Rugby Australia to target top NRL talent

[Foreign Legion]

So it's official, current day Wallaby = QLD Cup level

Yea but on any given day qld cup club could still beat the Wallabies

 

[Thatwasnthighref]

3 months of nrl this year plus an offseason will be good for him

apparently the titans will play him in the halves

Yea that makes sense, I think 6 would be a good fit for him eventually. Got some size about him too. Be one of the bigger halves in the comp if he makes it.

 

[Jim Swift]

Don't be fooled. The piece is chock-full of the usual drivel. The type of travelogue banalities that effortlessly flowed when the likes of the Daily Mail used to send their Union correspondent to the Challenge Cup Final.

The writer won't have a clue about the game of Rugby League. All he's primed to recognize is caricature. Brutality and hoopla for the masses. Redolent of a sympathetic George Orwell essay on working-class pastimes.

What? He f**king loved it! One of the most positive articles I ever read from a non league journalist.

 

[Wb1234]

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Yea but on any given day qld cup club could still beat the Wallabies

Agreed

 

[Wb1234]

 

[The Man Shake]

That’s good if the Raiders start poaching Brumbies players for their reserve grade side, NRL should sanction it. Hopefully it will snowball and the NRL clubs will pick what’s worth scavenging from the carcass of Australian Rugby. They can keep their fatties though.

 

[Wb1234]

That’s good if the Raiders start poaching Brumbies players for their reserve grade side, NRL should sanction it. Hopefully it will snowball and the NRL clubs will pick what’s worth scavenging from the carcass of Australian Rugby. They can keep their fatties though.

Nsw cup crowds would be bigger then the. Brumbies crowds so good for the players too

 

[Brian potter]

Nsw cup crowds would be bigger then the. Brumbies crowds so good for the players too

Brumbies crowds are bigger than the sharks.

 

[Wb1234]

Brumbies crowds are bigger than the sharks.

TBA means 3k or less

 

[Wb1234]

 

[taste2taste]

It all hinges off how well Mark and Gordon go.

If they kill it every NRL club will start looking at Union as a source for talent. Giving clubs salary exemptions will mean NRL clubs would be able to match or better France and Japan. The NRL might be able to entice some of the top talent from Aus, NZ and Eng.

The Tigers signed former NZ Super Rugby player Solomon Alaimalo, he hasn't set the world on fire playing in 5 games this season ( although maybe he's been injured? )

 

[Brutus]

Does Matt Dunning still play?

 

[Thatwasnthighref]

Does Matt Dunning still play?

I hear the Sharks have reached out....

 

[taste2taste]

Quade Coopers opinion on how Carter Gordon will go in the NRL

 

[Thatwasnthighref]

It all hinges off how well Mark and Gordon go.

If they kill it every NRL club will start looking at Union as a source for talent. Giving clubs salary exemptions will mean NRL clubs would be able to match or better France and Japan. The NRL might be able to entice some of the top talent from Aus, NZ and Eng.

No reason to wait IMO. If there are cap exemptions, clubs may as well crack straight in regardless of how Gordon and Nawaqanitawase go. Warbrick has been successful, albeit from 7s, so why wait? Expand whatever programs clubs already have for developing schoolboy converts etc. and get stuck in.

I enjoy both codes and I dont want RU to die, but there's a few current and ex-ABs I would really enjoy watching try their hand in the NRL.

Ardie Savea would make a superb edge backrower IMO, Hoskins Sotutu missed AB selection but is massive unit with half-like ball skills. Plenty of big quick outside backs who'd give it good run too... Caleb Clark, Reiko Ioane.

Would suck for the ABs, but from a purely selfish perspective, I'd rather lose them to NRL than French rugby.

 

[taste2taste]

No reason to wait IMO. If there are cap exemptions, clubs may as well crack straight in regardless of how Gordon and Nawaqanitawase go. Warbrick has been successful, albeit from 7s, so why wait? Expand whatever programs clubs already have for developing schoolboy converts etc. and get stuck in.

I enjoy both codes and I dont want RU to die, but there's a few current and ex-ABs I would really enjoy watching try their hand in the NRL.

Ardie Savea would make a superb edge backrower IMO, Hoskins Sotutu missed AB selection but is massive unit with half-like ball skills. Plenty of big quick outside backs who'd give it good run too... Caleb Clark, Reiko Ioane.

Would suck for the ABs, but from a purely selfish perspective, I'd rather lose them to NRL than French rugby.

The general opinion on these boards is no Union player would make the cut in the NRL...but there's enough talent in NZ to fill out 3 teams.

Both Clark and Savea have expressed interest in trying thier luck in the NRL, Wayne Bennet tried to sign ( and nearly did ) Stevenson for the Phins. Jacobson and McKenzie would be elite game changers.

I guess we'll never know until NRL clubs can make a decent offer to them and that won't happen without cap exemptions.

 

[Matua]

The Tigers signed former NZ Super Rugby player Solomon Alaimalo, he hasn't set the world on fire playing in 5 games this season ( although maybe he's been injured? )

Alaimalo has been broken for years, he's had a number of injuries and time out for mental health issues. It's a pity because in his early days he was class.

Also Jacobson? He'd merely be a solid forward like he is in rugby (I reckon) not a game changer. Sotutu would be the loose forward for that - he could be a Jim Dymock/Jason Smith style ball playing lock (but with more gas than both those two).

 

[Matua]

The general opinion on these boards is no Union player would make the cut in the NRL

Which is quite funny considering the trajectory of amateur club midfield back to first grade/test prop of Leo Thompson. Also, a lot of the NZ players in league have come from rugby.

 

[Thatwasnthighref]

Alaimalo has been broken for years, he's had a number of injuries and time out for mental health issues. It's a pity because in his early days he was class.

Also Jacobson? He'd merely be a solid forward like he is in rugby (I reckon) not a game changer. Sotutu would be the loose forward for that - he could be a Jim Dymock/Jason Smith style ball playing lock (but with more gas than both those two).

Part of me (just a part...) wants the Wahs to try grab Sotutu. I'd pay a lot of money to watch him give NRL a crack.