AB90

He will be but that is a position OZ are stacked in. Starting second rowers of Angus Crichton & Hudson Young is still considerably better than anything England will put forward imo.

Why is the barometer of success of rugby league in England solely tied to beating Australia or being on par with the NRL (a country where rugby league is by far and away the most pop sport in their 1st & 3rd largest states)? Such a strange way to view a sport! You’re greatly underestimating the impact these overseas imports have on the playing standard of SL. If you removed the 90 plus imports playing in SL it would be devastating to the playing standards! If SL didn’t sign overseas ‘has beens and never was players’ we wouldn’t have Jai Field, Bevan French, Lachlan Lam, Tom Amone, Edwin Mpape etc.

KPP signs with the Wests Tigers on a 3 year deal. Tigers are building a nice little squad.

??? Fisher Harris, Tapine, Leota, Big Nelson, Whyte, Thompson, Neame etc. I don’t think the Kiwis will be selecting a 25 year old who prior to this year was a NSW cup player (and probably would still be a NSW Cup player if he moved back to OZ).

True but even so, Australia won the Pacific Championships with relative ease (Aus, NZ & Ton) last year without Haas or Tino as they were both injured. They won the World Cup without Haas. Even without these guys, the Aussie pack will be head and shoulders above Englands which is going to be fairly weak in comparison to previous years.

Sure, but he would be ineligible for origin moving forward (under the current rules). The origin carrot is pretty big for any Australian.

One thing we are forgetting for Max King - State of Origin! If he makes the NSW team then his choice is made for him.

If Haas & Tino do defect to Samoa, Max King will be a pretty decent shout to make the Aussie team. They likely have to bring 5 props on tour so he should make in my opinion!

Nicholson’s been great especially attack wise with his running lines in the red zone but let’s pump the brakes a bit. He is yet to register a single dally m point. His opposite, Hudson Young has 8 dally m points (noted you said ‘right edge’).

The Dogs game (Good Friday Clash) is expected to draw a crowd of 60,000. Would be great if Dodd could debut in that one.

You are overestimating how many born and bred, Australian passport holders/citizens actually elect to play for Australia though. You are correct in saying that likley 90% of the best players are technically ‘Australian’ however the overwhelming majority of those Australians that are of Polynesian/Pacific Island descent elect to play for their country of heritage (not Australia). 50% of the all NRL players are of pacific island descent. If you look at the clear ‘Big 5’ nations (OZ, NZ, Eng, Tonga, Samoa) 22 man squads, the NRL would provide +85% of these players. Shows a bit of a discrepancy in the two leagues playing levels.

But Sam Walker is probably next in line for the Queensland number 7 Jersey once Cherry Evens retires. Will be tough for him to turn that down (plus the AUD 20k match fee per game)!

You are right about Haas and whether he plays for OZ or not. If he plays for OZ he takes that team from a naturally already great team to a pretty much unbeatable team imo. I would personally start Tino at prop over Carrigan as I think he’s just an outright better player (especially at prop).

So you don’t think Liam Marshall will have any ‘problems’ in the NRL. He’ll just stroll in and score his 20 to 25 tries a year like he does in SL. He’ll be great defensively, physically will be fine, yardage game will be amazing, he will have no issues dealing with the 6’3 100kg plus centres & wingers, he won’t be targeted under the high ball due to his size etc. I personally don’t see it. Hey, but maybe you’re right. Hopefully some of these guys take the plunge and give the NRL a crack one day.

Fair enough as I assumed I missed some. But half of those are not starting NRL centres, just squad players. Sure, the lightest starting centre in the NRL based off your numbers is 88kgs.