Well we agree on one thing that there are too many teams..... I never suggested that Sam was rotting in the 20,s. I am a great believer in the saying " if your good enough your old enough " I do not believe Sam was being protected, and his older brother was defo not being protected, there were held back in the 20,s because at the time there was imo over rated players playing in the same positions.



Why do they get disillusioned ? You only need to look at the way Wigan are now progressing with lads who have come up through the system, MM, Precky,Sam,Hock,Tuson,Mossop,Goulding, Charnley etc, compared with other clubs who look overseas to fill all the key positions. If piggy had stayed, would MM be playing 1st team now ? I,m not saying we will produce another 20 Sam Tomkins but there would be a hell of a lot more quality young British players.



Why is it over the years that we have continued to beat the Aussies at youth level, but fail at test level ? imo its because over there, and yes they have a more competitive league, but alot of them lads progress to play 1st grade quicker. Over here how long does at lad in his 20,s have to wait to get a 1st team chance, unless they are exceptional.



In my view these English players would have come to the top because they would have been coached correctly and then play the correct level in order to develop them in to, perhaps not superstars but good quality internationals.



As for coaches, yes MM was very good for Wigan I 100% agree. However how many Aussie assistance coaches have failed over here ? alot. If we go on to win 3 trophies this year do you think SW would have MM to thank for his schooling and ultimately his success ? I would suggest that if you asked him, he would say he learned a lot from him but also MM learnt a lot from him in aspects of the game.

Am I alone in thinking that the problem is not totally with SL? For me the quality of competition in the Championship is not strong enough - this should be a proving ground for young players - how many in the last five seasons have made the switch up to SL level? Barely a handful if that. Most of the teams in this league are filled with journeymen / 2nd rate imports and over the hill players.



Perhaps there is a case for having either SL clubs fielding a 2nd team in the lower levels of the game or having feeder/tie-in with teams below SL level to encourage player development. With a formal arrangement between clubs this would open up the possibility of shared training/development and player exchanges/loans.



Whilst there are many positives in the game what is needed is a thorough look at the structure of the game from reserve/U18 right through to SL level to try and produce a more structured/cohesive game. Of course this is never going to happen.

Just reduce the size of SL, that will move players down and raise the standard of the Championship, or am i being too simplistic? That would also give you a more intense SL.

Your all asking for a smaller league, dont bite my head off, but what about a bigger league?



You're all saying that clubs like widnes, cas and wakey are embarrasments, but yet all 3 of them have either beat, or run a big club close this season. If we could put 2/4 more clubs of that strength there, surly it would give more room for huge upsets, more teams for young players to break through and more competition at the bottom of the table.



ATM, the poorer clubs have about 4/6 games a season which they look at a possible win with a few upsets in there. If there was a few more clubs there, that could be doubled into 12 games they were looking for a win.



With this, surly more supporters would be attracted to these games which would increase income and popularity of the game.



But hey, thats just me, fire away

Its the money thats available that the problem. just not enough of it.

Just google NRL footy show then go on the video tab. They have the highlights of each weeks programmes