and would you feel; the same if they missed out on the playoffs, finishing 9th with Crusaders finishing 8th?

this will be your 5th season in SL, to need 10 overseas players in your 17 is pathetic

Whats even more shocking about Hull KRs line up is that all the aussies are journeymen with the exception maybe of Mason.

At least wigan sign half decent aussies.

Still got far too many to say all their fans do is brag about all the brilliant young players they have.

Ignoring Crusaders for a minute, who has the most overseas players next year? Salford, KR or Wigan?

Gonna be KR isnt it. They're not a bad side but it's proven time and time again that the best teams all have very good local players, a few very good imports and more decent British players filling out the squad with depth. Who was the last team to win a title that didnt have 4 or 5 very very good locally developed players in the 17

Like that well known Journeyman Ben Galea?
Can you remind me his total appearances for Wests?

www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/9 ... nough.html

www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/9 ... nough.html

When someone as morally unimpeachable as Long complains, well you have to take notice.

And isn't the is the guys that stuck 2 fingers up to the international game whilst he was still on tour?

Don't listen to his version of events because, well he's telling porkies

and that denies him the right to voice his opinion?

On international issues then probably yes.
How can he tell clubs to be d when he could not be?

Rovers have only had an Academy set up for 3 years so it is going to take time before we are producing players in the same quantities and quality as Wigan and Saints. That said, we have already seen the emergence of Watts, Taylor, Spaven and Sam Latus from our inaugural Aacademy side so the shoots are there. This seasons under 18s are up there with the best in the country and we have already seen some sign full time deals so the conveyer belt is developing.
Until such time that we are producing enough numbers to be more self sufficient we need to look outside the club (and country) to bolster our squad.

TBH I'd prefer to see competitive teams and a harder competition rather than teams full of less-able homegrown players.

I would expect that with the shadow of relegation hanging over them HKR would have all 17 overseas, franchising is working.

Well IMO the overall quality of the league has gone down since the RFL cut back on the quota players.
It's just as people said, there aren't these magical English players who're being held back or prevented playing by overseas players. There's just mediocre players who are elevated to SL level simply because they happen to be English.

I'm all for encouraging the development of young talented british players. I'd love for us to be able to compete with the aussies on the international stage. but if the young players are coming into a competition of a lowering standard, where instead of clubs being forced to raise themselves to the levels of the top clubs the top clubs are being forced to lower their standards.

Well, no, not really. He came through Cas's academy and was signed by Hull KR.

there arent these magical English players held back by overseas players, and for a time we will simply elevate lesser players to cover for what previously was overseas players..........

but then the difference between clubs will become who has elevated the best mediocre English players, and then the competition becomes not who has spent the most bringing in a Willie Mason or Ali Lauitiiti, nor who has got the best value from a Rhys Lovegrove or Kylie lueluai but who has scouted, trained, coached, developed and brought through the best 'mediocre' English players, and when we do that it wont be very long before many of these 'mediocre' players become quality players, added to the quality players we already have, giving us a more competitive, more sustainable, better quality league, and as a by-product a better international side and all the benefits we would get from that.

We are never going to raise the quality of our league to the level of the NRL by riding on its coat-tails and paying over the odds for its lesser names.

Your point would be valid if we had every athlete who could be a quality RL player fulfilling their potential in RL, but that plainly isnt the case

this coming from the team that binned him off at 17 saying he wasnt good enough so rovers picked him up and taught him how and he is currently in the run for young player of the year so yea what a good job cas did bravo

Ooooh...
A gateshead thundersharks fan starting a thread so as to have a whine about hull kingston Australians......don't see many like threads that on here

Longs right in what he says but then do we follow our example and have 6 forwards in our squad?

The quota should be 5 overseas players, dropping eventually to 3.

I wouldn't be surprised if we have over a hundred overseas players in sl next season.

Watts was signed from Cas and went straight into your first team squad - that's not developing players, that's signing them...



Probably because we have youngsters coming through that the club deem to be better prospects, like the six that played against Saints this weekend...

Wasnt it his issues rather than ability as to why they banned him off?
Sure I heard that on the grapevine

When
1. The RFL care enough to set some proper quota rules and make clubs stick to them
2. The SL/RFL get serious about developing the game below SL and especially jnrs
3. We have had another few years to build our home grown stocks

then I'll be disappointed at us signing a rep player with massive experience and massive profile!

and what about the average players, with little experience and no profile who you are keeping on?

nobody really minds you bringing in Mason, its bringing in Mason to join the Lovegroves, Fishers, Clintons, and Websters

Clinton and Webster were both International and premiership winners and both would be in NRL starting 17's. Fisher has been with us since pre SL and holds a British passport, Lovegrove was a rep player right through junior level and signed as a youngster looking to make a name for himself.

In all honesty I don't see what the issue is beyond it is a sad endictment of where jnr RL is in England. The difference between England and Australia at rep level has very little to do with if SL teams have 5 or 10 Int players on their books and everything to do with the amount of $'s that are respectively available in each country for jnr RL. Given the discrepency in investment I am totally amazed we are even close to Australia tbh.