Quote: bellycouldtackle "Yes more players but as England RU have proved over the years this alone does not make you world champs. NZ RU again prove the point that having more players to choose from is not the only way to be the best. Other than better coaching at all levels in Aus RL they also pick up the best Islanders and put them in a Green and Gold jumper asap.
The biggest problem we have is our style of play in SL, it is all about getting a quick play of the ball, scooting from dummy half and playing for penalties. Our crowds beg for penalties at the ruck. We rarely create anything away from the ruck. In Aus the refs don`t bother with pens for holding down, the players and fans dont mind and it is rare for a not square pen to be given. As a result the Australians create away from the rucks, they play rugby out wide, they have ball playing centres. In SL you often get 20 plus penalties per match , most for holding down or not square at the marker, often with two fairly equal sides the side that wins the pen count wins the match.'"
The lack of British centres is totally down to bad coaching and poor team building.
I remember being told by Ted Richardson that Kear told him that a certain Aaron Murphy ran brilliant lines and had great feet and would become a top SL centre. Neither JK or his new club have ever made any serious attempt to make him into the next Gleason imho. It's debateable if he had the size to be an international but he was a natural which Sargison and Bateman are not.
So a few years down the line we get a giant and mobile young centre in Lucas Wallshaw who although a bit rough around the edges was physically upto facing anyone. So what does Agar do? Spend a few seasons developing this giant into a top centre - no instead he looks only at his size and decides without any imagination he must be a S/R even though SL is not short of those. Then incredibly he plays him at prop ffs why why why. I know Lucas had issues but that pretty much destroyed him. Imagine if we'd managed to develop him properly what a monster he'd be and what a great partner to Johnson he'd be. Now we are pinning our hopes on a big Kiwi who is no better than Wallshaw and not as big! But hey he's played NRL.
That's just us and we feed off the scraps - I dread to think how many promising big young backs have been sacrificed on the alter of the big pack. If Neil Fox was a youngster today he wouldn't get a look in at centre - you're a big lad Foxy and boy you have some skill but you have a local accent so it's the S/R for you.
Poor coaching, lack of imagination and short termism and a total devotion to all things Australian rather than a lack of young talent is the problem.
It was one of those weekends! 
