Brits in the NRL

[hunsletgreenandgold]

Raiders pack will all get reshuffled again once Tapine is back in the side, because there's no way he doesn't start. I liked Hoskings at 13 and at the moment looks a better ball player than Smithies and Nicholson. 

Of those middle and edge forwards i'd go: 

11 - Young  / 13 - Hoskings  / 12 - Nicholson

         8 - Papa            /             10 - Tapine

 

Smithies and Big Red coming off the bench for any combination of Papa, Tapine and Hoskings. 

 

Edited March 17 by hunsletgreenandgold

[marklaspalmas]

This thread has drifted.

In 2025 I see NINE "Brits in the NRL".

Young (Easts) Dodd (Souths) Bateman (NQC) Farnworth (Redcliffe) and presumably Sutton (Canterbury)

Smithies & Nicholson (Canberra) Pearce-Paul & Pryce (the solictor's firm of Newcastle)

[hunsletgreenandgold]

21 minutes ago, marklaspalmas said:

This thread has drifted.

In 2025 I see NINE "Brits in the NRL".

Young (Easts) Dodd (Souths) Bateman (NQC) Farnworth (Redcliffe) and presumably Sutton (Canterbury)

Smithies & Nicholson (Canberra) Pearce-Paul & Pryce (the solictor's firm of Newcastle)

What makes you think it has drifted? Also there's 10 - you forgot England international Victor Radley. 

[NRLandSL]

15 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

I would have thought someone as remarkable as Wayne Bennet would be the one best placed to decide if Dodd deserves the half spot more than Humphries.

If Wayne thinks otherwise, how could anyone argue that?

Wayne Bennett is a great coach who has every right to make his own decisions but that does not mean he will always be right.

[NRLandSL]

1 hour ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

Raiders pack will all get reshuffled again once Tapine is back in the side, because there's no way he doesn't start. I liked Hoskings at 13 and at the moment looks a better ball player than Smithies and Nicholson. 

Of those middle and edge forwards i'd go: 

11 - Young  / 13 - Hoskings  / 12 - Nicholson

         8 - Papa            /             10 - Tapine

 

Smithies and Big Red coming off the bench for any combination of Papa, Tapine and Hoskings. 

 

Hosking has broken his hand so will be out for a while.

[hunsletgreenandgold]

3 minutes ago, NRLandSL said:

Hosking has broken his hand so will be out for a while.

Poor bloke - he's some player but does seem to have a fair few injuries. Hopefully means Smithies back to 13 

[marklaspalmas]

53 minutes ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

What makes you think it has drifted? Also there's 10 - you forgot England international Victor Radley. 

I haven't forgotten. The thread's always been about players leaving the UK to try the NRL

[hunsletgreenandgold]

16 minutes ago, marklaspalmas said:

I haven't forgotten. The thread's always been about players leaving the UK to try the NRL

It's always covered anything and everything to do with anyone who has a British/English association. Jackson Hastings and Blake Austin were covered at length. BurnleyWelsh's OP way back when was predominantly regarding Herbie - it expanded from there. 

[marklaspalmas]

10 minutes ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

It's always covered anything and everything to do with anyone who has a British/English association. Jackson Hastings and Blake Austin were covered at length. BurnleyWelsh's OP way back when was predominantly regarding Herbie - it expanded from there. 

Ok boss. So, just one of the multitude of generic NRL threads on here. Carry on.

[Sports Prophet]

5 hours ago, Father Gascoigne said:

He's a human being with shortcomings, biases, and self-doubts. People make bad decisions all the time. Fans are within their right to question coaches, even very successful ones. 

I'm not saying Bennett is wrong here, or that he isn't in a better position to judge than an outsider looking in. I just don't believe in putting people up on some pedestal as if they're untouchable and can do no wrong, and by inference implying that fans are stupid for holding differing opinions to those involved in the game. 

 

1 hour ago, NRLandSL said:

Wayne Bennett is a great coach who has every right to make his own decisions but that does not mean he will always be right.

What I mean is, Wayne Bennet is one of the greatest coaching minds this sport has ever had.

That same Wayne Bennet has spent an entire pre-season with the Bunnies and setting aside his brilliance, no-one here has had a snippet of the exposure he has had to the Bunnies squad leading into this 2025 season.

Yes, I agree Wayne is as human and as susceptible to mistakes as anyone, but keeping in mind he has managed a full pre-season with the players, I find it hard to get on board with someone saying Dodd is more deserving of the half spot than the man Wayne has chosen.

[hunsletgreenandgold]

37 minutes ago, marklaspalmas said:

Ok boss. So, just one of the multitude of generic NRL threads on here. Carry on.

Mate i've no idea what your issue is - there's tonnes of threads that get derailed on this site and then they disappear because of that. This one has lasted 6 years, precisely because it stays around the topic name. You came on today saying it's drifted - drifted into what? The last 20 or so posts before your comment were all to do with 'Brits in the NRL'. Just because the odd post mentions an Aus player, but still with context to a wider discussion, I think that's okay? 

[marklaspalmas]

1 hour ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

Mate i've no idea what your issue is - there's tonnes of threads that get derailed on this site and then they disappear because of that. This one has lasted 6 years, precisely because it stays around the topic name. You came on today saying it's drifted - drifted into what? The last 20 or so posts before your comment were all to do with 'Brits in the NRL'. Just because the odd post mentions an Aus player, but still with context to a wider discussion, I think that's okay? 

Ah. No issue. Yours?

From your strident comments, perhaps you felt I was somehow imposing on the thread, but that was not my intention. Carry on.

FWIW I did my best back on p118 to keep this thread going.

There are a number of generic NRL threads around tbf.

[hunsletgreenandgold]

8 minutes ago, marklaspalmas said:

Ah. No issue. Yours?

From your strident comments, perhaps you felt I was somehow imposing on the thread, but that was not my intention. Carry on.

FWIW I did my best back on p118 to keep this thread going.

There are a number of generic NRL threads around tbf.

Yeah I agreed back then, there was no need for it to be superseded by 'Brits in the NRL 2024' (I think it was called)  - as Dunbar pointed out, this thread has the history of all conversations and just needed sparking back up after the off season. 

[bobbruce]

2 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

 

What I mean is, Wayne Bennet is one of the greatest coaching minds this sport has ever had.

That same Wayne Bennet has spent an entire pre-season with the Bunnies and setting aside his brilliance, no-one here has had a snippet of the exposure he has had to the Bunnies squad leading into this 2025 season.

Yes, I agree Wayne is as human and as susceptible to mistakes as anyone, but keeping in mind he has managed a full pre-season with the players, I find it hard to get on board with someone saying Dodd is more deserving of the half spot than the man Wayne has chosen.

Dodd was banned for the first game so that decision was taken out of his hand and I don’t see Bennett changing a winning team. He will get his chance though and it will be important he takes it when he does. 

Edited March 17 by bobbruce

[graveyard johnny]

2 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

 

What I mean is, Wayne Bennet is one of the greatest coaching minds this sport has ever had.

That same Wayne Bennet has spent an entire pre-season with the Bunnies and setting aside his brilliance, no-one here has had a snippet of the exposure he has had to the Bunnies squad leading into this 2025 season.

Yes, I agree Wayne is as human and as susceptible to mistakes as anyone, but keeping in mind he has managed a full pre-season with the players, I find it hard to get on board with someone saying Dodd is more deserving of the half spot than the man Wayne has chosen.

Would that be the same coaching mind that selected Blake Austin on the wing for GB?

[Anita Bath]

1 hour ago, graveyard johnny said:

Would that be the same coaching mind that selected Blake Austin on the wing for GB?

The was a senior moment…everyone his age has them.

[DoubleD]

Nicholson is very much in a similar mould to Elliot Whitehead when he joined Canberra. A brilliant line running edge back rower. 

Nicholson is more of a complete player at his age though, be really interesting to see how his career develops 

[Farmduck]

14 hours ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

Yeah I agreed back then, there was no need for it to be superseded by 'Brits in the NRL 2024' (I think it was called)  - as Dunbar pointed out, this thread has the history of all conversations and just needed sparking back up after the off season. 

Actually this is "Brits in NRL 2.0" The original one started back around 2015 and ran for a couple of years. It has been deleted from the TRL archives. Probably started earlier because I recall Ainscough playing for South City Bulls in Wagga Wagga maybe 2013. It was broader since it included all Northern Hemisphere players. I recall Ryan Burroughs played for Yass, I think it was, then Wentworthville, which would have been 2016.

[JonNgog]

Ryan Sutton released by the Bulldogs. Must admit I had forgotten about him!

[Farmduck]

38 minutes ago, JonNgog said:

Ryan Sutton released by the Bulldogs. Must admit I had forgotten about him!

Someone on the Doggies forum said the reason the story had a picture of Ciraldo was because nobody could find a picture of Sutton playing in a Dogs jumper. A bit harsh. He played 13 games.

He actually played 88 NRL games and 10 NSW Cup games across 5 seasons (not counting 2025) so 19 games/season is far from a complete disaster. 

[marklaspalmas]

3 hours ago, Farmduck said:

Actually this is "Brits in NRL 2.0" The original one started back around 2015 and ran for a couple of years. It has been deleted from the TRL archives. Probably started earlier because I recall Ainscough playing for South City Bulls in Wagga Wagga maybe 2013. It was broader since it included all Northern Hemisphere players. I recall Ryan Burroughs played for Yass, I think it was, then Wentworthville, which would have been 2016.

There was another thread before that one newbie.

[hunsletgreenandgold]

3 hours ago, JonNgog said:

Ryan Sutton released by the Bulldogs. Must admit I had forgotten about him!

The fact the Bulldogs paid up his contract just to get him off their top 30 is pretty telling. He's not playing for anyone this season you'd have thought, or at least not for another few months. His Aus wife is pregnant with their 3rd child so I can see him staying down under. On his day he's a solid NRL prop and if he can get himself fit I reckon he'll get picked up by an NRL team for 2026.

[langpark]

3 hours ago, Farmduck said:

He actually played 88 NRL games and 10 NSW Cup games across 5 seasons (not counting 2025) so 19 games/season is far from a complete disaster. 

2019-2024 is actually six seasons (count them using your fingers).  So more like 16/season, still not bad.  But it seems 75 of them were played by the end of 2022, so it seems he really faded (and/or had a bad run with injuries) since joining the Bulldogs.

[hunsletgreenandgold]

31 minutes ago, langpark said:

2019-2024 is actually six seasons (count them using your fingers).  So more like 16/season, still not bad.  But it seems 75 of them were played by the end of 2022, so it seems he really faded (and/or had a bad run with injuries) since joining the Bulldogs.

Issues at the Dogs was purely injuries and suspension. When he was fit and available he always played and played well. 

[JM2010]

33 minutes ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

Issues at the Dogs was purely injuries and suspension. When he was fit and available he always played and played well. 

I hope he finds a new club. If he’s been paid out then he’s worth a punt on a trial contract at least