We as fans - and the clubs themselves - need to stop the double-talk and decide once and for all - do we really want a competitive England side based out of SL? No ifs and buts, no fretting about how it may affect our side this year or even the next five - just answer the question.

If the answer is YES, we want England to be truly competitive and be full of players playing in SL, then you have a huge task. It would take a long time (maybe ten years if we're realistic) if everyone in the sport pulled together. But it would involve everyone focusing on junior development, clubs stopping bringing over cruddy Aussies to fill 'gaps' with the focus on quality not quantity etc etc - the list is long and in some cases quite painful for individual clubs. In fact I'd go so far as to say that to actually do it, some current SL sides would have to go and be replaced by clubs that are better run.

If the answer is we want a successful England but we are unwilling to sacrifice short-term goals for clubs, then there is - IMO - no SL-based answer. The only soltuion then would be for more players to go to Aus.

Bottom line is we can't have our cake and eat it. We should either get off the backs of the English side, and applaud them doing their best against better players and enjoy watching our clubs, regardless of how poor the competition is, or collectively do something about it.

There really is no point applauding as a club fan the signing of the likes of Brett Delaney, or defending the likes of George Carmont keeping some juniors out 'whilst they develop', then bitching about the quality of England. One glimpse at the options available for right centre (including Gleeson) for this series should tell you all you need to know about why we are way behind Australia.

Spot on the money (quite literally)!

I agree , stopping top imports coming through isn't the answer. Our players won't improve till we have a top quality league, we won't get that by throwing youngsters in for sake of it.

Just on that note, how many teams dfon't actually have a british half back?

But half of the problem isn't the number of imports it is the positions they play, hooker, scrum half and stand off are positions we severely lack any quality in depth, positions filled by overseas imports.

cronulla had 1 in the 70s

Without disagreeing with the gist of your post I think you'll find that the top points scorer in SL for 2 of the the last 3 years was an Aussie who came over at the age of 23 on the back of an NRL grand final win too.

There are players form Oz who have not played Rep football who are miles better than a lot of ones who have played it for othere countries

origin

Pat Richards.

Indeed. At our club Phil Baily has played rep football, Pat Richards hasn't. I know who 100% of Wigan fans would vote to keep.

Oh, isn't he Irish?