Thoughts? news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 990239.stm

Thoughts? news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 990239.stm

Any ideas that improves that cr@p I watched in Australia last year should be applauded.

If it will work or not is another thing.

as long as we have 2 dominant teams and not an even spread we will struggle

Nothing to do with it.

It's the quality of the players that is the problem
Competitive does not equate quality.

It help's if we have 3 or 4 fighting for the same spot's surely????

Not if they are all poor.

It depends on the quality of those 3-4 teams. If we had a league whereby anyone could win it, but the teams were of Wakefield/Hull Kr/Castleford quality, instead of Leeds/Saints quality, would that be a good thing for the international game?

I agree, we was half decent when the GB team was dominated by Wigan players.

When you've got players of the caliber of Ben Westwood and Kevin Sinfield challenging for positions you know you've got problems.

I think the training squad should help, because the players will have more time together to gel.

You're almost there.

We saw "the quality" of the Leeds and Saints players in Australia. What's below it is even worse.

It's how we raise the standard all the way through the game, from academy, reserve, NL and Superleague that is the problem.

I just hope this new initiative works.

Hopefully that does help but I don't think we have more top quality players fighting it out for places in the team will we see a massive improvement. Too many players now know they are pretty secure in their places at the moment and that not good imo.

Forwards wise, we arent far away. Its the backs that we are so far behind with. You look at academy level and we compete in the backs, yet then the young aussies step up their development, in the main, physically and I dont understand why our kids cant develop the same. Ours are just runts compared to them

The biggest problem with last year was we didn't play anywhere were near our potential. We had a decent squad, that could have given anybody a match and we played like schoolboys.

The main weaknesses in our squad such as lack of depth and lack of talent in a few positions didn't even come into the equation because we were so poor.

Hopefully the newly announced action plan can improve on things.

I don't agree with your first comment. I don't think we saw the quality of the players. I don't think we even played up to 50% of our potential.

I do agree with the rest of your argument though. The team as a whole still isn't of the same standard as Australia. We don't really have the backs to compete with them, and this is magnified when the PTB is slowed down to NRL standards.

The quality of our backs is a problem that will take a while to solve, but we should at least be giving them a close game. Our forward line IS impressive, and we are good enough to compete and at least give ourselves a chance at causing a shock now and again.

Take your blinkers off.

That team looked o.k. on paper. I was in a swimming pool with Alex Murphy in Dubai on our way out to Aus and we were discussing the team. We came to the conclusion that it was the worst a backline ever to represent England.

The wonderful forwards struggled against PNG, and were murdered by the Aussies.

I agree squad selection was problem (1 fullback, 4 props and million second row), but we need to face facts that at present we (as a game) are not producing quality players.


Lets just hope the next crop of players are better and there are more of them.

As you probably know the academy/reserve level has been a major concern of mine for years, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better.

was we?

Half decent, yes.

Where is this time going to come from to spend together, currently they have no free weekends and how is like 2 days jogging around a field and having publicity pictures and interviews for sky sports news going to improve the England team?

It'll give them more time to form their cliques and slag each other off behind their backs.

Glad you were listening to my drunken rant in the Gold Coast!



PS

Were further behind Now than we were 15/10/5 years ago!

I agree with you on the quality of the team. However there are two separate issues, the quality of the players picked or available, and getting those players to combine and play to their potential.

We should have done better with the group of players we had. I don't know how you can argue with that? I am not saying we won have won the cup, or magically papered over the cracks in our back line. We should have done ourselves justice! I think some of the things put in place today, are geared specifically to doing better with the talent we have.

Then the more difficult and longer term issue is to get more talented backs coming through.

I don't think the Saints or Leeds players did themselves justice in the World Cup, but the fact is the NRL is far better competition than Super League.

Quote ="Saint Simon"Thoughts? news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 990239.stm'" This will be an absolute waste of time, I hope it doesn't lead to central contracts and players being seconded for long periods for England training which will take away from our performance as a leading club. Let's face facts when it comes down to club or country there's only one winner in the opinion of most fans and it isn't country!

Quote ="Saint Simon"Thoughts? news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 990239.stm'" This will be an absolute waste of time, I hope it doesn't lead to central contracts and players being seconded for long periods for England training which will take away from our performance as a leading club. Let's face facts when it comes down to club or country there's only one winner in the opinion of most fans and it isn't country!

did we win anything?

I disagree.
The only way the game will move forward is if we can compete at International level.