Just read this week's League Express and the decision to play Bateman out of position is criticised. For once I thought the gamble of playing an England/GB player out of position paid off. If anything he outplayed Watkins, who I think is a world class centre. Views?

Rock solid in defence but not good enough in attack.
I'll be very disappointed if he's got either 3 or 4 on his back for Wigan next season let alone England.
Watkins was poor but maybe the season just caught up with him, I doubt he missed many games for Leeds last season.
Percival and Watkins for the 4 Nations next year would be my pick.

Just doesn't create enough to be a quality full time centre. A very solid 4th, maybe 3rd choice with injuries though.

I think the decision to play him was to probably counter the big New Zealand players, although I still thought it a strange decision seeing as we had specialist centres.

As much as I like JBs enthusiasm and his defensive qualities when he plays centre along with I think the majority of supporters I want him to play in the backrow where he adds much more to the team. I personally don't see him as a centre in the long term but unless we acquire another centre before the season starts I can unfortunately see him playing centre quite a few times next year unless we also use Isa in this role.
We need at least one more experienced centre but I haven't got a clue who we could get even if we had any room in the cap.

No back scored a try and the super hyped Hardaker and Watkins did next to nothing with the ball. That to me says it wasn't a series for great attacking play so you have to look at him going the other way. He was up against a centre in Dean Whare who is rated as one of the best in the NRL. Whilst he didn't get a sniff going forward nor did Whare and it was a great battle.

Long term he's a back rower of course he is but he's done ok in this series. He's certainly out performed Watkins who needs to offer more at international level. It's all well and good ripping Salford and Wakefield apart but to live up to the billing he gets he needs to put in some performances against the best. He wouldn't be the first supposed superstar to fail to do that.

I think the Leeds players all looked jaded tbh, understandably.

I thought Bateman had a good game in the last Test. Centre may not be his ideal position, but he did more than his bit towards England's win. Whare is indeed world-class.

I agree with that. I thought ours did also tbh with Burgess, Farrell and particularly Williams (In the second game) looking down on energy.

That's the challenge of modern test match rugby though.

The team was set up to defend first and foremost. With that in mind - You'd want Bateman in it somewhere.

And all the talk of him not providing Hall with a service is nonsense. He gave more passes in the 3rd test than Watkins did in the whole series.

Jack Reed is comfortably England's best centre, just have to get him fit for an international series.

Watkins despite all the hype has never shown himself up as anything more than average on the international stage.

Reed is the obvious choice to replace Bateman as he is so strong in defence as well as offering an attacking threat. I can't see anyone ousting Watkins as his form in SL is so good but for me is just doesn't work for him in an England shirt.

I would love to see Watkins have a run in the NRL as I do think there is a top class centre in him but until he tests himself regularly I don't think he will ever reach his potential, his concentration is a major issue in my opinion.

He didn't do much in attack but I don't really remember him getting the ball in any decent attacking situations. He defended well as always

I'd be tempted to leave Bateman at centre in the early part of the season at least. The backrow of Farrell, Joel Tomkins and O'Loughlin is probably the strongest in the league and IMO it would be a waste to have any one of those four on the bench. Once Sam Tomkins returns it'll then leave Wane with some interesting selection dilemmas.

The Watkins hype is a product of a pretty weak superleague. A guy billed as one of the best in the world previously would be expected to rack up 20+ trys a season and also contribute a huge amount of assists and do this on a regular basis but Watkins doesn't do this.

He's a very good player but when you look at top superleague centres over the years like Jamie Lyon, Paul Newlove, Gary Connelly etc he isn't in that class.

Add a certain george carmont to that list

Defensively sound, I think any criticism of any of our centres n wingers is harsh as majority of our play was up the middle and very forwards based.

Watkins hall burgess Bateman were there to stop the opposition and give the props a break running ball up. Worked well this series but we will need a plan b fir the four nations and world cup

We'll certainly need a plan B for the World Cup because it'll be dry tracks all the way. The Kiwis will bring their offload game out and the Aussies are the Aussies.

We won't win that tournament with no trys being scored by the backs.

Watkins needs early ball. Its almost as simple as that - early ball with space to run at the defence. A flat attacking structure doesn't suit him at all IMO (unlike say Senior who liked getting the ball in traffic), and neither does one where the passing is slow.

He does seem to lack a bit of confidence at times. I remember watching him live a few years ago and thinking that he really doesn't realise how powerful he is. He's physically almost perfect for centre - big and strong but quick - and he does have good hands. But he does need to do more than he's shown in this series.

Reed is a super player. The only problem with him is lack of pace, which can be exposed at times one-on-one in defence. Having said that, its his very lack of pace which has probably made him the player he is.

It was no coincidence that Watkins had the most opportunities to test the Kiwis in that last game with Matty Smity in the team. He unlike Williams and Widdop provided simple, early ball but he failed to use it.

He's a good player but not a great one yet. It's impossible to get players out of Leeds but he'd do well to go and rest himself in the NRL.

Get stuck into Watkins and he is poor.

I thought Bateman was excellent in the 3rd match. As someone pointed out it was a defensive type of game and as I recall, any player who went near him promptly got put on their . He had a great game and some excellent tackles

He made some good ground in that last test also. He ran an excellent line on an inside ball which got the Kiwis back peddling just before one of the 2nd half trys (can't remember which one).

As you say he was defensively excellent. Him and Whare pretty much marked each other out of games.