1 - Tomkins
2 - Briscoe
3 - Cudjoe
4 - Atkins
5 - Goulding

6 - O'loughlin
7 - Robinson

8 - Graham
9 - Roby
10 - Burgess
11 - Ellis
12 - Westwood
13 - Tomkins J

14 - Harrison
15 - Lunt
16 - Fielden
17 - Crabtree

Oh. Dear. Widdop can feel hard done to, but i understand putting Tomkins at FB. How did Atkins get his spot back - he was pants against NZ and he's going to get torn apart by the Aussies...

Erm, because we're buggered for centres?

I quite like that team. Lockers isn't a half-back but he does have superb hands, I'm sure Joel will get no end of slagging off on here for daring to be picked - but he's a fantastic runner and finisher, glad Sam is at FB - he's about the only one quick enough and good enough to stop line-breaks and Widdop had looked weak 1-on-1, pack looks powerful with Crabtree, Harrison & Fielden to make a big impact, if Robinson's on his game he's dangerous (big if). Of course it could all go to sht before any of that matters but fck it, might as well give it a go, nowt to lose.

FFS.....England are playing the supposed best team in the world and they insist on playing people out of position.....

how on earth has atkins kept his place, i'd much rather have moved ellis out to centre rather than see ryan 'can't tackle' atkins again.

Tomkins to fullback is a smart move, although not sure on o'loughlin at stand off, i would have gone with widdop.

rest of the team as expected

Far too many changes esp to the spine, why didn't they do this last month!? Mcbanana was talking a good game earlier in the week (as always) asking for consistency, then presses the panic button. How ironic.

Sam had to play fb but not at the expense of two forwards forming a halfback combination. Lockers - best 13 in the 4 nations, worst 6.

We started slowly with a settled side so we'll get blown off the park in the 1st 20.

Here's hoping for a Steve Mclaren esque escape and they gel riddiculously quickly against a top class team. Squad certainly looks stronger on paper other than half backs.

Why put a fantastic 13, at 6??? Granted, O Loughlin could probably do a job there but hes not creative enough but he absolutely excells at 13.

think i'll wait till 8:30 sunday morning before i slag the selections off

Robinson an international 7? Times are hard.

Where's Clubb?

He can play his usual game in defence. He des take ball playing responsibility at 13 anyway, although I suspect his main job in that department is merely getting it out wide to Tomkins.

In fairness, I like the look of the pack. I like Harrison as a player so I'm glad to see him get a chance and I'm pleased to see Crabtree back in there.

I can't help thinking that McNamara has taken a side to bust through up the middle. Whilst its a possibility that we can get the upper hand in the forwards, i doubt it could win us the game outright.

Nowhere near a RL player wearing a Kangaroo shirt , same as Griffin , then again the same could be leveled at several others in the team

A ' fear ' team , we will lose by 42 points

just thinking.........o'loughlin main role might be to shut down lockyer??...o'loughlin is a tackling machine and has a huge engine (he can run all day)...so maybe he can hound lockyer out of the game?..


STOP LOCKYER...STOP AUSTRALIA!

I dont think that is a bad bench to be honest.

Lunt is a player who has progressed really well in his last 2 seasons, and his pace from dummy half is excellent. He also played in the 2nd row for Hudds this year.

Harrison is a very solid player, excellent defence and has good go forward, no problems with him at all, and infact, i'd probably have put him in the starting line-up ahead of Joel Tomkins.

Fielden has had an excellent year and deserves his place on the bench.

Crabtree played well in last years tournament and i think offers us something different going forward, dont mind his selection at all and he will be out to prove a point that he should have been included last weekend.

As for Lockers at half back, not overly keen on that, but hopefully him and Robinson can make a decent partnership.

Tomkins at full back is the one though, maybe we have had to bring Lockers in at half back so we can free Tomkins up to go to full back, so we are a bit more creative and dangerous with our go forward.

Let's hope Atkins defends a bit better than he did in his last game and actually gets into the faces of the defenders, instead of giving them a 10 metre start.

Can't see how Atkins kept his place after last week. This isn't SL, we can't have him there because he'll come good eventually with a bit of game time; he needs to be good and ready now.

If we're moving forwards around why not drop Ellis back to centre? Too much was expected of Burgess and Ellis last week, so they were quiet.

Here's a wild idea! Why didn't we take Wilkin? Personally I think he's not large enough to be a second rower and is naturally a stand off. If we took him he could back up both the forwards and the halves.

Unbelievable scenes!

O'Loughlin! He is the perfect hook to hang any failure on though. But it beggers belief that he's been picked there. Changing both your half backs is classic England.

You would not see Australia taking such action mid series unless there was an injury or a dead rubber scenario. Such a sign of panic.

Wilkin is never a stand off in a million years, just doesnt work.

Disagree, misses way too many tackles.

Brown might not have done brilliantly, but he didnt do badly either, especially later on in the Kiwi game when he got stuck in more.

I suspect he has been dropped to avoid McBanana from picking 5 Huddersfield players.

And looking at Kev's stats, he had been doing pretty well as a defender in the middle of the park, but yeah, why change halfbacks now, especially to an untried partnership, with an out of position player from one that looked like it could do something...

Hope Lunt produces his best, on his day he can really get a team going, and close to the line he is Cunninhamesque in his ability to get over for a try.

Big, Big game for Cudjoe too.

Has Cudjoe player much in the centre's?

In is an absolute stinker of a decision to play O' Loughlin at stand off. The tactic of playing slow loose forwards at stand off has failed so many times, it makes looking like going over the top at the Somme look innovative. How many times does it take before we learn?

On the plus side, I am glad Widdop is rested as he looks out of his depth. Tomkins is a quality player whether he starts at 1, 6 or 7 so we should be ok at full back.

In terms of the pack Harrison is a very promising player. I think he may offer a bit of an x factor. Westwood deserves a start because I think he did well last week and always offers soemthing in both attack and defence. Lets hope he does'nt throw silly penalties away. Same also true of J. Tomkins. Crabtree was a must because there will be periods of the game when we are on the backfoot and some impetus of the bench is essential.

Be interesting to see how Cudjoe plays, but I'd rather have seen him on the wing. Think this is a real danger area for us and one the Aussies will exploit.

I think it would be a big, big upset to get anything out of the game. Focus should be on the style of rugby. We must not play one out drivel which will never, ever threaten elite sides. The emphasis should be on a more expansive game, with the forwards working as a unit as opposed to just driving it 'downtown.'

We didnt take Wilkin, as he is superleagues best flat track bully, and will be of no use in Austrailia.

Lockers would be in my team every week, but never as a stand off, he can get away with it against teams from superleague, and has done this year, but he is never a stand off.

Nice ready made excuse from clueless though! Why didnt he pick this team last week, as at least it would have give the halfs some flight time, plus anyone who has ever seen Brown play can see he isnt anywhere near test standard.

Ben Harrison is a good pick, like him and I like Westwood and Crabtree at this level.

lets just remember though....

we are away in australia...with our 3rd choice team....we are'nt expected to do anything...


everyone will do well to bare that in mind

Think I would have went with the Brown / Robinson combo at half-back but otherwise not too many complaints. Atkins is lucky that only Clubb is in reserve for him.

Cudjoe played the back end of the season in the centres, actually more like a interchangable role between him and Michael Lawrence (hopefully he will develop as well as Cudjoe has as it could be a brilliant wing/centre partnership)

He certainly isnt a stranger to the role.


Brown is a quality standoff, and the best available to the squad.