Quote alegend="alegend"Watch Australian S L for a year then come back and say that .It is more professional in every thing by miles every try scored is checked by the vido ref and it does not slow the game down .The refs call the game as they see it ,not what colour shirt they have on .The commentators talk about the game ,not take the micky out of teams No head shots and very little off-sides all have been stoped because of 10 match hands ,not 2\3 as in this country Players get the sin bin on first affence .who ever they are .Not on what team you play for .England were out of there depth in the S F 1 point may look good but does not tell the story .The team they played are not even in the top 4 in the World .Could be now'"
That’s an interesting take on the NRL.
Not sure it’s entirely accurate to be honest.
The refs are coming off one of the most criticised seasons they have had in years.
All games over there are on live tv and the video ref decisions are quicker but again quite a few this year in particular have been absolutely panned for being wrong despite having the technology to hand.
No head shots? Lots of sun bins this year for head shots.
The top half of the table are streets ahead of most SL teams, bottom half I think our top 5 or 6 teams could compete with. The likes of Canterbury and Wests for example have been shocking this year.
What they do have is a much much bigger player pool at all levels from junior level up. I mentioned this on another thread that Penrith feeder system alone has more junior players registered with them, than the entire junior game in England.
There is also a lot more money in the game due to the television rights and media interest.
They also have meaningful rep games in Origin, Country v City and Prime ministers 13 games.
SL’s main issue is the obsession with overseas players, ironically a similar issue which is now causing issues in the NRL with the Pacific Islanders chosing to play for their home nations rather than Australia.
Teams carrying 7/8 overseas players is just plain ridiculous. It needs to be 5 at the most with no loopholes.
I genuinely believe we can have 20 players who can play at the top level, however he have no depth.
Loosing Newman sees our next option being Watkins….that’s a huge problem.
Australia can lose Trobojevic and they have Mitchell, Todesco, Holmes, Gagai etc etc who could step in.
More money and more players is always going to make it an uphill battle for England and until we do something to improve pathways then it’s always going to be the same story.
