The quality simply isn't there in the NRL anymore and they are desperate for our not quite good enough a to bring some glamour to the comp

Don't feed it.

"Why are second rate poms going to the NRL?"

Cos 2nd rate NRL players and below allied to crocks, pension seekers and holidaying types are taking their places?

Or even more bizarre they could be going for better coaching .

They must have a reason

It must be embarrassing for superstar Aussie and Kiwi players when what could be called a "second rate" forward in Mike Cooper (lets be honest he wasn't anything special here) goes over there and does very well for St.George. Our average forwards must be far better than their forwards if he can do what he's doing.

It's a sad indictment of a league that's believed it's own hype for years and has relied on South sea islanders and Kiwis to bolster its failing youth production. Now even those areas can't fill the void...

It is what happened to the quality of Aussies coming to England. First there was Kenny, Sterling, Maninga then in the end it was Sean Rudder, Luke Dorn and Matty Johns.

Hodgson is an average player from a poor team his isn't even the best hooker from Hull. Crooks is a good player but struggles with injuries.

As someone stated earlier Mike Cooper was the first none superstar to go and he has been pretty solid for SGI.

Indeed. Am I alone in seeing the irony in a transient barman in London enquiring as to the need for 2nd rate poms in Australia?

Indeed. Am I alone in seeing the irony in a transient barman in London enquiring as to the need for 2nd rate poms in Australia?

It's the beer

Cooper isn't the first average pro to go to the NRL, but he's the first to make a decent fist of it. Thorman, Tansey and Edmonson would have been in the same category, and all sank without trace in the NRL.

Because while they may be second rate over here, they are plainly not second rate compared to what the teams signing them currently have. Otherwise they wouldn't, er, sign them.

HTH

They have to be paying the NRL clubs to take them on or at least playing on a 'pay as you play' system.

They have to be.

Dunno, maybe it's the same reason 3rd rate Trolls are posting on this forum.

Why shouldn't they? I mean the NRL have let a third rate team from NZ compete (very occasionally) in the best comp in the world.

I thought Samoa did quite well this year

I was going to say the obvious answer is that the NRL is an average comp so they fit in well

The NRL is a better competition than SL....in some cases the NSW Cup games I've seen are better too. Then again, I did dine on a diet of London Broncos/HarlequinS RL for a few years before moving out here

That's right. Because the SL clubs are so immensely successful and rich, they must do these things in order to keep their billions away from the taxman. It's the obvious explanation.

Obviously ex Hull fc player and now England coach Steve McNamara disagrees and with JH being head hunted by an NRL team to perform the hooking role for 2015 then a current NRL coach also disagrees with your view. If final league positions are viewed it would appear Houghton was playing for an even poorer team, a team incidentally that Crooks failed to make a starting position in for the majority of the season.

...ah, The Bradford method of accountancy

If you offered me either of them to play in my team though, I'd still take Houghton over Hodgson. Irrespective of what Steve McNamara thinks.

Deluded.

Aye, you can always rely on a Rovers fan to provide an impartial judgement when comparing players from the Hull clubs.

Thanks for your input.

As a neutral (in terms of the Hull clubs) I would tend to agree with this statement. Whenever I've seen them I've always regarded Houghton as better than Hodgson.

In the 2013 season, Houghton impressed me everytime I saw him. I think [iindustrious[/i would be the way I would describe him.

I think I've seen posts from Hull fans suggesting he went off the boil in 2014 but I haven't seen as much rugby in general this year, so I'm not sure.

Hodgson seems a solid choice, decent service, robust player, but I thought he was one of the players in the WC that just looked to (solid but) limited. If my club were signing one, I'd go for Houghton, I think he's more likely to [imake something happen[/i.