
Uk 10,000

Australia Jnr funding $tens of millions
Uk jnr funding $tens of thousands

Australia player size boosted by significant number of islander heritage players
Uk player size ltd in a nation where the avg male is 5 10" and under 85kg

Nrl 90% of players eligible to represent Australia
SL 65% of players eligible to represent England

Seriously why do you think England could or should be better?

Hanley had an interview?

I was too busy looking at Mitchell Pearce' new girlfriend!

he was saying the usaul thing about only 4 teams are good enough to win things in england, but he was also saying players like tomkins should give the nrl a go to improve their game

Woooooosh!