I guess we are where we are. If he's on form I'd be very tempted to put Connor at No6. He has stood out at test level.

I’d put Lomax in that same bracket as Farrell in saying has he ever been played in the correct role? He came through at Saints as a halfback but was quickly used as a utility back and shunted around. He’s been superb these last few seasons as a halfback but at international level I can only ever remember him playing a bit of fullback and a few games from the bench at fullback or stand off.

I’m like a couple of others in thinking Williams and Lomax are too similar and ideally you want one of those with an organising halfback but we’ll have to see who is available. It’s been a slow start for Gale and there aren’t many of that style around the league.

You have to wonder why Wayne Bennett consistently chose the likes of Kevin Brown, Luke Gale, Jackson Hastings, George Williams infront of him?

I think if Connor came in it would be at FB with Tomkins in the halves.

I'd be happy with that.

if you want to go down that rabbit hole, then also wonder why Wayne Bennett thought it a good idea to play Blake Austin on the wing.......

i know that in itself is weird, i always wondered why he didn't put austin at centre and connor on the wing, who had some wing experience, surely more transferable skills and responsibility going from SO to C.

....and Stef Ratchford on the wing in another game.

He also choose not to select Sam Tomkins very much and I don’t recall Williams getting many more starts than Lomax did.

He’d choose Williams now though because he’s in the NRL. If you weren’t in the NRL or had played in the NRL under Bennett you were at a disadvantage.

wasn`t it Lomax flopping in Denver that got everyone seeing what hull fans see in Conner ? brought on to replace Lomax and changed the game

Still relying on Roby speaks volumes for the lack of world class Hookers being produced. Roby is a great player but at 35 you would think there would be someone else by now to have taken his place.

In contrast Cameron Smith is no longer around and I'm watching this 23 year old Harry Grant @ Melbourne Storm and he looks special.

Cam Smith probably would've still played for Australia and Qld when he was 35/36 if he hadn't retired.

Either way there’s no chance Hodgson can get the 9 shirt, he’s absolutely awful. Tries to do everything on his own constantly.

Think Wane already knows what his England squad is, maybe the odd player might make the squad but suspect form or otherwise he will already know his first choice 17.
Australia pick on form and have selectors. This has been an issue for years and is one of the reasons we have not beaten them for nearly 50 years, and are never likely to, we don’t select on form and now if you get a gig in the NRL your picked regardless of ability.

Australia will win the world cup England will make the semis at best, then there will be the usual enquiry and nothing will change.

Germany and France last 2 Fifa WC winners both essentially banned/ strongly discouraged or ltd overseas players in the domestic game to develop home grown players.

British RL needs to bring back a 3 overseas player rule and seriously consider not selecting NRL based players otherwise British RL will/if not already on the way to being a feeder comp.

Yeah because players would stay in the SL if you did that, never mind all the money, playing in the best comp on the world, the sunshine, I'll give it all up to stay in Yorkshire and be part of the England side that never wins anything.

We would have exactly the same number of British players in the NRL as we do now, just a far worse international side.

You talk about the Aussies picking on form but I've just looked

9 out of the Aussie 17 Australian stayed the same from '17 to '18. 10 of the England squad stayed over the same period.

9 of the Aussie 17 stayed the same from '18 to '19. Exactly the same for England in the same period.

The Aussies don't pick on form any more or less than we do.

Well apart from the climate, Australia is a S**t hole. Salary cap a massive issue here, but NRL don’t do P&R players want money only in NRL then them , ok then lay it on the line money or Not play for your country or take the cash, hard decisions need to be taken. Players only interested in Money and the sun are w**kers and should not be picked.

They have a short career and families to provide for. There's nothing wrong with putting that first. Plus I'm sure a lot of them genuinely want to test themselves in the best comp in the world. Regardless, all you have done is come up with a way to heavily weaken the international team, it wouldn't make even one player stay.

Imagine the anger from the fans as the World Cup rolls around. Williams, Thompson etc helpless in the stands as we struggle to get past PNG, Samoa etc because some bright spark created a rule to stop England benefitting from its best players playing in the best league. It would be one way to get us in the papers I suppose, we would be the national punchline for a week or two. "English rugby league players escape the M62 corridor, governing body promptly brands then heretics and banishes them from the national team."

Looks like someone's taken full advantage of the pubs being open.

Agree but I’ve never rated him because his defence is weak. Even more worrying is the decline in Elliott Whitehead, he is still a workhorse but is having less & less impact in games.
I hope Wane has another look at McMeeken, he’s got the size and athleticism to be a success at International level.

There's a lad at Warrington, his name is Daryl Clark he's pretty damn good.

Damn I just assumed Hastings was in the squad.

How can Wane justify not including Hastings? That's complelty absurd.

Wane with his little Englander mentality.

Yes his a good player. I don't think his been as good as I thought he would be once he moved to Warrington but yes his a decent player.

English born only which in reality is he doesn't want Australian born players. Wane needs to move with the times. Place of birth does not determine a person's nationality.

If wane has any sense he will come out and admit his past comments were silly and a mistake and this 'english born' selection rule is no longer in place. If not he is setting himself up to look real silly having to explain to journalists why Hastings is on a beach in Sydney instead of lining up for England in the world cup.

These are the views of someone who is stuck in the past. Overseas players are brought in because clubs are not producing players that are good enough at SL level. The player pool decreases every year. We have no reserve grade so more players will be let go and leave the game. Blaming overseas players for the lack of the required level of players coming through the ranks is absurd. Picking players just because they are not overseas will not work. You will just end up with a sub standard product but hey I guess you will be happy as you can shout from the rooftops how great it is to have British players only..

Oh and your point about France and Germany soccer regulations is so off the mark it's unreal.

Germany's Bundesliga 1 and 2 do not have a maximum foreign player limit, but instead a minimum "local" player limit. At least 8 players must have played for the club in three seasons each before turning 25, and at least 4 further players must have done the same at any German club.

France's Ligue 1 appears to have a limit of five foreign players (with a similar meaning as above) and further allows only four to be playing on the field at any time.

They bring players in who can entertain and most importantly put bums on seats. That’s why Yawnion go in for RL players. Because they entertain.