www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/penr ... -r3z6.html

www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/penr ... -r3z6.html

Who would you like them to blood though HH? young Gaush did ok at FB the other week but looked a little exposed as you would expect, him predominatly being a Half. Myself I would like a player with some NRL/SL experience to cover for Clint and the dragons are short in the backs with no Mogg, Bell is useless, Stacul will do a job on the wing but i think he would get found out in the centres. Pelo could do a good job at FB I guess.

Dont get me wrong, walters must be on borrowed time but the argument for not giving French lads a go is moot if there isnt anyone looking good enough.

I hope he does well, can play some really good footy at times but also has the knack of doing something stupid out of the blue.

Well at least when he does something stupid, he does it on the pitch lol.

sammut and schifofske are 2 very good signings for them

perhaps a semi final tilt is now a possibility

their attack will certainly be sharpened

I agree, sammut good in attack, and schifofski is one of the best I've ever seen under the high ball and getting into the right position.

Plus he use to always beat the first defender every time.

One things for sure, the Crusaders won't lack a decent goal kicker.

sammut was wasted at penrith, the kid is talented.

remember the panthers let peter wallace go so matty elliot has made mistakes.

im sure other nrl clubs wouldve signed him had the panthers allowed it

Sammut should be a good signing, they need a half back partner to go with Witt. Schifcofske is a dissapointing signing, he probably will play well for 18 months but Kear looks an exciting prospect and hes going to undeservedly lose his full back spot.

Kear has a long way to go before he is Super League standard. Schifcofske will improve the team immeasurably, don't see how anyone could say he is a poor signing.

My issue with this argument is

If Bell is useless, it should be him dropped out to accommodate another antipodean with a frenchman moving into his position.

We should have rules/quotas/salary caps which make playing a player you have invested in and developed infinitely more attractive than a ready made stiff to fill out your squad.

Surely Sa, Baille, Raguin, Pelo, Walker, Martins + U.N autre from the youth setup could cover the three quarter line?

I agree smokey and if it were up to me I would drop him, but i still have some faith in the coaching staff at Catalans and we know what Bell has done in his career, no matter how promising a winger is waiting for his chance, Bell has a huge amount of experience behind him.



Fair shout, could be a bit of a mine field legally though i would imagine



Probably but in that list you have named 3 back rowers who we seem to play in the 3/4, one centre who we have played every where exept Centre a prop who isnt good enough to be playing SL and one winger so covering the backline is all they should be doing, I dont think there is another club in the league with as many back rowers as the dragons

i dont disagree with most of that. And its not just Les Catalans, its the whole of super league. Other than an ageing Keith Senior i dont know one northern hemisphere centre i would worry about coming up against. Christ Lee Smith has one a Grand Final and played internationally there and he isnt a centre in a month of sundays. For some reason we just cant produce them. We need impetus to do so.

I understand what you say regarding legalities. Which is why i think we should look at it the other way and look at ways of encouraging british youth rather than discouraging overseas players. There are very simple things we can do such as make part of the
TV money dependant on having x number of british players making x number of games etc. The fact we have nothing like this shows to me there is a lack of will at the clubs to make that investment.

I like that, you could offer money on a sliding scale depending on how many products have been brought through.

Indirectly we do have it via the quota rules and franchising licences-There are quite prescriptive numbers of British trained players that have to be in the squads which increases year on year-The evidence of the fruits it is is bearing are there to be seen by all such as LMS, Tompkins, Eastmond, Myler, Shenton, Hulls young winger last week, Half of Quins team currently due to injuries, Leeds and Saints are playing youngsters, Cas have some great young English talent, I could go on and on. We are now seeing a lot more British youth coming through

There are a lot more young players coming through but there are still far too many older overseas players knocking about in SL, I have no doubt some bring the competition great benefits but there are others who are just here for a payday and are keeping more young fellas like you name out of SL teams. I'm not saying its all black and white but i certainly think more could be done.