Quote ="SmokeyTA"There are a few of great quality, Mcguire, Pryce, Eastmond, Tomkins, Myler, Burrow, Brough, Long are all quality players, Horne, Robinson, Brown, Smith, Briers are all good players. theres 13 for you right there.
Theres Wood, Southernwood, McNally, all 20/21 ready to step into first grade if they are ever going to. All have moved clubs since HKA have been in SL, there is no excuse for not signing them other than lack of forward planning. Green is 24, he should be embarrassed if he isnt better prepared than a 20 year old. The fact is you will never prepare the 20 year old because you wont sign him, instead you go for a 24 year old NRL reject.'"
We were talking of 'young' and 'up and coming' quality halfbacks and our inability to have an eastmond or tomkins ready to step up.
Quote ="SmokeyTA", if he isnt good enough for the NRL he isnt good enough, the fact he is 24 and proved this is a negative, not a positive.
or any of the many british halfbacks who are 'up to it' and remember, at this stage, it is only 'hopefully' that Green is up to it, he has yet to prove he is. So what you are really saying it is either a young British half back who wants to prove themselves and hopefully they are up to it, or its a 24 year old NRL reject who wants to prove themselves and hopefully they are up to it.'"
If he is not good enough for the nrl dosn't mean he isn't good enough for sl. One word, Dobson.
And yes thats what I'm saying, Morgan dosn't think there's anyone that will be any better than Green available to us now and thats the gamble regardless of nationality.
Quote ="SmokeyTA", without seeing him play, for some reason 'everytime' you will choose a 24 year old Australian who has proved he isnt NRL quality rather than a 23 year old a year further behind in fulfilling his potential, who hasnt proved he is SL quality. '"
Yes, crikey you are 'getting it'. I don't need to see him play Morgan does.
Quote ="SmokeyTA" we will believe when we see it. It was on this thread Hull KA fans were telling us they were bringing through the likes of Mariano, who at 23 apparently wasnt ready to go into SL without a pack full of Australians but was a quality youngster developed by HKA.'"
Yes and thats one who I would have liked to have stayed, the games he did play he looked good but I'm not the coach am I!
Quote ="SmokeyTA" British players clearly are up to it. We know this because the play SL, often for teams better than your mid-table outfit.'"
We were talking of the fringe players not established in teams above our 'mid table' outfit who beat you twice this year. By the way we brought in Ratu and Hodgson who were both top of their respective reserve teams.
Quote ="SmokeyTA" Aussies arent always of better quality, again we know this because the british players play for SL sides, often better than your mid-table outfit. '"
Again we're talking of fringe brits against fringe overseas who don't play for sl teams above our 'mid-table' outfit who beat you twice this year.
Quote ="SmokeyTA"? Blake Green, Rhys Lovegrove and Ben Fisher probably arent in the top 300 Antipodean players, so the fact that not all our best players are as good as the top Antipodean players is irrelevant. '"
No maybe not, because of the strength in depth in aus. But Lovegrove and Fisher will be in the top 300 sl players, Green is yet to prove himself. Lovegrove may still one day play 1st grade nrl the way he is going.
Quote ="SmokeyTA" right, they have no need to bring over all our players because they put the effort into youth development and earn the rewards. They dont just ignore it and rely on someone thousands of miles away to train people up for them.'"
Correct, and who's ignoring it? Thats what we are trying to do but give us chance to develop our ground and facilities, money dosn't grow on trees, we broke the bank getting into sl and to be competitive, now we're trying
to bring our youth through (I'll say it again, our academy beat saints and wigan twice each this year).
Quote ="SmokeyTA", clearly you know more than that ridiculous Tim Sheens bloke, I mean he only wins NRL titles, four nations titles and manages Australia, the fool.'"
Hmm maybe not about players but I suppose you and I don't know more than Morgan either eh?
So you want your top 3 players to go to aus? Who would you like to see leave? Would you rather see them playing every week here for you or playing in a couple of international games a year?
Maybe we could get them to send us 3 of their average players to cover their absence...oh wait a minute we're already doing that!
Quote ="SmokeyTA"if everybody in the league went in to the season with all british lads and leeds finished 10th, then that is where we deserved to finish. You wouldnt be going over and above your duty by only bringing in 8 overseas players, or 7 overseas players. In fact you would have the same as pretty much everyone else.'"
Well of course you say that now there's no relegation but how do you think your crowds would fair if that carried on?
We finished 11th in our first season and were one place off going down, I'm just grateful for being in sl and have done bloody well in these last 4 years.
So 7 or 8 is ok but 10 is too many even though we are within the rules and we're not bringing them in they are mostly here and have been for a while. Fisher 5 years, Lovegrove, Vella 4, Galea, Newton, Webster 3 years. And in 2 years 4 out of those 5 will not be here and we will still be within the rules.
Quote ="SmokeyTA"What you wouldnt be able to do is seek an advantage by employing more overseas players than everyone else. Is that what you are actually wanting and defending?'"
You said they were average so how is that an advantage. It is only advantageous because they have been with us for a while and some are now exempt and the same rules apply to every club in sl, not our fault others chose players who were not worth keeping for more than a season or 2.
It's not upto me, it's the way it is and no one but the rfl can say its right or wrong, I would love for us to have all brits but it just isn't the case at the moment, not my fault, not yours, not Rovers, we have good overseas players that will have to be replaced by brits one way or another pretty soon, then we'll see how we cope.
Quote ="SmokeyTA"indeed, played on the wing outside a certain Mr Toopi for most of those games.'"
Thought you said he was never a nz international?
Quote ="SmokeyTA"So it has been poor, and you want to seek an advantage over those who have invested in youth development and given the players a shot by employing more overseas players, remembering that you believe there are no young british halfbacks out there who are of the quality of Blake Green, and so anyone who does give a young british half-back a shot would be doing it to their detriment relative to Hull Kingston Australia.'"
As above and re academy did great this year thanks.
Quote ="SmokeyTA"you can do, it would be irrelevant though thats your problem to deal with, you cant ask for dispensation on the basis there is a bigger better club on your doorstep.
you have one of the strongest amatuer bases in the country on your doorstep. It doesnt take you three years to get a scout down to Skirlaugh'"
No that was the problem then, not now, we are now on a par as regards signing youngsters, and again it's not instant either.
Quote ="SmokeyTA" someone has to watch a side down at the bottom. Why should Hull Kingston Australia fans get to watch a 'competitive side' purely because they have employed more overseas players than everyone else?'"
Thats ludicrous, we did watch a team at the bottom 4 years ago, great away days not so good at home. Why?Because we are playing within the rules that have been put in place, again not our fault some of our overseas players are exempt we didn't make the rules. We brought quality players over and are still here and exempt.
Quote ="SmokeyTA" of course i want my team to be successful, but i want them to do it by bringing through young british players and giving them the opportunity. I want to see them adding to the gae. Some of them are, and as i have said, i have no argument with you bringing some of them in. Its the fact you need to rely on 10 which is the problem.'"
But you don't mind them finishing 10th with all brits. Again see how your crowds go down then. We have a small capacity and we have to try and maximize revenue from it and be competitive with all the bigger clubs or should we just make up the numbers and roll over every week?
Quote ="SmokeyTA" and when they did that in 2006, the did it with a mostly british squad, and they did in a similar time frame to where Hull Kingston Australia are now. Dont tell us cant be done, Hudds are proving you wrong every step of the way.'"
Well done to hudds, do you know how many? I've always admired them. 2 finals in 4 years wasn't it? When was their last promotion? I havn't anything against any teams doing it their own way as long as its within the rules what about you?
. I just hope that he puts in more effort next season and finishes with a lot more than 787 tackles the slacker.
