He has never been that great.... very good goalkicker, but against the Aussies you need players who will win collisions and he just won't, doesn't dominate in defence and isn't anything special in attack... very good SL player but don't think he is interntional quality.

Oh and Briscoe should definately be one of our starting wingers, can't believe people have Foster over him, he has little in his nal bar goalkicking.

From living over here and been absorbed in NRL it's obvious to me flying biscuit know dick about Melbourne, widdop, the broncs & reed! And knows sod all about the nrl!

We do need some experience in there. We do talk about playing the kids, but they will get found out as we found out last year. But the experience players must be in some sort of form, not just the name on the back of thier shirts.
I've said it many times, the Mcnamara is talking about preparing for the 2013 WC. But if he is expecting us to turn up and win the first major tournament/series in donkeys years (that so happens to be the world cup) then he's kidding himself. Winning a major tournament/series is vital to us winning the world cup. I still believe NZ's 08 success was down to them winning 2005 tri nations. Even though a lot of the players in 08 won't involved in 05.

So if we have a 33 year old playing better than a 20 year old, play the 33 year old.

It doesn't pick itself, and that's a pity considering McNamara is in charge of selection.

As for this Jack Reed, from the highlights I've seen he certainly knows his way to the tryline. But has he even said he wants to play for England?

Here's my team:

S.Tomkins
Jones-Bishop
Bridge
Watkins
Briscoe
Widdop
Brough
Peacock
Roby
Graham
Ellis
Westwood
O'Loughlin

Robinson
Morley
Burgess
J.Tomkins

As a Leeds fan Watkins and bjb should be nowhere near that team yet. Hall is as good as any winger in sl. Hall and briscoe on the wings.

I just think BJB has a bit more of a spark than Hall. I do think Hall is a decent player and wouldn't be particularly against him playing.

What do you think of Reid, like I've said I haven't seen anything to make a judgement.

Reed has been a real find for the broncs and looks like a seasoned pro already! Strong, fast, creative and can hit hard in D! If he is a serious about been available then he like heilington should be a shoe in! For the record widdop has been awesome for the storm and ran the show during origin. The storm where the only undefeated team out of the big origin providers in that period! Widdop is sometimes the go to man on kick plays before cronk and the rest. He is second to smith in the goal kicking too. He has been awesome taking on the line and is creative with ball in hand. In short if tomkin or any other British players were at widdops level week in week out stevo and the rest would be calling for a golden boot!

I agree wholeheartedly about Widdop, I was the one making the points you just made!

Cheers for the opinion on Reid, centres is a position we are really lacking in as well.

Not sure about Heilington, looks a decent player but Ellis, Westwood + O'Loughlin are all good as well, and that's without Burgess being around.

The thought of a halfback combo of Brough and Widdop gives me some hope.

Really, have you seen Brough defensively, the Aussie will rip his side to shreds, saying that his swirling bomb seems very very difficult to catch so would be interesting to see how Slater deals with it.

Brough hits the ball hard and clean, his bombs are immense, that height helps buy the defence time to get in the fullbacks face, that will be a big factor in stopping Slaters kick return. Plus Brough is capable of that bit of magic we sometimes see with Briers. The best option we have at 7 currently.

I'm more concerned with halves who cause problems for the opposition first. Their defence is a distant second.

True, compared to Myler and Lomax his kicking in general play is better and can be troubling for the oppositions three-quarters. If Brough, isn't 100% fit for the four nations Myler/Lomax should get the nod depending on form.

Tomkins
Hall
Bridge
Yeaman
Briscoe
Widdop
Brough
Peacock
Roby
Graham
Westwood
Ellis
O'lock

Burgess (if fit)
Carvell
Robinson
J. Tomkins.

Then the usuals Crabtree, Sinfield, Morley (if fit), Wilkin, Shenton and Atkins.

Players like Welham, Foster, Charnley, Myler, Lomax and Mossop deserve to be considered for their good form this season. All are young players and will therefore gain experience through selection/benefit being among the squad.

Oh I agree his our best option just doesn't fill me with huge confidence in defence, I can see them doing to Brough what they did to Mcguire in 09.

Broughton is a poor mans Penny he's gash the aussies and kiwis would have a field day with him

Locky is the best English 13 in this comp and it's not even close

Oh Dico





you been drinking?

Nah, defence matters. I know, let's pick a back-rower at stand-off. A fail-safe tactic, I reckon.

His bombs spiral and makes it so hard for a player to catch (even more so in wet conditions)

Rubbish, Broughton would do a job for England. He's in a very poor side and as someone else said, if he was playing for a better team, h would have scored a lot more tries. We do seem to be very strong on the wings this year though. My 2 would be Mcgilveray (spelling?) and Brsicoe.
Hall
Broughton
BJB
the other names who i would feel confident on the wings.

Charnley and Foster are both better than Hall,Broughton and Jones Bishop, tbf the latter is a class player but not ready yet imo

Charnley? Charnley is made to look good by the players around him and don't state our challenge cup game as an example 2 weak tackles and a non existent Blythe tackle were the reason for that. We targeted him and that's were our points came from.

I seem to recall him stepping this world class full back who most people on here put in the dream team ahead of Sam

His defence is weak at times yes but he's a better player than them who i listed do you want stats?

Stats? A winger getting lots of tries in a top team shock horror, weak under the high ball and most of the tries against you are on his wing put Josh in a lower side and look how his stats would change instantly.
King didn't even try running round him he ran THROUGH him, imagine Inglis if he saw him in front of him, he wouldn't score purely because he'd be laughing his c*ck off.

Inglis would run over Broughton for that matter he'd run over any of our wingers your point is?

You have probably picked 2 of the worse wingers when it comes to defence in SL, the big aussie and kiwi backs would have a field day against them.

Charnley is ok when running the ball in open space at SL level but if he gets anywhere near an international side then it will be time to call it a day, he's not much different to Peter Fox when he burst onto the international scene, i'd see it going the same way.

we have at the very least 2 better wingers than JC, personally i think we have more than that.
JC is in your side because of the salary cap and the need for a mixture of salaries.