Bevan French for England/GB?

[Tommygilf]

On 19/11/2024 at 21:54, sam4731 said:

Personally, I think the residency rule is ridiculous. Maybe set it at 15 years to allow people who have been in a country since they were a kid but 5 years is ridiculous. You could hypothetically get into a situation where a federation gets the idea to pump money into a club from the country to sign players on 5 years contracts so they're eligible for the country. It's not going to happen but it shouldn't be possible.

In RU that is exactly what happens. Players are recruited for the national team, discussions made in terms of "World Cup cycles".

[sam4731]

2 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

Not at all Sam but it will question why would you do such a thing?

You mean to tell me that you don't want to see Barry Mcguigan and Colleen Rooney talking about what their favourite biscuit to dunk in a cup of tea is?

And I'm the weirdo?

[EagleEyePie]

On 19/11/2024 at 20:38, Stainesrover said:

In my humble opinion, French is a fantastic player, and he is absolutely made for the Super League. However if he were an NRL player, week in week out he wouldn't have almost 80% of the gaps/chances to score. He is perfect for our game, but any proper RL fan will know that he would be zero effective against Australia, even NZ and Tonga

The best evidence we have for which Super League players would be most effective in those games against the very best is how they perform in the biggest games that we have over here. So those would be the World Club Challenge, Challenge Cup final and Grand Final. That's pretty much the yardstick for most players in determining how good they will be in the biggest games.

It's slipped my mind who was man of the match in those games but I reckon they'd be a decent shout if they were eligible for England.

[LeytherRob]

I can understand the argument of whether he should or shouldn't play based on viewpoints on nationalities, but I find it crazy anyone would suggest French would not be good enough to succeed at international level for England. He walks in comfortably at full back if he declares and the coach wants him. He's by far the best and most influential back in SL.

 

[LeytherRob]

On 19/11/2024 at 17:42, graveyard johnny said:

seriously - we dont want to give the Aussies any excuse for losing by using Aussie players against them  so its a big NO from me

It's been that long since we beat Oz that i don't care if they have an excuse. it would be nice to even be in the position of them having to have an excuse!

[Harry Stottle]

15 hours ago, LeytherRob said:

It's been that long since we beat Oz that i don't care if they have an excuse. it would be nice to even be in the position of them having to have an excuse!

No sorry Rob can't agree with you and I do care, I say we do it under our own steam why on earth do you want to bring in ringers, and we have been in the position on a few occasions to beat them in a series but just failed.

Beggar the thought of the fiasco of 'Our' National team ever repeating what it did in '19, with 3 Aussies who represented GB, Jackson Hastings had only been here for 18 months, and Blake Austin and Lachlan Coote only set foot in this country in the same season that they represented us. I was there on that tour and to see those 3 with *heads bowed at the National Anthem whilst we fans who had followed the team over were only a matter of a few meters away was deplorable, now I am in no way a Royalist but it is nothing about that is it, it is having a sense of pride in the shirt with knowing you are representing 'YOUR' birthright, being a natural and moral right.

I can just about accept a player representing the nation of a parents birth - Victor Radley - but that is were I would stop not grandparents and most certainly not on residency unless it has been from being a child and being educated and learning your sport here, Ben Stokes is an example.

*Yes I know Brian Carney did the same but the circumstance was very different.

Just my opinion of course.

[sam4731]

3 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

No sorry Rob can't agree with you and I do care, I say we do it under our own steam why on earth do you want to bring in ringers, and we have been in the position on a few occasions to beat them in a series but just failed.

Beggar the thought of the fiasco of 'Our' National team ever repeating what it did in '19, with 3 Aussies who represented GB, Jackson Hastings had only been here for 18 months, and Blake Austin and Lachlan Coote only set foot in this country in the same season that they represented us. I was there on that tour and to see those 3 with *heads bowed at the National Anthem whilst we fans who had followed the team over were only a matter of a few meters away was deplorable, now I am in no way a Royalist but it is nothing about that is it, it is having a sense of pride in the shirt with knowing you are representing 'YOUR' birthright, being a natural and moral right.

I can just about accept a player representing the nation of a parents birth - Victor Radley - but that is were I would stop not grandparents and most certainly not on residency unless it has been from being a child and being educated and learning your sport here, Ben Stokes is an example.

*Yes I know Brian Carney did the same but the circumstance was very different.

Just my opinion of course.

I think the bigger issue in terms of eligibility is just the transferring your allegiances to the best team that you can play for.

Loyalty, pride and morality are all OK but the bigger problem is that players are using country eligibility as a 'pick a team' practice.

It's the same reason why I don't like teams being able to play for a tier 1 and tier 2 country. If you pin your flag to a mast, you should be forced to stick with it.

Want to play for England but not yet at the right level but you're also eligible for Wales? Pick a side. It falsely exaggerates the quality of a tier 2 side whilst also relieving any pressure on tier 1 head coaches to pick the side they want for the future.

In essence, tier 2 sides become reserve squads for tier 1 sides.

[Dunbar]

On 19/11/2024 at 20:38, Stainesrover said:

In my humble opinion, French is a fantastic player, and he is absolutely made for the Super League. However if he were an NRL player, week in week out he wouldn't have almost 80% of the gaps/chances to score. He is perfect for our game, but any proper RL fan will know that he would be zero effective against Australia, even NZ and Tonga

With respect, you are about a decade behind in your comparison between the Australian and UK game. 

In 2024, the average points scored in a Super League game was 40, in the NRL it was 47.  The NRL is an attack based competition and is absolutely full of players like French who are superb on their feet despite being relatively slightly built.

The crackdown they have had on late hits etc. has opened the game up for these game breakers.  

As for French, he scored 19 tries in 13 appearances in the NRL which wasn't too shabby. He would be exceptional now.

[Damien]

2 hours ago, Dunbar said:

With respect, you are about a decade behind in your comparison between the Australian and UK game. 

In 2024, the average points scored in a Super League game was 40, in the NRL it was 47.  The NRL is an attack based competition and is absolutely full of players like French who are superb on their feet despite being relatively slightly built.

The crackdown they have had on late hits etc. has opened the game up for these game breakers.  

As for French, he scored 19 tries in 13 appearances in the NRL which wasn't too shabby. He would be exceptional now.

Unless I'm understanding you wrong he played way more than that in the NRL and scored 35 tries in 47 games.

[Dunbar]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

Unless I'm understanding you wrong he played way more than that in the NRL and scored 35 tries in 47 games.

I meant to say his first season was 19 tries in 13 games.