This is the most articulate and mature summary I've read. Its easy to let club loyalities influence comments and start bagging other players. Indeed Welsby has had a lot of stick on social media. I do get it, he is a big talent, much was expected of him and he didn't perform. I'm big enough to say that he had a poor game and hopefully he will learn from that, lick his wounds and come back well. With a Saints hat on I'm hoping he goes back to FB and has a great season.

Too many players underperformed but it was the right edge for me that cost us. Young looked young (pardon the pun) and looked a bit lost at times. The communication between him, Watkins and Welsby was poor and defensively we struggled. Tomkins looked his age, however I thought Williams played well in patches.

As for the future, a lot of those who played on Saturday won't be in the next WC. Makinson, Burgess, Hill, Cooper, Tomkins, Whitehead etc and then even the likes of Walmsley, Lomax and Farrell will be too old. Hopefully there is some talent coming through. The problem is that the game is too reliant on the likes of Saints/Wigan/Leeds bringing through all the talent. They can't keep doing that in silo and need other clubs to step up. To be fair to Warrington, they do now seem to have got their academy sorted and are producing some excellent players. However when you look at the size of Hull as a city and the catchment area of it, its a disgrace that they aren't producing international class players.

Agree that no point in blaming any players because they dont play for your team,on Saturday I was a England fan not a Wigan fan as I have stated on many occasions.
We need other teams to step up and supply more international players.
Keep Wane as head coach,get some more internationals played each year,get rid of the salary Cap or raise it enough so we can improve the product.

We need to fundamentally change the organisation of the sport over here, something that we have, allegedly, been doing for over four decades. Tinkering at the edges will not make us competitive with the Aussies. We are a second rate sport compared with the NRL and we need somebody with vision to take the game by the scruff of the neck, unfortunately Chairman Mo is no longer with us. Sadly we have gone backwards since the days of Hanley and co.

People have put the likes of Welsby on a pedestal but, although I think the lad is a very good player, he would not get a gig in the NRL. Hopefully, as Stu says, he gets a run at fullback and then we can seriously assess his qualities. We are woefully short of real talent, a fact supported by average antipodeans playing in SL, and that needs to change if people born after 1972 are to witness another successful England side.

Not much has been mentioned about quota spots.

I remember when you had 3 and a bit of a loophole meant you could scam 5. Now we have 7 with loopholes meaning we can go up to 8.

This is a huge fundamental issue with the game.

In many cases clubs can field a match day 13 with over half the players not qualifying to play for England or the other home nations.

We need to reduce this as a matter of priority initially to 5, then ultimately to 3.

I think that is a sensible suggestion.

I agree in principal, but you also have to look to maintain the club level game and make it attractive to spectators, unfortunately imports do that for clubs, reducing the quota too low may mean a lack of interest at club level and a drop off in spectators.

I would like to see more of an emphasis on bringing players into the international set up with a chance for them to play more international games, hopefully this will raise the standards of players coming through and we can try and identify the younger talent coming through

I agree in principal, but you also have to look to maintain the club level game and make it attractive to spectators, unfortunately imports do that for clubs, reducing the quota too low may mean a lack of interest at club level and a drop off in spectators.

I would like to see more of an emphasis on bringing players into the international set up with a chance for them to play more international games, hopefully this will raise the standards of players coming through and we can try and identify the younger talent coming through

Still gutted

The club level game is already low. I have no problem with clubs bringing in quality imports but the majority are average players. The only way we can raise the standards of players coming through the system is to send them to the NRL.

Every time that happens we get complaints about watering down the level of SL. We can't have it both ways.

We either send the best players to the NRL to try and improve the national side, or we keep them all in SL to improve the level of SL but it may not improve the national side.

I think it needs a balanced approach though or else you risk making the competition worse off if the additional english players playing aren't up to standard.

There isn't just one thing that can fix this issue and the other issues in English Rugby League.
- Amateur Rugby needs better numbers
- All clubs should have academies
- Salary Cap increased / abolished
- Internationals embedded in the calendar

Possibly to 5 with a couple of years of notice for the clubs. I think anymore than that might be difficult to sustain without further damaging the quality of play.

I would definitely like English players to count on the overseas quota for Catalans Dragons.

Look at some of our overseas players, do they really enhance SL?

You would need to do the same for French lads playing for English clubs.

I'm not talking about the overseas players. I'm talking about sending English players to the NRL.

Every player we lose a player to the NRL it's met with moans and groans about losing the competitions best players.

This is a good point. When was the last time we had a real superstar in our comp who stayed long enough to add some real value? The likes of Barba and Lyon were superstars but came here under a cloud due to misdemeanours back home. Barrett was a great player to use Wigan as an example but these were years ago (apart from Barba)

One of my best mates is Polish and doesn't really folllow RL. However he works with a lot of mad Wigan fans (I don't mean crazy I mean keen match going ones). The other day we were chatting about the WC and he asked if Field and French had been playing well for Australia as he knows they are good players from his work colleagues. He presumed they would be playing. I explained that they hadn't been selected. Trying to explain to him was strange as in his eyes they are 2 of the best in SL (they are of course) and yet if we are being honest would either make even a 40 man Australia squad? Would either start in the NRL?

This isn't being anti-Wigan by using these two as an example, you could argue Coote when he first signed for us would be the same.

The point I am making is that the depth of talent in Aus dwarfs ours. Now of course if a Nathan Cleary comes over here its a different story but its never going to happen for a whole host of reasons.

i've just made a point on the Warriors fans forum about the post match on BBC. Willie Poaching was asked about Samoa's chance v Oz. He said we had 8 players in the NRL Grand Final, and we play at that intensity week in week out. He didnt seem phased. I think he's realistic that Oz are favourites, but the majority of the team play in the NRL so wont be phased by playing them

another stat was that 40% of the NRL playing rosta come from the South Sea Islands. So no wonder that Samoa, Tonga, PNG etc are progressing internationally.

In the UK we want to see the best stars week in week out, but our game isnt played at an intensity close to the NRL, so we either need to massively improve the quality / intensity every week in SL or our players need exposing to the NRL on a regular basis. I'd never seen Farnworth or Young play as i dont watch NRL, but they both looked comfortable at the top level, given their relative youth and lack of international playing time and that must only have come from playing in the NRL every week

Sorry to go off topic but why did Jamie Lyon come over ?

Also my Mrs who goes the odd game couldn’t understand why French and Field aren’t playing for Australia haha

Retired due to pressures of the game and was playing Bush Footie with his mates if I remember correctly.

Agree with reducing the overseas quota numbers.
Due to contracts in place and club's future planning I'd reduce by 1 a year from 2024 down to 4 or perhaps even three.
Maybe IMG may suggest that a qualification for SL would be to have a youth system with an academy and reserves.

That Waney had to go into an Intl competition without a right centre says it all. With Wesley going to 6 tells us a lot too. The whole game over here needs to look to player production in each of the SL clubs.

Yeah spot on. Was basically disillusioned with the game and had retired. Think he was only about 21. He was in awful shape when he first arrived.

The starting point should be schools.

Sorry I misunderstood. But that is our only option if we are to improve the international game in the short-term as the quality of SL does not test the best players we have got on a regular basis. Look at how New Zealand and Samoa have come on leaps and bounds since their players flooded into the NRL.

Spot-on.

If only league was played in schools nationwide, eh? Is that a pipe-dream, or should campaigning towards that be one of the RFL's biggest objectives?