Broncos V St Helens match thread

[Cujo]

But you cant use those games to compare the Comps, because all you are judging it on is the strenght of British players (what abou all the kiws, aussies and pac islanders that play)

St Helens fields 13 British players in the game.

 

[Leek UK]

There is a lot of talk at the moment about reducing the number of non-British players that are allowed to play over there. Some of the players that have gone over have made a genuine impact, but the majority of Aussies in recent times that have gone over have been at the end of their careers, allegedly chasing the big paycheck to end their careers, and thus keeping an up & coming Brit from getting a spot in the side - that's what they're looking to stop

Hope it does happen,players like Barrett,J Cayless,s jones,m mclinden,g morrison,these guys are good for SL as they were very good players in ozz.
Its the ones at 32ish that come over,play 2 games then get injured for the rest of the season ie- clyde,davico,mullins,bell.Then take their pay checks and fook off home(arsholes).
We have some great youngsters coming through such as James roby (who was outstanding last night) james graham,chris ashton,ryan atkins,sam burgess,eamon o carroll,chris bridge and jordan tansey.Most of these will be full GB internationals in a few years and i just hope more like these keep coming through and we stop the amount of average overseas players coming over,most teams are guilty of this though and it needs to stop.

 

[mikdalton]

There can be no excuses as Brisbane actually prepared for a change and Saints won playing the better rugby. It makes me laugh you'd think it never rains or gets cold in Aus as the players cant acclimatise. Well I've lived in Aus for 5 1/2 months been in the winter as well for SOO3 and guess what the conditions arent all that different. It just happens more often in England an a little more extreme. You'd think they were playing in an Antarctic blizzard the way they go on about. Off topic another thing that made me laugh too was the aussie perception of the UK having warm beer, its no different! every british person i met over there said the same.

Anyway back to the game. I think if it was held mid season in Brissie, Brisbane would win by maybe 8 or so, but not as much as you think. Saints are a quality side and last year on their day were head an shoulders above the rest of SL an the best SL has produced in its 12 years . Once they get a roll on they move up the field so fast an with players like Roby constantly have you on the back foot. Whether they could keep it up or not is another question, probably not but after one season I dont see why not in the second. Didnt their youth team play somebody like Newcastles youth team and completely overpower them last year? As for the rest of SL, theres good teams but as everyone knows the standard drops off. Theres not the player numbers back home that there is in Aus, plus there isnt the standard. Whilst our top teams average between about 17-12000 between them, the bottom say 5 will average around 5000. Simple economics suggests they wont create a team of an amazing standard with that.

 

[Canard]

St Helens fields 13 British players in the game.

Yep. But as I said Great Britain V Australia doesnt tell you anything about the standard of their respective domestic comps.

I mean they way NZ have performed in the last 2 or so years CERTAINLY has nothing to do with the standard of their domestic comp...

 

[Cujo]

Whether they could keep it up or not is another question, probably not but after one season I dont see why not in the second.

NRL=24 game regular season
SL+CC=33 game regular season

Could the likes of Saints, Bradford etc... adapt to a shorter more intense season at NRL standard and be successful? Given the apparent closeness of the leading teams in head-to-head competition I don't see they'd have much trouble at all.

 

[cuchullainuk]

In all fairness even if you are contrite in your comment that aussies dont give a stuff about wcc it still comes accross as sour grapes.And given the intensity of the match and the pissed off look on lockyers face in dressing room,the match was definatley competed for.wether you lose at tiddly winks or pitch and toss anything between brits and aussies is gonna be keenly contested.You have to concede Brisbane wanted revenge and another cup in the cabinet?all this diminishing ,trivialising couldnt give a sh*t attitude after a defeat doesnt wash the last time a brit side (wigan ) came to brisbanes back yard and won even then alll the hopefulls in brizzy suddenly turned into detracters("argh its only a tinpot comp."brizzy wernt fit etc etc)
i would have a tri nations gb win over the wcc anyday but were sh*te at international so credit where its due we beat and have consistently beat top oz side.
both teams were playing in foul conditions not match fit next year should be held in july?? when both teams are on match peak fitness also a two leg affair wouldnt be a bad idea but......aussies do not want it ovr in oz so whats point of that???

 

[nqboy]

Yeh I laughed at that as well - classic commentry obviously meant for us Aussie viewers

Stevo's always good for a laugh. It's hard to tell sometimes whether he's serious and beleieves the BS he spouts.

 

[nqboy]

I think it's most like Brisbane's success in the old midweek cup in the 80s. Players like Wally Lewis and Gene Miles only having to get "up" for a few games a year, Origin, midweek (insert sponsor's name here) cup. jWhen Brisbane finally entered the comp in 1988 with an Origin roster, it still took them a few years to make the finals because of the week to week intensity.

Saints have played three(?) premiership games plus how many trials and, despite their form, were used to the grind. The Broncos had one opposed training run against the Crusaders and wilted in the second half.

Good luck to Saints. They won and are World Club Champions, but I still think they would struggle to compete with the big boys over a full NRL season.

Until the seasons are aligned and the WCC is played a couple of weeks after both GFs, it will remain a glorified trial.

 

[SaintJose]

I went to the game on Friday night, very entertaining. Delighted and full of pride for my team, I was expecting a defeat after last weeks display. Those saying you didn't care if you lost should have some pride in your team. I met some very gracious Brisbane fans after the game who would tell you that they certainly did care, seeing as they were catching a flight back to the other side of the world the next day.

Saints leading the way for the SL teams, managed to put together a very good side, 13 out of the 17 were British, whereas Wigan fielded just 7 out of their 17 against Bradford last night.

There is absolutely no doubt that the NRL is a higher standard, I don't think you'll find many British fans claiming that it isn't, despite alot of you thinking that is what we think. However, our teams are getting consistently better, and the competition is improving as a result.