Yep our academys off and sign players from the Toyota cup.

Visas might be a issue.

This photo doesn't look that impressive - but i think it's one of the best i've taken given the moment it captured.

It's Sinbad Kali playing for the Storm feeder club in 2008 as a teenager making a tackle on Knights lower grade prop Toa Asa.
Asa was as hard a runner as I've seen and ran this ball back 30 metres from a goal line dropout and ran right into the shoulder of Kali.
It was one of those moments when the whole crowd draws in breath - two 110kg guys hitting with maximum impact.
Massive hit that shook the ground.

The RFL clearly don't care about development, not the national coach, why should I?

I've been paying my money to support the national team and seeing them lose for over twenty years, if the governing body was really all that bothered they could have done something radical in that time. Swimming and cycling seem to have managed that and they're hardly the most watched, participated or wealthy (or used to be) sports in this country.

I take the visa point.

Knights sign 18 year olds from NZ every year, and just about every club in the NRL does these days.
We picked up Con Mika as a 19 year old from Auckland.
We tried to sign a 17 year old from Fiji this year, but Wests got him first. That was after the Fiji under 18s were flown over to play some games against our under 17s, just so we could get a look at them.

We have great success with juniors 'scouted' from all over, but mostly NZ these days.

To be honest, i'm surprized we aren't over there pinching your best juniors.

Surely if he is as brilliant as you make out he should have played more than 1 1st grade game in the last 3 years? If he hasn't broke into the 1st team at 24 when will he?

I can't remember what his injury was, but he missed the whole 2009 season and just played some park football in 2010 I think.
He played most of the 2011 season as an uncontracted player with the Central Coast Centurions (Knights feeder club). I think his form was good enough to play firstgrade this year, but he couldn't be used without being given a contract, and the salary cap didn't allow it.
As far as i know he is back to the Wyong Roos next season, unless Melbourne chuck him a lifeline.

Ah thanks for the info couldn't really find much about him on the net with him not really playing much.

Quote ="Sandra The Terrorist"off to new York in a couple of weeks, won't be happening again, cost me a flipping fortune in roaming. Silly goose. Sounds positive, obviously never heard of them before being linked but agent roopy has more than sold Mika to me. Doubt we can, although we should sign Sinbad purely because he's called Sinbad. [uLove those films me, especially when the skellington's pop up out of the ground. Brill.[/uIf we did sign Sinbad, I'm going to go in a Sinbad costume to every game, I don't think it says anything on the signs outside CP about not being able to take scimitar's into the ground so that should be fine. Cut to the chase mate, no need to be ambiguous! I've seen you make this point a couple of times and I think it's potentially got legs, maybe it's worth having a scout out there? I suppose the biggest thing would be getting youngsters to move half way across the world with no real guarantee of first team football. We did it with Lovegrove, so why not a few others?'" Ah yes what a great film, although it was produced by the same people who made the Sinbad films it was actualy Jason and the Argonauts that you refer to with the skeleton scene, www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi4187095321/ Jason and the Argonauts

Quote ="Sandra The Terrorist"off to new York in a couple of weeks, won't be happening again, cost me a flipping fortune in roaming. Silly goose. Sounds positive, obviously never heard of them before being linked but agent roopy has more than sold Mika to me. Doubt we can, although we should sign Sinbad purely because he's called Sinbad. [uLove those films me, especially when the skellington's pop up out of the ground. Brill.[/uIf we did sign Sinbad, I'm going to go in a Sinbad costume to every game, I don't think it says anything on the signs outside CP about not being able to take scimitar's into the ground so that should be fine. Cut to the chase mate, no need to be ambiguous! I've seen you make this point a couple of times and I think it's potentially got legs, maybe it's worth having a scout out there? I suppose the biggest thing would be getting youngsters to move half way across the world with no real guarantee of first team football. We did it with Lovegrove, so why not a few others?'" Ah yes what a great film, although it was produced by the same people who made the Sinbad films it was actualy Jason and the Argonauts that you refer to with the skeleton scene, www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi4187095321/ Jason and the Argonauts

Quote ="Seventies red"Ah yes what a great film, although it was produced by the same people who made the Sinbad films it was actualy Jason and the Argonauts that you refer to with the skeleton scene, www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi4187095321/ Jason and the Argonauts'" Hopeless me, even get it wrong when it's stuff I like! I watched it quite recently as well. They appeared in a couple of the Jason and the Argonauts films didn't they? Edit: Surprise surprise, wrong again! Looks like there was only one Jason and the Argonauts film. It's only four queens on Amazon, don't think it would be the same if I could watch it whenever, it's best stumbled across on a wet Bank Holiday weekends. Best stop this now, Anakin will get cross.

Quote ="Seventies red"Ah yes what a great film, although it was produced by the same people who made the Sinbad films it was actualy Jason and the Argonauts that you refer to with the skeleton scene, www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi4187095321/ Jason and the Argonauts'" Hopeless me, even get it wrong when it's stuff I like! I watched it quite recently as well. They appeared in a couple of the Jason and the Argonauts films didn't they? Edit: Surprise surprise, wrong again! Looks like there was only one Jason and the Argonauts film. It's only four queens on Amazon, don't think it would be the same if I could watch it whenever, it's best stumbled across on a wet Bank Holiday weekends. Best stop this now, Anakin will get cross.

Quote ="Sandra The Terrorist"Hopeless me, even get it wrong when it's stuff I like! I watched it quite recently as well. They appeared in a couple of the Jason and the Argonauts films didn't they?'" The actor was Todd Armstrong, im not sure about the actress, the film was shot mostly on location in Italy, on the other hand i believe most of the Sinbad films where made on location in Spain and Greece, including Rhodes. blackholereviews.blogspot.com/20 ... nauts.html

Quote ="Sandra The Terrorist"Hopeless me, even get it wrong when it's stuff I like! I watched it quite recently as well. They appeared in a couple of the Jason and the Argonauts films didn't they?'" The actor was Todd Armstrong, im not sure about the actress, the film was shot mostly on location in Italy, on the other hand i believe most of the Sinbad films where made on location in Spain and Greece, including Rhodes. blackholereviews.blogspot.com/20 ... nauts.html

Sinbad this year - the guy is as cut as any 112kg player i've ever seen. www.flickr.com/photos/28990363@N05/5544658478/

Sinbad this year - the guy is as cut as any 112kg player i've ever seen. www.flickr.com/photos/28990363@N05/5544658478/

Quote ="roopy"Sinbad this year - the guy is as cut as any 112kg player i've ever seen. www.flickr.com/photos/28990363@N05/5544658478/'" He is huge

Quote ="roopy"Sinbad this year - the guy is as cut as any 112kg player i've ever seen. www.flickr.com/photos/28990363@N05/5544658478/'" He is huge

What are are you refe....

erm no i'd better not ask.

Wow, everyone search google images for Sinbad Kali Topless, how does he cover those norks up?

Quote ="roopy"Sinbad this year - the guy is as cut as any 112kg player i've ever seen. www.flickr.com/photos/28990363@N05/5544658478/'" you are starting to sound a bit gay now

Quote ="roopy"Sinbad this year - the guy is as cut as any 112kg player i've ever seen. www.flickr.com/photos/28990363@N05/5544658478/'" you are starting to sound a bit gay now

I'd like to look like him, but i think that might involve spending half my life in a gym and eating nothing but raw eggs and tofu.

id leave it now or you might explode

Glad I'm not the only 1 that was thinking that



The thing is size isn't everything, afterall David Mills is even bigger & Hutch Maiava is roughly the same size.

Amazing that there are all of these brilliant players sat around in the reserve grades when half of the overseas players with 100+ NRL apps come over here and are no better than the players we have already.

Shame that the aussies can't churn out cricketers like they allegedly can RL players

Just maths innit?

There are outstanding, good and ordinary players both here and in Australia. And in similar proportions, looking at the right hand ends of normal distributions. The absolute numbers though are (crucially) different.

Let's say that England has a dozen 'outstanding players' at any one time. Players that wouldn't look out of place in State of Origin. Not quite enough for one a team in SL (especially with the likes of S. Burgess, J. Graham and G. Ellis heading over there), or to fill out an International XVII. Also they tend to be forwards, leaving us short in the backs.
Australia, I'd guesstimate for these purposes has 50.

Let's now say that for every outstanding player there are 10 good players.
That's 120 Englishmen and 500 Australians.
Just over nine Englishmen for each English SL club, meaning that the 17 man team and 25 man squads have to be filled out with ordinary players.
The Aussies have more than 30 good players per NRL team (though the NRL is expanding, of course), which is a surfeit. So good Antipodeans come over here and take the place of ordinary Englishmen in SL squads.
The numbers I've used for illustration are arguable, but the principle is sound, I reckon.
Now you get the occasional spectacular Aussie failure, but mostly they come across and do a good job - which is why there is always demand in the market.
Coaches who choose what you might call 'average Aussies' over 'promising Brits', do so for similar reasons that I'd choose a [ismall[/i pile of banknotes over a [ibig[/i bag of coppers. You're judging the groups by different standards, when the only one that matters to a coach is what they offer the team.

The reasons for this disparity are, I suspect, to do with coaching, sporting culture and, most important, junior player numbers.
There is nothing amazing about the situation. As the NRL gets richer and bigger, a new balance will develop. And England will most likely still only have a dozen outstanding players - because quotas don't make junior coaches better or get more kids playing the game.

I think we don't target kids from other sports, particularly Association Football enough.

All Premiership, Championship and the majority of League 1 and 2 clubs run extensive academies.

The drop out rate from these are huge.

Often these kids are lost to sport completely when they're cut at sixteen. Now these kids will understandably be talented sports men who can run and jump, have good hand eye coordination and will often have many transferable skills.

Many of these type of kids would have played Rugby League in previous generations but the lure and glamour of football is rammed down their throats from a very young age and so that becomes their first choice.

All very good but my point is that roopy claims there are players in reserve grade in the NRL who would "rip it up" when there are plenty of regular 1st graders come over and don't "rip it up". Now the aussies may have plenty of good players but surely the best ones play in the 1st grade?

Great point. People whinge about us losing the odd player to onion but then completely ignore the 100's (possibly even 1000's) who choose football over rugby in the 1st place.

There are 3 kids who play for the same team as my lad who don't play if their games clash with their football teams games

That's more to do with the Australian attitude towards SL, they think it's .

The Aussies think anything "Pommie" is poop.