Aussie RL has been streets ahead of us for nearly 50 years. We got very close to closing the gap in the early 90's but since then forget it.

It's all in the way the game is run IMHO. From grassroots to the very top. RL in the UK does have numerous disadvantages to the Aussie game and we must recognise that. We will never have the cash or the regional dominance to be like the NRL. However, you can't help but think it could have been so much better.

Of all the problems we face, two remain self-inflicted.

1: The total lack of any genuine pathway between Amature/Junior club RL and the Pro-clubs. Years of petty warfare between the 2 have destroyed the game at the grassroots level. BARLA and junior RL has far too many petty parochial people involved, some clubs are little more than playthings for extended family mafias.

2: The above sounds bad and it is but compared to the grasping self-aggrandising pillocks that run much of the pro game they are positively saintly. Short-termism doesn't even come into it, some of these people can't see beyond the next victory and the underserved sense of self-satisfaction they get from it.

Sort the above and the rest will follow, we will always have limitations but we will be a lot closer to the NRL than we are now.

That's one of the things that has warmed me to MC, I think he sees this and has tried to be honest and play with a straight bad. Sadly I fear he's had enough now and who can blame him.

British RL has been a kitchen sink drama for years, it's an black and white like the film Sporting Life, the NRL is Technicolor 2020.

I too like the Raiders style of play, even got me a Raiders shirt to sit among all my Trin ones

The biggest problem is in Australia it is looked on as a national sport, in this country it doesn't get a look in. Yesterday the BBC showed 2 challenge cup matches but this morning didn't get a mention on the news. I am afraid we are first and foremost a football loving nation and rugby league will never get the same crouds hence the poor revenue.

Watched in the days 50s60s when Great Britain were the tops was at Bellevue saw the great battle when trinity beat a full strength Aussie team gasnier and wells in the centres and a powerful pack hammered by turner and co nowadays the Aussies are fitter harder and faster than us I rate Johnston highly but all the aussie sides have big fast wingers and I feel he would struggle to dominate over there

it does help that we have so much money invested in the game over here - makes everything from the top down more professional on and off the field
I actually think super league is much more enjoyable game to watch in terms of attacking rugby league

but a good NRL game is edge of your seat stuff,and the build up in the media gets everyone excited ,its on the front and back page which you just don't get in England.

Pecking order is something like

Football
Cricket
Horse racing
Golf
Athletics
Women’s football
Rugby Union
Darts
Boxing
NFL
F1
Snooker
Rugby League/ Netball =

I have been a season ticket holder at Penrith for the past 20 years and before that was a Cronulla fan for the 30 years I lived near there. Having previously watched the game in England for 20 years I always loved to see English players come and play here. Dave Bolton was the first player I saw out here at Balmain in 1969. He won the GF with them that year against Souths.

Aussies took our game and made it great, its not just the sheer fact that they are streets ahead in in terms of the speed and intensity of the game but the tactical element is great to watch, some of the set plays are a joy to watch, we see elements of it over here with the likes of Saints at times but nowhere near enough. Must admit, as a few others have said until lockdown I never really bothered with the NRL, but I prefer to watch it anyway over SL now.

For me it's a pity Sky won the rights to show NRL games because when Premier Sport had it they showed every game every week plus magazine shows like the Footy Show and Matty Johns show, both great to watch...so much so that my wife enjoyed watching them yet hates watching rugby or any sport. Everything about the game is better, especially the commentators who don't drool over which team is winning (unlike Terry 'state the bleeding obvious' O Connor & co) but give great commentary sprinkled with excellent one-liners.

Unfortunately, my NRL fix is now reduced to Sky deciding which games I can watch, usually Storm, Panthers or Roosters cos they're the 'form' teams.

Sky sports is now I believe owned by Comcast a north American media company, that's probably why we are getting less Aussie rugby and more basketball shown and even in depth analysis of behind the scenes basketball programmes, at least with Premier sports you got to see every game even at a cost which if you watched every game didn't work out that much.

Been hooked ever since mid 80’s you could rent dvds from blockbuster in Wakefield used to train Saturday morning then spend the afternoon watching 2 or 3 games from a young age. My team are the Eels and would love to go over and watch them. Wakefield always seem to do well from Parramatta ranks.

He wouldn’t need to dominate over there as the team would be geared to his needs. Also that’s a myth, plenty of Aussie wingers are not especially big, many are like Johnstone, very fast and athletic but not especially physical.

TJ would rip it up in Oz if signed by a team that suited his style and avoided his only real weakness which is injury.