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Brits in the NRL


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3 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

As far as I am concerned, I am just looking for him to do a few things that I would have thought any English Head Coach (without club commitments) would do... like go and see some of his playing options first hand. Cleary, this was impossible for the last few years, but not now.

But there are some things about Wane that I find puzzling though.  For example, his Twitter profile still shows him in the Wigan dressing room celebrating a win... yes, a nice pic and a nice moment for him no doubt but the England Head Coach should have a profile related to his current national job, not his previous club.  You may not think it matters of course.

Isn’t he also on the Wigan coaching staff also,so not really that puzzling especially given England’s lack of games since he took over.

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1 hour ago, Dunbar said:

I would have thought any English Head Coach (without club commitments) would do... like go and see some of his playing options first hand. Cleary,

That got me excited for a moment there…

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1 hour ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

I think the fact he doesn't seem to publicly acknowledge the NRL based players is a part of that though. For all we know, privately he may reach out to these players and already held talks about possible future get togethers. But, as we are right now he just appears to have no interest, save for the established ones who've played for England in the past. 

For me Wane should be taking a trip out to Aus (possibly near SOO window?) and getting them all together - there's enough of them to have a mini camp and have a look at a few things. 

Burgess x 2 

Whitehead 

Sutton 

Farnworth 

Gildart 

Thompson 

Young 

Bring along Josh Hodgson/Sam Burgess for a bit of coaching and get young Bailey Hodgson and Harry Rushden in for the experience. I'm not saying all those players definitely need to be in the WC team/squad but better to have done something to make them feel a part of it if there's a chance they may be rather than just chucking them all in a camp in October and hoping it works. 

Totally agree . And it is his full time job 

Edited by DavidM
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I think @GeordieSaint and @hunsletgreenandgoldmake good points.

There is a sense that Wane is stubbornly focused on a SL-based group of players. The overlooking and lack of embrace towards Australian-based youngsters is noticeable, in the way he comments and discusses his thinking towards selection.

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I know it's very early days but it's nice to go to the NRL.COM stats page and see Herbie Farnworth top of the try scoring and Dominic Young top of the linebreaks lists.

https://www.nrl.com/stats/?competition=111&season=2022

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22 hours ago, StandOffHalf said:

There is a sense that Wane is stubbornly focused on a SL-based group of players. The overlooking and lack of embrace towards Australian-based youngsters is noticeable, in the way he comments and discusses his thinking towards selection.

You mean he's only doing what the Aussies have done for years. Without actually introducing it as a rule the NRL made it clear that any Aussie who doesn't play in the NRL wont get picked for their national team (or origin team). They used this as a way of ensuring their best players don't leave the NRL for SL particularly when SL could use their marquee player dispensation to match their NRL wages and lure them overseas.

 

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4 hours ago, LittleboroRoughyed said:

The significant difference being that Australia has historically had huge strength in depth in every position whereas England don’t. The best players (including off the field impact) should always be selected, it’s England’s only hope!

Help us Obi Wane Kenobi!

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5 hours ago, Saint Toppy said:

You mean he's only doing what the Aussies have done for years. Without actually introducing it as a rule the NRL made it clear that any Aussie who doesn't play in the NRL wont get picked for their national team (or origin team). They used this as a way of ensuring their best players don't leave the NRL for SL particularly when SL could use their marquee player dispensation to match their NRL wages and lure them overseas.

 

I can understand that picking SL talent might feel good to someone with links to the competition, but the reality is that the NRL is a higher standard.

I'm a big advocate of picking the best available players, Toppy.

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1 hour ago, DavidM said:

Excellent piece on Herbie , and interesting how highly he’s rated by Renouf

Will qualify for Australia on residency in next 12m

Mal might have another Semi on

Edited by Scubby
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1 hour ago, DavidM said:

Excellent piece on Herbie , and interesting how highly he’s rated by Renouf

He’s definitely took his game up a level so far this year & looks bigger physically,if he continues that form through the season I really can’t see how he could be overlooked for England.

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Tougher night for Dom Young . Some good involvement with the ball but his side really struggled defensively , Tailaki being tremendously strong in particular. He also had a running do with Mulatalo , who did his best to get him binned by putting his head into the ground off a lifting tackle . Pretty harsh 

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5 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Tougher night for Dom Young . Some good involvement with the ball but his side really struggled defensively , Tailaki being tremendously strong in particular. He also had a running do with Mulatalo , who did his best to get him binned by putting his head into the ground off a lifting tackle . Pretty harsh 

Yeah  just seen the footage,that,takes milking a penalty to a whole new & worrying level.

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6 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

Yeah  just seen the footage,that,takes milking a penalty to a whole new & worrying level.

The two of them were at each other from the start . He knew what he was doing there

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Just now, DavidM said:

The two of them were at each other from the start . He knew what he was doing there

You can’t beat players in direct opposition having a right ding dong battle but it’s a sad state of affairs when a players resorts to that rubbish.

Hopefully Young doesn’t cop a ban and he can put it down to experience 

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9 minutes ago, bratman said:

Not quite on topic but noticed the "career" try scoring stats for Naiqama during todays match on Sky excluded SL tries he scored with Saints. Cheeky!

I’ve no problem with that,do we count NRL & Rep games in our TV stats ?

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