17 replies to this topic

[G Las D]

Well it's quite clear to see - the structure and management of the English game and team condemns it to being behind that of the southern hemisphere.
For all the trumpeting of Super League, for all the money spent the gap between the northern and southern hemisphere games is still there - consistently. We seem to be doing better when we don't lose so badly to Australia or New Zealand.

England might surprise everyone at the weekend and beat Australia. Would anyone here put big money on that?

Super League is not bringing strength in depth to the national game. The big names are equally likely to be the imports as the home grown lads who can struggle to get a regular place. Just one or two injuries to the first choice players and the weaknesses of our international team show.

Then there's the preparation for the big tournaments - England players don't have a step up from the club games to the international game. There's no equivalent of the Origin game. Previous Lancs v Yorks games series were deemed as unattractive to clubs and spectators didn't turn out in the same numbers as for the Challenge Cup Final or the SL Grand Final.

If things can carry on as they are, England will continue to try to play catch up ... and fail. Yes there will be the occasional victory - probably on our own soil.

I've enjoyed seeing some new faces in the England team playing at the moment. The step up the new players have to make is huge. England would probably do better if after they played this tournament the tournament was re-run immediately. They'd be up to speed and mentally ready to compete at the highest level. They need to play Australia and New Zealand more regularly. Maybe it's just geography that's against them, maybe it's more than that.

The international game needs a better England team. England needs a better England team. How and when will we get a better team?

[Bourbon Rat]

They need stability in key positions.
They need more regular,(high quality), reps games.
They need a coach who does not react to bad press & pressure from board room know nothings.
Knee jerk changes only benefit your more stable opponents.

TACTICAL ? This is a joke right ?

Edited by Bourbon Rat, 30 October 2010 - 05:59 AM.

[G Las D]

Steve McNamara should not be the England coach.
How he was appointed I'll never know.

The people who selected him must have thought they saw something in him that a lot of us couldn't. They were wrong.
The national coach needs to be a confident successful club coach with a strength of mind and a depth of experience. He doesn't have the qualities needed to inspire a team to raise their game.

Even if England were to beat the Roos tomorrow I'll not be happy until we have a convincing coach and a structure within the England game that produces more quality players.

Just look at the aussie and kiwi squads - they have such a wealth of talent - experience blended with youth.

[G Las D]

11 changes? Ridiculous!

[Bourbon Rat]

Sam Burgess :

"It's back to the drawing board but I think the more time we spend together, the more tough times we go through together as a team, the more we will grow."

The bit in red sounds like the same bull McNamara has been blowing out of his #%@
The rest is an excellent bit of common sense that sadly will be ignored.

[G Las D]

Ben Elias has slated England likening us to PNG in that we've just been making the numbers up. I can see where he's coming from, but ...

There are all kinds of reasons why England have performed relatively poorly in the two games so far. The main one is that Australia and New Zealand have got two really good squads of players and can put out great teams that are well coached.
England are betwixt and between at the moment. Elias is apparently suggesting the tournament being scrapped and just to have Aus v NZ playing each other in the future.

Now I might be unhappy with the England coach and the way SL is overwhelmed with overseas players, but to suggest England should be demoted does nobody any good.
To remove the 4 Nations tournament as Mr Elias demands would not be the end of the world.
Australia and New Zealand can carry on having high quality battles on an annual basis.

All I would say is be careful because once an established tournament is stopped it is going to be very hard if not impossible to resurrect in the future.
On the business front, England can stage an international tournament, and stage it well. The crowds business and organisation would be there. The English youngsters given proper guidance and direction have potential to be a decent side worthy of playing the Roos and Kiwis. They need some faith to be put in them by the English team management and by the look of it, the Kiwis and the Aussies public, ex players, pundits,media etc.

[barney]

Blooding the youngsters wont make any difference untill we have consistant neutral officials.

Poor England team
Coached by a poor English coach
Who ever appointed him must be as related to him as the ref and video ref must have been to each other on Sunday.

That said we were never going to beat the Aussies even if the BENEFIT OF DOUBT OVER FORWARD PASSES AND WHAT EVER ELSE THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH had,nt been introduced into the game.

Rant over

Stupid twisted Aussie officials bah

[Bourbon Rat]

Let's just have an Australia V New Zealand 2 nations comp Narrow minded tunnel vision.
Sounds like the same ###### that has been thrown about for years by the 'We should only have RL in NSW & QLD' dinosaurs

It would turn RL into a bigger joke than the AFL's annual Irish farce - International Rules.

Have to agree about the officials.
I don't think too many OZ fans at AAMI Park were happy with the way England was treated,not where I was sitting anyhow.

Edited by Bourbon Rat, 01 November 2010 - 10:53 PM.

[Bourbon Rat]

Had to laugh when the video screen panned up to a big flag emblazoned with "ST HELENS" ,which was greeted by boos from behind us.
Not surprising really considering they was WIGANERS

[Bourbon Rat]

And another couple of rep retirees stick their two cents worth in - What's wrong with England?

[Queenslander]

Hard to know what was worse the standard of both teams particuarly England or Tony Archer

[Bourbon Rat]

Hard to know what was worse the standard of both teams particuarly England or Tony Archer

Archer & Clark by a fair length.At least England could put sloppy handling,(in part), down to the weather

And Sheens looks like doing a McNamara Sheens to axe seniors for rookie Roos

Edited by Bourbon Rat, 02 November 2010 - 08:47 AM.

[G Las D]

I'm not one to criticise refs ...

It's very rare that the media get on that track over here in the RL press, but while looking at the RL mags here today I noticed this front page:




I tend to agree with questions needing to be asked about the organisation of the game in the UK. I also think questions about us in the aussie press are fair ones.

Referees can influence the outcome of games, and there were some tough calls at the weekend.

I'd rather see a headline on our magazines and newspapers which say England RL - How to improve.


Having said all this things probably seem worse than they are. We need a new national coach and a bit more priority given to representative matches of various types. OK England/GB haven't won a tournament for many many years, all the same we were in the final last time round and the buzz in the crowd was electric.

Now's not the time to throw hands up in despair but to get the basics on the right track, appoint a savvy national coach and pull together.

[DJDJDJ]

They need to go back to fielding a Great Britian team again.

[Bourbon Rat]

England ring changes for PNG clash

All the other changes have been made for tactical reasons. The Kumuls' strength is their physicality and we need to be ready for that.

Dumbfounded by this bald statement Was 'a physical game' not the reason he gave for the mass changes before playing the Roos ?

Looks like Mc Mouse will once again feed his troops to the meatgrinder

[G Las D]

He's just thrashing about.
He states his reasons but they don't stack up. His team selection has been wild. He claims to have seen positives from this tournament but he's not any further forward in finding any consistency on the field or in his team selection.
It would be helpful to see some direction and just a little step by step progress, not just verbal blather for the microphone or camera.

[Matt J]

Im starting to think that, with no coaching experience and never played at a high level of league, that I could do a better job than Steve McNamara

[Futtocks]

Im starting to think that, with no coaching experience and never played at a high level of league, that I could do a better job than Steve McNamara

I'm starting to think that, with a blindfold and a pin, I could make more logical team selections than Steve MacNamara.