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Brits in the NRL


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4 minutes ago, Jonty58 said:

I think he will be a runner up again.

Pretty sure they won the last time he played.

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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10 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

How do we think the Brits did this year? My general impression is there were promising starts by several players that tailed off somewhat, most notably George ‘Whinging Pom’ Williams. 

Williams was outclassed everytime he came up against the top 6 half backs in the nrl

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see you later undertaker - in a while necrophile 

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11 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

How do we think the Brits did this year? My general impression is there were promising starts by several players that tailed off somewhat, most notably George ‘Whinging Pom’ Williams. 

Luke Thompson and Elliott Whitehead performed well, considering the Bulldogs are struggling and the Raiders had a big mid-season dip in form as a team.

Ryan Sutton was okay, but didn't catch the eye, and Herbie Farnworth continues to develop in a wretched Broncos side that did start to show some spirit towards the end of the season.

Tom Burgess has had an excellent season for Souths.

George Williams' season went right downhill - I mean, he joined Warrington! :kolobok_wink:

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I would say Ryan Sutton and Tom Burgess have had the best seasons of the Brits.  Burgess has reaffirmed himself as a key forward in a Grand Final team while Sutton was strong all year in a pretty poor Raiders team.

And on the point above, Whitehead and Hodgson are two of the senior and best players for Canberra so they have to hold a bit of blame for their poor showing.  People may say I am harsh on Whitehead here but honestly, if he was an Aussie would you have him as a stand out edge forward this year?

Luke Thompson's season was stop start with suspension but towards the back end he was clearly the best forward and probably the best player for the Bulldogs.

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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2 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

I would say Ryan Sutton and Tom Burgess have had the best seasons of the Brits.  Burgess has reaffirmed himself as a key forward in a Grand Final team while Sutton was strong all year in a pretty poor Raiders team.

And on the point above, Whitehead and Hodgson are two of the senior and best players for Canberra so they have to hold a bit of blame for their poor showing.  People may say I am harsh on Whitehead here but honestly, if he was an Aussie would you have him as a stand out edge forward this year?

Luke Thompson's season was stop start with suspension but towards the back end he was clearly the best forward and probably the best player for the Bulldogs.

I thought Whitehead was Canberra’s most consistent forward.

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2 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

I thought Whitehead was Canberra’s most consistent forward.

I actually thought it was Sutton.

I'm not try to be too harsh on Whitehead but I just don't think he was up to his usual high standards this season.

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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Well Tom Burgess topped a fine season with another strong performance in the Grand Final this morning. Topped the running and post contact metres for Souths and won every collision to ensure Souths got some momentum after an intense start from Penrith. 

He probably had his best game in defence as well... he was energetic and mobile, collared Nathan Cleary in an important play and put in a few decent shots as well.

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"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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Tom Burgess part of the 'team of the finals' according to votes collected on NRL.com. 

https://www.nrl.com/news/2021/10/04/team-of-the-finals-have-your-say/

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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4 hours ago, burnleywelsh said:

Very good , seeing how average our centre stocks are hopefully he continues to progress and he’s in the England fold come the WC . He should be in the team 

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Farnworth now has 2 back to back seasons where he’s made some well informed judges sit up and take notice.

On current standing and with another season in the NRL under his belt, he will have a very strong case for a Centre spot in the England World Cup squad.

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Thought you might be interested.

Another young Hodgson departs for the NRL - Serious About Rugby League (seriousaboutrl.com)

Can`t remember when there have been so many young Englishmen coming over so early.

Part of me is concerned that you`re losing a lot of your young talent yet another part thinks it`ll open up more places in your own system for other young blokes to come through and be given an opportunity. In a perverse way it could stimulate junior development. Certainly an interesting trend.

 

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1 hour ago, The Rocket said:

Thought you might be interested.

Another young Hodgson departs for the NRL - Serious About Rugby League (seriousaboutrl.com)

Can`t remember when there have been so many young Englishmen coming over so early.

Part of me is concerned that you`re losing a lot of your young talent yet another part thinks it`ll open up more places in your own system for other young blokes to come through and be given an opportunity. In a perverse way it could stimulate junior development. Certainly an interesting trend.

 

I'm very comfortable with it.  Firstly, it is hardly a flood of players - Farnworth, Dom Young, Harry Rushton and the Hodgson brothers represent 5 players who have moved to Australia before establishing themselves as first team players in the UK (I may have missed one or two but it is not huge numbers).

Secondly, I think player pathways are very important.  We stress that UK based Rugby League players don't have the attraction of international games (as we don't play enough) and so the attraction of playing in Australia where Rugby League is huge may help swing the decision making of a talented young sportsman to our game.

The key for me is that they are in (and stay in) Rugby League. 

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"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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1 hour ago, The Rocket said:

Thought you might be interested.

Another young Hodgson departs for the NRL - Serious About Rugby League (seriousaboutrl.com)

Can`t remember when there have been so many young Englishmen coming over so early.

Part of me is concerned that you`re losing a lot of your young talent yet another part thinks it`ll open up more places in your own system for other young blokes to come through and be given an opportunity. In a perverse way it could stimulate junior development. Certainly an interesting trend.

 

I think it came out of nowhere that one.  His brother (at the Knights) seems to be doing ok too although it’ll be another year or so to see if he’ll crack it.

On UK kids travelling to Aus to take their chance.  There are a few routes available.  Someone very close to me got asked if he would be interested in going to Keebra Park college (linked to Wests)after they had watched a few videos of him playing. He didn’t take the opportunity which we respected but it just shows, NRL people are looking in every corner for potential and will support it. 

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Not commenting on other players, but Luke Thompson is a real mixed bag. He's pretty good going forward but his defence is well below par.  Every game I watched he was way too slow to get into position in the defensive line after making a tackle, and some of his 'efforts' at tackling were powderpuff to say the least - all arms and no shoulders, and some horribly mistimed efforts again partly because he's not getting into the right place in the line.

Phil Gould going to Canterbury is probably a good thing for someone like Thompson as he will lay it out for him in very simple terms. Next year will be make or break.

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A young player drain adds to the senior player drain to a competition whose strategy is to place itself first, above the rest of the sport, with no interest in the wider game. Hence no World Cup, and no 2022 WCC. They are a threat to everybody looking to play or watch the game anywhere outside the NRL. 

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1 hour ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

A young player drain adds to the senior player drain to a competition whose strategy is to place itself first, above the rest of the sport, with no interest in the wider game. Hence no World Cup, and no 2022 WCC. They are a threat to everybody looking to play or watch the game anywhere outside the NRL. 

That's one way of looking at it.  I would prefer to see it as more opportunities for young players to shine and excel across different competitions drawing in more youngsters.  If the top of the pathway is limited then by definition the input is also limited... you only take in as many as you need to satisfy the demand you have, that is a basic principle of capacity planning.

As for the NRL having no interest in the wider game, the history of Rugby League is  history of self preservation and the desire to be a big fish in the pond... the NRL is no worse than what we have seen over here when it comes to self serving attitudes. 

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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17 hours ago, Lowdesert said:

NRL people are looking in every corner for potential and will support it. 

Was going to comment on this in my original post but I thought it was a little off topic The Sharks have signed a player from the Australian unions evens team, Lachlan Miller, the Cowboys two from Fijian sevens union and I think I read about another one elsewhere. I don`t recall this happening before. 

Makes me wonder if it was the success of the womens` union sevens players in League that have made the coaches have a look or maybe they just think they`ll be suited to the faster game. 

I heard an interview with Miller on our local radio - he`s from Coffs Harbour - he thought the quick decision making that is part of sevens could help his transition to League, interesting, apparently 3 or 4 clubs were after him.

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31 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

I wonder if the Redcliffe Dolphins will sign any British Super League players, it’d be a missed opportunity for them if they don’t imo 

I think they are bound to and indeed would be stupid not to. They could bolster their squad very cheaply with 3 or 4 English recruits which would give them more cap space to work with.

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