Samuel Tomkins

Jermaine McGillvary, Kallum Watkins, Daniel Sarginson, Jodie Broughton

Gareth Widdop
Luke Gale

Sean O'Loughlin
Samuel Burgess, Elliot Whitehead
James Graham, Joshua Hodgson, Christopher Hill

[uInterchange[/u: James Roby, George Burgess, Michael Cooper, Gareth Ellis


I have not considered Jack Reed or Dominic Manfredi because of season ending injuries.

SOL and Sarg should be nowhere near the team and I say that as a Wigan fan. Gareth Ellis has retired from internationals IIRC.

not jodie broughton

would like to see cudjoe link up with mcgillvary, great partnership and understanding

gale deserves a chance for sure.

I would include Liam Sutcliffe in the squad to give him a bit of experience in the lead up to the 2017 World Cup, I think he will be a key player for England in the future.

1. Tomkins
2. Broughton
3. Watkins
4. Atkins
5. McGilvary
6. Gale
7. Sneyd
8. Graham
9. Hodgson
10. Hill
11. Burgess, S
12. Bateman
13. O'Loughlin

14. Roby
15. Burgess, G
16. Currie
17. Taylor

18. Whitehead
19. Shaul
20. Briscoe
21. Cooper
22. Smith
23. Walmsley
24. Houghton

I wouldn't have O'Loughlin in there but as he's captain he has to play.

I'd fit I'd have Percival for Atkins. I'd have a back row of Currie, Bateman and S Burges with Whitehead on the bench. Wingers are an interesting dilemma, last year we could choose from Hall, Briscoe, Manfredi, Charnley, Burgess & McGilvray. Through form, injury and leaving for union the choice is a bit more limited this year.

Why is nobody picking Ryan Hall, is he not available?

I heard rumours he was off to onion, but haven't heard anything confirmed on that.

Sam Tomkins hasn't been Wigans best full back this season let alone be let near the England team.

If you want a cohesive team, then Sneyd and Houghton are almost telepathic at the moment close to the opposition line.

That said, this thread in inherently flawed due to it's instigator.

What? Yes he has. What a random thing to say.

He's going nowhere.

And whilst there aren't many Leeds players who merit being in the England team (Watkins seems to be in by default) Ryan Hall is probably one - he has been a proven England player over many years and I think you can make an argument that he is actually better this season (since returning from injury) than he was last year. He'll never be a big try scorer for Leeds as long as he plays outside Joel Moon but he's doing a good, solid job.

Well if he is available for selection, then he's one of the first names on team sheet, we don't have enough World class players to be able to leave out the one's we do have.

would love to see sneyd given a go, he's in great form and whilst i accept its a step up in class, he's going to be involved in some pretty big games between now and the tournament. he is also used to playing behind a dominant pack of forwards

as a biased FC fan i would also like to see scott taylor included - hes probably going better than g burgess at the moment. him and hill are the best 2 props in the league

houghton is genuinely unlucky in that there are 3 excellent hookers currently ahead of him in the pecking order. but at least he will get a well deserved rest after the season

Hall should be one of the first names on the team sheet. His ability to eat up the metres on kick returns are invaluable against the big two and his finishing ability has been proven time and again on the biggest stage.

bateman got to be in, best 2nd rower in sl

I'd read that Sam Burgess and one of the other brothers weren't all that this season. Anyone watch the NRL regularly confirm/deny that?
Bateman is not the best 2nd rower in SL, that'd be Mark Minichello, he might have a shout for one of the top ENGLISH 2nd rowers.

Tomkins broughton Watkins cudjoe magillvary gale Sneyd graham hodgson hill s burgess whitehead Bateman subs g burgess Taylor Currie Houghtön

I agree. I hope he gets nowhere near selection at the end of the season.

1. He doesn't deserve a place, swanning in halfway through the season and hardly setting the world alight.

2. He's clearly still recovering from his injury and would benefit a full off-season.

I'd pick Gale, and Brown in the halves at the moment. 2 experienced halves with a good all round game. I'm not convinced by Sneyd, he seems to have a good left boot, but seems somewhat one dimensional to me.

George is doing OK, Sam looks as though he is bearing the weight of expectation and struggling. It doesn't help either that Souths invested so much into bringing Sam back they've lost the balance of the squad by letting others go to accommodate him under the cap.

The first one of your post puts you on a similar level to the thread instigator. Feel free to debate whether you think Tomkins should be in the England side or not, I believe he is the best English full back, others will disagree. To suggest either Tierney or Sarg are better is either a pathetic troll attempt or demonstrates a complete lack of knowledge about the sport.

from what i've seen there's no real problem with sam, he's knocking out decent performances, perhaps not at the level he was in his first stint but still pretty good. to be fair the whole souths team hasn't been on it this season after a decent start. the main problem is tom burgess. he's lost form and doesn't seem to want to be at south sydney anymore. he was rumoured to want to try his hand at gridiron but not sure if anything came of this

better to have one good foot than 2 s**t ones though

1. Tomkins
2. McGilvary
3. Watkins
4. Atkins
5. Hall
6. Widdopp
7. Hodgkinson
8. Graham
9. Hodgson
10. G Burgess
11. Cooper
12. Westwood
13. S Burgess

14. Roby
15. Hill
16. Whitehead
17. O'Loughlin

I think we need to start the game with the biggest and most powerful pack we can. Bateman is too small to play international level in the forwards IMO. Westwood is knocking on a bit but still has something to offer in fairly short spells. McGilvary and Hall on the wings are no brainers.

The people on this thread who omit Elliot Whitehead cannot have been watching Canberra play (and Canberra is now 3rd on the NRL ladder). Though he is not as dominant as Joshua Hodgson in the team, Whitehead has been outstanding in defence every week, and has done some spectacular things in attack over the season. He is a necessity for England.

On form (and form should be the main criterion), Jodie Broughton has been a far better winger than Ryan Hall in 2016.

Broughton is a bit small nowadays. Like it or not you need your wingers to be able to run the ball back hard from kicks. If we could choose someone else I wouldn't go near Widdopp as his form has been generally awful.