Sandercock strikes back

Craig Sandercock: enjoying his first season in Super League

Hull KR head coach Craig Sandercock has defended the Super League against criticism from some notable figures in the game.

Former Great Britain captain and coach Ellery Hanley, in Australia to be inducted into the Wests Tigers' hall of fame, told journalists the NRL is "a million miles ahead" of Super League while Australian Daniel Anderson, in England for the international origin series, claimed Super League had "plateaued" since he left St Helens in 2008.

Sandercock, who is in his first season in Super League after stints down under at Manly Sea Eagles and Newcastle Knights, says he has been impressed by the standard of the competition and refutes Hanley's claim that only four teams can win a trophy.

"I think it's a great competition," the Australian said. "There's no longer only two or three sides.

"Catalan, Huddersfield, Hull FC and to a lesser extent us, I suppose, have shown that there are teams that are capable of beating other sides on their day.

"There's some real good young players, the likes of Kallum Watkins (Leeds) and John Bateman (Bradford) have really impressed me.

"I've been very impressed to tell the truth, it's possibly better than I thought it would be."

Optimistic

Hanley says England will never beat the Australians "in my lifetime" but Sandercock believes there are more reasons to be optimistic, although he insists it is difficult to compare Super League with the Australian game.

"The NRL is totally different," he added. "For a start there's two referees so the rucks are a lot cleaner and also it's a lot more defensive driven. Over here we do like to play a lot more attacking style.

"There's two completely different games so it's hard to compare but hopefully, come the World Cup, England will field a really good side and give Australia a run for their money."

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