Quote: russon2005 "phil clarke talks rubbish... to be fair to tomkins, hes the best fullback in super league... but the standard of rugby in nrl is miles better than super league... i think even the best teams from super league wouldn't even get into the playoffs if they played in the nrl'"
I'd agree with that. It's not just the full back dept that you can look at. Most positions have an abundance of proper talent and it's not just in Aus because the wealth of talent in NZ is growing year on year. That's two countries feeding one league with world stars. There are players miles better than England automatic starters who will never get a game at SoO/International level. And then there's even the bottom of the table teams who have top of the Super League team quality and SoO/International players.
It just takes the odd injury or suspension or lack of form and you don't make the play-offs in the NRL. Syndey were in the Grand Final last season and lost Todd Carney (who is a magic player, yes, but still...) to 'personal problems' and there are 7 teams full of stars to take advantage of it. It happens to Leeds here and they still get to the GF Eliminator next week because the teams below Leeds weren't good enough to discard of them down the table.
Yes, our teams can beat their champions in a one-off game before their season starts in the freezing cold that they're not used to, but over the course of the season I couldn't see Wire finishing above Souths Canterbury Cronulla etc.
