ghost crayfish

Tomkins, Makinson, King, Watkins, Manfredi, Lomax, Williams, T Burgess, Clarke, Thompson, Currie, Whitehead, Bateman Reserves: Walmsley, Watts, Savelio, Connor

Yep turns out I was quite wrong! Have been a bit exposed in a few areas - particularly halfback. Ah well, happy to be wrong. Go raiders!

I never said he should get the job. I said he does have some relevant experience.

Mid week games, no reserve or second tier leagues to give players a game... Both very good reasons to put out weakened teams and rotate players occasionally. I think it would be extremely poor roster management not to.

So you can't apply for a job you've never done before? I'm not saying he'd be the best candidate, but he's got history as a commercial manager in property/construction, spent years as a director on the cowboys and now the QRL boards, has been a media manager for the qld origin team, etc. I think that's all relevant experience.

Agree with this. I think it's taken a bit of time for a lot of English players to make the adjustment - and I include Adrian Morley and Sam Burgess in this - to the consistent demands of the NRL compared to superleague. It's not that the biggest players are bigger or the best teams are much better, it's that more players are big, and more teams are good. It's just a bit more relentless. The only Englishmen who have adapted immediately have been the Canberra guys, which suggests they've been very well coached and prepared. Thompson will be fine, just like Morley was - but it's worth remembering that Morley took a while to really hit his straps.

Walters will be great. You're all wrong.

The roosters will win it. It's perfect for Robinson - he's had a chance to rest a lot of his players (from either games, training or both) and the thrashing will have been the perfect wake up call.

Don't get me wrong, I think as England showed in 2017, they can definitely compete with Australia and are capable of beating them. I give England a big chance in next year's RLWC, but to think Australia is avoiding them out of fear of losing... That's a bit ridiculous.

Australia has avoided playing England out of fear of losing? Hmmm. So when we wanted to tour England in 2019, but were denied because your powers that be insisted the Lions tour was going to a smash hit, that was all some convoluted conspiracy to avoid playing you? (And incidentally, how'd that Lions tour pan out?) And if that's not big enough, are you saying the Australian rugby league officials are also behind COVID-19? God, it's all becoming so clear! Those diabolical bastards engineered a global pandemic to avoid the 2020 ashes, and the ungodly terror that lining up against Mark Percival and Zak Hardaker would bring. To the topic at hand, Walmsley and Tom Burgess are both among the better props going around and would push for a world 17. John Bateman would be my right edge back rower. Kallum Watkins has the potential to make a push for right centre, but obviously not at the moment, and hard to go past Manu even if he was at his best.

Sonny Bill is going fine and is definitely going to be there for the finals. People expecting him to be the player of 2013 are kidding themselves, but so are people who can't see the value he's already adding now. His ball skills in the middle give the roosters an extra dimension to their attack. His short passing puts other forwards into space, he picks the right times to pass out the back to his halves, and when he runs the ball is a constant offload threat. He's experienced in big games and is clearly adapting well to a role that's about creating space for those around him.

Hopefully one day Catalans stop signing the likes of Josh Drinkwater so these promising young halves can get a game!

This is great news. I thought he looked fully fit and ready to fire at the start of the year. If he'd stayed at gold coast I reckon he'd be going great now, so I'm confident there's good footy ahead for Kallum Watkins. A world cup next year would be a big motivator for him too.

What's the point of starting them in Super League next year on -6? That would most likely just delay relegation for a year and in the long term, set them back several more years. The competition leadership needs to be much stronger than that. Either make the call that what they've done is unacceptable and they have to start in the championship, or make the call that you want them in superleague and give them a chance - starting on 0 at bare minimum, but things like central funding and salary cap dispensation too. Docking 6 points in superleague to try and keep everyone happy is such a limp compromise and not a solution at all.

Yep, just in time for the next injury