The issue with overseas signings is that it's never a like for like comparison with an English player. To be offered a contract (and a first team shirt) an English player has to be as good at 19 as any available Australian/NZ/islander or whatever. An example of how hard it is to "make it"; Chris Clarkson, who was down to be discarded but his coach begged they give him another year so they sorted something out to allow him to stay at Leeds on a part-time contract.
This "if they're good enough..." is a crock.
It's very rare that any player is better at 19 than they are at 25!! So why would they win out in a competition at 19 with an available antipodean of 25 years?

Dont be mis-informed, check yourself before you post



[urlhttp://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/stats[/url

exactly,

what is also evident is players like Blake Green, 23 years old, 39 first grade appearances, are for some reason judged massively above players like Chaz I'anson, 23 years old 33 first grade appearances,

why are Hull KR so keen to give a shot to unproven young Australians like Green, Dobson, Lovegrove, but no unproven young british players, truth is players like Keith Senior, Lunt, Purdham, Gardner, Kirmond, etc are better than Aussies like Green, Lovegrove, Fisher etc, so the argument about needing them to keep up the quality of the league is just non-sense. The reason Hull KR have gone for overseas players in deeper than it is easier and they arent prepared to deal with the short term pain for the long term gain

When are leeds going to start training Ryan bailey how to play RL ?

i think it was around 2000/2001

They didn't do a very good job then did they

and Cas are playing where this weekend? Oh that's right they're not.

A bit like widnes in the Championship

And yet we have Fax and Sheffield still looking for a GF appearance

They can argue all they want , if their club was in the lower part of the league , they would all be clammering for some SOO players to be brought over , but would take anybody better than they had

4 gf victories, 5 gf appearances, 3cc final appearances, 4 wcc, 2lss, 4GB caps says they did alright, maybe he doesnt pass the the 'Starbug parochial paranoia tall poppy syndrome' test but thankfully there are other ways to measure your quality, like competitions and stuff

You missed out his UFC titles as well

Various Super League winning and one Tri Nations winning coach would disagree with you.

You talk as if they're the same player with just different nationalities. Green's not unproven though, neither is I'Anson. In fact what has been proven so far in in his 30+ first grade appearances is that Green is a capable NRL player with a strong defence, decent kicking game and good decision making. I'Anson on the other hand has looked, at best, out of his depth in many of his.

As for not being prepared to give young unproven British players a chance, what about Welham, Watts, Latus, Taylor, Hodgson, Ratu, Charnley and even your hero I'Anson? You could even include Kirk Netherton, Spavin and Mariano in that list.

What about the NL players we've developed into useful SL players like Murrell, Cockayne & Netherton? What about the big investment we've made in our academy structure both in facilities and players that has yielded some superb results at those levels this year and last? I've seen alot of these lads and believe me there's some super talent there.

Surely signing players like Matt Cook and Scott Wheeldon (both who left their previous clubs because of a preference to overseas players in their respective positions) is giving younger British players the chance instead of average overseas players?

I'm quite happy to admit we're not anywhere near the level of some other SL clubs yet and as I said before, I do think we'll have probably have too many overseas players on the books next year for my liking, but to suggest we don't give young British players the chance and are not interested in doing so is, quite frankly wrong.