Brierley & Ritson comparison (podcast)

[Albion]

Firstly sorry about the clickbait in the title, but I could not fit in the title of the thread what it was really about. In reality it is just a promo for the Out Of Your League Podcast with Salford Red Devils' Ryan Brierley.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KzvwoYb9Ok

I have watched this YouTube video this morning and I think it was actually quite a deep insight into a player's thoughts and how players are treated by clubs. I would really recommend it.

I do not wish to go into too much detail as it would just be better to watch it, but there is a big discussion in here about how Brierley built SL up to be something that he found that it was not and I, without having any ideas about if this is correct or not, could not help but draw comparisons with Ritson.

Brierley said that he had spent 5 years in the championship scoring trys for fun but when he got the chance to go to Huddersfield he had built up the idea of SL so much that when he got there it just was not what he thought. He said that he scored a hat trick for Huddersfield on a sky game away at Wigan and after he got interviewed, he had a shower walked to his car and nobody said anything to him. He felt underappreciated in the sense that he had just done something that he found remarkable yet nobody was bothered about it. He scored a try the week after and then Paul Anderson dropped him because although he had scored 4 trys in 2 games, his running stats and GPS were low compared with others.

He makes quite an articulate comparison of players like him who establish themselves in the championship compared with academy lads who come through at places like Wigan and Saints. He says that for him he felt that he had too much time to build up his end goal and what that would look like to him and because of this whatever his experience was it was never going to live up to what he dreamed it to be like. Whereas academy lads who play SL straight away do not have the problem of time to do that and build up what it could be like and are already playing in that environment. I think the point he made was that it is much harder for lads who come up to SL from semi-pro standards than it is for lads who are already in that type of environment.

I could be completely wide of the mark, but I could not help but draw comparisons to Tee Ritson and how he may be feeling right now. I am just using Brierley's experience and thinking that Ritson could be thinking about it too. Ritson like Brierley spent a long time in the championship scoring trys for fun and standing out in teams and possibly had an idea of what SL is like and the reality is that it may not be what he felt and it is a lot harder than he thought it would be.

People may not be interested in that side of the game like I am but I found it compelling as it is something that I have never really heard anyone else speak about. It was a bit of a shock to hear what he was saying tbh. It makes what the likes of Walmsley and Hill did in moving up even more of an achievement in my eyes.

[Reacher]

Was a good listen that and he certainly came across as articulate and switched on. To do what he has done as an agent for womens football was visionary in that he knew it was the right time to move into this area as the popularity of the sport has boomed. To have no experience in this area and to start from scratch was brave of him and he is seemingly doing well off the field now.

He was also a guest on this weeks SL show on BBC1 and again came across knowledgable and switched on, he was very complimentary about Saints.

[Churchy]

Firstly sorry about the clickbait in the title, but I could not fit in the title of the thread what it was really about. In reality it is just a promo for the Out Of Your League Podcast with Salford Red Devils' Ryan Brierley.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KzvwoYb9Ok

I have watched this YouTube video this morning and I think it was actually quite a deep insight into a player's thoughts and how players are treated by clubs. I would really recommend it.

I do not wish to go into too much detail as it would just be better to watch it, but there is a big discussion in here about how Brierley built SL up to be something that he found that it was not and I, without having any ideas about if this is correct or not, could not help but draw comparisons with Ritson.

Brierley said that he had spent 5 years in the championship scoring trys for fun but when he got the chance to go to Huddersfield he had built up the idea of SL so much that when he got there it just was not what he thought. He said that he scored a hat trick for Huddersfield on a sky game away at Wigan and after he got interviewed, he had a shower walked to his car and nobody said anything to him. He felt underappreciated in the sense that he had just done something that he found remarkable yet nobody was bothered about it. He scored a try the week after and then Paul Anderson dropped him because although he had scored 4 trys in 2 games, his running stats and GPS were low compared with others.

He makes quite an articulate comparison of players like him who establish themselves in the championship compared with academy lads who come through at places like Wigan and Saints. He says that for him he felt that he had too much time to build up his end goal and what that would look like to him and because of this whatever his experience was it was never going to live up to what he dreamed it to be like. Whereas academy lads who play SL straight away do not have the problem of time to do that and build up what it could be like and are already playing in that environment. I think the point he made was that it is much harder for lads who come up to SL from semi-pro standards than it is for lads who are already in that type of environment.

I could be completely wide of the mark, but I could not help but draw comparisons to Tee Ritson and how he may be feeling right now. I am just using Brierley's experience and thinking that Ritson could be thinking about it too. Ritson like Brierley spent a long time in the championship scoring trys for fun and standing out in teams and possibly had an idea of what SL is like and the reality is that it may not be what he felt and it is a lot harder than he thought it would be.

People may not be interested in that side of the game like I am but I found it compelling as it is something that I have never really heard anyone else speak about. It was a bit of a shock to hear what he was saying tbh. It makes what the likes of Walmsley and Hill did in moving up even more of an achievement in my eyes.

Finally got round to watching this. I really enjoyed this & I think it changed not only mine but also Kyle Amors opinion of him.
However it confirmed my impression of McDermott whom I believe has always been a complete bell end & bully.

[Noel Cleal]

That was a good recommendation. I never knew how well spoken and thoughtful Brierley is, his self awareness is something you rarely see.

The comparison to Ritson is actually a good one but maybe not completely in the way the OP means. Brierley actually admits that he hadn't made it as a player at Leigh. That you can be a championship player that is "dead fast and score loads of tries" while also being rank average. Brierleys self reflection and determination has allowed him to reinvent himself and overcome a lot.

He is definitely a much better player than he was at Leigh. I would argue that most players would perhaps struggle to expand on their game but Brierley did it so why can't others.

Like most things you have to learn on the job, you aren't going to become a Superleague player playing in the championship.

[CGSaint]

Yeah Brian Mac sounds hurrendous
Brian Noble didn't come across all that well either.

Great episode and after watching I hope Brierley can win a trophy before he retires

[Albion]

That was a good recommendation. I never knew how well spoken and thoughtful Brierley is, his self awareness is something you rarely see.

The comparison to Ritson is actually a good one but maybe not completely in the way the OP means. Brierley actually admits that he hadn't made it as a player at Leigh. That you can be a championship player that is "dead fast and score loads of tries" while also being rank average. Brierleys self reflection and determination has allowed him to reinvent himself and overcome a lot.

He is definitely a much better player than he was at Leigh. I would argue that most players would perhaps struggle to expand on their game but Brierley did it so why can't others.

Like most things you have to learn on the job, you aren't going to become a Superleague player playing in the championship.

Yes I think you are right. Ritson is/was getting stick from some Saints fans this year and I can understand it to a degree, but people just see he is quick and scored a lot of trys so assume the transition from champ to SL would be seamless for him. However, I would argue it is far easier for a FB/HB to adapt or/and reinvent themselves than it is for a winger.

I think we will start to see SL clubs dip into the championship more now given how far apart the SL and NRL is these days. We seen it after teams saw how well the likes of Walsmley and Chris Hill did, but it is less so now with the bigger clubs. Probably Miski was the last one for a top 4 team unless I have missed someone completely there. Matty Ashton came from Swinton too recently and done well.

I watch a lot of championship RL and there are players there that would thrive in SL if, like you say, they are young enough and are able to adapt.

One who I know and have watched all year is Louis Brogan for Swinton and he has signed for Leigh. He is a prop and has size, speed and good hands. He does struggle in defence but would be defending with much better defenders next to him. Will be interesting to see how well he goes and how much game time he gets and how much of his game he is able to adapt to play SL level.

There are others too who have not signed who could do well. There is a player who looks really good at Barrow called Charlie Emslie who is a big powerful back rower and there are a number of players at Batley who could go well too. Their centre been linked with SL clubs.

[Noel Cleal]

Yes I think you are right. Ritson is/was getting stick from some Saints fans this year and I can understand it to a degree, but people just see he is quick and scored a lot of trys so assume the transition from champ to SL would be seamless for him. However, I would argue it is far easier for a FB/HB to adapt or/and reinvent themselves than it is for a winger.

I think we will start to see SL clubs dip into the championship more now given how far apart the SL and NRL is these days. We seen it after teams saw how well the likes of Walsmley and Chris Hill did, but it is less so now with the bigger clubs. Probably Miski was the last one for a top 4 team unless I have missed someone completely there. Matty Ashton came from Swinton too recently and done well.

I watch a lot of championship RL and there are players there that would thrive in SL if, like you say, they are young enough and are able to adapt.

One who I know and have watched all year is Louis Brogan for Swinton and he has signed for Leigh. He is a prop and has size, speed and good hands. He does struggle in defence but would be defending with much better defenders next to him. Will be interesting to see how well he goes and how much game time he gets and how much of his game he is able to adapt to play SL level.

There are others too who have not signed who could do well. There is a player who looks really good at Barrow called Charlie Emslie who is a big powerful back rower and there are a number of players at Batley who could go well too. Their centre been linked with SL clubs.

Definitely worth scouting the championship. Deon Cross recovered his career at Barrow and Widnes and is now doing well at Salford.

We have done well with the likes of Batchelor, Bentley and Walmsley. I am sure given time Ritson will become a decent Superleague player, but you can't really put a timescale on it. Bentley looked a decent player after his first season while Batchelor took 2 or 3 to look like he could hold his own.

Batch took longer but ended up the better player so the patience was worth it. It was just this crackpot idea a lot of Saints fans had of chucking him in after 2 league games when you know for a fact if he had been given a game and stank the same fans would have been screaming for him to go back to Barrow.