100 replies to this topic

[Optimus]

Backs: R Atkins (Warrington), T Briscoe (Hull), K Brown (Huddersfield), T Clubb (Harlequins), L Cudjoe (Huddersfield), D Goulding (Wigan), R Hall (Leeds), L Robinson (Huddersfield), S Tomkins (Wigan), M Shenton (Castleford), G Widdop (Melbourne).

Forwards: S Burgess (South Sydney), E Crabtree (Huddersfield), G Ellis (Wests Tigers), S Fielden (Wigan), J Graham (St Helens), D Griffin (Huddersfield), B Harrison (Warrington), S Lunt (Huddersfield), A Morley (Warrington, capt), S O’Loughlin (Wigan), J Roby (St Helens), J Tomkins (Wigan), B Westwood (Warrington).

My starting 17 from them would be

S Tomkins

Hall
Atkins
Shenton
Briscoe

Brown
Robinson

Morley
Roby
Graham
Ellis
Westwood
O'loughlin

Burgess
Fielden
J Tomkins
Widdop/Lunt

Robinson to move to Hooker to give Roby a rest, Tomkins to 7, bring Widdop on. Or no Widdop and Lunt on the bench leaving the backline as it is.

Westwood over Burgess for goal kicking. Burgess to Prop

Wouldn't let Cudjoe anywhere near the squad, and what's with no specialist scrum half?

Hall and Briscoe get the nod over Goulding as they have more experience. Atkins and Shenton over club as they have more pace.

[John Drake]

Official RFL Press Release: England name 24-man squad for 2010 Four Nations

England coach Steve McNamara has named a strong 24-man squad for the 2010 Four Nations tournament that will take place in New Zealand and Australia this autumn.
The squad will be captained by Adrian Morley, the richly-experienced prop who led Warrington Wolves to a second consecutive Challenge Cup final victory at Wembley this year, and is drawn from 11 different clubs.
McNamara has selected 13 forwards and 11 backs in his first tour squad, which features just seven survivors from England’s 2008 Rugby League World Cup squad.
Huddersfield Giants, who have just enjoyed their most successful Engage Super League season, have six representatives in Kevin Brown, Leroy Cudjoe, Luke Robinson, Shaun Lunt, Eorl Crabtree and Darrell Griffin.
Wigan Warriors, the newly-crowned Engage Super League champions, have five players in the squad – Darrell Goulding, Joel Tomkins, Sam Tomkins, Sean O’Loughlin and Stuart Fielden.
The other clubs represented are Warrington Wolves (four players), St Helens (two), Leeds Rhinos, Hull FC, Harlequins RL, Castleford Tigers, South Sydney, Wests Tigers and Melbourne Storm (one each).
The 24-man squad for the 2010 Four Nations tournament in Australia and New Zealand is:

Backs

Ryan Atkins (Warrington Wolves, Stanningley)
Tom Briscoe (Hull FC, Featherstone Lions)
Kevin Brown (Huddersfield Giants, Thatto Heath)
Tony Clubb (Harlequins RL, Greenwich Admirals)
Leroy Cudjoe (Huddersfield Giants, Newsome)
Darrell Goulding (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)
Ryan Hall (Leeds Rhinos, Oulton Raiders)
Luke Robinson (Huddersfield Giants, Siddal)
Sam Tomkins (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)
Michael Shenton (Castleford Tigers, Upton)
Gareth Widdop (Melbourne Storm, King Cross)

Forwards

Sam Burgess (South Sydney, Dewsbury Moor)
Eorl Crabtree (Huddersfield Giants, Huddersfield YMCA)
Gareth Ellis (Wests Tigers, Castleford Lock Lane)
Stuart Fielden (Wigan Warriors, Illingworth)
James Graham (St Helens, Blackbrook)
Darrell Griffin (Huddersfield Giants, Oxford Cavaliers)
Ben Harrison (Warrington Wolves, Barrow Island)
Shaun Lunt (Huddersfield Giants, Ellenborough)
Adrian Morley (Warrington Wolves, Eccles)
Sean O’Loughlin (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)
James Roby (St Helens, Blackbrook)
Joel Tomkins (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)
Ben Westwood (Warrington Wolves, Normanton)

[Optimus]

Sorry, I should of titled it OFFICIAL. My bad

[HappyDave]

Where's Gleeson? So Sinfield has been dropped??

Should Griffin & Shenton be in the squad?

Edited by HappyDave, 04 October 2010 - 10:35 AM.

[Optimus]

Where's Gleeson? So Sinfield has been dropped??

Should Griffin & Shenton be in the squad?

Sinfield has an achilles injury aparently?

Clubb over Gleeson.

[dallymessenger]

australia are putting out a very average team.

if england can grow some guts perhaps international RL can get a big boost with an english win.

ellis and burgess have shown they can match it with the best in the nrl, now its up to the team to find some ticker

but still a major trophy eludes brian smith, will the curse carry over

Edited by dallymessenger, 04 October 2010 - 10:39 AM.

[terrywebbisgod]

Thank f##k he hasn't picked Sykes.

[thepimp007]

well fromt that id go,

Widdop

Briscoe
Atkins
Shenton
Hall

Sam Tomkins
Robinson

Morley
Roby
Burgess
Ellis
Westwood
O'Loughlin

clubb over gleeson is steve mac at his absolute best!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MrPosh]

Griffin over Lynch. Really?

[HappyDave]

Sinfield has an achilles injury aparently?

Since when? I guess he must have picked it up at the semi-final but I don't remember seeing him going off.

[terrywebbisgod]

Since when? I guess he must have picked it up at the semi-final but I don't remember seeing him going off.

Maybe he knows what's going to happen in the 4N.

[HappyDave]

Maybe he knows what's going to happen in the 4N.

Jeez! Clap trap! Yeah, we all know we can't win the G4N at present but we England played excellently in last year's G4N so no need for that. He must have picked up a niggly injury in the semi-final but played on. It's really unfortunate he's not able to play this year though as he was excellent at Hooker last year & was a really good 'playmaker', hope Roby can step up.

[AndyCapp]

australia are putting out a very average team.

if england can grow some guts perhaps international RL can get a big boost with an english win.

ellis and burgess have shown they can match it with the best in the nrl, now its up to the team to find some ticker

but still a major trophy eludes brian smith, will the curse carry over

Australias Team

Darren Lockyer (Broncos)
Sam Thaiday (Broncos)
Tom Learoyd-Lahrs (Raiders)
David Shillington (Raiders)
Paul Gallen (Sharks)
Greg Bird (Titans)
Anthony Watmough (Sea Eagles)
Cooper Cronk (Storm)
Billy Slater (Storm)
Cameron Smith (Storm)
Kurt Gidley (Knights)
Matthew Scott (Cowboys)
Willie Tonga (Cowboys)
Jarryd Hayne (Eels)
Petero Civoniceva (Panthers)
Luke Lewis (Panthers)
Darius Boyd (Dragons)
Brett Morris (Dragons)
Dean Young (Dragons)
Todd Carney (Roosters)
Nate Myles (Roosters)
Brent Tate (Warriors)
Robbie Farah (Tigers)
Chris Lawrence (Tigers)

Edited by AndyCapp, 04 October 2010 - 11:02 AM.

[terrywebbisgod]

Jeez! Clap trap! Yeah, we all know we can't win the G4N at present but we England played excellently in last year's G4N so no need for that. He must have picked up a niggly injury in the semi-final but played on. It's really unfortunate he's not able to play this year though as he was excellent at Hooker last year & was a really good 'playmaker', hope Roby can step up.

Mcnamara shouldn't be allowed to pick his nose,yet alone an England squad

[tintin]

by the looks of that squad we dont seem to have a place kicker at all, so we will be back to kicking down there necks and defending from the halfway line each set, i would have widdop at stand off as from what i have seen he is the better kicker out of him and tomkins

[steef]

Tony Clubb missed 92 tackles last season, how does a stat like that get you in the England squad, if you added together the number of missed tackles from Senior, gleeson and yeaman the number of missed tackles is 93. Just based on that stat alone I'd take any of them above him.

No Lynch is a mystery too his stats are better than griffins in virtually every category.

Edited by steef, 04 October 2010 - 11:08 AM.

[Gruff]

Well,

From that team I would go for

1 - Tomkins
2 - Hall
3 - Atkins
4 - Shenton
5 - Briscoe
6 - Brown
7 - Robinson
8 - Graham
9 - Roby
10 - Morley
11 - Burgess
12 - Ellis
13 - O'Loughlin

14 - Crabtree
15 - Westwood
16 - Fielden
17 - Widdop

This gives a half back combo that have played with each other all season and know each others game. Robinson has really improved defensively and can provide that a bit of something extra.

It has a 1,6,7,13 combo all originally from the same club/set up, with 6,7,13 having played together previously, so should be able to adpat quickly.

Leave's Tomkins as full back to come into the line as he sees fit. Much better to give him the freedom at full back than to have him as a set 6/7 position.

The forwards pretty much speak for themselves, and on the bench the impact of Fielden/Crabtree as props, with Westwood as second row means we shouldn't have a weak link in the forwards at any time. Burgess/Ellis/Graham can all play 80 minutes if need be, but I would be rotating Crabtree and Morley with each other exclusively, and have Fielden and Westwood mixing it up with the other 4.

This leaves Widdop as the final piece on the bench. He can play 1or 6, Tomkins can play either as well or even wing if one of them got injured, Brown can play 6 or 3/4, and Robinson and Roby interchangeable at 9 or 7. This gives us cover all around the park if a back gets injured, and still leaves a pretty strong line up

Edited by Gruff, 04 October 2010 - 11:11 AM.

[HappyDave]

Mcnamara shouldn't be allowed to pick his nose,yet alone an England squad

There are a few choices that maybe could have been better but I'd say it was very near to the best squad England could take Down-under with the players available.

[terrywebbisgod]

There are a few choices that maybe could have been better but I'd say it was very near to the best squad England could take Down-under with the players available.

Exactly,not the BEST squad he could have selected.We need to be 100% to beat even PNG, let alone NZ and Australia.

[HappyDave]

Exactly,not the BEST squad he could have selected.We need to be 100% to beat even PNG, let alone NZ and Australia.

What a load...! I'd say with all of the Kangaroos injuries I'd say we should be joint them to get to the final to play against the Kiwis with them with that squad. I don't see PNG winning a game though, but I'd imagine they'd be a heck of a lot more competitive than France.

Edited by HappyDave, 04 October 2010 - 11:37 AM.