I don't know what Danny Houghton needs to do to get in the England squad, he is one of the most consistant performers in super league. Also whilst I agree that Charnley has had the edge over Briscoe this season, I would have Briscoe in ahead of Hall. Hall is a great winger don't get me wrong but Briscoe offers something different in that he can score a try out of nothing (as shown on saturday). If were going to beat the Aussies we need to start taking more risks, and stop relying on the usual formula.

O'Loughlin is one of the best passers in Super League. Sinfield a very good passer too but 'far superior' is well wide of the mark.

O'Loughlin offers more out of the two in the forwards, Sinfield offers more in the halves.

There's nothing that Sinfield offers that couldn't be made up elsewhere in the pack, other than his kicking, but with Brough, Tomkins and Roby also in the squad there is no reason why Sinfield's kicking would be the trump card.

Brough is only 2 years younger than Sinfield, he isnt the next young thing. He is a fairly decent player, who played for some pretty average teams and was bombed out of the only club he tasted a modicum of success with.

Either we go with Sinfield or throw it to one of the youngsters.

None of Brough or Tomkins play in the pack. Roby isnt an international kicker by any stretch. Roby is an outstanding player, a real talent, a level above either Sinfield or O'loughlin but that isnt one of the strings to his bow. Sinfield speed and range of passing is far superior to O'loughlins. O'loughlin can run some nice set moves and has a facet to his game most forwards of his ilk dont have in that respect, but Sinfield is superior in that aspect.

I agree Sinfield offers more in the halves, If i were picking the side he would be in the halves, Burgess imo is the best of the three and the 13 jersey is his right now but if you wanted to move Burgess further up then O'loughlin would be the next in line

Sinfield shouldn't be in the team he has proven he can't play at international level so why pick him? He's only good for his kicking and maybe leadership abilities but there are plenty of leaders in the team so that doesn't matter

Not at all. I have lost count of the times Lockers has thrown superb passes to our wingers to put them in the corner from nothing. Lockers is always a key part of our attacking line and is much better at that than Sinfield.

Either way, I'm confident Lockers will be picked. He is the best 13 in the comp right now and Burgess needs to be in his best position. So many coaches have picked lockers out as the best 13 in the comp, he is just so much better than Sinfield I don't know why I am bothering to argue about it.

Sinfield has proved time and time again he is useless at international level. End of.

Great at Leeds though, against the aussies? Not a chance! They probably laugh when we pick sinfield in our team.

Sinfield might be tried at 9. He has played there before and done well.
The Ausies and Kiwis know how Roby works. From the quick ptb.
They both slow it down it and nulify any of his speed around the ptb area.
Hence we end up going nowhere.
Sinfield might, just, be the kind of play maker that could undo them so their 3 and 4 men in the tackle can be offset by a long pass from dummy half.
Roby to come on from the bench after 25 mins.
Just a thought as Roby has hardly made a break in recent Intls.

I can agree with this as Sinfield did play well at 9 at times in 2009. But I don't think you can play him at 9 ahead of Burrow, McIlorum, Houghton etc.

Seriously, Sinfield has been fit for the last (probably) 5 or 6 end of season Internationals and he has yet to cement his place in one position for England. How many more goes is he gonna have at being average in another position?

I think we can safely say the following:

1: All Wigan fan's would pick SO'L
2:All Leeds fans will go for Sinfield
3:All neutrals appreciate both are good players and will base their choice on how the rest of their squads will line up

Replacement hooker is an interesting pick, Roby seems nailed on for 9 of most and then you have Henderson, Burrow, Robinson, Houghton. Plenty of choice. Again, a choice that may depend on how the rest of your personal team lines up.

One thing for sure, England seem to have more options than for a while.

Tomkins
Hall
Reed
Watkins
Briscoe/Charnley/McGilvery/BJB
Widdop
Brough
Graham
Roby
Peacock
Ellis
Westwood
Burgess

Burrow
Mossop
Hock
Crabtree/Patrick/JJB

I disagree.
Hall far outplayed Briscoe last time out in internationals, imo.
Also, i don't see how playing Hall is "relying on the usual formula", Hall has played a couple of games for england and played well, why drop him?
Hall and Charnley on the wings for me.

I think Hall is in the group of a few players who's position isn't up for debate, dead cert

I'm stunned that not everyone has selected Hall & Briscoe as the 2 wingers. The centres are up for debate, but not the wingers, both dead certs for me.

For my starting line-up I'd go with:

Tomkins
Hall
Watkins
Atkins
Briscoe
Widdop
Brough
Graham
Roby
Peacock
Ellis
Westwood
Burgess

Burrow
Mossop
Crabtree
JJB

and then I would have these guys making up the rest of the squad:

Patrick
Houghton
O'Loughlin
Reed
Charnley
Cudjoe

This, it totally depends on how the team sets up as to whether O'loughlin or Sinfield get the nod, both have aspects to their game which offer different things. For me it does purely depends on Englands Game plan. And as for selections, we finally do have some competition for places which is great to see, to think it wasn't that long ago when we were forced to play the likes of Sykes in the team. I still don't think we can beat the Aussie's yet, but we will give them a far better game than in the past. We have some genuine power and pace in the back line which we've not had for many years. And we do now have the options to rotate in if someone has a stinker, another thing we've lacked when we've been forced to play the same team week in week out in tournaments.

Why are you looking to the past? Surely you pick your International team on form?

The form English scrum-half is Danny Brough, so you pick him.

My team at this stage would be

1. Sam Tomkins
2. Josh Charnley
3. Jack Reed
4. Kallum Watkins
5. Ryan Hall
6. Gareth Widdop
7. Danny Brough
8. James Graham
9. James Roby
10. Sam Burgess
11. Ben Westwood
12. Gareth Ellis
13. Sean O'Loughlin

14. Lee Mossop
15. Eorl Crabtree
16. Gareth Hock
17. Kevin Sinfield

Briscoe isn't fast enough or good enough in defence and it's been made pretty clear the last few times he's played for England. Charnley is a better player.

Agreed, he has been outplayed in every game against Australia and was shocking in the 4 Nations final.

I would go:

Tomkins
Hall Reed Watkins Charnley
Widdop Brough
Burgess Roby Graham
Westwood JJB
Ellis

Crabtree, Hock, Burrow, Mossop

We are playing international dross this year so we dont need to play the likes of sinfield, jp and mozza and should be trying out some other players

Are you basing the fact hes not fast enough on him being caught by Mannering whilst carrying an injury?

In what way is Charnley better than Briscoe. This is a genuine question because admittedly I havnt seen too much of Wigan this year but from what I have seen I am yet to be convinced that he is anything other than a glorified Ade Gardner. By that I mean a solid winger who is given bags of chances and made to look good by his team mates

1. Tomkins
2. Hall
3. Reed
4. Atkins
5. Briscoe
6. Widdop
7. Brough
8. Graham
9. Roby
10. Peacock
11. Ellis
12. Burgess
13. O'Loughlin

14. Houghton
15. Lynch
16. Westwood
17. Mossop

No, I'm basing it on every time I see him play he gets run down by numerous opposition players.



Charnley is bigger, faster, a better defender and a good finisher - Briscoe is only a good finisher.

Tomkins
Hall
Watkins
Reed
Charnley
Chase
Brough
Graham
Roby
Peacock
Westwood
Ellis
O'Loughlin

Burrow
Mossop
S. Burgess
Hock