I don’t think anyone would deny it is but there is sometimes a narrative that goes around in this country that it’s 17 supermen per side going at it each week and it’s just not the case. Dozens of Superleague players would get games in the NRL and some would go extremely well.

It's utter garbage anyway. French wouldn't be average anywhere. He has too much natural ability and x factor for that. Was he average against the NRL's reigning premiers the other week? I think a MOM performance would suggest otherwise.

Some players can just do things others can't so will always stand out.

French took a 4 year deal because he would probably only get a 1 or 2 NRL deal.
Good economic sense but to really test yourself you need to play in the NRL. Watch a couple of NRL games and then watch a SL game. SL is like slow motion.

Apart from a few games, like Saints v Wiggin or the play-offs, SL isn't at the same intensity on a weekly basis. You only have to ask how many current SL players would walk into a NRL team. Not many. How many current NRL players would walk into a SL team. Quite a lot.

Smithies and Pearce-Paul.

And you could add Thompson & Leeming who were both regulars last season and French and Smith who both had offers and that's just from Wigan!

Will ask again, how can you in the same post label 11 gone Sailor excellent….but then say French would be average in the same post.

Just trying to understand your logic there.

I think Bevan French would improve most, not all, but NRL sides. As I never cease to gleefully explain to posters on Aussie sites, he is a much better and complete player than the guy who left Parramatta. And of course I'm delighted he's playing for Wigan.

That’s something that gets ignored. Guys like French, Field, Amone, Lam etc aren’t the same guys that left the NRL. They’ve now had regular first team rugby, have more experience and are better and more confident players.

It appears some of the knuckle draggers on other sport forums think that these contracts are being funded by the Latics.

Are we just going to completely ignore the 47 NRL games that French played in then where he scored 35 tries? And it was said at the time that the reason for him being dropped was a dosagreement with the coaching staff on what was his position.

He is definitely a better player now also than the one that joined from Parra, and in the last year he has seen massive improvements to the area of his game that was regarded as his weakness, which is his defence.

i'll disagree re Sneyd

he hasnt had a gig at a top club over here (Salford, Cas and Hull), and there must be a reason why. I'll admit on his day he can play (or kick), but i just dont think he is consistent enough within a game, let alone over the course of a season, hence why he's never gone to Wigan, Saints, Leeds etc

We almost see a microcosm of that here at Wigan now and again. We produce far more players of SL quality than can realistically get into our team. Some of them aged 27-28 look the real deal after being let go in their early 20s, but that's only after they've played 150 games at a Salford or a Huddersfield.

So that's 6 players so far. You may add another 10 from other clubs and that would be it. There would be a hell of a lot more NRL players who would walk into SL teams. You can discount Hull, Cas and London and my team Leigh, at the moment, with the horrendous injury list. So there are only 8 teams fighting for a top 6 spot, and only 2 of them have a chance of winning the GF or playing at the same intensity as the NRL - Saints and Wiggin.

The NRL have 17 teams who play at that intensity every week.

I can't see other SL teams catching up to Saints and Wiggin to be honest. And with IMG removing relegation some teams are happy to tick their finance and social media boxes rather than build a team strong enough to compete.