You wouldn't select Bateman?

In principle I agree. We want a strong domestic comp with the best British players playing here but in order to stop that player drain two things need to happen;

1/ Salary cap is either doubled/trebled enabling clubs to pay players more
2/ Clubs must become financially strong enough to enable those wages

Neither of which are likely. I don’t blame lads who want to go to the NRL to earn more and test themselves v the best. If we want that tide to turn it’s up to the Super League board to make it happen and if clubs can’t keep up - let them drift away. It’s time we stopped the weaker clubs obstructing the games growth and stopped listening to the whinging flat cappers and let the sport flourish.

Something has got to give and very, very soon ... because the British game is not even sitting motionless anymore. It's now going backward. Crowds are shrinking and quality players that we invest time and resources developing are leaving at the earliest opportunity, or are constantly threatening to leave, which makes fair pay for all very difficult to implement and completely demoralises the support base.

And now, these guys based in Aus are not even doing it for us internationally, which was the only advantage we ever gained from this exodus. Whether that would happen with a different, more motivated coach - who isn't completely wowed by past reputations and NRL contracts - I don't know, but at present we are losing on all fronts.

The RFL is slowly crumbling, but it seems like it's going to take time for SL to attain full control of its affairs and even then we've yet to see how it will approach issues like the salary cap, funding etc. I do hear what some chairmen say about the salary cap, namely that it can't be raised until all SL clubs, at the very least, can pay up to it. I see the sense in that. But sticking with the status quo is not working. Nor is tinkering around the edges with 'crumbs from the table' rulings like marquee status signings.

My main fear with Toronto is that, a bit like Koukash, they are prepared to spend big to create a major force in our game and yet the game's strict rules will eventually prove too much of a straitjacket and they'll get irritated and pack in.

It feels like there's a fair bit of hyperbole in this post to be honest. The sport has enormous challenges, some within our control to address and some not. But a lot of what you say isn't really backed up by facts. Most clubs posted a year on year increase in average attendance and the overall average will increase next year with Toronto coming in and Headingley finished. Viewing figures are slightly up and the mass player exodus to the NRL still hasn't happened. Might feel like that as a Wigan fan as we've sadly set some sort of precedent for letting players go mid contract but overall the numbers going over are still relatively low. If anything, the NRL are sending more big names to SL than we're sending their way.

In terms of the internationals we've had a bad year. But it does follow two years where we've reached a WC final and won a test series. With a change of coach and new direction I don't worry too much about England not being very competitive in the future.

And as for the cap I think we've probably got it about right all things considered with the different allowances and exemptions.

Bennett now admits we have gone backwards.

Well, Wayne, you are the coach, you are responsible for making sure we dont go backwards. The buck stops with you. Im not sure what you said to the players before they left the dressing room for the past 3 weeks but i have not seen a GB/England team look so disinterested and have such a lack of passion for decades. I can live with being beaten by the better team but not with such lack of passion and boring forward orientated flat pass Chris Anderson 2001 tactics.

No wonder Australia dont want him as national coach.

but hes under contract and I bet hes on a chunk so no one would want him on the money hes on

Bennett’s quote on channel nine in Oz saying that there’s a certain standard in the NRL and we’ve got to get up to that is telling of his bias towards players based over there and must give domestic players no confidence at all. I look around the side this series at guys like Widdop, Graham, T Burgess, Whitehead and Hodgson and they’ve been a mixture of average to outright poor, so on this evidence it’s not doing much for them.

If he gets kept on I’ll be gutted tbh. He’s a living legend in rugby league but looking at Bennett’s results in the NRL over recent years, the magic looks to have faded and the time is right for a fresh face. Hopefully somebody who seems excited to be the job and will connect better with the supporters and the press.

Look no further than T Burgess. Losing the ball first hit up on NZ line was a game killer.

It's plain dishonest to say the UK based players aren't up to the NRL contingent standard.

Time to change before Bennett kills off the uk. International game.

I used to say to all my RU England following friends : watch a GB/England test series rather than a borefest England RU scrum, kick, lineout no action game, it's far more exciting and intense. Sad to say I'm too embarrassed to recommend they watch this GB team.

We need to turn this around fast before the WC, otherwise we lose our last realistic opportunity to change the game for the better in the UK. A great show from England boosts tv revenue, fanbase, reach, sponsors. Stay as we are we may as well turn the lights off.

There's not a chance that this would stop anyone going to the NRL IMO. We would have the same players leaving and the GB/England team would fall further behind.

Can we fall any further back? As I said earlier if you want to play for England/GB then you have to play in our domestic competition... no exceptions. The players then have the choice, after all it works in Aus.

Yet the same thing stopped top Aussies coming over here when the NRL come up with the idea

Yes, take out out all NRL players from our squad and we would definitely fall further back, and potentially end up level with Lebanon, Samoa etc depending on injuries, form etc.

The aussies aren't giving up a ton of money to play in the NRL rather than SL, that's a big factor in why it works there. They also have so many quality players that they don't really take a big hit when Barrett or Lyon goes to SL because the player behind him is of a similar calibre. If we could pay our players the same wages as NRL clubs then it could potentially work, but not as it stands with the massive salary cap disparity and how weak the £ is.

I made the point that the NRL exodus would not help us at international level several years ago and, by and large, was told I was wrong. My argument then, as it still is now, was that the weakening of our domestic league would negate, and then some, any 'improvement'* in the individual players playing over there. I was right then. I'm still right now.

*As a side note, I'm not sure that the 'improvement' in players playing over there is anything but a myth anyway. Sure, they learn to play well within the confines of NRL structures but that has little to do with being able to perform for England /GB at international level. We have never... and never will... be able to beat the Aussies by playing them at their own game. Again, I said it then and I say it still. A few forwards being able to trundle it up more efficiently is not the answer.

Me too, Totally agree with everything you say
(In this thread )