Just one year to go now to the Quarter Final match to be held in Warrington: www.warringtonwolves.org/rlwc-qu ... to-go-5830 This comes after the Group match at the HJ, featuring Warrington hosted Samoa versus New Zealand. For ticket info for these and all other games go to: www.rlwc2013.com/tickets MULTI MATCH PACKAGE OFFER The ticket website above is currently offering a great deal on ticket for the two matches being played at the HJ in Warrington. Buy tickets for one and get the other HALF PRICE!

Just one year to go now to the Quarter Final match to be held in Warrington: www.warringtonwolves.org/rlwc-qu ... to-go-5830 This comes after the Group match at the HJ, featuring Warrington hosted Samoa versus New Zealand. For ticket info for these and all other games go to: www.rlwc2013.com/tickets MULTI MATCH PACKAGE OFFER The ticket website above is currently offering a great deal on ticket for the two matches being played at the HJ in Warrington. Buy tickets for one and get the other HALF PRICE!

Sent off my application to be a volunteer last night, looking forwards to hearing back and hopefully getting involved. Really starting to get excited about the competition!

How excited are we by the the world cup being over here this year?? The way I look at it is there is two sides to the competition, one being the battlefor the title, between Australia, NZ and England. The other being a great opporutinity to spread the game and hopefully develop in a few of these 'minor' countries, so that soon enough there wll be more than three potential winners. One things for sure we can't keep moaning about the lack of national press coverage and spreading of the game etc, if the hardcore fans of the game can't get enthusiastic about having the World Cup in our own country.

Also, if were were playing the World Cup final next weekend, who would be in your 17? At the moment mine is as follows, but I'm sure it will change several times over the course of the season:

1. Tomkins.
2. Charnley.
3. Reed.
4. Atkins.
5. Hall
6. Widdop.
7. Myler.
8. Kopczak
9. Roby
10. Westwood
11. Ellis
12. Hock.
13. Sinfield.
14. Burrow
15. O'loughlin.
16. Hill
17. Crabtree

Ended up really struggling for props!

Not fancy playing Graham and Burgess?

No idea how I forgot them! KNew I shouldn't have tried to think on a Sunday morning! Yeah, take Kopczak and Crabtree out for them two.

Kopczak will be representing Wales.

1. Tomkins
2. Briscoe
3. Reed
4. Atkins
5. Hall
6. Widdop
7. Myler
8. Hill
9. Roby
10. Graham
11. Burgess
12. Ellis
13. Westwood

14. Morley
15. Burrow
16. Hock
17. Crabtree

A couple of those will probably be injured come the end of the year, Burgess and Ellis sadly, so it's less about the 17, because they are all unlikely to be available

Tomkins
Briscoe
Reed
Atkins
Hall
Widdop
Myler
Burgess
Roby
Graham
Ellis
Westwood
O'loughlin

Mcilorum
Hill
Hock
L burgess or lee mossop

It's early days obviously but I feel there will be an unknown or rather outsider who could make the 17 and be a hero in the finals.

Wouldn't go with any NRL players personally, and definitely not any Engish by convenience rejects.

Tomikins
Charnley
Atkins
Kallum Watkins
Hall
Danny McGuire
Richie Myler
Burgess (Sam)
Roby
Graham
Ellis
Westwood
Sinfield

Carvell
Crabtree
Burrow
Hill

Totally immaterial, of course - McBanana will go with Sinfield and Chase in the halves and is probably mailshotting every NRL player as we speak, asking if they've got any relatives who've ever eaten fish and chips and might be eligible.

Can't see England doing anything whichever 17 they pick.

As a devoted Morrissey fan, I salute your gushing optimism.

1. Tomkins
2. Briscoe
3. Watkins
4. Atkins
5. Hall
6. Sinfield
7. Myler
8. Graham
9. Roby
10. Morley
11. Westwood
12. Ellis
13. Burgess

14. Lunt
15. O'Loughlin/Harrison/Hock/JJB (Form depending)
16. Crabtree
17. Hill

tomkins
briscoe
reed
watkins/atkins
hall
brough
myler/lomax
hill
roby
graham
burgess
westwood
Oloughlin

Ellis
Sinfield
Burgess
Morley/Burgess/Mossop

Tomkins
Charnley
Watkins
Atkins
Hall
Sinfield
Myler
Graham
Roby
Burgess
Ellis
Westwood
O'Loughlin

McIllorum
Hill
Morley
Hock

Why? 2011 we had a great win over NZ, and came close to winning at Wembley. Who thought NZ would win the final in 2008? The RLWC is going to be fantastic for the sport in this country, but only if people get behind it and stop the daft negativity. Show some national pride and get behind our brightest and best playing the game I am sure you love at the highest level.

You have to have a Gareth widdop in your teams! He's a player that runs the NRL in their best team with slater and cronk, how anyone would rather have Kevin Sinfield over Gareth widdop is beyond me

I'm not sure about McIllorum (spelling??) making the 17. He is a loose cannon and one who can't keep his head. Discipline could be a major factor in how we progress in the competition late on.

Totally agree, same goes for Hock.

Roby is obviously the main man and I'd rather see Burrow or even Sinfield used as a rotation than have Mcllorum in there - I'd possible forgive him his err, enthusiasm, if he were a sh*t hot hooker. He's not. He's just sh*t.

Would rather see Burrow is a shout for his versatility but there is Lunt and even McShane from Leeds.

I would certainly have Hock in my 17. He's a horrible piece of work which is exactly what we need against the Aussies.

It's not negative saying England are going to get beat by the Aussies.

In fact its the England fans that will judge the success or failure of this tournament by what happens to England that are the negative ones.

I'm very positive about the RLWC because I like to see world class teams, I used to love as a kid watching the West Indies test team over here even though they ripped England to shreds. The Kangaroos are full of some of the greatest athletes that have played the game, they are going to be hurting at missing out on the world cup in 2008, and both England and the Kiwis are going to pay the penance this time against the green and gold.

I am really looking forward to the RLWC although I might give some of the earlier games with the made up fake teams a miss, but I'm recruiting a big group from work including RU fans, football fans, people that have never seen RL before, to go to the final at Old Trafford to show them the Kangaroos obliterate their opposition and send them away breathtaken at the quality of rugby they have seen.

I still say my favourite all time game to have been at is the 2000 World Cup final at Old Trafford to see that great Aussie team with Lockyer, Rogers, Sailor, Fittler, Kimmorley, Johns, Webcke, Tallis and those guys in it was an absolute privilege.

That's fine, but wouldn't you rather see them breathtaken by the skill of Tomkins, Atkins, Hall etc., and dying to come and see RL every week in the flesh as a result? Shouldn't you/we be talking that up?

The perception of fans outside RL is we don't give a stuff about the international game and when we're already dumbing ourselves down and building the opposition up before a ball is kicked, they've probably got a point.

I would love it if England had the best team in the world, like I love it in cricket and in RU when we did ten years ago. But there's no point kidding yourselves and talking them up if they go on and get hammered.

Think how most fans on here reacted when Sinfield got the Golden Boot. That should have been great for the game but you didn't get the non-Leeds fans celebrating it, they were all quick to say it was not deserved, the Aussies are all better.

I expect on these rlfans forums what we will see is a fair bit of empty defiance before the tournament "we've got a great squad, we're gonna show those cocky Aussies whats what", then the tournament will end in an abrupt halt with a hiding at the hands of one of Aus or NZ.

Then the fun will start:

This is the sort of thing you will read on here:

- Steve McBanana (or whatever hilarious play on his name people can come up with) is to blame for us being rubbish, he is as clueless as that Aussie Smith was in the last world cup picking Paul Sykes etc.

- Adrian Morley, Jamie Peacock, too old, why are we persevering with them, we should have picked Louis McCarthy Scarsbrook etc then we would have won.

- Gareth Ellis, what has he ever done at international level? Nothing, overrated, get rid.

- Kevin Sinfield, why are we playing a loose forward at stand off, not up to it. If we had a proper standoff we'd have won.

- Bruce Didgereedoo who emerged this year in the NRL, but was discovered to have a father from Ramsbottom, why are we picking these Aussies who have no pride in the shirt, if we'd have had English players we would have won.

- Why do we just pick players from Warrington/Leeds/Saints/Wigan? If you just pick the same faces from 'big clubs' that have failed before you are always going to fail again. Why not pick the Salford/Wakey/Widnes players? They couldn't have done any worse?

- There are too many overseas players in the game, send them all back and they will be replaced by superstars in the clubs Academies that just can't get a game and end up leaving and playing football instead.

- The media has got a conspiracy against RL, when England RU won the Grand Slam earlier in the year they did a full commemorative supplement in the Times, why couldn't they have done one to commemorate us getting our backsides handed to us in the RL World Cup?

- The game is dying, the RFL is a joke, Tomkins is going to go to Saracens, there's some dual registration thing that no one understands, nobody saw the pictures on the Stobart lorries


But hey don't have nightmares people maybe I'm just a cynic and maybe none of that will happen...