& your point is what? They are not that stupid to think Australia was a short bus ride away when they signed. & a couple of the barbarians where flown in for the games & they only get expenses, they play for the honour of playing against international sides, now thats a concept we could try to adopt. It should also be no bother of the England side if they are jet lagged on return thats their clubs problem which they knew about before offering contracts.;

My point is why make 2 of the first names on the team sheet sit on a plane for 24 hours, have them train while out on their feet, then play while out on their feet before sending them back to Oz where they will play while out on their feet again. They will be playing in the big internationals, fitness permitting, no matter what. They won't be playing at full whack and the chance of them getting injured will be increased. Will you be criticising the UK based players who will inevitably pull out of the game?

Again you miss the point, Internationals are not big small or anything they are the pinacle of our sport & the afore mentioned players are part of Englands team if they are tired when they get back then they should miss out for their club if they are going to be tired when they arrive then they should set off early it is not our concern if an Australian side misses their players for three games. To reiterate internationals over ride club games hear & abroad or at least they should.

Your source of info please!!!!

In answer to Bill Arthers question about the differance between the British and Australian game and could he play in an English side, he answered with, "The standard of the Wales V England is no different in speed and skill to the standard he was playing in Australia.

I beleive that is just fact not arrogance!!!!!

They have very good pathways in Oz, with the 16's, 18's and under 20 comp, followed by the reserve grade which is full of NRL players that don,t make the 17 at the weekend. We chuck our young lads in at the deepend with no real prep to get them ready for the big stage.

How does anyone on here even know how Ellis and Burgess would feel about playing the mid-season Test against France? Anyone who's flown between Australia and France knows it sucks, but are we to form a conclusion that Ellis and Burgess wouldn't want to represent their country based on our own feelings about a flight? It's not very convincing.

both regard playing for england as a massive honour

They'll fly first class, it's no hardship! Do agree its a pointless exercise though.

whilst reading one of the rl papers this week the burgess/ bunnies thing was mentioned, the bunnies decided not to appeal against the player going back to england because burgess had wanted to play his 8th game for england against the french as he saw it as an honour to play for england and the bunnies respected his wishes

and on the widdop theme, england should try and get this lad to play , even if its just the once at this moment in time, with finch leaving the storm at the end of the season, widdop is being lined up as his replacement and will be playing everyweek next year. this lad could be an assett to england in the future.. unless he chooses australia as his team

Back on topic on what i have seen of Widdop he looks a bit sharper than what we already have at fullback in SL. Briscoe is not dangerous enough going forward and Smith has not played regularly at 1 now for some time. If he does want to play for England he has a chance at the end of the year i think.

Widdop plays 6 too? It would be a bonus for England to have a player like him that plays 1-6 at the highest level in their ranks. IMO it would be daft for him to want to play for Oz. It is ambitious for him to want to play for Australia yes, but he could walk into England team now i think.

It was in a Australian newspaper today that England have requested Widdop to be released for the French game.

This can only be good news if true. Our backline at the moment (especially 1-5) is one of the worst threequarter lines we have had for ages. Players like Atkins, Smith, Briscoe are not nearly international class. Neither were a lot of what went before since 2000. Shenton, Tomkins and Tom Briscoe could be good enough internationally in time. To have an NRL standard player walk into the england set up now would be an unexpected bonus.

I would imagine having Billy Slater's understudy on your team would be 'helpful'
Good pace - Good eye for a weakness - Can kick as well.
BTW - Storm have said they have no problem with releasing Gareth for the French test.

Play him! We all want to see him over here. It's not a pointless international. It should stand alone as a fixture and there should be more internationals.

has'nt widdop already stated he wants to play for england and not australia or origin?....i'll try and find it somewhere

?

If he's shown himself to be even half decent in the NRL environment, then (as sad as it is to say) he's probably worth a starting place already. Get him in before the Aussies turn him.

Yep, get him a cap quick!!! How good is he?

I don't particularly subscribe to that view

On the wing, Hall, Fox and T. Briscoe are three excellent athletes... we surely can't be looking back fondly to the days when we had to put Horne on the wing (good player but never a winger)

Lee Smith is is probably the best option at fullback playing in Super League but the likes of Cudjoe could develop and (on topic) Widdop looks an excellent prospect

Tomkins, Eastmond and Myler represent the most talented young half backs I can remember coming through the England ranks with the likes of Burrow, Pryce and McGuire still in their prime

Centre is the obvious problem position - Shenton will benefit from the experience last year but I wish we had seen a couple of the young centres kick on this year - Lawrence and Watkins for example (I know Watkins os out for the year but he wasn't quite living up to his potential)

All in all, not a terrible picture

As usual we have a great pack, but at least we've got options at halfback now, which we havn't had for a while. It's the threequarters that we are lacking in my opinion. I'd gve youtha chance, let them develop.

Shock Call-Up? rugbyleague.com/rugby-league-new ... gland.html

Shock Call-Up? rugbyleague.com/rugby-league-new ... gland.html

Quote ="ShayFax"Shock Call-Up? rugbyleague.com/rugby-league-new ... gland.html'" Anything in British newspapers about this? If it's true two alright first grade games in the NRL and he is set for an England call up...

Quote ="ShayFax"Shock Call-Up? rugbyleague.com/rugby-league-new ... gland.html'" Anything in British newspapers about this? If it's true two alright first grade games in the NRL and he is set for an England call up...

Did New Zealand not pick a young lad before his NRL debut to play in the ANZAC day test last year?
All the mentioned players are at least holding their own in a tough competition so must be considered.

Hes had nothing good to say about GB RL or GB in general. Id rather he got picked by the aussies so Morley and Burgess can smash him.

Where has he said bad things? Is it possible to read them?