Go on Wikipedia and it will give you all the squads for the Superleague sides.

To get a fair assessment don't include any player that has a high squad number and played just 2 games. This is the trick people play to pretend France is producing Superleague quality players

Just keep it simple. List the French lads who hold down a first team Jersey across Superleague....... It will only take you 10 minutes.

You can cheat - you can list many players who are signed to Toulouse and Catalans that are erm French.....Besides Toulouse are not a Superleague side...

AND remember the purpose of French SL clubs, it was to produce French players who could compete on the international stage let alone Superleague.

You forget that.......

Now answer my question - how many French lads held down a first team Superleague jersey in 2007

Then how many French lads hold down a first team Superleague Jersey now?

Then 13 years on calculate for me the growth of the French Superleague player pool..........

Simple enough for you?

Come on Donny.

I agree that there was some "talk" at the time of Catalan's inclusion in SL that they would "help" the French National side and who is to say thet they haven't, after all, there is no way to compare say the England or GB side now with the England or GB aside of 25 years ago, with the French side now and the French side of 25 years ago.

Are you seriously suggesting that a French national side, picked from 1 pro club and a few amateur sides, could possibly compete with an England side selected from 20+ professional sides and a host of players now plying their trade down under ??

Not even you could put up an argument to suggest that the French could or should have a hope in hell of competing ??

And had the French not had any FT players, they WOULD be far worse than they are with the inclusion of Catalan and Toulouse players.

Would the French national side improve if there were more full time pro French sides in SL or a French Pro League, of course they would but, you know this, it's not even difficult.
Would they be even worse if Catalan and Toulouse were kicked out to SL and The Championship, well, yes, of course they would.

Get a grip man and let's have a little less of your anti everything but English nonsense.

I thought thet you might have chilled out a touch since Toronto packed in

It may be worth you looking at the Catalan squad in their inaugural season.
Using your own measure of only counting players who made a reasonable number of full appearances, they could actually be making progress.

There wasn't "some talk" at all................Richard Lewis was clear the game needed International competition to get noticed and to genuinely expand. That's why they included Catalans and quickly re-installed the GB French tests. Why do you deny reality?

I'm not "suggesting" the nonsense you made up, nor am I anti-France, you always try to discredit me personally when you can't discredit the point of the debate.

Here's Sadler...[i"In 2015 Catalans gave a debut to Lucas Albert who looked like the best half back to come out of France for many years, Since then he's been on the fringes of the first team without ever being able to displace the overseas players .Last week the Dragons revealed he was leaving. The Dragons problem is there is no way through the ranks for promising French youngsters when they are intent on signing overseas stars"[/i

Isn't this the issue as regards Toronto? No canadians?? At least they had an excuse.

Here's Catalans Dragons overseas starting team........Tomkins.S, Davies, Folau, Mead, Tierney, Langi, Maloney, Drinkwater, McIlorum. Moa, Whitley Casiano and Tompkins J. There you go not a Frenchman in sight after 14 years of the clubs existence. No academy either? Spent that money on Falou.

Now do you get it? Or are you going to try to twist your way out of that

It's exactly what I have researched for goodness sake

Les Catalans were supposed to play the top French players in their Professional Superleague team so the players could be developed such that they could provide competitive annual France.v.Great Britain test games.

What's happened is Catalans have shoved them all out, sure there are lads like Theo Fages in the English system, Navarette, Miloudi, Escare etc, I fully acknowledge that but all that means is we do not need Les Catalans who refuse to run an academy and clearly refuse to develop and sign the top French players.

France can send their best players over here all day long as they now do. There in no point to Catalans Dragons if they...

1. Refuse to sign and play the best French lads
2. Cannot find a French TV deal
3. Will not run an academy

And so what do you think Toulouse would do if they were hoisted into Superleague? Copy Catalans?? Let's see if you have a debate in you

Cut the "made up" childish rubbish it's insulting. I have answered it as above.........

If the French game produces French RL players good enough to play Professional Superleague then the English cubs can sign them. A case in point is Theo Fages he went to St Helens and became a fantastic star. Luca Albert decided to go to Les Catalans, but they didn't play him and he's not developed because of this and has dropped back to the French League.

You two could not be more wrong. The French game develops young players, and a small number are good enough for Superleague.

There is however no pathway to Superleague if they sign for Les Catalans. that is Sadlers point quality young French players can sign for SL clubs here and go through the ranks here from academy to reserves (when that re-starts) and to first team. Fages is an example.

But Les catalans cleary do not offer these opportunities do they? Gaucsh just signs the biggest stars he can and to hell with French players.......

Don't you think with the Folau money Gausch could have re-opened an academy instead?? Or are you conveniently forgetting that too?

Sorry Donny but, you choose to follow an anti expansion narrative (understatement) and display "the" Catalan starting 13.
I'm sure you know that their 2020 squad of 30 players includes 16 French born players and whilst accepting that their first choice 17 would include say 6 or 7 of those players, most other SL sides would be broadly similar.
If there is to be a 7 non fed trained player rule, would you exempt Catalan from this ?? and should all other clubs do the same ??

Think again

EVERY SL club is trying to do the best that it can on the field of play and just because Catalan are French, it's utterly ridiculous to enforce a different set of rules for them.
You love to quote your RL Press editors but, do you not think that their editorials are deliberately provocative and do you think that there could be a reason for this.

I actually agree that Catalan could and should do more to help develop their best talent but, in an open market, you couldn't guarantee that those players would want to remain at Catalan. How on earth would you impose that ruling.
Should we insist that any French born players at other clubs return and play for Catalan ?
Would it be legal - I dont think so.

Bottom line, are they breaking any rules - no

Should they do more to help develop the game in France - yes

Once again you try to win a debate by simply discrediting me

Your "opinion" isn't based on reality. You can't just accept you got this wrong. Paris was chosen as a capital city and they played London who erm are also a capitol city and Maurice Lyndsay spoke of Milan another big city and Barcelona who were a regional capital. Not my opinion at all, this is from David Lawrenson's article on Superleague from the book Seasons in the Sun. Lawrenson makes no reference to Perpignan. Toulouse pushed to replace the defunct Paris as Toulouse applied 1996 and were blocked out by Paris. The replacement was there - the fact is Superleague didn't want them. There was no desire to find a French replacement - you made that up - I looked it up.......

You also know full well Superleague clubs are required to develop juniors into pro-players and underpin a TV deal. The English clubs do this , the North American clubs can't do this and and French clubs have no desire - Catalans who follow the policy of shipping in overseas players do not, and Toulouse are set to follow that.

Not my opinion at all what I reflect is Elstone's analysis that North America bring nothing to Superleague, and nor do Catalans, or even Toulouse if they eject their French players for Aussies, kiwis and south sea islanders.

I can accept you like the romantic idea personally of a "French" SL club but it's worth recording on here that even the arch expansionist Martyn Sadler just doesn't see it anymore. Not when there's no interest in promoting French players which killed the GB.v.France games....You made up the bit in bold.

Well it's a very interesting question and you may think it a very fair answer if I say I don't know a lot about Australian Rugby league. But I would say that Melbourne Storm obviously underpin the massive NRL TV deal there is no such deal in France

I would also say that London develop few players despite a 40 year existence yet they are seen as important in terms of being in Superleague. I am not sure about this.

But if Martyn Sadler sees no point to Catalans if they refuse to develop French juniors into professionals (and can't get a France TV deal) there is a better argument for removing them from SL than these is for removing Melbourne from the NRL.It may not be a case that Melbourne develop few Victorian professionals, more that Catalans simply refuse to even try to develop any at all?

Bottom line as proposed by Martyn Sadler is Mr, Gausch can choose to ensure his money is spent on finding the best team from anywhere so his club can win things and get to finals, or he can engage in some real French development. This begs the question maybe English SL clubs should follow suit and shut their academies?

And the answer to that may come with the new 2022 deal.