Super League no longer attracts the big name Australians say former Wakefield Trinity man

Halifax Panthers man Kyle Wood is starting his testimonial year in 2023 after a career where he was best known for his time at Wakefield Trinity and Huddersfield Giants.

Speaking to Serious About Rugby League recently, he revealed the bets team he ever played for:

“Probably when I made my debut for Huddersfield Giants, we had players like Brett Hodgson, Luke Robinson, Kev Brown, Danny Brough, Shaun Lunt. That era when I was playing with them was where I learnt my trade.

“It was really good, I had Nathan Brown as the coach, a very good coach, I learnt a lot from him and those players. I’m learning a lot, learning to train at a high intensity and how to perform in Super League. It helped me throughout my career.”

This Giants side was star-studded yet never won a major final losing the Challenge Cup Final to Warrington Wolves in 2009 despite being the favourites.

Wood tried to identify why:

“We didn’t perform when it came to the big games, in play-offs we seemed to let ourselves down or fall at the last hurdle.

“I don’t know to be honest. It was one of those things.”

It was an era where there were plenty of contenders for the big trophies and big NRL stars like Brett Hodgson and Danny Buderus coming over to Super League in 2009.

Wood feels Super League no longer gets the “bigger name players” coming over:

“Yeah definitely playing in that era, the clubs were really strong they had a lot more depth and a lot bigger name players. Hopefully it’s something that Super League can build back up to being like that.

“We’ve still got very good players, but in my opinion was very strong and had very strong Australians coming over which doesn’t seem to be happening as much.”