ghost crayfish

Plenty of competition, too... But definitely good news and I agree there's plenty of room to grow.

Given England's strength in the centres, I'd be considering Farnworth for fullback. Beyond that, if no Welsby, I think Pryce is the man. You can't go in with a 'good club player' against Australia and hope they'll do the job. Their lack of size or speed will be exposed. I think gotta go with the guy who has the talent to lift himself to that level - as long as he's in form and fit, it's worth the punt.

Spot on. England aren't as strong at prop as they used to be, but might still be let off the hook a bit if Tino and Haas play for Samoa. Not sure England could match them, but I think the likes of Thompson and McMeekan would be a good match for a pairing like Carrigan and Collins.

That team above looks pretty close to what I'd expect. Unfortunately for Teddy, the rep teams seem to have moved on from him, though given Ponga's reluctance to play for Australia he might still have a hope of touring as a back up (and then could force his way in from there).

If England can strengthen their front row depth with a current State of Origin player from the NRL table toppers, they'd be mad not to take the opportunity. The guy was born in England to English parents and lived their until he was almost 10 - he is English (arguably moreso than all the Samoan test players lining up for Origin), and as far as a rugby league perspective goes, it's fair enough he also considers himself NSW. He has probably been representing NSW since primary school or something. Given also the prestige (and payments) associated with Origin, you can't blame him for wanting to play. In the same way I think Kalyn Ponga is QLD and NZ, I think King is NSW and England.

I always thought Joe Burgess looked a great talent when younger, and played some fantastic footy in his brief stint at Souths - if he's in that kind of form again now, he'd be well worth considering. Alternatively, England has strong depth at centre, particularly if KL Iro is available, so what chance one of the centres gets put on the wing? Giving Herbie more chance to have a go at kick returns might not be a bad option, and maybe he and Wardle could alternate who stands where in attacking formation. Has Wardle ever played wing? Could that work?

Yeah would love to see the rule changed so blokes like Ponga can play Origin and for NZ. If he qualifies for the pretty tight Origin eligibility rules, it's fine - doesn't dilute the concept or make him a 'non-Queenslander' as the shock jocks say. It really frustrates me that Kiwis who moved here young are forced to choose, in a way that players of Samoan or Tongan heritage aren't. Ponga, like Karmichael Hunt and co. before him, is a Queenslander and a Kiwi. The game would be better if he was playing test football rather than faking a limp every time Kangaroo selectors come knocking. ... and on the topic of the thread, I have no problem with AJ Brimson being eligible for England, but I personally wouldn't be picking him for England unless injuries hit. He's a talented player but I question his footy nous - he just doesn't seem to take the right options when he needs to, or really impose himself on games, no matter what position he's playing. Even if Welsby and any other fullback contenders were all injured, I'd be considering Farnworth at fullback before Brimson.

Disappointed for Dodd he continues to be overlooked, but let's remember, St Helens weren't even picking him last year. You'd have to see how he trains to know if it's justified or not, but there is a pattern there... That said, I do think Wayne Bennett plays favourites and there are some guys who can never get onside with him. He also doesn't seem to rate English players terribly highly - even as GB coach, he seemed to prefer picking any available Australian!

Yeah England's pack isn't as strong as the Burgess/Graham/Peacock/Ellis/O'Loughlin era, but it's still solid enough. And a good thing for England is the Aussie pack isn't as strong as past eras either - in large part because the best Australian forwards are choosing to represent their heritage nations instead.

As an Australian, I support this approach. Go hard!

Well yeah, literally my first remark was 'If French played in Australia he'd be a contender for rep footy' - so glad we agree.

If French played in Australia he'd be a contender for rep footy, but there is very little chance he'd even be considered while over there. It'd take injuries to Munster, Dearden, DCE, Hunt, Burton, Moses, Walker, Mitchell, Hynes and probably others I'm forgetting, for him even to come into the picture.

Brimson is nowhere near the Radley quality as a player either. He might be a handy backup fullback option given England's lack of quality depth there, but honestly, I'd put Farnworth back there and bring Newman into the centres before going to Brimson. If Will Pryce kicks on at Hull FC he'd be a better option at 1 than Brimson as well.

Yeah, rugby league is definitely a minority sport in Melbourne, but the Storm supporter base is a strong, fanatical minority. They've got 35k members, average crowds over 20,000, they're (finally) building a solid junior league pathway and they get 1-2 articles on them in the paper most days. These numbers are absolutely swamped by AFL numbers in the city - and a lot of AFL supports are very parochial about their sport too, and weirdly proud to be dismissive of the Storm - but the Storm still gets better crowds than most Sydney NRL clubs and still has a presence in this city that the Melbourne rugby union franchise could only dream of.

Unfortunately Newcastle probably wasn't the best club to go to in hindsight. They have a stack of mediocre halves and have just spent 18 months shuffling them around trying to find a combination. Not sure Adam O'Brien is the best coach for getting the best out of halves to be honest. Even Ponga failed in the no. 6 there.

Yes true. I am very glad the series is confirmed, and hopefully the likely early sell out of the (hopefully) decider will create a bit of extra demand for the first 2 games.

If the third test is really being booked in for a ground with a capacity of 19k I am ... going to sulk impotently, and maybe post some terse words on twitter. Look out!

This is just the sort of rubbish they make up on Fox Sports to fill in air space. You can't just axe a guy with 3 years to go in his contract without there being fairly dire salary cap implications. If he stays in reserve grade they might look to trade him to another club (and maybe pay off a bit of his contract) but no way they're gonna cop a $650k annual hit to their cap to axe a bloke after 2 weeks.

100%

They get 70,000 every year now - and crowds across the game are actually on the up. Back yourself to grow the crowd size in a fancy, big new stadium and 80k looks very achievable at a minimum. That would like fine on TV and add further to the 'event' feel of it all. Beyond that, I'd say this larger capacity actually presents a big opportunity for promoting the sport in Manchester. In a way you can't do now, you could fill the ground by giving 15,000 tickets away to local school kids - or maybe partner with Man U to distribute them to junior soccer players or something. Bringing kids who may not follow the sport into a massive showpiece event with 90,000+ people may just win the game some new fans.

This time last year Gould was asked about the new England signings at Newcastle. He said Will Pryce was a fine player who should have a big year, but Kai Pearce-Paul wasn't ready and would most likely play reserve grade. He also said he couldn't see how England had the ability to come close to Samoa, moments before England beat them by 60.

Geez fancy posting a picture sarcastically gloating about getting a screen when it - and the terrace seating it sits on - looks like that.

While I think there's a range of logistical reasons why the series and venues should be confirmed much earlier than this, I do like the idea of timing some kind of announcement about the series around the beginning of SOO - it really annoys me that SOO isn't really spoken about as a battle for test jerseys the way it used to be. I'd love it if part of the build up to SOO involved speculation about whether Edwards or Walsh should be our Ashes fullback, or whether DCE should take the 7 over Cleary, or whatever.

The shame of it is it would've been a good call to make when IMG did their gradings last year - if only they'd considered a team going broke to be relevant! - but it's too late now and I don't think it'd be the right thing to do by Toulouse. They haven't had the chance to recruit, plan or train for a season in Super League and it's hard to see players based in Manchester being happy to just relocate to France immediately. Talk about setting a club up to fail!

Well yeah, I would argue there shouldn't be many 'legends'. Keary is definitely not the same level as the top halves of his era, but he was a good player who had a very good career - it might be that he's maybe a bit underrated, but the fact he's played so little rep footy suggests he is not quite at that top level.