Dear Mr English player...want to compete, come play in the best Comp.

[hutch]

i reckon he will be the top prop in the nrl by the end of the year, or at least within the top 3. its not like we have a heap of stand out front rowers running around!

 

[yakstorm]

I think some balance needs to be added into these arguments here. Super League is a decent competition and England has some good development structures, is the NRL better than Super League? Arguably yes, but surely everyone who watches the NRL will agree the standard is better now than say 10 years ago?

The readmission of Souths, and the inclusion of the Titans, saw a short term reduction in playing standards in Australia as the talent was spread, we also saw a lot of very talented Australians heading overseas. Time has allowed the NRL and the clubs to reverse this, plus the improving Australian dollar, has helped result in the standard of the NRL being at quite a strong level.

Super League is at that point the NRL was 5-10 years ago, it has added two (soon to be three) teams in relatively short succession, which has forced talent to be spread, thus diluting the product for the short term. This short term pain will go a way in helping improve England and Super League's standards in the long term.

It has also lost some good players, but lets be realistic, the Australian dollar won't stay at it's current highs forever, there will be many exporters who hope it goes back down sometime in the near future, so it's likely those players will go back, and they'll help raise the standard of Super League, plus as raised before, by England increasing the playing pool, of professional players in their country, more quality will eventually come out.

New Zealand has gone a long way to improving by the fact there are more New Zealand eligible players playing professional Rugby League than ever before. They now have depth, something England needs to build on.

The UK just needs to keep on working at getting more and more Englishmen playing professional Rugby League. Particularly backs, their production line of forwards is excellent, but their backs, if there is ways players would be accelerated or something in their development, it would be useful.

 

[Evil Homer]

He could turn out to be a nuffy in the NRL, wouldnt surprise me. Burgess and Ellis oozed class in the ESL, Grahame doesn't.

Graham will be by far the best prop in the NRL, despite Spud's bizarre post.

 

[clarency]

Too many people hitting the panic button.

I don't necessarily buy the "smaller player pool = lower quality players" argument. Australia has a tiny population in comparison to many other western countries and manages to mix it with the best in just about every sport. Doesn't it?

Taking the best from ESL into the NRL is always a bad idea. I don't think they're in that bad of a position at all. St George beat Roosters far more convincingly than Wigan, and yet we're meant to believe the quality of ESL is tumbling? From what I've heard the past years it's only in the final stage of development where the disparity between England and Australia really appears.

Hardly unfixable...

I've always rated the ESL admin far higher than the NRL admin. Exiles game should, according to theory, prove to be a way to give the elite players more "big game" experience. A proper world club championship (which only appears to be called by Englishmen if I'm not mistaken) would do wonders.

If the right moves are made, we will see a closer competition. For now I'm just being patient.



Wouldn't hurt for both comps to be playing under the same rules too, I guess.

 

[Mr Angry]

I still stand by my point.

The more Englishmen who play in the NRL, the more competitive they become at Test time.

It worked for the kiwis.

This is why I don't mind Aussies and kiwi playing ESL, that helps too.

I do agree some young backs need to get out here, do them the world of good.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

Overt the last four years the NZRL have also been incredibly robust in ensuring the youngsters coming through the ranks in Australia are kept in the loop when it comes to international footy. In the past, Kiwis management simply replied on older heads and hoped for dare life that younger kids coming through chose to see themselves as NZers on the footy pitch. Nowadays, they're holding camps, have great relationships with each NRL club, ensuring everyone knows what the Kiwis are about and the opportunities they can offer. That, the introduction of the Under 20 comp providing tangible pathways to play professional sport other than Rugby Union, means that Rugby League is a legitimate career option, a tough one to crack, but in existance nonetheless.

The NZRL have realise that in order for the sport to raise its profile, it has to accept that the future is in exploiting the resources and knowledge the Autralians have, by flooding the market with its raw talent. Its worked wonders, but is a compeltely different kettle of fish to the situation with the UK/France.

 

[doogiehowser_md]

Pretty much all the Kiwis play in the NRL, and we beat them.

You are kidding yourself if you think that the English team is anywhere up to the same standard as the Kiwi Team.

They may have beaten the Kiwis but thats at home with the most one-eyed biased refs in control, hell they've beaten Australia on home soil. When was the last time the English beat the Kiwis on home soil?

 

[roughyedspud]

geezz you lot are starting to sound like aussies....and those one-eyed refs have normally been aussie refs..tony archer,shayne hayne etc

the 4nations & world champion kiwis haven't beaten shit england or shit GB at home for 6 years and only twice since 2003...i'm in absolute nodoubt that england will win again this autumn....very shit really especially if you want to consider yourselves australia's equal...which you are'nt despite the titles

 

[Joker's Wild]

Graham will be by far the best prop in the NRL, despite Spud's bizarre post.

By far the best? lol I remember the same being said about Burgess and he is still struggling with the move

 

[roughyedspud]

Graham will be by far the best prop in the NRL, despite Spud's bizarre post.

nowt bizarre about it......many fans have said they fear he'll "get found out"

 

[roughyedspud]

By far the best? lol I remember the same being said about Burgess and he is still struggling with the move

is he? when he's been fit he's often the stand out player......and he loves living in sydney judging by his tweets anyway

 

[Evil Homer]

nowt bizarre about it......many fans have said they fear he'll "get found out"

There's no way he will get found out, his style of play isn't one that would be exposed at any level. Anyone who has said that either has never watched James Graham play or has no idea about the game, or both. I'm really struggling to comprehend why anyone would have said that to be honest, all I can think is that it's come from absolute one-eyed, bitter, know-nothing morons who don't like Graham because of club rivalries.

 

[doogiehowser_md]

the 4nations & world champion kiwis haven't beaten shit england or shit GB at home for 6 years and only twice since 2003...i'm in absolute nodoubt that england will win again this autumn....very shit really especially if you want to consider yourselves australia's equal...which you are'nt despite the titles

And when was the last time England or GB beat NZ downunder? Was it last Century?

Mate, we dont consider ourselves Australias equal hell we're the World and 4 Nations Champions when was the last time GB or England won even 1 of those titles?

 

[Joker's Wild]

is he? when he's been fit he's often the stand out player......and he loves living in sydney judging by his tweets anyway

I meant the move to the NRL, not to Australia in general. What Pom wouldn't love the sunshine, beautiful women, excellent food and standard of living compared to the Nth of England.

He has looked a little out of depth at times with the pace of the game and has struggled with fitness. Dont get me wrong, I think he is a great forward but he has a fair way to go before he is considered "the best in the game" as your countryman has suggested.

 

[roughyedspud]

I meant the move to the NRL, .

again has he?? he played virtually every game for south in his first season and widely regarded as souths stand out player...since then he's injured his shoulder in the 4nations..nothing to do with the NRL or struggling with the move....and this season he's just been unlucky...maybe he was brought back to early which resulted in him re injuring his shoulder.....and his lastest ankle injury could have happened to anyone....


so please enlighten us all.....how is he struggling with the NRL???

 

[Joker's Wild]

He struggles to get quick play the balls with the wrestle centric defence in the NRL, his lateral movement when defending at the edge of the ruck is slow and looks to struggle a fair bit with his workrate.

 

[roughyedspud]

and he was still considered souths stand out player........whats that say about souths & the NRL..?

 

[Didgi]

There's a difference between being a marquee international signing, gaining plenty of attention, and actually producing. While Burgess makes plenty of metres and bounces out of tackles (and I'm not knocking him, he's a great player), his impact isn't as great as many would have you believe.

Souffs are a bad club anyway, doesn't really say anything about the NRL...

 

[Joker's Wild]

and he was still considered souths stand out player........whats that say about souths & the NRL..?

Mate he is a standout due to the media lovefest and Souffs being ordinary most of the time, not due to him playing better than the other forwards in the NRL.

If he had come through the Jnr system and not on a plane from England he would barely get any attention.

 

[Goldfields_Titans]

BRITISH players actually!