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Brits in the NRL


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41 minutes ago, Manfred Mann said:

You may be almost correct about the three quarters, but Herbie Farnworth is one of the few good performers at the Brisbane Broncos, and is knocking on the door of international selection. Watkins had an unlucky time with injuries at Gold Coast, but is doing okay with Salford. Ryan Hall is past his best but did reasonably as a substitute with the star studded Sydney Roosters three quarter line. Joe Burgess did reasonably well when he moved to South Sydney. That not overly impressive three quarter line would do sufficiently well in support of a star studded forward pack, playing with a selected star full back and star half back.

The forward pack, with Luke Thompson selected in place of Sam Burgess, as suggested by the estimable TRL commentator Dunbar, would be a very good international standard.

So the low bar you set of being impressive only by comparison with Jamaica is just flat wrong, even ridiculous. That England team could well be top 4.

Again doing ok in the NRL doesn't mean your world class and Bateman apart the pack you listed is hardly star studded 

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7 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

Again doing ok in the NRL doesn't mean your world class and Bateman apart the pack you listed is hardly star studded 

Elliot Whitehead has proved to be a top class NRL player for 4-5 years now. Players who went over and played 10-15 games or so like Watkins, Sarginson, Joe Burgess, Ryan Hall etc. can hardly be judged to be quality NRL players.

Edited by Scubby
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15 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

Again doing ok in the NRL doesn't mean your world class and Bateman apart the pack you listed is hardly star studded 

It depends if you are talking today or when they were at their peak.

If you take Bateman out of the pack that Manfred Mann first listed, they have 752 NRL appearances between them.

Sam Burgess was regarded as the best forward in the game at his best, James Graham one of the top props in the world and Josh Hodgson behind only Cam Smith as the NRL finest 9.  Add in Elliott Whitehead who has been consistently excellent in his time at Canberra and Tom Burgess who is not the pack leader at Souths and it is not bad at all.

I wouldn't have James Graham in my England 13 now, Josh Hodgson is injured and Burgess is retired but at their very best a pack of 8. Tom. Burgess 9. Josh Hodgson 10. James Graham  11. Elliott Whitehead 12. John Bateman and 13. Sam Burgess is very good in anyone's book.

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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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16 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

It depends if you are talking today or when they were at their peak.

If you take Bateman out of the pack that Manfred Mann first listed, they have 752 NRL appearances between them.

Sam Burgess was regarded as the best forward in the game at his best, James Graham one of the top props in the world and Josh Hodgson behind only Cam Smith as the NRL finest 9.  Add in Elliott Whitehead who has been consistently excellent in his time at Canberra and Tom Burgess who is not the pack leader at Souths and it is not bad at all.

I wouldn't have James Graham in my England 13 now, Josh Hodgson is injured and Burgess is retired but at their very best a pack of 8. Tom. Burgess 9. Josh Hodgson 10. James Graham  11. Elliott Whitehead 12. John Bateman and 13. Sam Burgess is very good in anyone's book.

Given the posts I replied to stated they could take the field for England NOW and do a "excellent" job at Test level,I'd say today.

That team would get flogged by Aus/NZ/Tonga and would struggle with Fiji/Samoa & Fiji.

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I've watched Ryan Hall's games for the Roosters and being frank this year he's looked like a reserve grade player.  He does make some yards running the ball out of defence, but has never looked like making a break or even half break when doing that, is slower than most forwards, and his defensive positioning and decision-making has always been shaky.  

I do wish he'd scored a try though - for whatever reason, and despite playing on both wings, he just never got the ball to score except in his last game when he did only for a forward pass...Meanwhile on the other wing, often in the same game they were running in tries by the bucketload.

Ryan just left it a couple of years too late to give the NRL a go, and then he chose a side with loads of wingers, which limited his chances. At his peak he could have done very well.

 

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  • 3 months later...

So, as we approach the new season, these are the Brits who have been named in the NRL top 30 squads.

Some are established top players and some are young guns who will be pushing for a debut.  As always looking forward to seeing how they all go this year.

Let me know who I have missed.

 

Canberra

George Williams

Josh Hodgson

Elliot Whitehead

Ryan Sutton

Harry Rushton

Souths

Tom Burgess

Brisbane

Herbie Farnworth

Newcastle

Bailey Hodgson

Dominic Young

Canterbury

Luke Thompson

"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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On 28/10/2020 at 04:29, Copa said:

Harry Rushton has been signed by Canberra.

What is he like?

Big and mobile edge forward.

Was a star through the age groups in the UK and I think he captained England at some of the junior levels.

You can never guarantee it but he has all the qualities to be a top quality player.

"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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14 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

Big and mobile edge forward.

Was a star through the age groups in the UK and I think he captained England at some of the junior levels.

You can never guarantee it but he has all the qualities to be a top quality player.

Big, strong English forwards never seem to have much of an issue making it in the NRL. Even the more average English forwards  have flourished.

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4 minutes ago, Damien said:

Big, strong English forwards never seem to have much of an issue making it in the NRL. Even the more average English forwards  have flourished.

I agree.  But as with Dom Young and Hodgson at Newcastle, Rushton is not an established first grade player.  My point is that he has all the qualities to be a top player but you can never tell if he will succeed- on either side of the world.

"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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22 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

So, as we approach the new season, these are the Brits who have been named in the NRL top 30 squads.

Some are established top players and some are young guns who will be pushing for a debut.  As always looking forward to seeing how they all go this year.

Let me know who I have missed.

 

Canberra

George Williams

Josh Hodgson

Elliot Whitehead

Ryan Sutton

Harry Rushton

Souths

Tom Burgess

Brisbane

Herbie Farnworth

Newcastle

Bailey Hodgson

Dominic Young

Canterbury

Luke Thompson

Dom Young interests me . His brother is up here and he’s ginormous . They like tall rangy wingers in the NRL so I’ll be very interested what the knights mould him into 

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4 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

I agree.  But as with Dom Young and Hodgson at Newcastle, Rushton is not an established first grade player.  My point is that he has all the qualities to be a top player but you can never tell if he will succeed- on either side of the world.

I wasn't disagreeing and I agree with what you said. I was just commenting and adding too.

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6 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Dom Young interests me . His brother is up here and he’s ginormous . They like tall rangy wingers in the NRL so I’ll be very interested what the knights mould him into 

Personally I hope they look to mould him into a quality centre.  Looking at his junior highlights he has good hands as well as a physical presence.

"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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  • 3 weeks later...

Dom Young gets his first run for Newcastle in their trial game this weekend.

https://www.newcastleknights.com.au/news/2021/02/03/2021-fanfest-confirmed/

I warn anyone who is depressed about lockdown here not to click the link and look at the full agenda for FanFest 2021 and a whole day of Rugby League.

"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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40 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

Dom Young gets his first run for Newcastle in their trial game this weekend.

https://www.newcastleknights.com.au/news/2021/02/03/2021-fanfest-confirmed/

I warn anyone who is depressed about lockdown here not to click the link and look at the full agenda for FanFest 2021 and a whole day of Rugby League.

On the wing.

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Just on the subject of the NRL's popularity here, if SL stopped and we just had NRL, I imagine I would watch it for awhile, but my main team in the NRL is Canberra due to the number of English players - That would stop if there was no RL playing here, so in a number of years I'd imagine i would stop watching the NRL as there wouldn't be English players playing the game over there anymore. 

As much as I love watching the NRL, personally I can struggle to watch a full match with 2 teams when I don't care for either team. Prefer to be invested in the game I am watching so I can fully enjoy it.

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19 hours ago, Click said:

Just on the subject of the NRL's popularity here, if SL stopped and we just had NRL, I imagine I would watch it for awhile, but my main team in the NRL is Canberra due to the number of English players - That would stop if there was no RL playing here, so in a number of years I'd imagine i would stop watching the NRL as there wouldn't be English players playing the game over there anymore. 

As much as I love watching the NRL, personally I can struggle to watch a full match with 2 teams when I don't care for either team. Prefer to be invested in the game I am watching so I can fully enjoy it.

I understand what you mean.  My view on it...

When we first had a chance to watch the NRL over here it brought backs loads of memories of the old Aussie RL highlights packages (Micron Video!).

I definitely enjoy watching the games with the Brits in but I have reached a point now where I can appreciate the clubs, players and history and enjoy it for what it is and find something in every game to grab my attention. 

Add in the quality aspect and I would definitely choose the NRL as my sport fix before anything else these days.

Edited by Dunbar
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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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Plus, if you get involved in Graham's wonderful season long tipping comp on the Aussie RL forum then you are emotionally invested in every game.

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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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A lot comes down to your own history.  I'm always sort of interested in Parramatta due to Kenny, Sterling, Grothe and Laurie, but unlike SL where due to my history I still care who wins in say Cas v Hull (I want them both to lose which is a bit difficult), I couldn't care less who wins out of games like St George and Cronulla if both are mid-table. In fact most St George games have just been painfully dull full stop for several years.

The televised Friday night NRL games are generally the biggest and best in each round. Sunday games on the other hand are generally poor entertainment between mid-table Sydney teams and I genuinely struggle to watch them.

In terms of Brits my main interest this year will be watching Herbie Farnworth.  He could be a star, but I'm still not entirely sold on him.

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It's a real shame Luke Thompson is suspended for as long as he is because I think he could be phenomenal this year but unless the Dogs are playing rubbish, he'll struggle to walk straight into the side after 5 games. Most likely he'll start getting named on the bench, but for me that's not how we get to see the best of Thompson. Hope I'm wrong but could well see it being round 10+ before he's firing on all cylinders. As a side note, does anybody know if you're allowed to play trial games if you're suspended? 

Edited by hunsletgreenandgold
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3 hours ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

It's a real shame Luke Thompson is suspended for as long as he is because I think he could be phenomenal this year but unless the Dogs are playing rubbish, he'll struggle to walk straight into the side after 5 games. Most likely he'll start getting named on the bench, but for me that's not how we get to see the best of Thompson. Hope I'm wrong but could well see it being round 10+ before he's firing on all cylinders. As a side note, does anybody know if you're allowed to play trial games if you're suspended? 

The Dogs will be cellar dwellers again 

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9 hours ago, thebrewxi said:

With the NRL season about to start, is there a full list anywhere of the brits in? I've kind of forgotten whose over there and where. 

There was one put up on Jan 31 on this thread, half way down the last page.

 

Edited by The Rocket
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