Agree fully with you.



Hull wouldn't be a better team this year if they had gone with academy products over the likes of bringing Fitzgibbon (our joint community player of the year) or O Meley in.



Just like Crusaders wouldn't be in the 8 if they had recruited Welsh players.



I'd say 90% of overseas signings will improve a team as well as improving other players, particular young English players.



I've always maintained the fact that if a player is good enough he will play, regardless of where they come from. Its not so important to beat the Aussies, whats important is having a strong club competition and the rest will happen from there.

you can maintain whatever you like, but it doesnt alter the fact that we actually create players, they dont just fall out of the sky, we need to scout them, coach them, and develop them to make them players.



And if we continue to go for the easy overseas option we wont put as much effort into scouting them, coaching them and developing them as players, so they wont reach their potential and the league will be of poorer quality,



and you are right, Hull may not be a better team this year if they went for an academy product of Fitzgibbon, they more than likely would be though, if they went out scouted, trained and developed a young player in place of a fat waste like Sam Moa or a distinctly average player like Luauki

Hull KR's longterm aim is to replace players such as Galea, Newton, Clinton and Mason with players from their own academy. That is a fact.



Years without any SL income, being ed from behind by previous owners and during that time having an established SL club based in the same city quite rightly and understandably grabbing the best young talent, may sound to some like whinging excuses, but [ithey are valid reasons[/i. Anyone with half a brain can see the gulf in power between those clubs in SL and those outside.



My post in the other thread was more about the hypocrisy of the RFL allowing Tongans and Samoans to be selected for the English national side, whilst stipulating that its clubs select their squads on a nationality basis. In actual fact I support the overseas rules and the salary cap rules but not at the expense of driving the sport back down to semi-pro level or cutting off our nose to spite our face.



Fact is overseas signings have raised the bar over here and many of them (not all) benefit younger homegrown players and the sport as a spectacle in general. There are too many, and quite frankly I do think there'll be too many at Hull KR next year, but whilst the rules allow it, clubs will benefit and hopefully Rovers and other clubs will demonstrate in the coming years that they can continue to thrive in SL without the need for so many imports.

Dont pay any attention to him, his comments about Wigan are fueled by a bitter hatred or a complete lack of knowledge, or maybe both. I do seem to recall 3 Wigan developed players in the dream team squad this week and the 8 players in the squad from last friday who were developed at Wigan. Not bad for a team this guy makes out to be the worst offenders in Superleague.

Double post.

The issue with overseas signings is that it's never a like for like comparison with an English player. To be offered a contract (and a first team shirt) an English player has to be as good at 19 as any available Australian/NZ/islander or whatever. An example of how hard it is to "make it"; Chris Clarkson, who was down to be discarded but his coach begged they give him another year so they sorted something out to allow him to stay at Leeds on a part-time contract.

This "if they're good enough..." is a crock.

It's very rare that any player is better at 19 than they are at 25!! So why would they win out in a competition at 19 with an available antipodean of 25 years?

Dont be mis-informed, check yourself before you post





[urlhttp://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/stats[/url

exactly,



what is also evident is players like Blake Green, 23 years old, 39 first grade appearances, are for some reason judged massively above players like Chaz I'anson, 23 years old 33 first grade appearances,



why are Hull KR so keen to give a shot to unproven young Australians like Green, Dobson, Lovegrove, but no unproven young british players, truth is players like Keith Senior, Lunt, Purdham, Gardner, Kirmond, etc are better than Aussies like Green, Lovegrove, Fisher etc, so the argument about needing them to keep up the quality of the league is just non-sense. The reason Hull KR have gone for overseas players in deeper than it is easier and they arent prepared to deal with the short term pain for the long term gain

When are leeds going to start training Ryan bailey how to play RL ?

i think it was around 2000/2001

They didn't do a very good job then did they

and Cas are playing where this weekend? Oh that's right they're not.

A bit like widnes in the Championship



And yet we have Fax and Sheffield still looking for a GF appearance



They can argue all they want , if their club was in the lower part of the league , they would all be clammering for some SOO players to be brought over , but would take anybody better than they had

4 gf victories, 5 gf appearances, 3cc final appearances, 4 wcc, 2lss, 4GB caps says they did alright, maybe he doesnt pass the the 'Starbug parochial paranoia tall poppy syndrome' test but thankfully there are other ways to measure your quality, like competitions and stuff