So you want to draft players aound the age of 15-16 then? Example, at that age a talented 15 year old from Yorkshire is drafted by Catalans or London, is this teenager meant to move down south or abroad at that age?

Some players have done it in their junior development (Sinfield from Oldham joined Leeds) but for many the possibility of perhaps a Hull youngster having to travel to Warrington/Saints won't be suitable.

So because of last night's 1st Round scorelines that means the whole season is going to be same old same old?

Hull drew with Wire and Hudds beat Wigan away to start last year.
2 years ago Wire lost to Hudds at the Magic Weekend opener, Quins also beat Catalans and Crusaders racked up a 42-12 win over Salford.

Neither round a true indicator of how the season would go.

Attempting irony??

From 2006 - 2012
1st Round average winning margins

SL = 12.3 pts
NRL = 11.7 pts

The 58-0 thrashing that Wire gave Quins in 2010 proving to be the real difference maker.

Same old Huddersfield starting the season really well again.

Fielden and Kopzcack looking like a good starting front row at the moment,good pickups!

Same old same old terrible commentary

was it a Saints fan that started this thread?

Awaits your excuse also.

LOL, that was hilarious.

Hohaia





must rival Slater in the 08 WC Final for sheer stupidity!

same old huddersfield start well again. expexted more from saints though. same old at wire tomorrow i bet, other 3 games should be pretty close tomorrow though.

Super standards of refereeing again then...

Winning coasting margins of 30, 36 and 42 points so far.

It is to be hoped there's a significant competitive improvement in the rest of the fixtures this round.

I'll give Nathan Clown until Easter for his P45.

Too easy!

PMSL

They'd be free agents, available to be picked up by any club. The point is that the majority of players get picked up young by clubs, but the best kids gravitate to the top sides.

These are just my musings on the matter. Maybe it's being looked at, or been looked at already. Maybe other people don't think it's an issue. But in 17 years of SL we've had 4 champs, and only 6 in the GF (or 7 in the top 2 in the league table). I don't think that's good enough, and I'm offering my thoughts as to something I think could help change that.

A draft may well not work (the NSWRL tried it in the early 80s and it flopped), but it could be something worth considering.

Didn't expect that, how good were Huddersfield?

How bad were Saints?

How did Silvewood not see George kick that ball? Early contender for decision of the season

hardly a gamebreaker!

Did I suggest it was? Just a very bad call.

sometimes its best to see how your own team get on first before you come on here spouting your usual rubbish

how was the new ball by the way

The Championships have the bonus point system to reward effort at keeping the score close despite a probable loss. Maybe the SL should trial it also in an effort to keep closer scorelines.

Professional pride should be enough, I don't think it's an issue. The game goes through phases and will evolve naturally, without the need for changing the rules every two minutes.

But the rules were already changed. Just for the benefit of the championship, and it does work quite well I think.

The drop out Wellens talked Silverwood into giving because Robinson put his arm on the floor was a pearler too...

Either that was very smart from Wellens or another shocking call. Got to admit I thought the ball had to be grounded. Having seen that I'm not so sure now.