My problem is with the RFL, IRFL and Tony Smith not Warrington.

I understand what a train on Squad is and think it is good to give players who may not feature now an opportunity to be part of an international set up. BUt what gives Harrison or Bridge the opportunity to be ahead of Dale Ferguson or other players whose form has been good and are likely to be part of the future international set up.

Why not Leroy cudjoe we are not exactly flush with great wingers at the minute and on form he is as good as if not better than those already picked eg Fox and probably Gardener and may be an option for the future.

Is being at warrington advantage.



Secondly why the switch now TWO weks before Ireland start their international progarmme where does that leave Ireland particularly as they wire players are not destined to play for England this time around.

Next why did the RFL decide to play as England when it is clear that GB would have allowed a better selection of players for the big competitions against NZ and Aus and would have created an equal competition for the European and .


Why harrison and Bridge allowed to leave Ireland but not select Brough who wants to play for England and would be a real option at half back. I mean Brough plays for a team that starts with a W.

Whether Bridge and Harrison ar good enough is not the issue it is the way it is done, the timing and tha fact that it does not look transparent to me.

Cudjoe's a possible, but Mason?? You've got to be kidding, he's been good for the Giants but there's a hell of a lot of talent in our front row already and I reckon Peacock, Morley, Graham, Carvell, Burgess etc are way ahead in the pecking order.
Welhams not as good a centre as Bridge

Brough, Ferguson, Moore, Blaymire and Snitch have all had great seasons. Out of those four Brough is the only one who would've endangered the actual line up but all could've easily been added to the train on squad in place of Bridge or Harrison (Who?!).

Cudjoe's front-on defence simply isn't good enough at international level. The big athletic specimens Australia have in their backline would run over him then go back and run around him again just for fun.

Challenge cup medal winner, England Train on squad,

and also despite wire finishing the lofty position of tenth in the league, he's one of the players, along riley, mitchell and cooper who we've had many plaudits from other teams coming on to our board applauding us on his talent, cos he's fooking great.


Didn't Brough finish the season injured? is that something that hasn't cleared up or is it a slightly more longstanding problem?

Huddersfield choked in the play-offs and were never in the game at Wembley, but there were very consistent in beating "lessor" teams throughout the season to ensure a good league position, but usually failing in the big games against teams like Leeds.

And their star player is Australian.

Cudjoe hasn't really performed in the big games and was embarrassed in the Challenge Cup semi-final by Meli as I remember.
Mason is a decent prop who has had a great season but is unlucky to be in a position where England are strong with Morley, Peacock, Graham, Crabtree, LMS etc.
I agree with you in that Welham would be worth a spot in a train-on squad but disagree that he is a better player than Bridge.
Ferguson at Wakey is a good player and similar to Harrison in many ways but again in my opinion not as good.

Who else should have been picked for the squad ahead of the Warrington contingent?

The last three, no freakin chance.
The former 2 are unlucky, both had decent seasons, personally I think Harrison will become a better player than Ferguson, we'll obviously differ on that one

Does Brett Hodgson qualify to play for England yet?



Not sure why Cudjoe(to gain experience) and Wild aren't in the train on squad. I can see why Harrison is in there. He's been great when i've seen him and can gain a lot from it. Higham, Clarke, Tickle and Westwood can only be there as back up.

You cannot just put down the finishing position of, for example, Huddersfield on the shoulders of the overseas players. It is about various factors, including the coach. The league table does reflect the team performance and in the past we have heard of players not being selected because, as a team, he was not part of a higher achieving side.

I'm not interested in who 'should' have been picked. I am highlighting that the coach has picked more players from his own team than the rest of the other available teams combined so far. It woudn't surprise me at all if most of them don't make it, I'd be shocked if they don't mostly miss out in fact, but it till seems to me that he is abusing his position as head coach of England to try and develop his club players and help his club side and I think that's out of order.

We'll see but don't hold your breath, its difficult when you only see them 3 or 4 times a season granted and i have no wish to have a go at Ben.

Fergy will play for GB/England of that i have no doubt.

If there are 3 in front of him then why pick him? He's just not needed, although it would certainly help Warrington if the player were to gain experience of the International set up even if realistically he has no chance of representing his country this time.

Shame Ricky Bibey got injured then, he would’ve been a shoe in.


Brough did get injured (50-50 for the play off match). Don't get me wrong I'm quite glad he has missed out so that he can spend the off season resting so he can come back chomping at the bit next year.

Ferguson is another who has plaudits from rival supporters (even Huddersfield fans!) and caught Leeds interest when they came for Pitts!

because (despite what rogues gallery would have you believe) he's been very very good for us this year, and much like people questioning westwood, he's an incumbent if you will from the last england squad and one of a few to come back from the world cup with positive performances behind him.

And who's to say, that those 3 who are probably involved in the play offs, won't pick up an injury in the remaining weeks? so rather than try and get someone off holiday who's packed in training, keep em on their toes.

Bottom line for me, with the exception of westwood, who's been a bit up and down this year compared to previous seasons, the rest of them deserve to be in the train on squad at the very least, aside from king and monas after a change in attitude, this 5/6 have been our best players, and it wouldn't have surprised me if he was fit, that Simon Grix probably would have got a call up as well.

So despite him being behind 3 players all vying for one position you pick him because "He's been good for you"?

I dare say the 3 in front of him have been good for their clubs.

Being an incumbant is totally irrelevant. At the last World Cup we played like a bunch of strangers, so to use that as any kind of justifcation is ridiculous.

Mickey Higham has plenty of experience of being around international squads, did he not play for GB around 2004/5?

I'd love to know exactly what experience you think players are gaining as a result of being in this notional train-on squad? How much work do you think they will be doing between now and the time the squad is trimmed down after the Grand Final?

To insinuate that Tony Smith is looking to use his England position to somehow "develop" his Warrington players when all they will be doing is going through a few drills and keeping fit until the final squad is announced is paranoid delusional conspiracy theory.

If it's a train on squad why add Harrison & Bridge and not for say example:

Owen, Westerman, Ferguson, Blaymire, Wild, Cudjoe, Lawrence, Welham?

In terms of the accusation that he is picking players to develop them for Warrington, only Bridge and Harrison have been picked who aren't already full England/GB internationals. Both are young, former junior internationals who have been very good this season. Harrison definitely has the potential to play for England and his selection can therefore be fully justified, whilst Bridge offers cover in areas of particularly weakness.

Comparisons with players like Snitch who is an decent honest player but will never ever be good enough to play for England, are bizaare.

Owen; Id like to have seen him there.
Westerman, classy and potential..Harrisons been better this year though in the same position.
ditto ferguson
Blaymire's got some way to go if he wants a shout
Wild's pretty unlucky, I like him, forgot about him actually
Lawrence and Welham.. whaaaaaat???? have you been eating for breakfast...Bridge is superior to both, if a little older. Id see how they go next year yet

Try and take your blinkers off for a minute.
England's hookers are likely to be Roby, Moore, and Diskin.
2 of these are still involved in the play-offs and therefore could quite possibly get injured. The whole point of a train-on squad is we have sufficient players fit and available who have trained with each other come the time of the series.
It is entirely logical to have a player like Higham who has proven himself on the international scene to be keeping fit with the train-on squad, not matter how much you delude yourself otherwise.

I really like Tony Smith.


Just when the footy season is winding down, he does his best impression of a coach and fills Australian hearts with laughter.

Between him and Paul Wellens....I physically p*ss myself during every English test match. I'm a bit like your lineup in that sense.

It is more than just drills and staying fit. There are mental aspects to it; a player selected for this squad is bound to gain confidence and self belief. They mix with new players, they will see other players train, they are exposed to new coaches, facilities etc. The amount of benefit that a player will gain from it is open to interpretation and opinion but it certainly wont be doing them any harm, will it.

I don't think it's paranoid or delusional pointing out clear patterns in the mans selection and how the justifcation for some of these selections actually contradict each other. That historically reasons for not selecting certain players seem to have flown out of the window this time.
It's certainly better than saying Mickey Higham should get picked despite having 3 in front of him for one position because he played for them last year when we got our a4ses royally exposed!

If they make it into the final squad, they will.

At the moment its more a case of telling them not to book any holidays and lay off the pies/booze just in case they might be needed.

I accept the point with Higham and the risk of injuries. You can't apply that to every selection he has made though and the arguments I've read justifying some of the other selections do not stand up IMO.

Well that's a fair point I suppose. We shall have to wait and see what the final squad gets whittled down to. In a way ot doesn't even matter anyway, I think we're going to get pumped!

Actually i think there is a negative effect.
If Bridge got anywhere near playing for England this year it would be yet ANOTHER season Bridge didnt get a proper pre season. If the lad hadn't had the disaster injuries of recent years im fairly certain he'd be up there in the running for the test spot now.
Id rather he spent the offseason getting fully fit and sticking a stone or so on him