So he’s not off to Oz after all…

[Old Frightful]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/articles/cj6xww4pjkno

[Wakefield Ram]

Mainly because he's not good enough. 

[Hopie]

Long contract means they can get a decent fee when he does go.

[Vambo]

Good. He's a quality player and I for one am glad he's staying in Super League.

[Gerromonside]

What standard is "good enough" for the NRL? Would that be a George Williams benchmark who has just signed for the Dolphins (not Miami but Redcliffe) or Dodd (not Ken albeit ...)? Lewis would stand a very good chance of playing regularly for a 3-6 position team, especially if he could be primarily a runner of the ball with a controlling halfback in tandem. I can't understand why some diminish and not celebrate UK talent (having just maligned Williams and Dodd). 

[Wakefield Ram]

7 minutes ago, Gerromonside said:

What standard is "good enough" for the NRL? Would that be a George Williams benchmark who has just signed for the Dolphins (not Miami but Redcliffe) or Dodd (not Ken albeit ...)? Lewis would stand a very good chance of playing regularly for a 3-6 position team, especially if he could be primarily a runner of the ball with a controlling halfback in tandem. I can't understand why some diminish and not celebrate UK talent (having just maligned Williams and Dodd). 

We will see how he does against the Aussies. Very good player in a dominant side, but his temperament just isn't good enough when his team are struggling. 

That's why no NRL club had tried to sign him. George Williams is an all-round consistent solid professional. Lewis isn't. 

Edited September 27 by Wakefield Ram

[Gerromonside]

I'm sure Williams would be a lovely neighbour too, but it hasn't been his season, and that's being diplomatic. Lewis has made Hull KR dominant, what more do you want for him to do the pre-match entertainment.  Gold Coast, Souths and West Tigers btw.

 

 

[JM2010]

46 minutes ago, Wakefield Ram said:

We will see how he does against the Aussies. Very good player in a dominant side, but his temperament just isn't good enough when his team are struggling. 

That's why no NRL club had tried to sign him. George Williams is an all-round consistent solid professional. Lewis isn't. 

How do you know that an NRL club hasn’t tried to sign him?

[The Duke]

Fantastic player, great for us at KR

what i don’t want him to become is the pantomime villain  that Jake Connor had become, perhaps a bit petulant at times

But on the field in his day he’s the best 7 in the Uk 

[Leyther_Matt]

3 hours ago, Wakefield Ram said:

Mainly because he's not good enough. 

And they don’t accept visa applications written in crayon.

(Shamelessly nicked off Twitter, so thanks to whichever Hull FC fan responsible for that one)

[Gerromonside]

Sorry, are you making light of a neurodiverse condition? If so, at least state your name? Moderator!?

[up the robins]

Lewis is great for super league the fact that so many people try to put him down shoes how good he is 

So pleased he's signed on for 5 years, must admit if it wasn't for his young child being born and him wanting  contact with his child, I think he would have being a dead cert for the NRL given how much intrest he has received.

[AB90]

8 hours ago, Gerromonside said:

What standard is "good enough" for the NRL? Would that be a George Williams benchmark who has just signed for the Dolphins (not Miami but Redcliffe) or Dodd (not Ken albeit ...)? Lewis would stand a very good chance of playing regularly for a 3-6 position team, especially if he could be primarily a runner of the ball with a controlling halfback in tandem. I can't understand why some diminish and not celebrate UK talent (having just maligned Williams and Dodd). 

Fans of the UK game do this very strange thing where they rank English and/or Super League players against the very best of the NRL I.e Mikey Lewis isn’t as good as Nathan Cleary = ‘not NRL standard’ or ‘not good enough’! It’s a very odd way to compare players. 

[Anita Bath]

In the last 20 years the blokes from super league who have gone down under and succeeded in NRL have been forwards by and large.

Which backs have made their mark in the NRL ( and I dont count Herbie because he didnt play in SL)?

[Jonty58]

Brian Carney.

[Damien]

4 hours ago, Anita Bath said:

In the last 20 years the blokes from super league who have gone down under and succeeded in NRL have been forwards by and large.

Which backs have made their mark in the NRL ( and I dont count Herbie because he didnt play in SL)?

Hardly any top notch backs have gone in their prime. I reckon Sam Tomkins is probably the only one since Brian Carney, and he did okay before his injury. As did George Williams to the extent NRL teams want him back.

The backs that have gone have largely been very weird signings like Dan Sarginson, Hardaker, Gildart, Mathers, Turner etc who any English fan would have told you would fail. Most of these hardly lit up SL and simply ended up okay club players.

Others like Joe Burgess or Lewis Murphy were far from the finished article in SL and just starting off. Lewis Dodd was poor prior to leaving Saints and in and out of the team in his final year there. There was always a chance too much would be expected from these type of players too soon.

Then the likes of Ryan Hall and Kallum Watkins were way past their best when they went and did so after a pretty poor couple of years for their clubs. They were signed on name rather than the players they were at that time.

If I think of the top English backs, and the ones we have traditionally talked about when it comes to playing for England, over the last 20 years hardly any have gone to the NRL.

Edited September 28 by Damien

[The Duke]

Does Gareth Widdop count ? 
 

I suppose he emigrated at a young age (15 I think) he did pretty well

 

[Anita Bath]

45 minutes ago, The Duke said:

Does Gareth Widdop count ? 
 

I suppose he emigrated at a young age (15 I think) he did pretty well

 

same as herbie. He wasnt tarnished!

[FearTheVee]

Of course Lewis is good enough to play in the NRL. He’d do great there.

[Jonty58]

30 minutes ago, FearTheVee said:

Of course Lewis is good enough to play in the NRL. He’d do great there.

I doubt he will be signed as a 29 year old with a transfer fee.

He will have his chance to shine in the Ashes.

[Anita Bath]

5 hours ago, Jonty58 said:

Brian Carney.

Just squeezing into to the last 20 years. Could say he was a 1 year wonder before reneging on his gold coast contract. But he was certainly a good year at Newcastle.

[Jonty58]

20 minutes ago, Anita Bath said:

Just squeezing into to the last 20 years. Could say he was a 1 year wonder before reneging on his gold coast contract. But he was certainly a good year at Newcastle.

2006 at Newcastle, he did pretty well.

I think he was the number one Winger in the NRL at Newcastle.

Reneging on contracts in Rugby League seems to be commonplace nowadays.

Many Aussies leave Super League because they are homesick or have a so called family crisis down under.

No different to English players that go to the NRL but on a much smaller scale due to the smaller number of players.

Sam Tomkins

George Williams

John Bateman

Ryan Hall

Kallum Watkins

All left contracts early I think. Some not in a mutually agreed manner.

Just off the top of my head.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 28 by Jonty58

[Jonty58]

1 hour ago, FearTheVee said:

Of course Lewis is good enough to play in the NRL. He’d do great there.

Which NRL Club do you think would suit him?

Most Clubs want on field generals that set up and dictate the run of play, still be able to be a run and make a defense think twice.

Running halves….. not so much, unless they are Brett Kenny.

[Eddie]

Hull KR have stated their ambition to be the biggest RL side in the N Hemisphere and look to be on their way to that, and SL expanding will make it a more interesting competition; why wouldn’t Lewis want to stay. 

[Wellsy4HullFC]

6 hours ago, Damien said:

The backs that have gone have largely been very weird signings like Dan Sarginson, Hardaker, Gildart, Mathers, Turner etc who any English fan would have told you would fail. Most of these hardly lit up SL and simply ended up okay club players.

How can you put Hardaker in that list? He was literally the reigning Man of Steel when he went to NRL.