Yes I'd say it had the potential to inflict damage on our sport. It's impossible to say though as life goes on without them regardless. Leeds replaced Harris with Walker, Wigan replaced Farrell with ?, Bradford replaced Vainikolo with Tupou.

The funny part is that the Union (Robinson aside) has taken the wrong players or the right players at the wrong time.

I beleive that the club salary a premiership player receives is probably on a par with their super league counterparts, but don't they get most of their money from their country, or am I thinking about cricket?

Compare the international game that Union has compared to us in League and also they have a European Championship - what do we have to rival that ?

Purely from the England side/squad, the likes of Simpson-Daniel, the two Armitage boys, Danny Care and Tom Croft have the necessary physical attributes and skills to have a good shot at league IMO.

If you expand it out to cover the rest of the UK, then Shane Williams, Adam Powell and Ryan Jones from Wales, John Barclay and Tom Evans from the Scots or Rob Carney in the Ireland side could have a good dig at it.

The money they are able to command in the 15-a-side code however would mean nobody would be willing to take a punt. Better to invest in proven league players who offer better value for money.

Plus the endorsement opportunities available to an international RU player, Noble would need to slash some silly money to get his man.

That's true. I wonder how much a top RU player gets in endorsements.

We don't have the capacity to play these extra games. Its hard enough for the players to compete in the Sl, the CC, play-offs, and end of season internationals.

Adding in extra competitions would kill the players

Seems to me the RU boys do it.

The RFU and the clubs in England have a limit on the number of games that England squad players can play in a season (I think it's around 30, including internationals). The RFU has the right to pull an England squad player out of a club game at short notice in order to ensure he is rested for internationals.

The average elite union player will have a workload roughly similar to that of an elite league player, not including unusual years like this one where there are Lions tours.

The club game also continues over international weekends - there was a Guinness Premiership fixture list last week while the Six Nations fixtures were taking place. If that happened in league it would result in two or three teams being decimated and losing valuable league points in the race for the playoffs.

They also stand around for 70 mins each game while nothing happens

That's a bit mean - 70 minutes standing around while nothing happens - I am sure its nearly 79 minutes. - It takes 3 matches just to score a TRY

Tell Joe Worsley that.

Indeed - the energy levels and physicality required from an elite union back rower match anything required by their league counterparts.

Ok, backrowers are probably the exception to that rule, but when you factor the energy required just to get back 10m in League, and the speed the ball comes out of the ruck you can see that for nearly all places on the field, the impact is less in union.

In terms of physicality, its a case of Union is rougher, League is tougher

So you wouldn't like a another Lewis Jones at Leeds.

I'd have another Boston or Offiah at Wigan.

When was the last top class outside back produced in this country?

13 years of Supeleague and how many?

The answer to the above is yes, but given the money now on offer in Union those types of players won't give RL a second glance.
So we have to develop our own players and accept (sadly) that some may be poached or will have a crack at RU for the money and the exposure international RU offers.
It was interesting to see both Lote Tuqiri and Tamana Tahu playing for the Waratahs (NSW) in the Super 14 on Saturday.
Re outside backs, as long as clubs continue to import so many Aussies etc that will be a problem.
The Chuckle Bros on Friday were creaming themselves at the prospect of Lyon going back to Saints to combine with Gidley in 2010, what will that do to the much vaunted kids coming through there?

You are absolutely right, we should buy up anyone who shows a bit of promise in the other code and bankrupt some clubs as a result.....

You do realise that without the clubs there is no game don't you?

The correct thing to do is rather than throw £250k per club per year (for those that could even afford it) at a RU international, put that money into youth development and do that properly, unlike most clubs (Bradford and Wigan included) do at the moment. That kind of money on an annual basis would make a real difference to the junior production line.

For info, the junior set up is about producing SL quality players not lifting trophies.

Is that WITHOUT breaking the SALARY CAP again

Get your cheque book out and visit Widnes.

Then answer me this.

When did we (any club) last produce a top class outside back. Wigan produce more players for Superleague than anyone else, but they are not top quality International players.

Do you think that Gardner, Calderwood and Smith compare with Offiah, Boston etc?
Do you think that Senior or Gleeson compare with Davies, Devereaux, Bateman, Innes, or Lewis Jones.

13 years of Superleague and how many quality backs has it produced?

The 1995 Wales backline.
Harris
Devereaux
Gibbs
Bateman
Sullivan,
Davies,
Ellis.

Stronger in every position than the English World Cup backline.

I'll be happy enough with another David Ward, John Holmes or Mick Shoetbottom.

In fact, I am happy enough with Lee Smith, Danny McGuire, Rob Burrow, Ryan Bailey, Matt Diskin, Jamie Jones Buchanan, Kevin Sinfield all of whom have eclipsed Lewis Jones in terms of domestic achievements.

Perhaps if your club could produce some players of a similar ilk the above might be tested a bit more and there might be more competition for spots in the national team.

As it is the players from Leeds and Sts are pretty much a shoe-in because clubs like yours are, frankly, a joke when it comes to showing some commitment to developing junior players.

And if you buy in talent form the other code, how many top quality backs would Super League have produced? Still none. You are correct in identifying the problem, but what Noble is proposing is not going to address it, let alone solve it. If anything, it stands a small chance of making it worse.

And therin lies the problem.

They are all decent club players.

But they are not top level as was clearly shown October / November last year.

Let's look at this backline

Lydon
Gill
Schofield
Newlove
Robinson
Edwards
Gregory.

All pre Super league, and all better than what was sent to the World Cup.

Then add these
Tait
Offiah
Bateman
Gibbs
Bentley
Davies
Ellis

All signed from Rugby Union and all better than what we sent to the World Cup.

It's all academic. Most RL clubs wouldn't have the cash to be able to tempt top class union players anyway. The days when we could get the best Welsh players are long gone. It's not the 80s anymore.

There's no doubt we're producing less flair players but that's probably more to do with our own systems in RL than any lack of recruits from union.

The modern era players I mentioned have all equaled or exceed the international achievements of every one of those players you have mentioned.

Not one of those players you mentioned won a world cup or a series against Australia. They won a series against NZ. just the same as the modern era players.