I’m waiting for someone to tell me Hodgson is better than Roby again - it’s as if a player having a house in Australia somehow makes people incapable of judging players they see with their own eyes.

Hodgson is nowhere near as good as Roby or Clarke and Bennett is amongst the few people on the planet who can’t see that.

It will be interesting to see what the (Bennett) old codger does next.

He should go, but at the end of the Tour not half way through.

Question marks were raised when the squad was announced. 2 wingers & 1 centre. Injuries to players in the Grand Final probably had a say in that. Markinson & Percival surly would of both be in the 24 to begin with. The 2,3,4,5 pick themselves with the Squad that was named.

Wane would certainly add more passion (Surly though playing for your county is enough to fire you up) but would it be more attractive Rugby or just the same.

Graham is passed it
Hill never has offered anything

G.Burgess & Watts should be in the 17 nevermind the 24.

Hodgson has never really set the world alight on the international stage.

Next week...

Lomax or Widdop

Coote (He is in the squad and a back, saves player a backrower out of position!)
Hardarker
Conner
McGillvary

Widdop or Lomax
Hastings

T.Burgess
Clark
Graham (he won't drop the captain)
Whitehead
Bateman
Philbin

Subs
Williams or Trueman
Jones
Walmsley
Hill - (no other prop!)

Bennett’s style is utterly boring. Who would pay to watch that? I am not convinced McGilvray should of passed to Hardaker as I think he was covered. Widdop in his defence must surely be playing to Bennett’s orders? That said, he is too slow and totally lacks any creativity to play stand off. Once again when there was a chance on the outside he put in one of his irritating grubber kicks, although it seemed mainly because he had not got the pace to get out to his centre. How many grubbers did he put in today that didn’t get through the defensive line? Utterly hopeless.

However this is how Bennett will probably go

coote
hardaker
bateman
connor
mcgilveray
widdop
hastings
hill
hodgson
burgess
philbin
whitehead
graham

lomax
walmsley
clarke
whichever forward is fit and the most conservative

We were arguably a better team but certainly a more entertaining team under stevie Mac. Yeah i know we got to the WC final with Bennett but only because he got lady luck on his side in his semi where Mac was the wrong side of that luck at the end of the 2013 semi.

Certainly time for a change now. After this tour it looks like in addition to Lockers and Sam Burgess finishing we will likely add Hill and Graham to that list feels like the start of a new cycle leading into 2021 WC.

I'm never wanting our national side to lose, but if it means the end of Bennett and and his boring tactics then I'm happy.

What, two tries in the last three games? Speaks volumes for Bennett's approach. Nowhere near good enough

Game for the purists. Samoa fiji and tonga aussie were far more entertaining, but that was a proper armwrestle which NZ only barely deserved to win..... The bombed try at the end was a schoolboy error..... He was reading his own headlines before he'd scored it......

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Yes,but he will be selected in the next game Father.

Not at all. It was not good enough with ball in hand for the purists.

we have no other wingers available, this whole thing is a fooking shambles

I know, and it beggars belief that he selected so many halves with the style he wants to play.

Why this obsessive bashing of Wayne Bennett?

Isn't it obvious that he just didn't have the playing talent to work with?

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He should've picked em then.

There was nobody better who wasn't injured.

Thomas Makinson and Mark Percival were injured.

Being an Aussie doesn't automatically make him talented. He's a boring dinosaur and does the game no favours with his style of play.

Some players that come to mind - Tomkins,Watts,Williams,Lineham, Charnley,Reece Lynne,Grace,Joe Burgess,and I'm sure some posters could add to these. Not sure if Roby was available,if he was, it's absolute madness not to pick him to interchange with Clark. For me,Bennett should be no more, and Shaun Wane should replace him. This is not Bennett bashing, it's my OPINION!!

I agree. However he didn't help himself by picking so many HB and not enough backs.
The talent pool certainly doesn't help. But surly it's common sense to take more than 2 Wingers and 1 Centre.

Either Grace or Handley would offer exactly the same as Williams/Austin have on this tour - a place in the squad but not the 17.

Of those names you have mentioned I would agree only with the Catalans star Samuel Tomkins, who showed during the 2019 Downer Nines that he is the most exciting attacking player whom Britain possesses.

Thomas Lineham is controversial and Joshua Charnley showed in Sydney in 2014 that he is not up to international standard. Regan Grace is just about pace, and James Roby may be too old for the job. Reece Lynne has not been tested at this level.

I can't ever remember Tomkins showing on the international stage why he should be picked!

The 2019 Downer Nines.

Surly the squad should be picked on performances during the season. Not on a Nines tournament that is completely different to a test match.

I see Jermaine McGillvary is being panned across social media for that poor effort which could of won us the game. Whilst I feel him being singled out is a little harsh, I believe had Tommy Makinson not been injured, a better player than McGillvary in every aspect, he would've finished that late chance and we may well have gone on to win the match with such little time left.

It also has to be asked why did Widdop just boot the ball to the Kiwis on the last tackle with us about 10 yards still in our own half with less than a minute left on the clock? Surely in a situation like that you chance your arm and keep the ball alive as much as you can. Really poor play from Widdop.

First and foremost, the referee was a ing disgrace. The amount of lying on and messing about at the PTB by NZ that he continually allowed, slowing us down all the time, was scandalous.

He ruined the game as a spectacle and could have caused some more serious fights than the scuffles that did ensue because he just allowed NZ to basically cheat all game that frustrated our lads.

He himself when the big decisions came round - Marshall high tackled Hall to stop a try, which is at least a Sin Bin, and the ref just brushed over it and gave just a penalty.

And when Hastings made that great break, Philbin was pulled back and he was going to be the support runner. The ref did NOTHING!

Onto the game: GB played with no intensity and no invention at all. I can’t help but feel that Bennett’s coaching is outdated. And by it’s BORING! One-out running with absolutely no creativity at all. It’s supposed to be the entertainment business but it was about as entertaining as watching grass grow.

Josh Hodgson is a boring RL player. Steady, consistent, yes. But boring. All he does is pass from dummy half or take three steps from dummy half and then pass which just reduces the space for the ball receiver. He does absolutely nothing to commit any defenders to him to create space for the player he passes to and he hasn’t got a dummy half run in him. He causes absolutely ZERO panic in the opposition defence. I felt the same watching him in that NRL GF where the only true X Factor Canberra had was Whiteon. At the very top level (GFs/test matches) you need an X Factor, you have to have something special at Hooker but Hodgson just simply doesn’t have it.

McGilvary has to do better. He had an eye catching World Cup but when it really mattered in the World Cup Final he should have passed to Widdop for a try but didn’t, and froze when that ball went through and he missed the ball when trying to kick it. Yesterday, he should have passed to Hardaker on the break and he seriously had to score that try, he didn’t protect the ball at all.

It looks like Hall is now injured and McGilvary isn’t good enough yet Bennett hasn’t taken any other wingers on the tour (which is ing ridiculous). So now we’re going to go into the final games with players playing out of position.

All-in-all a very frustrating tour so far. I’m really disappointed!

And I hope that we do not see that disgrace of a referee again!