John S
Peter Fenwicke (45)
And the people that didn't like it were - Shute Shield, and their NSW Rugby patsy's.It's 100% nothing that hasn't previously been expressed. An 8 team national competition built off of the back of the Super Squads is the best vehicle for developing domestic players 50-250. Brumbies, Rebels, Force like it because it keeps the core of the squads together for those additional games rather than see them fuck off to Brisbane, Sydney, NZ etc., QRU liked it because of how good a development tool it was for them. Both Kiwis and Saffas involved at the professional level can see that the Australians work just as hard, if not harder than their boys on the training paddock and in the gym, but just don't have those genuine high performance minutes in the legs at 23-25.
However, there is that problem with NSW, if you're going to have three teams, how do you split them, how do you get buy in for each team when there's not really been that investment in the past. I get the NSW Country Eagles - basically anyone out of Sydney (and that's who I support), it's the make up of the Sydney teams.