Smith must have seen something in training which he thought was good enough.

Again though lets wait and see.

that would be his wigan training kit then

this season the only things that Myler is better at is his kicking game (Tomkins' is slightly above average) and possibly the defence spiltting short pass. Tomkins has been better at everything else.
Tomkins is better running at defences and better at defending and has a more complete look i think he just needs to work on his kicking. That said Sinfield will be in charge of that department for England so Sam should be the one playing not Myler.

Its about finding the right balance though not just throwing all the players on top form together.
People already had there thoughts on Smith in the England job set in stone from last year unless he was to guide them to the final and beat the Aussies/Kiwis that was never going the change and he would have got it in the neck anyway.

and the 100% on your board backing tompkins, think he should be in but I think its McGuire who's taken his place not Myler. problem is if all we have got in these positions to choose from is tompkins,Myler,McGuire,Burrows,eastmond then we are really in trouble not much depth when you look at what the aussies and kiwis can throw into the battle, thats where the problem is. not enough choice. but hey lets get on mylers back that will realy build his confidence up for tonights game. lets back the team picked not undermine it

Why must he? Is it inconcievable to you that he could either be

1) Plain wrong

2) Abusing his position.

3) Favouring his own young half back as opposed to the, by all evidence both throughout the season and in the previous game, superior young half back who hasn't signed fo Wire.

You seem to think TS is beyond criticism. After the debacle at the last World Cup and the hasty way he has abandonned his 'pick on form' policy as it doesn't suit his own desire to play his new signing (and all that that implies), what possible evidence can you offer to support this view other than blind faith or the fact that he coaches your team. Would you be of the same opinion if he was still at Leeds? Somehow I doubt it!

Another one eyed point scoring post

So you're basically saying it's OK to pick out of form players purely on reputation then? Did you have the same opinion when it was Brian Noble who was doing the same?

surely you cannot agree with playing Myler instead of Tomkins

Thank yoy WY. An actual reasoned post from a Wire (even if I don't neccessarily agree with all of it!

)

Smith totally fecked up his forward pack selection for the world cup last year and this year he's totally fecked up his back selections by leaving out Gleeson, Pryce and Tomkins.

I'm hoping next year he'll have it out of his system and will finally pick a correct side without bias.

As I said time will tell! and I would say the same if he was still at Leeds you clearly have your view on Smith which stems from last year thats your choice.

Actually my view on Smith stems from all available evidence at International level. Yours on the other hand, by some misguided sense of loyalty.

Incidentally time will not tell. Even if Myler goes on to play well throughout this tournament (which for England's sake I hope he does), it doesn't negate Smith's dereliction of duty in his handling of this situation. I don't just mean his not picking of Tomkins, but the manner in which he has belittled the achievements of 1 young player in order to justify an otherwise baffling selection. That will not be negated simply by Myler playing well!!

How so what if we get to the final etc?

Seems your sense of loyalty towards Sam is effecting your view.

not really, seems Smiths sense of loyalty towards Wire is effecting him. We have the evidence from last week Sam is playing better than Myler so why is he playing again?....has he earned it?

Smith thinks he's better for the team jeez I dont have all the answers I dont pretend to be a RL coach when am not alot of you seem to think you can do it.

he seemed better last week...sam scored 3 for the team and set up 3 for the team...however you have to hand it to Myler he did turn up for the team

It doesn't matter if we get to a final!!!! don't you get it? As England coach he shouldn't be coming out with quotes like "it takes more than 3 tries and a MOM to have a good season" (in fact can you even justify it, in the light of Sam's YPOTY winning, dream team featuring etc. season against Myler's complete loss of form and terrible showing in the previous game)or insinuating that a seriously out of form Myler is the better at 'moving around this big ship (sic)' than a blatently more in form/confident/hat-trick scoring MOM!! His duty of care to both young players should be the same...not show such club bias! Do you think he would have said Myler had had a bad season if he'd achieved half of what Tomkins has done? Let's face it, we already know the answer as he already tried to claim that Myler has had a better season despite the statement bordering on the ridiculous! What exactly are you struggling to understand here?

tony smith should of got sacked after the world cup FACT

BBC Radio Five Live Commentators just asked 'Did Smith make the correct decision picking Myler ahead of Tomkins'. They stated on this performance a flat 'NO'!!

And that counts for what?

Not seen any of these quotes or seen interviews so can't comment any links?

I'm sure you can comment on Myler's 1st half performance tho

Didnt do much wrong hand in first try and made a couple of decent breaks, no doubt if Sammm was playing we would 50 nil up and not conceded

Has he touched the ball? I suggest you keep wearing those blinkers