How can you seriously believe the likes of Fitzgibbon, Menzies, Johns, etc didnt or havent had a positive influence on their team mates? Seriously imagine been a young kid turning up for training alongside players that have played at the very pinnacle of your sport!?!?!

Fairs do's regards the journeymen Aussies that come across and all teams are guilty of this, these players do keep British talent out of the first team.

So you've been waiting for 30 years to catch the Aussies but would happily watch HKR with a full team of Overseas?

Hmmm a bit contradictory for my liking. I guess your original post was merely a pop at Hull FC?

ALL clubs have been guilty of bringing across way too many AVERAGE overseas players so the chance of more been allowed is a bit depressing IMO.

Agree 100%.

The thing is though, that we are only just starting to see our first crop of good youngsters progress into their late teens - we are at the start of that investment period and it is only just starting to bear fruit. The chairman has stressed that the future of the club is dependent on developing our own players. With 8 of the 25 man squad from next year, having to be club-trained, we'll be including plenty of youngsters - more than some longer established SL clubs who have several club-trained players in their mid or late 20s.

This isn't about Aussies vs Developing Youngsters. It is Aussies, who have come of quota and qualify as fed-trained, vs (mostly pretty ordinary) ooc mid-career Brits. Still a legitimate argument to be had, but the cynic in me suspects that fans of a certain club are more outraged by us (possibly - standard HDM disclaimers apply) having better options for recruitment and resent our luck in this regard, rather than [ijust[/i been concerned about the good of the game

Would this thread have been started if it had been any another British RL team?

I think not.

Obsessed.

Obsessed?? With Dull KR?





So you don't think Hull KR (one of the most famous clubs in the sport, and one of the most consistant areas for junior talent) having potentially 11 or 12 overseas players is a problem or a cause for concern?

Every club in the country has done that at some point.

The fact is someone whose born in England is not more special than someone whose born in Australia. Yet some people in the rugby league community spend their time bashing on about the amount of overseas players we have playing in our European Super League with statements such as ‘I personally hate to see young Aussie rejects coming across and gaining non quota status over here reducing the chances of a young English player been given a chance’.

Its blatant racism because some people are favoring an English person in their team over an Australian one. Personally I couldn’t care less what colour, creed or nationality puts on a shirt for Leeds Rhinos as long as their provide me with some satisfactory entertainment every now and again.

I also don’t like this political correctness that has crept into the game over here. The one that says that a super league team is only allowed to have three foreign players. If that isn’t racial discrimination against our southern hemisphere friends then I don’t know what is. Whilst there’s ways around this rule there’s no doubt that the RFL have bias intentions towards home grown players.

I’d rather enjoy the sport than worry about where the players come from thanks. If you can’t get over the fact that some teams are better than your own (including internationally) then grow up!

Was it you that started the thread?

I couldn't give a e. We're still developing as a SL side and playing catch-up both on and off the field on and if that means more overseas than local at the moment then I honestly couldn't care less.

I'd love to see us how we were back in the 80's when both Hull clubs virtually fielded 2 Wembley teams with local talent but we're a long way off at the moment.

Having now lived here for 10 years and seen what we are up against having 3, 8 or 15 overseas players in HKR's squad isn't going to make a jot of difference to us catching the Kangaroos, we simply do not have the jnr numbers or close to the amount of money that is in the game here and will not catch up in my lifetime imo.

Given that, I'd happily settle for a CC or SL title with 12 overseas players in our team.

ps both Finch and Lima are rep players so hardly average, especially Lima who is a very good player.

I totally agree regards the junior numbers, money involved etc.

However I was referring to Ben Fisher and Rhys Lovegrove as average overseas players I didnt even realise you have signed Finch and Lima!

Lovegrove counts as club-trained and is currently probably amongst the best 3 we have in that category. Fair enough, it is a bit bizarre that he qualifies and, say, Scott Wheeldon doesn't, but that anomaly isn't Hull KR's fault.
If someone is saying the rules are beyond a joke, rather than Hull KR's potential response (if we believe this article) to them, then fair enough. But it wasn't easy for the RFL to do this and they've had little choice but to compromise.
Fisher has been with us since being average in SL was enough to make you a star in the Rovers team. He might be from overseas, but he counts as fed-trained, so it is only natural we judge him as such.

It's not really racist though is it. Its there to encourage clubs to spend money producing their own players rather than spending it all on ready-made overseas talent. Thus creating opportunities for young players in this country and saving clubs money in the long run.

As it happens, as Mild Rover so eloquently pointed out, Hull KR [iare[/i spending a great deal of money and effort on their youth setup and have some real talent in the ranks. It's still in its infancy though so until it bears fruit, like any other club I'm they'll continue to do what's best for them within the rules.

What about British workers for British jobs? (that's a whole other discussion though)

If it was there to encourage then it wouldn’t be a rule.

In reality its just the RFL’s obsession in producing a team to beat the Australians internationally. However Leeds (now) and Wigan (80s) have both proved that the long term success of a club is through bringing in home grown players. The top teams (from last years especially) in this country have more English players in their ranks than the rest of super league clubs.



This is good stuff and I hope it works out for Hull KR.

However in the meantime we need to appreciate what players we have on the field whenever they from Australia or England rather than use them as a scapegoat for international failings.

It's ok, Finch is coming to Wigan!

Some people have to move to another country to get a job. A majority who do are pretty desperate because work is hard to come by in their homelands.

Same happens in rugby league when so called ‘Aussie rejects’ come over here. I’m sure that a majority of Australians if they had a choice on whenever to have a job in super league or the NRL it’d be the latter.

We should be proud that we can offer a fellow human a job that he wants in this country and appalled at his own country for not offering him a job that he wanted!

This is correct if they stay will the same club .....for example Ben Fisher isn't quota at Hull KR but would be if he joined another club as lets say Francis Meli left saint and went to Hull KR he would become a quota player.

Now this is were the plot thickens some overseas players who have played over here have applied to the Rugby League and been granted an individual exemption so they can play for anyone as a non quota player due to there loyalty to the British game ......ie Korkidas and Gene

Notwithstanding the rights and wrongs here, do hull kr have enough cap space to accomodate finch and lima. Would be looking at £400k+ I would have thought for the 2 given the increased salary cap in Oz and the weak £

though im sure that you and your other HKR fans would be the first to complain should you get knocked out of the cup and finish 9th and miss out on the play-offs because another team, got a bigger exemption and got more overseas players.

Thats the point, its all very well when its your team, its all very well when you have the most, and you benefit on the field for others efforts off it, but when the shoe is on the other foot you will complain.

we dont precisely because clubs like HKR have spent more time and effort bringing in overseas short-term fixes than investing long term in british youth.

I wonder how many HKR fans defending their rights to try their best to avoid complying with the spirit of the quota have criticised Wigans attempt to circumvent the salary cap?

5th SL season and 10 overseas players in the first 17. Great stuff. Just out of interest, when can we expect Rovers to stop seeking multiple exemptions? 5 years is clearly not enough, so, 10?

Will Rovers be operating within the rules? YES or NO?

If the RFL are happy with it thats all that matters and as for the argument that we don't beat the aussies because of Hull KR it was nice to see our english players getting a run out last week

Will rovers be operating within the spirit of the rules? YES or NO?

pathetic justification.

Jesus wept what does that matter, we are either operating within the rules or we aren't.

I couldn't care less as to whether we should have a conscience about it, if its allowed we should naturally look into that avenue

Our Junior developement program suffered because of the years of mismanagement, if you expect it to produce players to compete at the very top of the international game already then you are deluded.

And anyway you can complain when we actually field ten overseas players instead of moaning about something that might not even happen