Tautai

Quote: Adam_Harrison9 "It's a pretty simple situation. If the homegrown players can't cut it - which they can't - then I'd rather we get imports in that can. Nationality doesn't matter one iota to me. It is the responsibility of homegrown players first and foremost to show they can cut the mustard. It's no surprise that nearly all our imports are the better players in our team

That's fair enough, you pays your money you takes your choice - if you are happy then your opinion is valid, but I think it is far, far too simplistic. Personally the game as a whole is as at least equally important to me as Trinity is, I appreciate that I maybe in a minority in this respect but thats my opinion. I love the game, absolutely love it, and want enough cash in the game to enable these amazing athletes (yesterday excluded of course) to be better rewarded for what they put themselves through for our entertainment. I want enough money to be in the game to ensure the best athletes in schools from all over the country want to be RL players because it can , this can only come on the back of a thriving International Game and this in turn can only come on the back of an increased pool of domestic playing talent and I mean increased in terms of numbers and quality. I believe that every pro club has a role to play in the development of the game and they have a responsibility to add value to the league and the sport in general.

Importing (another) player from down under because they are better than we have at this moment in time is like using a sticking plaster over a gushing wound that is hemmorhaging blood at an alarming rate. The fundamental question of "why" we can't produce players when most other clubs can, particularly when one club that is almost a carbon copy of ours only a couple of miles away seems to be able to do.

We had a champion junior side not many years ago, what has happened to this crop of players? What is wrong with the systems we have in place as a club to produce players that means that we cannot convert good juniors into effective SL class players?

The other argument is that we are always going to be poor relations to the big city slickers who can pay the wages and offer glory - and more often than not when we do unnearth a gem then they will be ripe for the picking. This is likely to be true at least until the stadium gets sorted, whenever this may be. So the only thing we can do to avoid a slow painful death is to develop a constant stream of players to replace the ones that go for whatever reason.