I wonder if he’s considering playing Widdop at full back or Blake Austin at centre, it’s certainly too many otherwise

Think best line up for GB personally would be

1. Coote
2. Mcgillvery
3. Hardaker
4. Gildart
5. Hall
6. Lomax
7. Widdop
8. Graham
9. Hodgson
10. Thompson
11. Jones
12. Whitehead
13. Bateman

14. Clark
15. Burgess
16. Walmsley
17. Hill/ Connor ( depending if Bennett wants to go with a back on bech).

Hardaker
Mcgilvery
Connor
Gildart
Hall
Hastings
Widopp
Graham
Hodgson
Walmsley
Whitehead
Bateman
Thompson

Clark
Burgess
Hill
Jones

Got to have lomax in the halves he’s been outstanding this year.

Yes sorry my bad, forgot the GB games were on the BBC.

Im actually looking forward to watching the 9’s comp, something a bit different

Starts at 8:20 Friday morning right? Then 1:20 Saturday morning?

Given my current sleep pattern it’s not like I’ll need the alarm clock...

Very strange selections.
I thought Hall was injured?
And I would have had Percival in for Gildart.

Gildart is a lot better than Percival IMO. It's clear Bennett doesn't rate him.

Gildart has better footwork but just not big enough.

Tbh thinking about it I wouldn`t have taken Austin and would have swapped him for Percival.
Equally the same goes for Trueman who I do rate but don`t think he will get a game.
I would have taken Watts instead and think it is a crying shame he wasn`t selected.

Watts has had an absolute barnstorming season. If he cant make rep status after that well.......

My thoughts too as he has been great this season and far better than Chris(Over the)Hill and Philbin who have both robbed him of a GB spot IMO

Yeah Philbins a strange one for me also. Always seen him as a bit of a FTB.

Look forward to being proved wrong.

I quite rate Phillbin. Hughes' inclusion is the strangest IMO

I'd have had

Grace in, Trueman out

Watts in, Philbin out

Thought both the men and women did well on day 1, lots to do tomorrow, but both look more g than competent.

Spoke too soon. Men done by a Lebanon side including three 17year olds...

Hardly a surprise. There's not enough pace in the England team for this format.

This england team is so slow

Hold on.....so were playing 9 a side and we picked Ryan Hall over someone like Kieron Dixon??? Wow.....Wayne Bennett master coach.

Well, that could have gone better. Looked gassed from the outset. We seemed to lose shape really easily with props defending on the wing a few times and seriously lacked creativity. Widdop was disappointing, Tompkins easily our most creative player.

We do lack speed, McGilvray should have scored (different game if he does?), and Hall looked (and was used) more like a prop. Credit James Graham for the unending effort, he’s a real warrior.

I thought exactly the same thing.

Wayne Bennett has used the 9’s tournament to blow off some cobwebs for players who will be featuring in the next few weeks. We face a tough Tongan team next week, with some players not having played a competitive game for quite a while.

Its supposed to be a World Cip Tournament not a training game to face Tonga ffs. You spout on about must win games every week then dismiss a World Cup????

Any test series against anyone is more important than any 9s tournament.