Imagine if things really had got that bad!

Thankfully Peacock, Graham, Morley, Lynch, Fielden, LMS, S Burgess, L Burgess, Coley, Prescott, Dowes, Scruton, Wood, Carvell etc say they've not plumbed those depths yet.

No disrespect intended to Hargreaves but he's sh*t

Quite a few have been missing for most of the season anyway

Thought Smith was going to be picking forwards that are in form,The Giants forwards have out played and out musceled all that mob that you lot have picked.Crabtree Mason ,Wild,are streets ahead of Feilden, boys take them Specs off FFS.

based on their recent performances we could also lose half our backs and still win

How long exactly?

12 months?

I take it you missed the

Regardless of what he said he would do, Smith didn't pick off form for the world cup so i wouldn't hold my breath mate.

On that note:

Stuart Fielden is still not at his best yet and so doesn't deserve to be in the squad.

Lockers still makes errors and has a bad hair cut.

Gareth Hock is a thug and a liability so he shouldn't be in.

Andy Coley was poor at the beginning of the season and he has had his chance at international level.

Sean Ainscough is a poor defensive player and can't even get in the Wigan side - not ready yet.

Sam Tomkins is still too young and has a Scottish grandparent and so Scotland is the country he will represent.

Martin Gleeson has had long enough in the setup and so it's time to let other players have a shot.

Joel Tomkins is not good enough - he didn't win young player of the year.

Ahh well.

We are 9th in the table, and could conceivably be 10th if bulls win their games in hand.

why would an england manager use a team that has played so poorly for the MAJORITY of the season as the basis of a successful international team.

this thread beggars belief. IF at the end of the season we are 3rd or 4th, then that is the time to give our boys a chance. this england squad is the perfect opportunity to allow the youngsters of saints and kr to receive some opportunities - as the league table (and cup) shows that these 2 have been the best teams of the season.

to be fair - cas, trinity, giants and quins have more valid shouts at england call ups than we do !

Andy Coley would deserve to be included ahead of Fielden IMO.

All very valid points

I must have misses something, is it Thursday, who, besides a southern journo has said this?

Good job that team will be playing France.
If it was the Aussies, the Roos would put 80 past them.
It's not the players who are the problem it's Tony Smith.
Smith's useless and proved it in the World Cup.

I'd agree with that - his reputation absolutely plummeted in the world cup. It wasn't just the lame, un-coached appearance of his teams, it was his infuriating refusal to acknowledge the problems everyone else could see.

Coley is on current form the top prop in SL at the moment. That would have been an unthinkable statement at the start of this season but he has really emerged as a international class talent in recent weeks, its been fantastic to watch him growing in confidence, culminating in an immense performance against Saints, where he bullied their pack and then followed it up with another powerful display against Wakey. Well done Andy.



As for Lockers, as one of those (Red Dwarf fans please imagine me entering a Kryten-esque "smug mode"icon_wink.gif who has consistently defended Lockers - a disgracefully under-appreciated Wigan lad, hang your heads in shame Lockers knockers - on this board, he should definitely be in the side. He's easily the best British loose forward and whilst he's probably always destined to be in the shadow of Farrell to some degree, he deserves recognition as an international standard player and a 100% committed servant of the Wigan club and for my money, a decent captain. It certainly isn't his fault that many of the other senior players only started delivering a few weeks ago.

Should he be England captain? I'm not convinced by Peacock to be honest (though he hasn't made Irvine's team anyway!), so I'd give Lockers a shot, he looks to be the best captain from that 13.

A team of world beaters and you're outside the playoffs, played more games than everyone else, and likely to drop behind Bradford, with their games in hand, all in all, I think its time to lay off the absinthe mate.

early season form was shocking as usual! at the minute we're the form team in the competition.

On paper the 1-17 is the 3rd best in the league after Saints and Leeds.

On the field though it was appaling up until 4 weeks ago. We do now seem to be heading in the right direction and if this group of players can produce thier best form for the majority of whatremains of the season we'll win alot more then we'll lose.

Fielden definitely shouldn't be in the team, he's only just back to a standard where I feel he's worth his place in the 17 as a bench prop, though his form looks to be on the up. The Wigan players I feel should be in with a shot are:

Hock - Surely a shoe in
O'Loughlin - Ditto, he takes a lot of stick but IMO he's been awesome this season.
Coley - I'd rest Peacock and give him a run out
McIllorum - Suprised no one's mentioned him, why not rest Roby for this one and give him a go?
Gleeson - I'd rest Senior and play like Gleeson and Atkins in this game, the better player makes the England team at the end of the year.

Don't think I'd have the Tomkins brothers or Ainscough in there, they're good players to have but not the best in England at this stage IMO. If Ainscough sorts out his kick defence he's straight in. Joel Tomkins needs to give us something to show he's better than Hock, Ellis, O'Loughlin or Wilkin. Sam Tomkins just needs a little more time, he's still finding his way in super league so England is premature.

Senior has retired from internationals hasn't he? if not he should do.

I'd rest Gleeson aswell tbh. We know that he's the best English centre in superleague and this is an opportunity to look at some others.

Shenton and Atkins would be my picks.

Ahhh yeah just found that he has. To be honest I think Lee Gilmour should be in there too then. I know he's not an young up and coming star and this would probably be his last year at interational level but always played well for GB, he's on form at Saints and competition at centre is fairly weak.

I think he played for Ireland in the WC

Yup he did.