Game in Os

Watched one of the semi's and the grand final, the whole game, players, commentators, crowds and ref's in particular, are light years ahead of us, Like watching a different game.

the ovious example is the fact that hodgy won mos.. he wasnt in the top 5 fullbacks last year in oz..

great leasder of men is hodgy but he is not one of australias best


THIS IS NOT A DIG AT HODGY etc

.. just that the nrl is light years ahead of super legue..the two main problems supe rleague has is the coaching of youngsters and the fact that leeds or saints seem to win most things so it puts fans off going to games knowing who is going to win

adelaide-giant.no9 wrote:

the ovious example is the fact that hodgy won mos.. he wasnt in the top 5 fullbacks last year in oz..

great leasder of men is hodgy but he is not one of australias best


THIS IS NOT A DIG AT HODGY etc

.. just that the nrl is light years ahead of super legue..the two main problems supe rleague has is the coaching of youngsters and the fact that leeds or saints seem to win most things so it puts fans off going to games knowing who is going to win

The most obvious thing to me about the games,( besides the size of the crowds ) was the speed of the PTB even when there were 3 players in the tackle ,they were up of the ground in half the time of Super league players, I can see us getting a right mauling around the ruck, and some pain from the reff's. Another thing that was plain was , the players wern't in the reff's face all the time ( Sinfield and Briers style ) whinging about his decisions, Lets hope we can lift our game, or i fear the worst.

Not only that Bo but have you noticed how little the Refs get involved? I watched a few games when i was in Malaysia and the biggest single difference for me how much the ref let go which would have been penalised in the UK.

Not only that but we are like Football. We have so many imports that when an international comes they all go home and we end up getting hammered.
The game should concentrate itself on homegrown talent because there is a hell of a lot of it about. As you know i spend a great deal of time watching the Nationals and Amateur leagues. Some of the kids i see have so much talent.
I mean look at Kirkmond, he was given a chance and look at him now. The fact is and it is a fact, for every Aussie or Kiwi or whatever in our team there is one less homegrown British player.

The NRL as far as i am aware has only Ellis in amongst them, we should mirror that. Whilst im not knocking any Aussie players (im fully aware how much they bring to SL) I do believe that for SL and our international game to compare anywhere near that of NRL then we need to concentrate on our own kids and the British game.

In addition to that we need to have a more transparent refereeing system, i have seen a few games this year where the ref has got a call wrong and the other team has gone on to win - What happens? Nothing. He is there reffing again next week.

I know the solution is not nearly that black and white. But i think it'd certainly help.

Gem Bob wrote:

Not only that Bo but have you noticed how little the Refs get involved? I watched a few games when i was in Malaysia and the biggest single difference for me how much the ref let go which would have been penalised in the UK.

Not only that but we are like Football. We have so many imports that when an international comes they all go home and we end up getting hammered.
The game should concentrate itself on homegrown talent because there is a hell of a lot of it about. As you know i spend a great deal of time watching the Nationals and Amateur leagues. Some of the kids i see have so much talent.
I mean look at Kirkmond, he was given a chance and look at him now. The fact is and it is a fact, for every Aussie or Kiwi or whatever in our team there is one less homegrown British player.

The NRL as far as i am aware has only Ellis in amongst them, we should mirror that. Whilst im not knocking any Aussie players (im fully aware how much they bring to SL) I do believe that for SL and our international game to compare anywhere near that of NRL then we need to concentrate on our own kids and the British game.

In addition to that we need to have a more transparent refereeing system, i have seen a few games this year where the ref has got a call wrong and the other team has gone on to win - What happens? Nothing. He is there reffing again next week.

I know the solution is not nearly that black and white. But i think it'd certainly help.

I dont know how it could be brought about Gem , but i really wish the lower levels of British rugby could get a better deal with regards to money, The truth unfortunately is that the Super league clubs dont want to lower their share of the money pie, I'm sure they could all put forward a compelling case as well, but without the youngsters coming through where are the future players coming from. I have a idea that the majority of Fans for example of most super league clubs dont care about any teams in the lower leagues, as long as their team is in the big time they are happy , It's just human nature i suppose, but its not the way we are ever going to build a team to beat the Aussies , and once again how many care whether we beat the Aussies or not.
You mentioned Kirmond , I wonder just what Fev got out of the deal , And I'm not having a go at the Giants particularly, cause there all the same. The best thing the RFL could do for our game ,is to cut overseas players to 1 or 2 max , the game might take a temporary dip but in the long run it would be a good thing for the game. The other pressing need is one that you have already mentioned , but if the RFL can not see what a abysmal state our Reffing has sunk too, then perhaps It's them that are ready for replacement .

An idea mooted about some years back was that each SL team would effectively adopt a team in NL1. Im not sure if you are aware but to some extent this does happen. For instance Dewsbury and Bradford, they have a joint (cant remember what its called but its like the Giants one with the monthly payments where someone wins a grand) Then every year they play Dewsbury in a pre season friendly where all the gate goes to the Rams.

And im not knocking that, but the original plan went much further. Supposedly NL1 teams were essentially meant to be feeder teams to the Bulls etc, if a player went on loan from Bradford he was supposed to go to Dewsbury first for instance. If Bradford had a promising player too good for the academy but not for the first team he would go to Dewsbury - You get the jist.
But this has never really materialised, the only team i can think of that does well out of the supposed adoption is York. They partner with Leeds and get an awful lot from the club, in fact im sure i read somewhere their corporate partnership is worth almost £50k per year alone.

Anyway, without going on and on which i really could do. The long and short of it is like you said, we need to cut our imports drastically. Until then we will always come second best.

Gem Bob wrote:

Anyway, without going on and on which i really could do. The long and short of it is like you said, we need to cut our imports drastically. Until then we will always come second best.

No, really?

Two refs in NRL has made a big difference.The ptb has speeded up there this year, you are looking at just a two second clearance,whereas in the Super League it's about four seconds before the ref is shouting move.

Thing was at last years world cup England were releasing too early whilst Aus and NZ were holding,and to our cost.So we tended to follow their example this year in our competition,now as I say with two refs in NRL it's gone back to quick release.As ever down under they are one step ahead of us.

The four nations I assume will be reffed by a single individual,so it may suit us.No doubt as ever Aus will be putting severe pressure on refs pre game to have it all their way.

Personally I would prefer a slower ptb,as it gives defences time to get set and then it's down to the skill of the attacking side to break them down,rather than just running constantly out of dummy half.