Aussie Player Exodus

[Adam84]

Petaia has never shown half the ability Jarrad Haynes has/did. Holmes I didn't watch as much.

Petaia for al his potential is a bit of a myth.

Yeah… wallaby and reds player a myth.. Spot the brumbies fans

Hayne in his prime wasn’t the the same one who went to NFL. He also never had the work ethic or attitude to succeed, I worked directly with Hayne and the Eels during those years preceding; talent out his ears but the guys work ethic was absolutely woeful, one of the worst I’ve seen in a professional environment.

Conversely we also worked with the Rabbitohs, Jason Clark had one of the best work ethics I’ve seen. Wasn’t overly talented but trained harder than anyone, you could see players lifting their own intensity just because of how hard he trained.

Whereas Hayne would quit reps early, rock up late and put in half-assed effort. No surprise his NFL dream was cut short. Never worked with Holmes so can’t comment.

 

[Rob42]

Think it’s very nice of him on Rugby coverage to compliment the sport he’s working on.

Even with the time of ball in play Rugby is usually around 35-38 mins and League gets 55-65 mins. It’s more play, more action. We see some fast plays and good broken field play in Rugby but we can then watch 7 mins or scrum re sets.

But much of that additional ball-in-play time in NRL will be mindless bashing into a defensive line and then kicking down the centre of the field, followed by mindless bashing into a defensive line and then kicking down the centre of the field, followed by mindless bashing into a defensive line and then kicking down the centre of the field. Even when a league team sets up inside the attacking 20 m, it's rarely rapid play and frequently repetition of the same plays waiting for an error, or seeking a restart/ line dropout.

Rogers' point was that when the play opens up in rugby, it's a lot faster than league, and a lot of decision-making for the 10, whereas NRL is more consistent in its pace.

 

[LevitatingSocks]

Forwards that are simultaneously tall, athletic, and heavy are probably the most enticing to NFL teams because that combination is rare and valued in offensive linemen. It still took 3+ years of development for the Eagles to turn Jordan Mailata into a viable starter. Players like Payne Haas or Will Skelton if he were younger would draw the most attention as potential Left Tackles.

For any of your rugby backs making the jump into the NFL their ceiling is probably kick returner or special teams gunner because they won't have the background or technical skills to beat out other players for a starting spot. You're not going to learn how to backpedal, play press coverage, or read a route at the level of an elite DB at age 24 or 25.

Similarly I'd say the same of any NFL skill position player that wanted to play rugby. Their ceiling would be winger due to the lack of background in reading the game or technical skills. They would never make it at fly half.

 

[Tomikin]

Yeah… wallaby and reds player a myth.. Spot the brumbies fans

Hayne in his prime wasn’t the the same one who went to NFL. He also never had the work ethic or attitude to succeed, I worked directly with Hayne and the Eels during those years preceding, talent out his ears but the guys work ethic was absolutely woeful, one of the worst I’ve seen in a professional environment.

Conversely we also worked with the Rabbitohs, Jason Clark had one of the best work ethics I’ve seen. Wasn’t overly talented but trained harder than anyone, you could see players lifting their own intensity just because of how hard he trained.

Whereas Hayne would quit reps early, rock up late and put in half-assed effort. No surprise his NFL dream was cut short. Never worked with Holmes so can’t comment.

Yeah spot the Reds support, the hype around Petais from 18 was his the elite talent, a cheetah and everyone else was grey hounds, would be the world's best 13. So yeah the hype vs the results is a bit of a myth. His a great super player and a good test player. He'd be my Wallabies winger with Kellaway and Wright back 3.

His never had a season as good as either of those two have. And sounds like he never will because his off to the NFL, when his finally out of team rehab

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

But much of that additional ball-in-play time in NRL will be mindless bashing into a defensive line and then kicking down the centre of the field, followed by mindless bashing into a defensive line and then kicking down the centre of the field, followed by mindless bashing into a defensive line and then kicking down the centre of the field. Even when a league team sets up inside the attacking 20 m, it's rarely rapid play and frequently repetition of the same plays waiting for an error, or seeking a restart/ line dropout.

Rogers' point was that when the play opens up in rugby, it's a lot faster than league, and a lot of decision-making for the 10, whereas NRL is more consistent in its pace.

Fair point, it can seem simple but it’s grinding a team down since their error rate tends to be so low. I’d much rather watch more in game time then Rugby with over 50% being stopped which seems to be public viewing sentiment as well.

I’ve gone off topic now. If Jordy wants to have a crack then good luck to him I don’t personally see how he fits that sport but it’s an easier and probably equal cheque to the NRL where his body would tear to bits.

 

[Sword of Justice]

Fair point, it can seem simple but it’s grinding a team down since their error rate tends to be so low. I’d much rather watch more in game time then Rugby with over 50% being stopped which seems to be public viewing sentiment as well.

I’ve gone off topic now. If Jordy wants to have a crack then good luck to him I don’t personally see how he fits that sport but it’s an easier and probably equal cheque to the NRL where his body would tear to bits.

Totally subjective when talking about the viewing spectacle but for outside backs I would say Rugby is significantly faster of a game to play than League.

League wingers, especially players like Hayne, are told never to leave their 5m channel and so essentially have an involvement on attack and defence about once every dozen tackles. Contrast that to a player like Petaia who actively looks for work because his team needs him to. He's essentially a back up inside back and 8 when the Reds need him to be and that's common for most Rugby teams.

Honestly couldn't say if he's more talented than Hayne. Hayne was shit at 7s and I think Petaia would be shit at League. From my armchair though, I think Petaia is a better chance of making it in the NFL.

 

[Adam84]

Yeah spot the Reds support, the hype around Petais from 18 was his the elite talent, a cheetah and everyone else was grey hounds, would be the world's best 13. So yeah the hype vs the results is a bit of a myth. His a great super player and a good test player. He'd be my Wallabies winger with Kellaway and Wright back 3.

His never had a season as good as either of those two have. And sounds like he never will because his off to the NFL, when his finally out of team rehab

Ive never said ‘world best 13’ nor do i remember any fan in these forums calling him a ’cheetah’, these are media headlines at best, a quick google suggests the only one to say he would be world best was a teammate 5 years ago when he was making his test debut and repeated by media, dwelling on those headlines by the media and saying he is a myth because of that is a bit silly…

Unfulfilled talent is best description for Petaia IMO.

 

[Tomikin]

Ive never said ‘world best 13’ nor do i remember any fan in these forums calling him a ’cheetah’, these are media headlines at best, a quick google suggests the only one to say he would be world best was a teammate 5 years ago when he was making his test debut and repeated by media, dwelling on those headlines by the media and saying he is a myth because of that is a bit silly…

Unfulfilled talent is best description for Petaia IMO.

My response was to someone saying he was better then Jarryd Hayne, he never reached anything similar to Hayne. Which was from a fan... I just pointed out the fact that people saying his an elite athlete on the world rugby stage isn't true his good could be great... Which rub has rubbed red supporters the wrong way..

So I take it back. He's, not a myth, just a good rugby player on the international stage who has never reached the elite like Haynes did in the league.. better?? Ffs

 

[Adam84]

cool. I just don’t understand player hate over a fan or media comment. Seems misdirected.

 

[Derpus]

Petaia is still in our best two or three wingers so....

 

[Marce]

not in my opinion.
Rugby league players are big fish in small pond (NRL played professionally in 3 countries max)

rugby union is big fish in big pond. Petaia is considered an athletic freak in our game.

anyways time will tell - if he proceeds down this road.

Come on! There are 500k registered League players and 50k registered Union players in OZ

How u dare to say that Petaia is more athletic than Holmes or Hayne?

 

[upthereds#!]

I think the option of going home to Qld could have been quite high in his decision tree

Good luck to the guy, I hope he kills it, if he was driven by $$$ I am sure he could have had better options O/S playing rugby

and if it doesn't work out he can always come back, stronger and fitter

Yes I did mean Reds > League in SE qld > Waratahs

And yes he took a pay cut. Sure he will have Japan, League (if successfull) and Rugby union offers for 2027. But if he doesn't do well in league, his value in both our codes will drop

 

[KOB1987]

Come on! There are 500k registered League players and 50k registered Union players in OZ

Wherever you got these figures from they are grossly incorrect. At every age group, every level and almost every locale there are more participants in rugby than there are in jail rugby. Certainly there are exceptions e.g western Sydney, but the professional participants aren’t going to outweigh the amateur ones overall

 

[Lindommer]

Come on! There are 500k registered League players and 50k registered Union players in OZ.

Those figures look a bit rubbery. There are FAR more rugby clubs in Oz than league clubs.

A quick search shows there were 117,178 rugby players in Australia in 2019 and 180,600 league players in 2023.

 

[KOB1987]

Those figures look a bit rubbery. There are FAR more rugby clubs in Oz than league clubs.

A quick search shows there were 117,178 rugby players in Australia in 2019 and 180,600 league players in 2023.

They would include the vlandys factor

 

[Tomikin]

cool. I just don’t understand player hate over a fan or media comment. Seems misdirected.

I don't hate him mate, I think his good.. no upset at all. You just needed to jump to defence from a pretty innocent comment

 

[Joe Blow]

Petaia is still in our best two or three wingers so....

And still young enough to have great potential also at 13 and 15. Has a huge boot!

 

[Marce]

Those figures look a bit rubbery. There are FAR more rugby clubs in Oz than league clubs.

According Wikipedia:

1077 Amateur League clubs
770 Amateur Union clubs

32 professional teams
4 professional teams

And you can't feed properly those 4 franchises. Let's be honest, it's a lost battle. The main purpose for RA is fight to survive

 

[KOB1987]

According Wikipedia:

1077 Amateur League clubs
770 Amateur Union clubs

32 professional teams
4 professional teams

And you can't feed properly those 4 franchises. Let's be honest, it's a lost battle. The main purpose for RA is fight to survive

The numbers in the individual union clubs would be a lot higher than those in the league clubs. Regardless, I’m ok to concede that the numbers are probably pretty similar but there certainly aren’t 10x as many amateur league players as there are union players.

As for your last point, it shouldn’t be a battle, the 2 codes can co-exist. The problem is they need entirely different professional structures and we have been using the wrong one.

 

[Wallaby Man]

Wherever you got these figures from they are grossly incorrect. At every age group, every level and almost every locale there are more participants in rugby than there are in jail rugby. Certainly there are exceptions e.g western Sydney, but the professional participants aren’t going to outweigh the amateur ones overall

Have you ever been to a local junior rugby league game? Junior numbers are massive.