Brits in the NRL

[Scubby]

3 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

Some decent contact a couple of times but again a fair bit of 3rd man and grabbing.  But not a weak link by any stretch and the Bulldogs opened up a bit down the middle when Thompson and Vaughan left the field together after their first stint.

He was the pick of the Bulldogs middle forwards for me.

I think we have been spoiled with Burgess x3, Graham, Bateman, Whitehead etc. tearing it up in the NRL. Thompson is doing okay - it always feels like he could offer more - but he is still a strong performer for the dogs. 

Sutton at the Raiders is also doing a sound job. To be a valuable first grader in the NRL shows you can play.

[UTK]

Supposedly our recruitment manager at the Knights has spent the last fortnight in England on a scouting trip with the main intention of signing Will Pryce. Suggestions are that we will be more than willing to pay a transfer fee to get him here for 2023.

Local journalist who is generally a very reliable source for the Knights also stated that Pryce is definitely not the only player our recruitment manager is looking to sign from over there. Certainly indicates to me that O'Brien has been very satisfied with our acquisitions of Young/Hodgson and we could well become the new Canberra over the next couple of seasons.

Interesting ramifications for Bailey Hodgson here though, the intention of signing Pryce would almost certainly be to play him at 6 so if Ponga stays he will block Hodgsons path to fullback (Ponga won't move to 6 as had been mooted). Alternatively if Ponga does leave for the Dolphins we could well end up with Hodgson and Pryce in the same spine.

[Exiled Wiganer]

Sad news about the vultures around Pryce. We need to find a way to stop the talent flow, particularly given the NRL’s hostility to the rest of the world. 

Edited March 1, 2022 by Exiled Wiganer

[hunsletgreenandgold]

It's such a double edged sword for me - I want the best British players to be testing themselves in the best league in the world, but also understanding that is to SL's detriment. At the moment the numbers are still pretty low overall - it's this new trend of getting them while they're young that needs monitoring. 

[Mr Frisky]

1 hour ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

It's such a double edged sword for me - I want the best British players to be testing themselves in the best league in the world, but also understanding that is to SL's detriment. At the moment the numbers are still pretty low overall - it's this new trend of getting them while they're young that needs monitoring. 

Its good when average SL players like Sutton or Hodgson go to the NRL and do well as they are no real loss to SL (they weren't classed as top players when they left) and are maybe more suited to NRL than SL.

Would be good if Pryce could be tied up for an other 2 years by Hudds and then once he's developed he can go to the NRL- at the moment he's too young and could end up playing reserve grade in the NRL rather than SL level.

[Davo5]

43 minutes ago, Mr Frisky said:

Its good when average SL players like Sutton or Hodgson go to the NRL and do well as they are no real loss to SL (they weren't classed as top players when they left) and are maybe more suited to NRL than SL.

Would be good if Pryce could be tied up for an other 2 years by Hudds and then once he's developed he can go to the NRL- at the moment he's too young and could end up playing reserve grade in the NRL rather than SL level.

Plenty at Wigan classed Sutton as a top player & wasn’t Hodgson already capped by England before his move to the NRL ?

[Barley Mow]

22 hours ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

I didn't catch the Dogs game - promising to hear. How about the defensive efforts from him? 

The full match is available on youtube if you did want to watch it:

 

[Mr Frisky]

10 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

Plenty at Wigan classed Sutton as a top player & wasn’t Hodgson already capped by England before his move to the NRL ?

But the rest of the UK didn't class Sutton as a top player - maybe Wigan fans are bias towards their own players  

Hodgson never played for a top SL club - why was that? - in a league where Roby was king just about every year and Clarke was MOS and the hottest name in SL, no one really talked about Hodgson - i would have put Houghton above Hodgson when he played SL - still would today.

Each to their own mate - just an opinion based on loose facts stated above.

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

2 hours ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

Sad news about the vultures around Pryce. We need to find a way to stop the talent flow, particularly given the NRL’s hostility to the rest of the world. 

It’s true Pryce, and the other British players in the NRL and Australian lower leagues are a loss to Super League, but I’d much rather they go to the NRL than to Union.

There isn’t a simple solution to this, the fact is the NRL has a salary cap of $10M (£5.4M) while Super League has a salary cap of £2.1M. The NRL can have a cap this high because their tv deal is worth $400M (£217M) a year, arguably their salary cap should be even higher. In comparison the Super League tv deal is worth £25M a year.

We need to grow the game to increase the value of our tv deal, that means higher viewing figures, more people attending games live and more people playing the game to bring more money into the sport to allow us to increase our salary cap. I hope I’m wrong but I don’t think we’ll ever see the day again when we can match salaries on offer in the NRL.

[Davo5]

10 minutes ago, Mr Frisky said:

But the rest of the UK didn't class Sutton as a top player - maybe Wigan fans are bias towards their own players  

Hodgson never played for a top SL club - why was that? - in a league where Roby was king just about every year and Clarke was MOS and the hottest name in SL, no one really talked about Hodgson - i would have put Houghton above Hodgson when he played SL - still would today.

Each to their own mate - just an opinion based on loose facts stated above.

Or maybe it’s just your anti NRL bias but I think you’ll find plenty of knowledgeable non Wigan RL fans rated Sutton be he left these shores.

Is not playing for a “top” Superleague club a deciding factor in judging the quality of a player ?.Maybe we should limit England selection to only include Saints,Wigan,Wire,Leeds players then.

[Mr Frisky]

1 minute ago, Davo5 said:

Or maybe it’s just your anti NRL bias but I think you’ll find plenty of knowledgeable non Wigan RL fans rated Sutton be he left these shores.

Is not playing for a “top” Superleague club a deciding factor in judging the quality of a player ?.Maybe we should limit England selection to only include Saints,Wigan,Wire,Leeds players then.

Not really lad - just my opinion.

I was also a Roosters member for many years when I lived in Oz - so know a lot about the NRL mate. I'm also going back over this Summer for 2 or 3 months with work so will be attending plenty of NRL games - hardly an Anti NRL thing to do...

Just don't think Sutton is a top player and he's been elevated some on here by playing NRL - same as Hodgson- in what world is he a better player than Roby or Clarke?

[Exiled Wiganer]

6 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

Or maybe it’s just your anti NRL bias but I think you’ll find plenty of knowledgeable non Wigan RL fans rated Sutton be he left these shores.

Is not playing for a “top” Superleague club a deciding factor in judging the quality of a player ?.Maybe we should limit England selection to only include Saints,Wigan,Wire,Leeds players then.

I can’t say that Sutton loss was felt that keenly. I think he has exceeded people’s expectations at Canberra. He was young and a lot of props either develop or stagnate at the age he went over there. If you are big enough, skilful and can do a job, there will be a place for the Suttons of this world. Super League develops young forwards very well, I’d say. It’s in the spine where the game over here needs to improve its hit rate. 

[Davo5]

8 minutes ago, Mr Frisky said:

Not really lad - just my opinion.

I was also a Roosters member for many years when I lived in Oz - so know a lot about the NRL mate. I'm also going back over this Summer for 2 or 3 months with work so will be attending plenty of NRL games - hardly an Anti NRL thing to do...

Just don't think Sutton is a top player and he's been elevated some on here by playing NRL - same as Hodgson- in what world is he a better player than Roby or Clarke?

Ok son,but it’s not just about playing in the NRL,both Sutton & Hodgson have played at a high level over there in a comp that is recognised by most people as superior to Superleague.
If being not as good as Roby is the deciding factor in judging a player,the sport is full of very average 9s running around the top levels of our sport.

[Davo5]

11 minutes ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

I can’t say that Sutton loss was felt that keenly. I think he has exceeded people’s expectations at Canberra. He was young and a lot of props either develop or stagnate at the age he went over there. If you are big enough, skilful and can do a job, there will be a place for the Suttons of this world. Super League develops young forwards very well, I’d say. It’s in the spine where the game over here needs to improve its hit rate. 

I’d argue we’ve missed his impact off the bench ever since he left,especially given our lack of grunt upfront over the last few years,a Sutton in his prime years would have greatly improved our middle forwards.

[Lowdesert]

15 hours ago, Scubby said:

I think we have been spoiled with Burgess x3, Graham, Bateman, Whitehead etc. tearing it up in the NRL. Thompson is doing okay - it always feels like he could offer more - but he is still a strong performer for the dogs. 

Sutton at the Raiders is also doing a sound job. To be a valuable first grader in the NRL shows you can play.

I think that’s were I am with Thompson.  Granted I haven’t seen his most recent game but I just don’t think he’s a Rep standard prop forward.  Happy if he proves me wrong though.

[hunsletgreenandgold]

15 hours ago, Dunbar said:

Some decent contact a couple of times but again a fair bit of 3rd man and grabbing.  But not a weak link by any stretch and the Bulldogs opened up a bit down the middle when Thompson and Vaughan left the field together after their first stint.

He was the pick of the Bulldogs middle forwards for me.

Just watched it - some great line bending runs and yeah his contact was better in a fair fews of the tackles he was involved in. On paper that dogs forward pack should have them dominating more teams than less. 

As a side note, I noticed Josh Jackson got pinged for incorrect PTB - absolutely incredible Thompson still gets away with his feeble (but perfectly acceptable in SL) PTBs!  

[Liverpool Rover]

18 hours ago, UTK said:

Supposedly our recruitment manager at the Knights has spent the last fortnight in England on a scouting trip with the main intention of signing Will Pryce. Suggestions are that we will be more than willing to pay a transfer fee to get him here for 2023.

Local journalist who is generally a very reliable source for the Knights also stated that Pryce is definitely not the only player our recruitment manager is looking to sign from over there. Certainly indicates to me that O'Brien has been very satisfied with our acquisitions of Young/Hodgson and we could well become the new Canberra over the next couple of seasons.

Interesting ramifications for Bailey Hodgson here though, the intention of signing Pryce would almost certainly be to play him at 6 so if Ponga stays he will block Hodgsons path to fullback (Ponga won't move to 6 as had been mooted). Alternatively if Ponga does leave for the Dolphins we could well end up with Hodgson and Pryce in the same spine.

I suppose he wouldn’t have made the effort in flying half way round the world if Pryce hadn’t said he would be interested in going.

[Mr Frisky]

26 minutes ago, Liverpool Rover said:

I suppose he wouldn’t have made the effort in flying half way round the world if Pryce hadn’t said he would be interested in going.

Apparently Leon set the meeting up at Blackpool Beach.....

[George Watt]

13 hours ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

 

As a side note, I noticed Josh Jackson got pinged for incorrect PTB - absolutely incredible Thompson still gets away with his feeble (but perfectly acceptable in SL) PTBs!  

PTBs in the men's game hgg are becoming increasingly sloppy and being condoned by referees. In the women's game here PTBs are enacted to the rules on almost every occasion. Why the men cannot emulate the women in this area is a question to be asked.

[Lowdesert]

21 hours ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

Sad news about the vultures around Pryce. We need to find a way to stop the talent flow, particularly given the NRL’s hostility to the rest of the world. 

This is something raised by Brett Hodgson a few weeks ago and that our clubs will need to be self sufficient with more home grown players.  Also that we will have another club, the Dolphins, to contend with.

[thebrewxi]

19 hours ago, Mr Frisky said:

But the rest of the UK didn't class Sutton as a top player - maybe Wigan fans are bias towards their own players  

Hodgson never played for a top SL club - why was that? - in a league where Roby was king just about every year and Clarke was MOS and the hottest name in SL, no one really talked about Hodgson - i would have put Houghton above Hodgson when he played SL - still would today.

Each to their own mate - just an opinion based on loose facts stated above.

Hodgson became the player he was in the NRL. Maybe SL fans are bias towards their own league.

[Dunbar]

I think this idea of a talent drain to the NRL is a little overstated.

We have had a pretty consistent number of Brits in the NRL in the over the last decade or so and the only players we have lost recently before they have really established themselves as Super League players are Bailey Hodgson, Harry Rushton and Dom Young so three youngsters... and arguably Herbie Farnworth although he didn't come through the English development system in the same way.

It hardly feels like panic time just yet.

[UTK]

10 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

I think this idea of a talent drain to the NRL is a little overstated.

We have had a pretty consistent number of Brits in the NRL in the over the last decade or so and the only players we have lost recently before they have really established themselves as Super League players are Bailey Hodgson, Harry Rushton and Dom Young so three youngsters... and arguably Herbie Farnworth although he didn't come through the English development system in the same way.

It hardly feels like panic time just yet.

I can definitely empathise with some dismay at losing English talent from SL but its definitely not as if all the best players are jumping ship. In recent times blokes like Walmsley, Roby, O'Loughlin, McGilvary and Clark would've all fielded large offers to head to the NRL but obviously had no intention of doing so.

More antipodeans head to SL each year than the opposite and while some are definitely more successful than others it's hard to argue that the likes of Maloney, French, Coote, Hastings, Tanginoa, Kasiano, Sio, Barba, Naiqama, etc haven't added value/increased the strength of the competition over the last few seasons.

Huddersfield receiving a decent transfer fee for Pryce would have to soften the blow of losing him especially considering it has appeared a matter of when rather than if he would move to the NRL at some point in his career.

[DavidM]

1 hour ago, Dunbar said:

I think this idea of a talent drain to the NRL is a little overstated.

We have had a pretty consistent number of Brits in the NRL in the over the last decade or so and the only players we have lost recently before they have really established themselves as Super League players are Bailey Hodgson, Harry Rushton and Dom Young so three youngsters... and arguably Herbie Farnworth although he didn't come through the English development system in the same way.

It hardly feels like panic time just yet.

And it’s not like there’s no upside either . The more guys in that system the better for the national team 

Edited March 2, 2022 by DavidM

[AB90]

40 minutes ago, UTK said:

I can definitely empathise with some dismay at losing English talent from SL but its definitely not as if all the best players are jumping ship. In recent times blokes like Walmsley, Roby, O'Loughlin, McGilvary and Clark would've all fielded large offers to head to the NRL but obviously had no intention of doing so.

More antipodeans head to SL each year than the opposite and while some are definitely more successful than others it's hard to argue that the likes of Maloney, French, Coote, Hastings, Tanginoa, Kasiano, Sio, Barba, Naiqama, etc haven't added value/increased the strength of the competition over the last few seasons.

Huddersfield receiving a decent transfer fee for Pryce would have to soften the blow of losing him especially considering it has appeared a matter of when rather than if he would move to the NRL at some point in his career.

Yeah, people seem to forget that we sign NRL players at potentially 10x the rate that go the other way.

In fact , if swapped out all the former NRL players playing in SL for the English players playing the NRL, the nett result would be a far, far worse standard of SL. It would actually be devastating to the game over here.

Let’s look at 2021:

SL developed players to NRL: Oliver Gildart

NRL developed players to SL: David Fusitua, Dylan Napa, Mitchell Pearce, Kane Evans, Will Hopoate, Curtis Sironen, Joey Lussick, Patrick Mago, Cade Cust, Tyrone May, Kaide Ellis, Brodie Croft, Tim Lafai, Mitch Dunn, Danny Levi etc (I’m sure I’ve missed a few).

Plus Championship: Joseph Leluia, Nene McDonald etc

SL and English rugby league take advantage of poaching NRL players far more than the other way round.