Quote ="JB Down Under"How many polynesians did Langer play against as a 10 year old? I can tell you, not many! Reality is less than 0.1% of kids who play jnr RL will go on to play NRL. The other 99.9% play it and will continue to play it for the love of the game. This is a new issue in terms of the number of polynesian kids in the game in the last 10-15 years mainly due to the influx of polynesian families to the Sydney and Brisbane suburbs where RL is the number one choice. Watching SG Ball this last two years it is clear that unless you are a pretty huge by the time your 16-17 you won't get into an SG Ball side in the outside backs or any forward position. The size of these kids is amazing. '" to be fair, you can still be small in Matts and SG Ball. As an example you can see the juniors at Norths. Not all are that big. northbears.250x.com/pages/ball-team.html northbears.250x.com/pages/matts-team.html

Quote ="JB Down Under"How many polynesians did Langer play against as a 10 year old? I can tell you, not many! Reality is less than 0.1% of kids who play jnr RL will go on to play NRL. The other 99.9% play it and will continue to play it for the love of the game. This is a new issue in terms of the number of polynesian kids in the game in the last 10-15 years mainly due to the influx of polynesian families to the Sydney and Brisbane suburbs where RL is the number one choice. Watching SG Ball this last two years it is clear that unless you are a pretty huge by the time your 16-17 you won't get into an SG Ball side in the outside backs or any forward position. The size of these kids is amazing. '" to be fair, you can still be small in Matts and SG Ball. As an example you can see the juniors at Norths. Not all are that big. northbears.250x.com/pages/ball-team.html northbears.250x.com/pages/matts-team.html

Theres more than one way to skin a cat, the non-polynesians will just have to focus on using speed, agility and skill to counteract the polynesians advantage in size and strength

Very true this. Believe or not RL tried something similar way back in 1969, when weight based teams competed against each other. You had teams aged between 11 and 14 using playing criteria that provided for a maximum weight of 7st. The problems came because at that age, even if you were a 7st 11 year old, the muscle development of the 14 year olds meant the 14 year old would be far stronger.

Quote ="Rooster Booster"to be fair, you can still be small in Matts and SG Ball. As an example you can see the juniors at Norths. Not all are that big. northbears.250x.com/pages/ball-team.html northbears.250x.com/pages/matts-team.html'" True and in our squad we aren't giants by any means. However when you see teams like Reds and Norths come up against the likes of the Roosters and Bulldogs (who were giants across the field) they are usually on the end of good hidings. There are alot of blow out scores in SG Ball and it is usually the small teams against the big sides that are getting a tonking. Having said that the Storm team we played were bigger than us by a long shot but with the advantage of a 40degree morning and keeping the pace of the game up we wore them out and managed a great win.

Quote ="Rooster Booster"to be fair, you can still be small in Matts and SG Ball. As an example you can see the juniors at Norths. Not all are that big. northbears.250x.com/pages/ball-team.html northbears.250x.com/pages/matts-team.html'" True and in our squad we aren't giants by any means. However when you see teams like Reds and Norths come up against the likes of the Roosters and Bulldogs (who were giants across the field) they are usually on the end of good hidings. There are alot of blow out scores in SG Ball and it is usually the small teams against the big sides that are getting a tonking. Having said that the Storm team we played were bigger than us by a long shot but with the advantage of a 40degree morning and keeping the pace of the game up we wore them out and managed a great win.

Some good points there. Unfortunatley both rugby codes have hit a problem with the professional top tear of the game becoming a quantum leap in standard to the level below. In my youth I played both codes at a high level & played alongside internationals who where no fitter or bigger than me (just had buckets of skill I did not have) At 86 Kg I was considered big for a wing or fullback & was often pushed into the pack. Today I would be small for a half back even with the extra I have put on as i got older. just look at the physique of todays players, they could not keep that up & maintain fittness if they had to work full time as we had to. To keep kids in the game we should play by wheight groups as I belive they do in the schools in PNG.

The only way to stop that if we made brought back 5m rule or reduce the 10m to 7m or 8m.

The other thing about Islander players is that most come from huge families, and when you have one do well, you get the rest of the family showing up and training hard.
Anthony Tupou is a great example. He was a big, fat kid at at 120kg when he started playing at the Knights, and within a few years he had three brothers playing for the Knights (Willie, Jon and Ben) who were all fitness freaks.
The Knights have also had 4 Wilsons (Wendel, Kruize, Jermaine and Winston) 4 Mata'utias (Pete, Chanel, Pat and Sione) 3 Taufaao (Josh, Aloi and Felise) 2 Taufaus (Mark and Larry) etc etc etc.
I was talking to the father of one kid recently and he said his son was a nephew of the Taufuas and a cousin of the 4 Wilsons.

It's great for a club to sign an Islander kid, because you tell one how to eat and train and give him a chance to earn good money from sport, and 10 others show up at training fit and ready to play within a few years.

im all for the ploynesian invasion of the nrl

they are all 6 - 6'4, weigh like 100 - 110 and can do 100 m. in like 10 -11 secs.

other than play making roles and lock and hooker i can see future NRL teams being largely polynesian.

its inevitable in a collision sport like RL that the biggest and fastest guys will rise to the top

the only thing that holds them back is they give away penalties and have less disclipine and take longer to adapt to the rigours of the nrl but they more than make up for that with their genetic gifts

That post makes me feel very uncomfortable – reminds me of the ‘black players can’t captain, coach or manage’ attitude prevalent in UK soccer up to a few years ago

It isn't true either.
There are some great young poly playmakers coming through now.
Players like Aloi Taufaao who is a half or hooker who played for Tonga against Samoa this year is 18 years old and as clever a little player as i've ever seen. The thing that could stop him stepping up to the seniors is how tiny he is.
Another great example is Pete Mata'utia who has been playing for Samoa for the past 2 years, starting at age 19. He has been team captain and playmaker in Knights sides since he was 15. All four Mata'utia brothers are a bit on the small side, but amazingly strong for their size, and all four are natural leaders in their teams.
Young poly guys are often painfully shy, which makes it hard for them to take a leadership role, but once you can get them to open up a bit, they are as good as anyone (of course).

Actually, a great example of the change in roles for poly players is the two Sam Stewarts - Sam Stewart senior was the first captain of the Knights and a hard running prop with few skills. Sam Stewart jnr was one of the smartest and most skillfull halfbacks i've ever seen in the juniors. He led several junior sides, but gave the game away when he was accepted at university to study medicine.

This links into why I reckon England are so good at producing forwards, but the backs aren't up to the same standards.

Soccer dominates in this country, smaller kids don't like taking the knocks, so they the smaller kids stick to the game where they aren't going to get smashed every week. The bigger lads stick with the game, whereasthe smaller lads have moved elsewhere.

It makes sense to move a kid up an age grade if they are too large, but I'm not an age-grade coach, so I'm not really one to have an opinion.

dont yawnion do this in NZ already?

i think there needs to be some movement, if anything it helps the big kids as they develop their all round game rather than just running through everyone. plus, if your small and AMAZING theyre not gonna stop you playing with the big kids are they?

i was the big kid plowing over everyone growing up, even when i played 1 year older, did me no good, i stilll cant pass...

I think it was on either this weeks Footy show or Sunday Roast that they mentioned 40% of the NRL and 75% of the under 20's are Polynesian. So it's obvious they will play a huge role in the game going forward.

What worries me is how this is managed from a brand perspective, Will the typical 'white' fan still support RL in 10/20 years or move over to say AFL/Soccer.

This thread is beginning to look like something out of apartheid South Africa – why wouldn’t ‘white’ people support their club/code due to the ethnicity of the players?

Is Australia really that backward that the colour of a players skin impacts whether you would support them?

Because no white American follows NBA...

just calling it like i see it

polyenesians have their strengths and weaknesses as do non polynesians

im recognized their gifts as well but there are some areas where they are lacking

discipline is one of them

they need more coaching and mentoring than non islanders

lots of nrl coaches have mentioned it about the additional mentoring many of them require

nope it wont

you have loads of black players in the nfl its just like that

as talented as the african americans are in the NFL, we have our own version being the polynesians whose body types are perfect for RL

my favourites players are either polynesians, aboriginals or kiwis

i find the other players boring, playing a robotic style of football

the guys ive mentioned above are either explosive and break through the line or nimble and step around it

id have no problem if the NRL was all aboriginal, islander or kiwi

Firstly dally....I posted this last year on the NRL board where it belongs and was told by people, including you, that this was boll0x..........but now you are on the VT as the giver of new news



Anyway.......given:
the lack of pacific islanders in near proximity to the UK
the regulations on UK teams playing overseas players
the fact that this is an australian issue that has NO affect on the UK game.....
...I am surprised it's got to three pages......

Australian RL is no longer the working mans game....it is the game of choice of the islanders and with a very few exceptions, in 10 years, all NRL teams will be made up of 95% pacifika players and they ARL will have f()cked their herritage countries of birth by b'stardising their precious SOO even more

. NSW V Qland with 1 or 2 white faces on the park......outstanding work ARL



The future of RL if the aussies are left in charge is essentially that of AFL......a sport watched by millions in its own back yard but by nobody else.....because it's a local sport.

A nothing thread with little or no impact on SL.......and until the ARL/NRL take international league seriously then it has no place on the VT.........but then again, dally messenger can't get a thread on the NRL boards now without being show up for a no-nothing

I guess the weight catorgory thing is to avoid the "Give it to the big kid" strategy, which is not condusive to improving the skill side of the game.

As for the influx in polynesians - surely this is oppotunituy to boost the international scene of our game?
Even if England aren't particulary benifitting, surely if nations like Tonga, Samoa & Fiji can pick from this pool of players, then the Southern Hemisphere at least could have a very interesting international set up.

The international scene is the massive difference between the two codes, but in terms of club rugby, reports on here suggest the NRL is outstripping the super14s in Aus quite dramatically.
Proffessionalism in RU has meant their all-encompassing international scene is a lot less competetive than when the world cup started in 89 or whenever. If we managed to boost the international scene with more decent fixtures for the likes of Samoa, then these kids will be less enamoured with qulaifying for the Green and Gold.

Perhaps England should be inviting Samoa and Fiji over for Autumn internationals, it might help us get some decent international veiwing instead of us getting bummed by Austrailia every year.

True GF. I recall telling Dally 3 seasons ago about the concern of the NRL. It was after I went to Belmore for Rd1 of the juniors with Norths when I worked there and saw this huge geezer in the centres for the Doggies in the U18s. His name was Jamal Idris!!!

and black people can't play tennis and white people can't sprint



Maybe you can explain why the Warriors are only mid table on penalties conceded?

Do the Warriors even have the most Polynesian players?

What about your statement that “other than play making roles and lock and hooker i can see future NRL teams being largely Polynesian” – this is implicitly stating that the Polynesian players cannot perform these roles, despite their ‘gifts’ (whatever that means)

its a pretty simple statement, once which was elaborated above

read it a few more times, maybe itll sink in then