Re: Bevan French 4yr deal : Thu Apr 04, 2024 4:09 pm  

WYSIWYG2 wrote:

All 3 would just be average players in the NRL. They may not even make the 1st team, just like French. The NRL is full of outstanding players. Just take a look at Reece Walsh at Brisbane Broncos. What a player he is and he's keeping another excellent player, Tristan Sailor, out of the team when he comes back from injury.

French is probably the best back in SL, but he would just be average in the NRL. The NRL is a far better product, unfortunately.

It’s a great league but they blow enough smoke up own their backsides without us joining in. French would be a good player back in the NRL just as Smithies has taken to it comfortably, Pearce Paul has etc. Even Aidan Sezer is having a great time of it back there at the minute. Guys like Ipape and Amone would do a good job as well.

They have more very good players than we do and clearly more World Class players but the best in this competition have consistently shown that it isn’t a league full of super humans and we shouldn’t sell our league so short. The pundits over there do enough of that, talking as though KPP has come from playing in a pub league.

Re: Bevan French 4yr deal : Thu Apr 04, 2024 4:18 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

It’s a great league but they blow enough smoke up own their backsides without us joining in. French would be a good player back in the NRL just as Smithies has taken to it comfortably, Pearce Paul has etc. Even Aidan Sezer is having a great time of it back there at the minute. Guys like Ipape and Amone would do a good job as well.

They have more very good players than we do and clearly more World Class players but the best in this competition have consistently shown that it isn’t a league full of super humans and we shouldn’t sell our league so short. The pundits over there do enough of that, talking as though KPP has come from playing in a pub league.

Couldn’t have put this better myself, I was about to mention Sezer too who was shocking here.

They are loving KPP and Smithies there already.

It’s a great comp but there’s a load of bang average players playing week in week out.

Some of their games looked in slow motion compared to Wigan Saints.

Re: Bevan French 4yr deal : Thu Apr 04, 2024 4:29 pm  

NSW wrote:

Couldn’t have put this better myself, I was about to mention Sezer too who was shocking here.

They are loving KPP and Smithies there already.

It’s a great comp but there’s a load of bang average players playing week in week out.

Some of their games looked in slow motion compared to Wigan Saints.

The thing that bugged me with them talking about KPP on one of the review shows, was how surprised they were after his debut that he could cope that well with the physicality and pace of the game. They made it sound like a Superleague commentator would talk about a guy stepping up from League one here. Now he might not have been playing games against Saints every week but KPP had just come off an English Grand Final and is used to playing in big games.

The step up is over egged and I’m surprised after over a decade of English players going there and thriving, they’ve not realised that these lads might actually be able to play and might just be in good nick, without needing to be spoon fed.

Re: Bevan French 4yr deal : Thu Apr 04, 2024 4:43 pm  

The NRL is streets ahead of us.

They might blow smoke up players, but at least a few of them deserve it & they pick the right ones. SL, or Sky will laud over guys like Sneyd & McShane, telling us how great they are and how wonderful Salford, Cas etc are. All whilst guys like Wardle or Smithies last year hardly get mentioned. It's laughable.

Re: Bevan French 4yr deal : Thu Apr 04, 2024 4:56 pm  

sergeant pepper wrote:

The NRL is streets ahead of us.

They might blow smoke up players, but at least a few of them deserve it & they pick the right ones. SL, or Sky will laud over guys like Sneyd & McShane, telling us how great they are and how wonderful Salford, Cas etc are. All whilst guys like Wardle or Smithies last year hardly get mentioned. It's laughable.

I think a good few clubs in the NRL would love someone of Sneyd’s ability.

They are desperately short on quality play makers hence the reason Wigan and Saints are being so protective of theirs.

Someone like Sneyd walks into a team like Souths at the moment.

I’m not saying the league is not superior but they are lacking depth of years gone by in certain positions such as halves, 5/8ths and 9s, yet their strength in fullbacks in particular is ridiculous.

Athleticism has replaced guile in a lot of cases which has seen the likes of Sezer go back and nail a starting spot.

Re: Bevan French 4yr deal : Thu Apr 04, 2024 5:52 pm  

sergeant pepper wrote:

The NRL is streets ahead of us.

They might blow smoke up players, but at least a few of them deserve it & they pick the right ones. SL, or Sky will laud over guys like Sneyd & McShane, telling us how great they are and how wonderful Salford, Cas etc are. All whilst guys like Wardle or Smithies last year hardly get mentioned. It's laughable.

I don’t think anyone would deny it is but there is sometimes a narrative that goes around in this country that it’s 17 supermen per side going at it each week and it’s just not the case. Dozens of Superleague players would get games in the NRL and some would go extremely well.

Re: Bevan French 4yr deal : Thu Apr 04, 2024 6:03 pm  

It's utter garbage anyway. French wouldn't be average anywhere. He has too much natural ability and x factor for that. Was he average against the NRL's reigning premiers the other week? I think a MOM performance would suggest otherwise.

Some players can just do things others can't so will always stand out.

Re: Bevan French 4yr deal : Thu Apr 04, 2024 6:23 pm  

French took a 4 year deal because he would probably only get a 1 or 2 NRL deal.
Good economic sense but to really test yourself you need to play in the NRL. Watch a couple of NRL games and then watch a SL game. SL is like slow motion.

Apart from a few games, like Saints v Wiggin or the play-offs, SL isn't at the same intensity on a weekly basis. You only have to ask how many current SL players would walk into a NRL team. Not many. How many current NRL players would walk into a SL team. Quite a lot.

Re: Bevan French 4yr deal : Thu Apr 04, 2024 9:32 pm  

WYSIWYG2 wrote:

French took a 4 year deal because he would probably only get a 1 or 2 NRL deal.
Good economic sense but to really test yourself you need to play in the NRL. Watch a couple of NRL games and then watch a SL game. SL is like slow motion.

Apart from a few games, like Saints v Wiggin or the play-offs, SL isn't at the same intensity on a weekly basis. You only have to ask how many current SL players would walk into a NRL team. Not many. How many current NRL players would walk into a SL team. Quite a lot.

Smithies and Pearce-Paul.

Re: Bevan French 4yr deal : Thu Apr 04, 2024 9:41 pm  

Zig wrote:

Smithies and Pearce-Paul.

And you could add Thompson & Leeming who were both regulars last season and French and Smith who both had offers and that's just from Wigan!