Hindmarshfan said:
yep i agree, fast play the balls does nothing to enhance a game of RL , as long as its reasonable . I think NRL has a good balance.
The proof is in the pudding regarding it producing a superior national side. pick any ref GB wants,, let them have faster play the balls and 9 times out of 10 they would get murdered by NZ or Roo's backline.
If they can handle such a fast game and are superior at it why do they so often look like rabbits in the headlights in defence when Australia or NZ does anything remotely creative out wide at speed.
You are looking at that too simply. Super League is played the right way I believe. It is fabulously entertaining to watch.
By contrast whilst a tip-top game of NRL can be fun, the average game is dull, like watching a film in black and white with the sound turned down.
Sky Sports has dropped coverage of the NRL in the UK. It's not on at all over here unless one of the minor channels like Setanta sports picks it up for a fiver. It's not wanted either, the viewing figures are awful, simply because the content is on the whole extremely boring.
The mis-match in international terms has nothing to do with the style of league played domestically. It is to do with the calibre of players playing the game in the respective countries. In the UK if you show any sign of sporting prowess you are far more likely to play another sport such as football. You can go to public schools even in the heartlands of the sport and not be given the chance to play league. Elsewhere in the country you simply can't play the sport. As my information technology tutor always said, "You put shi$ in, you get shi$ out" no matter how good the training is.
You see this in the stature of the juniors who come through at Super League level. Most look like Golum, anorexic and short. Compare that to SBW and Greg Inglis.
You put players of that calibre into Super League and it would be sporting pornography.