No. They're not. They're putting out a strong, competitive team. A team against which our young internationals can test themselves and improve their game. Rather than go the other way of watering down and weakening SL as a competition and making our international side even less competitive. If we're going to improve the sport and our international teams we need STRONGER teams not weaker teams that pander to the "it's cos of foreign players that england never wins against the aussies" mentality.
we need stronger teams of british players.
Our players arent testing themselves against strong competitive teams because they arent bloody playing. Last season our young international rookie of the year could barely get a game because of dross like Cameron Phelps and Tim Smith, This was at 20 years old, he wasnt a baby.
the strength our league and our national team comes from us bringing through more, better youngsters. It will come from spending money, effort, and most of all time, investing in young players so that they can learn, and grow achieve their potential.
What it certainly wont come from is from playing against, and having their place taken by, players who were never good enough like Shad Royston,
Our players arent testing themselves against strong competitive teams because they arent bloody playing. Last season our young international rookie of the year could barely get a game because of dross like Cameron Phelps and Tim Smith, This was at 20 years old, he wasnt a baby.
the strength our league and our national team comes from us bringing through more, better youngsters. It will come from spending money, effort, and most of all time, investing in young players so that they can learn, and grow achieve their potential.
What it certainly wont come from is from playing against, and having their place taken by, players who were never good enough like Shad Royston,
There isn't the pool of players of the required skill level to have teams of british players. maybe last season, our young international rookie of the year wasn't up to taking his spot in the team rather than it being the fault of the players you mention. if that's the case then it seemed that being held down forced him to push back harder and forged him into a better player.
if young players are good enough they will break into the team. this stupidity that says a player should be given a starting spot in a team just because he's british with a modicum of talent is more damaging to the international team and the sport than any number of imports.
There isn't the pool of players of the required skill level to have teams of british players.
because we dont produce them
maybe last season, our young international rookie of the year wasn't up to taking his spot in the team rather than it being the fault of the players you mention.
or maybe he was but the coach didnt want to invest the time and effort, and take the risk with a young player because it was easier to rely on an average overseas player.
if that's the case then it seemed that being held down forced him to push back harder and forged him into a better player.
or maybe he just missed out on a year of development and is year further behind where he would be otherwise.
if young players are good enough they will break into the team this stupidity that says a player should be given a starting spot in a team just because he's british with a modicum of talent is more damaging to the international team and the sport than any number of imports.
No, they wont, it is idiotic to say they will. A young player, with the potential to be the next Greg Inglis will still make mistakes and is still learning. You need first team games to find out and iron out the problems in your game, you need first team games to gain the experience to fulfil your potential. Expecting a 17/18/19/20 year old with 0 first team games to possess the necessary experience and consistency to be even possibly better than a 26 year old former NRL player is idiotic nonsense.
Giving young players first team games will see them improve, it will see them get better than never has beens like Royston, it will see our player-pool improve, it will see the quality of our league improve and as such the quality of our national team improve.
not only that but forcing clubs to rely on their youth rather than NRL rejects and never was NRL players will mean clubs will need to go out and scout better youngsters, coach them better and give them first team games improving them again, giving us a cycle of improvement.
seems ironic to me that a player of Sam Tomkins' class & ability only broke into the first team because of injuuries to more senior players ! what a stroke of luck for Wigan & rl fans in general ! maybe the lesson will be leaned that there ARE young lads with massive potential on our doorsteps,it's up to the clubs to take the plunge and blood them instead of sticking with the so called tried & tested old timers If you're good enough it doesn't matter what age the young lad is ! IMO there are a host of Sam Tomkins clones out there...
That's down to the RFL and grassroots training rather than anyone club, though I will concede the point that clubs do need to do their part to improve this
SmokeyTA wrote:
or maybe he was but the coach didnt want to invest the time and effort, and take the risk with a young player because it was easier to rely on an average overseas player. or maybe he just missed out on a year of development and is year further behind where he would be otherwise.
I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark here and say that you are not privy to every single training session that Wigan had last year. Therefore you're hardly in a position to make that sweeping generalisation. A club coach has one simple remit: win games. Therefore why pick an unproven kid when he has experienced players to chose from?
SmokeyTA wrote:
No, they wont, it is idiotic to say they will. A young player, with the potential to be the next Greg Inglis will still make mistakes and is still learning. You need first team games to find out and iron out the problems in your game, you need first team games to gain the experience to fulfil your potential. Expecting a 17/18/19/20 year old with 0 first team games to possess the necessary experience and consistency to be even possibly better than a 26 year old former NRL player is idiotic nonsense.
Now that was not my point at all. My point was that a player who's got the raw skill and talent will be able to break into a side regardless of age. I never said that they wouldn't be stumbles along the way. The best players are always looking to improve.
SmokeyTA wrote:
Giving young players first team games will see them improve, it will see them get better than never has beens like Royston, it will see our player-pool improve, it will see the quality of our league improve and as such the quality of our national team improve.
But if the players are of a lower quality than so called "never has beens" then where will the improvements come from? Better players make for a better league. The reduction of overseas players will reduce the skill and quality of the player pool in this country and will mean teams are forced to play less skilful players just because they're british. You then get players like Sherrife playing in SL even though it's clear he isn't SL standard. But he's british.
SmokeyTA wrote:
not only that but forcing clubs to rely on their youth rather than NRL rejects and never was NRL players will mean clubs will need to go out and scout better youngsters, coach them better and give them first team games improving them again, giving us a cycle of improvement.
These "BETTER" youngsters that aren't being scouted, where are they? I'm sure there's a lot of clubs that would love to know. The fact is, without massive investment at grassroots/school levels there's not going to be any sort of increase in the numbers of young lads playing the game. The game in aus is far ahead of us in terms of player development and coaching, so we need to look at that and try and implement similar structures to improve our young players. But again, we DO NOT HAVE the numbers playing the game.