fizman
Bench
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In the glory days of Rugby League it would typically take the same amount of time as a full time apprenticeship 3 or 4 years before a player would make their first grade debut.
We would watch our young blokes through the junior grades come into U23’s into Reserve Grade into A Grade.
Only the extraordinary and gifted players would fast track their careers into A Grade.
It would take many years to build a proud RL career.
Valentine Holmes at the age of 23 has achieved “everything” RL has to offer - Premiership, Origin and World Cup.
This is his playing career -
Sharks - 105 games
Qld - 5 games
Australia - 13 games
I really like Nikora, but I am astonished that he has played just 13 club games and already has been handed a Test jersey.
It is conceivable that if the Sharks were to win the Premiership this season, outside of winning a World Cup Nikora has achieved “everything” in Rugby League.
My Rugby contacts tell me that if Ponga won an Origin series and a Premiership in RL - he will be straight over to the All Blacks.
It would seem possible that a player can make their first grade debut, play in a winning State of Origin series, win a Premiership and win a World Cup all in one year.
Coming back to Nikora, I am not sure that he has the physicality to play a full season of NRL - I would be giving him a break and/or letting him continue his development for Newtown. I think we are seeing even now that he is running out of gas.
I am interested in other opinions. If you were a player would you play your entire career in the NRL, or would you try other sports once you had achieved set goals?
We would watch our young blokes through the junior grades come into U23’s into Reserve Grade into A Grade.
Only the extraordinary and gifted players would fast track their careers into A Grade.
It would take many years to build a proud RL career.
Valentine Holmes at the age of 23 has achieved “everything” RL has to offer - Premiership, Origin and World Cup.
This is his playing career -
Sharks - 105 games
Qld - 5 games
Australia - 13 games
I really like Nikora, but I am astonished that he has played just 13 club games and already has been handed a Test jersey.
It is conceivable that if the Sharks were to win the Premiership this season, outside of winning a World Cup Nikora has achieved “everything” in Rugby League.
My Rugby contacts tell me that if Ponga won an Origin series and a Premiership in RL - he will be straight over to the All Blacks.
It would seem possible that a player can make their first grade debut, play in a winning State of Origin series, win a Premiership and win a World Cup all in one year.
Coming back to Nikora, I am not sure that he has the physicality to play a full season of NRL - I would be giving him a break and/or letting him continue his development for Newtown. I think we are seeing even now that he is running out of gas.
I am interested in other opinions. If you were a player would you play your entire career in the NRL, or would you try other sports once you had achieved set goals?
