Brisbane Broncos are looking to England in their hunt to discover some of the best young talents out there. A series of young Super League players have made the move to the NRL in recent years with Matty Nicholson the latest to attract positive headlines for his performances down under.
The back-rower made the move to Canberra Raiders from Warrington Wolves over the off-season and has made quite the splash under Ricky Stuart with another try coming this morning against Cronulla Sharks. He’s joined by the likes of Kai Pearce-Paul, Dom Young and Morgan Smithies who are impressing on a weekly basis having honed their skills in Super League.
Some clubs have already cottoned onto the talent that exists within the Northern Hemisphere game then, but Brisbane are now making efforts to follow that trend. That’s according to the Daily Telegraph, who report the Broncos’ head of recruitment Simon Scanlan has recently returned from England after being on a scouting mission with an eye to the future.
The report claims that while the Broncos will be keeping an eye on current Super League talent, they are looking to build a sustainable model to spot players with the talents to make it in the elite competition. Scanlan is said to have presented the results of his scouting trip to the Broncos’ stakeholders earlier this week.
It comes as the NRL prepares to expand with sides from Papua New Guinea and Perth entering the competition. That ensures the battle for players will be even more intense and Brisbane see Super League as a way of exploiting a different market.
Morgan Knowles is the latest Englishman to sign with an NRL club, with the St Helens man penning a deal with the Dolphins to play under former Saints coach Kristian Woolf and alongside England international Herbie Farnworth.
Not every move for English talent can deemed to be successful, though, with Lewis Dodd currently struggling for game time in the South Sydney Rabbitohs ranks after his move in the off-season. Will Pryce returned to the UK this week, too, after making just five appearances in his first year with Newcastle Knights.
