www.foxsports.com.au/league/nrl- ... 5946553614 gould said the same thing during the test match ie the only way england are going to get competitive is to send 30 or so players to australia

www.foxsports.com.au/league/nrl- ... 5946553614 gould said the same thing during the test match ie the only way england are going to get competitive is to send 30 or so players to australia

It certainly works for the Kiwis.

This should be a big part of a multi pronged, long-term strategy.

Another tactic I would like to suggest is that the professional clubs provide coaches to the amateur game. Make sure the kids are being coached correctly.

LOL I can see the NRL clubs all queuing up to sign these players after the Four Nations.

"England are crap. I know lets sign some English players, maybe they will improve us?"

It's all well and good for Gary Schofield and Gus Gould to come out and say that 30 odd of our players should go and play their RL in the NRL for a couple of years, but lets be honest, These blokes wouldnt be playing first grade week in, week out.

We have maybe a dozen players who could hold down a regular spot in the NRL, and thats being kind. If we did act on this, most of the said players would be unable to gain that intensity needed on a regular basis.

The majority of these players would end up training all week, and come game day, be plying their trade in the NSW/QLD cup, which would be no good too anyone.

I can't imagine the likes of Tim Sheens, Craig Bellamy, Wayne Bennett etc coming out and saying to their players, sorry boys, your playing reserve grade this week becuase were giving your English equivilent a run out to help their National team. It wont happen.

And the likes of Garry Schofield... Nowhere to be seen throughout the regular season. We need ex pros to endorse our game all year round, Getting them involved in the brooding of our future talent. Australia has this in abundance.

Mark Flanagan does. There's a few players who may be less than stars over here that imo would go alright in Aus - players like Paul Clough & Liam Farrell.

If this is the way they want to go - perhaps the RFL should recruit an agent to promote our players to the Aussie clubs?

Remember we've seen State of Origin players come over here and look average. I'm not sure dumping our players over there and hoping for the best is the way forward.

What club will start to blood a youngster knowing he'll be off down under anyway ?

We are worse then the Aussies, so what. As long as Super League (and the lower leagues) play to a good standard I couldn't care less on how we fair up to the Aussies.

Mark Flannagan came of the bench/started his first 16 (I think) NRL games this season, which was a hell of a feat, considering his relative inexperience. As soon as Simon Dwyer started to to make waves, he took Flannagans bench spot and he ended up playing the final third of the season for Balmain Ryde in the NSW cup.

These blokes are talking about sending our blokes over to help them match the intensity of the game in Australia. You have to be playing week in, week out to gain the benifits of that in the NRL.

We would be better off sending a squad of 30 English players to play as a team in the NRL for a couple of seasons. But that aint gonna happen.

Let's start at the beginning.

"This is a RUGBY LEAGUE BALL and this is how you hold it" and from there you progress.

Sadly, it is so obvious that this step has been missed in coaching players.

It was missed until about ten years ago. It's one of the earliest items on the L1 courses now, and also covered further in L2. Of course many fans still don't have a clue.

I played a lot of amateur & a couple of seasons semi-pro. Apart from the head coach at the semi-pro team the coaching was pathetic, with hindsight. Lots of poor fitness work & strength work but virtually no skills or attack/defence patterns. this was in an area where league is not played at schools so most players were new to the game so never had any 'coaching'. I know a few people who coach or help out with amateur teams or juniors now, some in RL hotbed areas, & talking to them they are fairly clueless.They are, to a man, passionate & committed giving their time for free at clubs operating below a shoestring. But we often starting with players 10 years later than in Aus & in far worse conditions.

TBH. Most would end up in NSW or QLD Cup comps. In the same way that people like Keith Mason and going a bit further back, Bobby GOulding and Karle Hammond did.

how is Ryan Tandy getting on?

there are plenty of Super League rejects playing in the NRL that would be nowhere near the England team.