Brits in the NRL: 2024 Edition

[Exiled Wiganer]

1 hour ago, Archie Gordon said:

Possibly.

About 40 of our top 100 players are non-UK. Are you including them?

I must confess that I have not actually prepared a list of those 100 players, but looking at WIgan’s squad we have 15 English players good enough to play in the NRL. Saints will have at least that many. The pool from which we draw players is far shallower, but once those players are in our system they get excellent coaching, training and exposure to high level games. Smithies for instance may not have been a stand out compared to many players in the Aussie youth system, but has clearly out stripped huge numbers of Aussies by virtue of the environment in which he played. What is scandalous is that the RFL and the clubs over here have been so abject at selling our game, and our players. 

Edited March 28 by Exiled Wiganer

[NRLandSL]

Not a Brit, but a former SL player. Schneider absolutely killed it in Penrith Debut. Controlled the game really well, coming from a roosters fan. 

Made everyone forget Cleary wasn’t playing.

[Archie Gordon]

56 minutes ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

... What is scandalous is that the RFL and the clubs over here have been so abject at selling our game, and our players. 

Yeah - spot on.

[hunsletgreenandgold]

1 hour ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

looking at WIgan’s squad we have 15 English players good enough to play in the NRL

I admire your optimism and the point overall is still valid - but i'm not seeing 15 that could play in the NRL. I'd go 9 and that's including 'Irish' Liam Byrne. 

[NRLandSL]

51 minutes ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

I admire your optimism and the point overall is still valid - but i'm not seeing 15 that could play in the NRL. I'd go 9 and that's including 'Irish' Liam Byrne. 

Guys like Nsemba and Hill Wouldn’t look out of place in the NRL, plus 12 other English Wigan first team players.  The 15 comment is pretty fair.

They are indeed the world champions of course.

[Exiled Wiganer]

59 minutes ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

I admire your optimism and the point overall is still valid - but i'm not seeing 15 that could play in the NRL. I'd go 9 and that's including 'Irish' Liam Byrne. 

It is my subjective opinion. Even setting the bar at your level, there are a lot of them. 
 

Having asserted that, my key point remains that the clubs and the competition produce many top class players, and yet we are so so far behind the NRL in telling the world what we are privileged to see every week, and far too meekly concede the NRL = gods narrative that most of the NRLers ascribe to. 

[hunsletgreenandgold]

39 minutes ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

It is my subjective opinion. Even setting the bar at your level, there are a lot of them. 
 

Having asserted that, my key point remains that the clubs and the competition produce many top class players, and yet we are so so far behind the NRL in telling the world what we are privileged to see every week, and far too meekly concede the NRL = gods narrative that most of the NRLers ascribe to. 

I agree to an extent. Top 5 or 6 SL clubs could more than hold their own in the NRL - a fact which isn't shared/appreciated by many commentators down there. I do think the gap widens after that though - clubs ranked 7-12 in the NRL are far and away better, when you look at the quality in those sides, than the SL equivalent. 

[graveyard johnny]

although one of the best players in the world at the min without doubt - how many times will Joey Manu be passing the ball to Dom Young while they are paired together? apart from once from dummy half (which doesn't count) I  cant recall him giving him service one single time today- hes gonna need service to score tries -this is looking like a bad pairing to me

[RL is the future]

On 24/03/2024 at 09:02, Welshleaguelover said:

 

Never knew that. Trying to find a bit more out about where they’re from. Pretty cool 

[Click]

23 hours ago, graveyard johnny said:

although one of the best players in the world at the min without doubt - how many times will Joey Manu be passing the ball to Dom Young while they are paired together? apart from once from dummy half (which doesn't count) I  cant recall him giving him service one single time today- hes gonna need service to score tries -this is looking like a bad pairing to me

On that basis then you can swap out the name of Dom Young for any wingers name. Manu rarely passes to his winger, whoever it is.

[graveyard johnny]

1 hour ago, Click said:

On that basis then you can swap out the name of Dom Young for any wingers name. Manu rarely passes to his winger, whoever it is.

so sign the top try scorer who scores from mainly been passed to and them pair him with a centre who wont pass to his winger - strange to say the least

[NRLandSL]

Gamble Dropped….. Hastings in, still no Pryce ffs.

O’Brien is sitting a winning lottery ticket, can’t believe he isn’t playing him.

[Click]

It can be frustrating watching KPP and Newcastle in attack. I think he has run 100 lines in the "red zone" and actually got a pass once in the last few weeks. 

They use him well coming out of their half, but as soon as they get in that last 10m they don't seem to want to utilise his offloading game whatsoever. Especially seeing how much they pass it to Frizzell on the other side of the field in comparison.

Glad to hear Gamble has been dropped and Hastings is in, I think Gamble and Cogger collectively put in 1 good kick in the last 2 weeks, all while Hastings was in NSW cup. 

 

[Dunbar]

Probably doesn't mean a great deal in the grand scheme of things but Pryce not named in the Knights reserves this week which he has been in the first 4 rounds.

Agree with @Click about KPP - when the Knights shift right in attacking positions they always hit Frizzell as a front man and on left shifts go out the back to Best.  Sure, they see Best as an attacking weapon but mixing it up with KPP is not only good to keep the defense guessing, Pearce-Paul is actually a real threat close to the line.

[Damien]

3 hours ago, Click said:

It can be frustrating watching KPP and Newcastle in attack. I think he has run 100 lines in the "red zone" and actually got a pass once in the last few weeks. 

They use him well coming out of their half, but as soon as they get in that last 10m they don't seem to want to utilise his offloading game whatsoever. Especially seeing how much they pass it to Frizzell on the other side of the field in comparison.

Glad to hear Gamble has been dropped and Hastings is in, I think Gamble and Cogger collectively put in 1 good kick in the last 2 weeks, all while Hastings was in NSW cup. 

This often seems to happen with experienced, established players compared to young or new players coming into the team. Hopefully the Knights will learn to utilise KPP better because he certainly is a handful close to the line.

[JonNgog]

The less said about Dom Young’s performance today, the better…

[DavidM]

30 minutes ago, JonNgog said:

The less said about Dom Young’s performance today, the better…

Err yes , but let’s recap . Knock on , ran down the touchline rather than cut in and got threw into touch , ran over , decapitated someone , got assaulted by opposition , had his top ripped off , got sent off , got booed 

[Copa]

57 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Err yes , but let’s recap . Knock on , ran down the touchline rather than cut in and got threw into touch , ran over , decapitated someone , got assaulted by opposition , had his top ripped off , got sent off , got booed 

Dom Young will definitely miss a few games after that “tackle”. 

[StandOffHalf]

Young just coming up to pressurise the ball carrier and getting it marginally wrong because of the height disparity. I thought it was a yellow, sliding up off the shoulder. A send-off seems harsh to me. 

Brave by the Chooks to fight back in the second stanza down a man.

[Dunbar]

3 hours ago, DavidM said:

Err yes , but let’s recap . Knock on , ran down the touchline rather than cut in and got threw into touch , ran over , decapitated someone , got assaulted by opposition , had his top ripped off , got sent off , got booed 

But he did look good in his ripped shirt!

[StandOffHalf]

16 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

But he did look good in his ripped shirt!

I thought I was watching 'The Incredible Hulk' for a second...

[DavidM]

1 hour ago, Dunbar said:

But he did look good in his ripped shirt!

I used to do that as a young un when I was pretending to be The Incredible Hulk … without actually ripping my T-shirts and without having the body and without being green but with  the shocking Lou Ferigno haircut 

[Shaggy]

The YouTube highlights had the tackle then some players running over and the ref shouting at them not to get involved.

It then cuts to Dom's ripped shirt. Did it all kick off then?

[DavidM]

29 minutes ago, Shaggy said:

The YouTube highlights had the tackle then some players running over and the ref shouting at them not to get involved.

It then cuts to Dom's ripped shirt. Did it all kick off then?

Stephen Crichton got involved … in fact you might say he got a bit shirty . Dom had had a bad start and was trying to put on a big shot , I think he was a bit unlucky so hopefully he doesn’t get a long ban 

[Dunbar]

39 minutes ago, Shaggy said:

The YouTube highlights had the tackle then some players running over and the ref shouting at them not to get involved.

It then cuts to Dom's ripped shirt. Did it all kick off then?

The usual handbags, pushing and pulling.