Quote: BigRob "Hall - perhaps, remains to be seen. If he keeps up his current form for a few more years then yes id agree.
Smith - sometimes he plays better, sometimes he plays worse. The fact that people aren't quite convinced he's an out and out winger yet and that after his brief stint in Union he's put on more weight than me after Christmas Day means the jury is still out on Smith.
Gibson & Watkins - are centres.
Broughton - has potential yes.
But all players have potential and besides is not what you said. You said that Leeds have developed a fair few wingers better than Donald. That is cr@p. At a push we've created one in Hall, and thats being generous. Thats also not criticising Hall, more praising Donald. Donald is a very good winger and in England we aren't, for whatever reason, producing good threequarters. Leeds included.'"
I disagree, i dont think he is a very good winger. He is a decent one, but both Hall and Smith have spent the season being picked ahead of him. And personally i would do the same.
And people dont doubt that Smith is an out and out winger because he struggles there, they doubt that because he has had some outstanding performances at full back where he has offered more.
Im not meaning to over-criticise Donald but he isnt a star player. I would take Peter Fox ahead of Donald (another Leeds product) along with a fair few other wingers in SL. He is an example of what i am talking about with a mis-placed confidence in fairly average overseas imports.
BTW, i think Hall is on a completely different level to Donald,
Quote: BigRob "As for players better than Kylie, well we haven't produced any of those either. As you say Ambler has potential but to be "much much better" as you put it is a bold statement. That would be putting Ambler into the Peacock/Morley/Graham/Webcke/Price/Civoniceva category. Considering the lad is only 20 thats incredible foresight you have there. Plus we signed him from Salford.'"
I said we havent, and have said i am disappointed that is the case. But being much better than a bit part NRL player doesnt make you Steve Price. Andy Lynch imo is much better than Lueluai, and i dont think its a massive stretch to say i think Ambler can be as good as Lynch
Quote: BigRob "
For some reason, maybe because you know you're up a certain creek and paddleless, you seem to have tried to turn my argument into saying SL clubs should sign average Aussies. It's not and you know its not. '"
im not saying that this is your argument, simply that the alternative to giving these young players a go is average Aussies, that is what we are seeing with players like Blake Green and Shad Royston
Quote: BigRob "Everybody knows and agrees we have to reduce the number of imports in SL, the debate is over how best to do that. You think that the best way is to just slash the quota immediately (just out of interest, you don't work for the Tory Party do you?), whereas I would suggest a slower approach.
The problem with your way is that if we just immediately cut the quota to 5 then there would be 33 fewer imports playing in SL this season. Are there 33 English players of sufficient quality to replace every single one of them. If there aren't then the quality of the competition will decline, that then means that the English players who are of sufficient quality are playing at a lower level every week than they otherwise would have been. This obviously then affects the national team when we get our annual kicking off the Aussies, only this time it'll be worse than usual.
If, instead of that approach, we gradually reduce the quota (and since this is the approach the RFL have taken I assume they would agree too) then clubs have the opportunity to replace those imports steadily over time with youngsters of sufficient quality rather than chucking in young lads because they've no one else.
No-one is saying don't give young lads a chance either, just do it responsibly.'"
I havent said we need to immediately drop to five, simply that we dont need clubs having 10. Also alot of that 33 would be some very average overseas players and the quality of the league really wouldnt be hugely impacted if at all by getting rid of them. I have no doubt that there are young players in the lower leagues and in academies who could do just as good a job as Charlie Leeano, Michael Korkidas, Rhys Lovegrove, Ben Fisher, Blake Green, Scott Donald, Cameron Phelps, et al.
And giving the youngsters a few games doesnt mean a fall in standards, we will find a few stars. Chris Clarkson only got so many games this year because of injuries at Leeds, he is now there on merit and has the potential to get much better, it helps him reach that potential that he is getting game time.
