I hope not!

Smith and Widdop, classic partnership a runner with a player maker.

Roby and Clark for me , never rated Mcilorum, don't see what he offers apart from being a bit of a , besides the Aussies will know what to expect, Clark is a bit of an unknown to them in terms of playing against him. In fact i'd take Hodgson, Lunt, Houghton and Higham before Mcilorum !

Robes and McIlorum for me. Clark an honourable mention but would get dominated and found out in defense IMO.

I'd take McIlorum just for wind up purposes, they cant help themselves when it comes to sledging and a bit of niggle so get them Aussies riled and let them lose their heads for a change especially that pack with loose cannons like Gallen and such like idiots in there.

Robes is unquestionably the starting hooker but as much as I dislike EVERYTHING about McIlorum, this is one the time i'd be willing to loosen the hatred as long he just gets a reaction from them and we get an advantage.

Roby and MM for me, Clark a very good player but not international class at the moment.

Yes using virtual reality you're put into a situation where a big Aussie or Kiwi starts taking your team mates heads off and acting as hard as nails. Then in a tackle he punches your team mate.

You have 2 options:
1 - stand up for your team mates, Queen & Country and proceed to batter said Aussie or Kiwi.
2 - make a show of pushing him in a handbag type way and then find a way to run away from the fight.

Results will be classified on a spectrum ranging from Top Prop or better known as the Peacock/Morley all the way down to Complete Tart aka the Bailey.

Roby and Clark depend on the quick ptb and scoot. You never get quick ptb against either the Aussies or Kiwis.
McIlorum doesn't play in a team that depends on quick ptb and scooting. Wigan get quick ptb but shift it wide to the 2nd rowers. MicMac can dart from dh but then finds the first or 2nd receiver.
Trouble is McNamara may want to play to a certain style but hasn't the ability to select and coach a team to play the way he wants.
McNamara is turning England into Bradford.

I thought Gallen was ruled out of the Four Nations.

Pick a skilful Hooker not a niggler, the Aussies and Kiwis will not give a fig about a team of nigglers its all be seen before.

Roby and Higham

I think it's the Fielden scale you mean!

I would take Roby and Mcilorum. I would choose Mcilorum over Clark at this stage of there careers as i think he just has that bit more about him.

I think McIlorum deserves a proper crack at the Aussies and Kiwis. The lad is a big game player and is consistently our best player when knock rugby comes around (along with O'Loughlin). His style suits test match rugby and he'd ruffle a few feathers. He physically (and legally) hurt people in the WCC game but was let down by some of those around him. He gave Warea-Hargreaves a proper going over in the second half and that's no easy task.

McIlorum to start with Roby on the bench for me.

Everyone has opinions but when you let hatred shine through like that opinions become worthless

I'm not sure where this idea that McIllorum is a master wind-up merchant comes from; Michael Ennis he is not. If anything, he's the one more likely to be targeted by a WUM and he's also the one most likely to react.

That said, I'd go for Roby as first choice all the live long day, with McIllorum to spell him; if you're taking 3, take Clark an all, but he's shown this season that he's not yet a big game player.

He wouldn't ruffle any feathers. There's far were worse players for that in the NRL, McIlorum is a pussy compared to what they are used to.

I'd definitely take Clark as he's had a cracking season and he may find his feet and have that big game performance he's lacked so far.

It may be just me, but I think with his running and attacking ability Clark could also cover the half-backs and even the three-quarters if needed. He looks to me to have the potential for good utility value.

I'd say he's similar to Karl Pratt but ten times better if not more!

It still gets my goat, this one.
In 2007, Roby won MoS as an impact hooker, rotating with Cunningham. That was 7 years ago.
Cunningham has retired and Roby is our only hooker. Yes, he is still a threat from dummy half when he gets a quick play, but that's something EVERY HOOKER SHOULD BE. On top of that he has great distribution, probably the best play selection of all the hookers, a kicking game, can make 40, 50, may 60+ tackles, makes very few errors or penalties, the list goes on. Its a long time since Roby had to rely on anything being set up for him.

I have mixed feelings on MM. I'd love to have a prop or back row at Saints with his attitude. He's obviously a decent hooker and does well for Wigan. I'm not going to claim that the Aussies will all of a sudden make him look like a pussy, that's obviously not going to happen.
I seem to remember him being a bit underwhelming in the England - Fiji game last year, that make's me a little worried about his peak ability outside of the Wigan set up. Wigan continue to be a club who's ability as a team seems to far outweigh the sum of its parts.
I can imaine them being our two hookers and it going quite well. I could also imagine the two of them being on the pitch together for large periods. The likely hood is that against Aus we'll need to work very hard in defence, scrambling some of the time. These two have the engines to hopefully make sure we can keep them from our line.

That said, I like some of the other hookers over MM, probably Lunt for me. Its a good position for us, though, so I don't imagine us taking a bad 9 in the squad.

Leaving aside slow PTBs and a lack of space in Test match rugby, Roby and Clark are stronger in the upper body and much better defenders than McIlorum. I wouldn't be surprised if McIlorum misses 2 or 3 times as many tackles as his rival hookers. Please let's not pick MM on the myth of him being the best defensive hooker around.

Stats on the subject seem to back this up:

MM - attempted 408, missed 32 (~8% missed)
DC - attempted 725, missed 34 (~5% missed)
JR - attempted 1089, missed 35 (~3% missed)

On a slightly seperate issue... Do we actually need 2 hookers in the 17? Roby does 80 minutes every week so would having an extra forward on the bench or a utility back be a better option?

It probably doesn't matter. On McNamara's previous form he will probably just go with 16 men in the important games. Anyway, half the squad will have been sent home before we get to any games of interest.

theres no stat on how hard they hit though is there? and I would wager MM hits than the other 2.

He also leads by example in terms of aggression and line speed.

Ask Warea-Hargreaves if MM is a goog defender?

Is his dad harder than theirs too?

No good being hard if you miss the man 8% of the time.

id be happy to see widdop and smith as the half backs too. best option i suppose!

Roby & Lunt.

However, with Sinfield stepping aside & Burrow perhaps not available it's an even more important question.

I'd rather Roby played 80 minutes and had to do less defending. Better game control by England would certainly help that. Bigger forwards like George Burgess need to be able to play as long as any of their Aussie & Kiwi counterparts.

Hopefully another year's experience in the NRL will have addressed this.

The Kiwis beat us at Wembley by running at lads like Burgess late on in the game.

There's a lot more to defence than tackle percentage decided by opta. Sean O'Loughlin has a similar missed tackle percentage and if anyone calls him a bad defender it's pistols at dawn i'm afraid. What they do is charge up at the ball carrier to stop them in their tracks, this can lead to misses but also oftens stops the other team doing what they intended to do.

McIlorum is great at winning the collision and controlling the ptb, this is very important and isn't show in stats. As people like to point out he hurts the opposition, often legally sometimes illegally but he's more controlled now. He's only been penalised 8 times this season. He also makes great cover tackles, traps people in goal on kick chases, he's basically everywhere in defence.

He's become better in attack as well though. His distribution looks great now.

The main thing is he plays his best in the biggest games, taking on the opposition's biggest best forwards and often winning. His best performances have been in play off games and Grand Finals. Look at the Magic game this year, we were missing O'Loughlin, Farrell, Flower, Clubb, Pettybourne didn't have Joel back yet and McIlorum stood up took it to the Leeds pack dragged them into a fight and won us the game. He was head and shoulders the best player in that game.

Compare that with Clark at Wembley were he got pretty much shown up for me, that's the environment he'll be in for England and I'm not sure he's ready yet.

Having said all that Roby is so good I'm not sure we'll need anyone else. If they're going for an interchange hooker I say start McIlorum bring on Roby but i would be happy to see Roby do the 80. McIlorum should be in the squad ahead of any other hooker though and he will be.