Aussie RL has been streets ahead of us for nearly 50 years. We got very close to closing the gap in the early 90's but since then forget it.
It's all in the way the game is run IMHO. From grassroots to the very top. RL in the UK does have numerous disadvantages to the Aussie game and we must recognise that. We will never have the cash or the regional dominance to be like the NRL. However, you can't help but think it could have been so much better.
Of all the problems we face, two remain self-inflicted.
1: The total lack of any genuine pathway between Amature/Junior club RL and the Pro-clubs. Years of petty warfare between the 2 have destroyed the game at the grassroots level. BARLA and junior RL has far too many petty parochial people involved, some clubs are little more than playthings for extended family mafias.
2: The above sounds bad and it is but compared to the grasping self-aggrandising pillocks that run much of the pro game they are positively saintly. Short-termism doesn't even come into it, some of these people can't see beyond the next victory and the underserved sense of self-satisfaction they get from it.
Sort the above and the rest will follow, we will always have limitations but we will be a lot closer to the NRL than we are now.
That's one of the things that has warmed me to MC, I think he sees this and has tried to be honest and play with a straight bad. Sadly I fear he's had enough now and who can blame him.
British RL has been a kitchen sink drama for years, it's an black and white like the film Sporting Life, the NRL is Technicolor 2020.
