Internationals RLWC 2017 Thread

[bruce]

Hey Bruce, surely it's a fact the Kangaroos have far more depth than the Kiwis. We have no real professional development in NZ.

If you play League from an early age like most Aussies do... and recently like some Kiwis (Nightingale, Cayless), you will learn the League basics from an early age. In Kiwiland most League talent will play junior League, then at High School they would have to play Yawnion... and that is at a very important time when you should be developing further League skills.

When I was forced to play Yawnion at school, you couldn't help but notice that the League boys from the club, would find Yawnion easy and stand out with their tackling and running skills. It is a different game for many reasons.

The fact that the Kiwis became number 1 in the world was because of their exposure to League in/against Australia at an early age... full stop.

The Kiwis were beating the Australians in Australia way back in the 1950s when there were no Kiwis playing in Australia and Sydney was a three day sail on steamship away.

Correct me if I’m wrong but has JT ever had a blinder for the Kiwis? Yet for Tonga and the Cows he’s unstoppable.

Bloody good question.

Yes NSW and QLD divided not as strong as the Roos, but it’s still a high standard of footy

We are talking about the current Kiwis, who are not a great team, and Australia who are the World Champions but had to grind against England, at home before a disappointing crowd,

 

[Raw Power]

The Kiwis were beating the Australians in Australia way back in the 1950s when there were no Kiwis playing in Australia and Sydney was a three day sail on steamship away.

Yes we had some special players back then... but now we have professional League players, getting paid mostly in Australia. We have developed champions in NZ, Menzies, White, Cooke, Mark Graham, Sorensens, McGahan, Freeman, Stacey, Mannering and others, but we have a far smaller pool of players when in competition with Union here, when compared with the East Coast of Australia where they bleed League.

I agree our forwards should dominate, but without real class and depth in our spine we will, for long periods, struggle against the Kangaroos.