The Anglophile Vossy would have known, but Rabbits and co don't seem to know much about the English game at all.

I like how Jean is now using the Football Manager press release engine to write his posts.

Its quite interesting that in commentary they mentioned Trent Robinsons reservations on Burgess, was his tiny frame and because of this his inability to bring that ball out from the 20.

Trent Robinson at the post match press conference on 6 March, 2016, appeared unhappy with Joseph's performance, despite the two tries. Trent must have been thinking of Joseph's occasionally defective positioning in defence, which led to a couple of South Sydney tries.

Joe Burgess will be back in a Wigan shirt and wont be offered a new contract at the Roosters, possibly as soon as next season due to missing his family etc

source?

HP

Not sure how Burgess was to blame individually for any of the Souths tries to be fair.

One high kick landed at his side and his centre got outjumped by a second row in front of him - the only criticism could be that he should have looked to make a tackle/help out rather than get involved in the kick itself. For another the whole defensive line was compressed when Reynolds kicked over his head - had Burgess been on his wing he would have been 20 yards away from the next defender. The try scored by Hunt should have been stopped by the two defenders who hit him first. Burgess could have done better possibly but its hard to blame him failing to stop a player with momentum a yard from the line when the first two defenders fluffed it.

He looked to have oodles of pace and clearly needs to improve running out of defence, but he took the kicks that went his way with ease and looked a potential very high class player to me.

I suspect Trent Robinson was far more concerned with how poor his forwards and halfbacks went, especially Hastings who had an absolute nightmare.

Yeah, I agree with all of that. Burgess's two tries didn't take much scoring, but he did OK, and there were plenty worse in Roosters' shirts.

Considering it was his debut, he did as well as anyone could have expected. He caught the ball well and was severely tested by Reynolds. Also did very well for his second try and showed some pace. Not sure you could put any try down to him. Souths first half performance was the epitome of Michael Maguire. Like a juggernaut. But if Reynolds is out for any length of time that will be a massive problem.

Thought Mike Cooper was pretty solid for the Dragons. Did the hard yards from inside the 20 on a number of occasions plus tackled like a monster for his 50minute stint. Made 30 tackles, the most of the Dragons.

Joshua Hodgson had a great game for Canberra Raiders against the powerful Sydney Roosters. Joshua was moved to half back after Canberra lost their five eighth Lachlan Croker. With the scores locked at 20-20, Joshua kicked a massive 40-20 in the final minutes, which gave his team possession five yards out from the Roosters line. In the ensuing play Samuel Williams (formerly with Catalans) kicked a field goal and so Canberra won 21-20.

The plucky Englishman Joshua Hodgson has flourished under the coaching of Richard Stuart, and is regarded as one of the best buys Canberra has made in recent years. He certainly deserves to be the England hooker.

Richard Stuart

[iWatched the Souths game this morning, Sam had another barnstorming game with some sweet offloads. George had is first game for a while and came through it well making some valuable gains. I think one of the stats read Sam Burgess made 127 metres just in the first half. Utterly amazing.[/i

I hate loosing all these players to the nrl. I wish all of them were back in SL so we could watch them every week. Hope we ca n get Sam back 30+

To be honest if our salary cap was on par and not so low maybe the attraction wouldn't be as appealing.

Yes but we cannot raise it to their level, rl unfortunately is not one of our countries top sports so we must 've vigilant in how we do things. I love the fact that ours is one of the last remaining sports which isn't about money. We watch football and fans take as much interest in the money as they do the players. Let us never be like that and focus on our academies. I dream of the day that Salford will put out 13 academy lads. Long way off I know but maybe!

I agree with your sentiments on the Academy I was once a enthusiastic participant academy player back in 1991 ish I would of signed for peanuts but them days players were Semi Pro and had trades etc,, however these days money talks no matter the profession. They're full-time. That's the sad thing about life. Greed is the way of the world I'm afraid. Most players want to earn as much as they can, us Salford fans know that more than anyone.

Hodgson was superb. I don't think playing the whole 80mins is going to help the Raiders long term, hopefully they'll get some bodies back. He looked exhausted in the defensive line and was exposed by Nikorima in the second half. Whitehead, I'm not too sure - gave away needless penalties and is not making many yards, 63m in total.

Greg Eden - Dropped - i can't see him playing anytime soon.
Joe Burgess - Dropped - Tupou picked up a knock so he may get a chance.

James Graham, was again sensational. Played 67minutes, making 142m and 46 tackles.

Totally agree, thank God transfer fees are not a big part of our game. However we cannot follow the nrl forever, they are going to another level which we cannot compete with . The salary cap is working, and this year seems to prove it. If we are to increase it I believe it should only be for the benefit of British players. We have to many mercanaries. I would like to see an increase in the cap for British players only with a stipulation thatif you pay within 10% of the satary cap then an additional 5% minimum should be spent on your academy.

There you go Mr Solly, that's for free. Anyone who says beer is wrong

I think Whitehead was top tackler for the Raiders.He will grow as an attacking threat as the season goes on imo.

to be fair to burgess he was always going to make way this week, as he was a last minute stand in himself the week before

Joe Burgess - from playing Test match rugby league vs the number one-ranked side in the world to playing NSW Cup for Wyong vs Mounties. Mounties had Cameron Phelps at 6. Good move, Joe.

Eden may get another look in with Oates and potentially Kahu injured, but word is that despite recent praise that Bennett doesn't fancy him. I think his NRL debut said everything we need to know about him - and that he hasn't changed from his SL days - he is either outstanding or outstandingly bad.

Widdop got made to do a lot of tackling from what I saw of Dragons v Sharks. Boith he and Benji did. St George are one of the worst attacking sides in the comp, make of that what you will.

I make of it that Widdopp is all style and no substance ATM. He looks exactly what you want from a 6, but delivers very little in terms of running and passing.

Probably worth a shout that Jack Reed scored a good try for the Broncos. Seeing as how he's British and all.