WN83

I still wouldn't mind the change up option off the bench that Ackers could bring but it looks like the plan is to get Micky Mac, Radley and Knowles around an hour each and due to that we're not seeing a drop off in defensive intensity around the middle. If anything happened to Welsby or Williams at the weekend and we did win, then I'd be more concerned about MM at hooker in a final. If it was then Sneyd coming in to the halves. You're basically then going with one running threat from you 1, 6, 7 and 9 and then it might become a bit predictable. I think there's a really nice balance in those pivots at the moment between youth and experience and between structure and off the cuff and running threat.

Easy for me to say with Micky Mac because I've watched him on a regular basis over the years and he was for successful for my club side but I do think he's a good fit for this side and how we are looking at playing. We'd all prefer Roby I'm sure but with him not available, I'd without doubt rather have Micky Mac than I would Josh Hodgson for example. Hodgson killed our halfbacks space over the Bennett years and it's no coincidence in my mind that Welsby and Williams are thriving. He is getting them quicker ball and he is letting the forwards roll on to the ball and do their thing. Call him 'just a defender' if you want but the lad is intimidating and he whacks people and will go all day. In big internationals you need to mix it and you need to be tight as a drum around the middle. He is intense and helps lead that, along with somebody like Knowles and now Radley. Those guys are making the jobs of Tomkins, Welsby and Williams far easier and I think the proof has been in the pudding in that first game and again last Saturday.

It's the whole issue though isn't it! Would he be biased or would he want to prove he isn't and then in turn be more lenient towards us? Much in the same way that we would ask questions of somebody like Moore or Kendall if they were ref in a game between us and the Aussies. It's just an issue the game needs to come up with a plan of avoiding and to do that they need some sort of programme to bring through neutral referees. It cannot be that difficult surely to get referees from New Zealand over in the NRL? Or for us to to look at getting French refs involved here? The whole point is that no ref should be biased, so it shouldn't matter but you're always open to the discussion when they aren't neutral. It's much the same in Superleague when Liam Moore seems to get the Wigan vs Saints game most of the time. That is a joke and can be avoided so easily (unlike in Internationals). I'm sure some Saints fans would say he favours Wigan and I personally don't believe I've seen a referee as determined to prove he isn't biased to his hometown club but I will openly admit it's probably just in my head and he is reffing games as he sees fit. Ultimately though why put the guy in that position when you don't have to? In the international game currently they do have to put somebody in that position or go with a guy from France with no top level experience. They'll give Ashley Klein the final if it's England v Australia no doubt, to split the difference as best they can, given he has experience reffing in both countries.

I'm coming round to being happy for an Aussie ref to take charge of us should we play them in the final. Kendall was like a star stuck fan on Friday and then you had the Liam Moore shambles on Saturday with the captains challenge try. He seems to have been able to avoid massive stick for that on the basis it didn't matter but wow! That was as bad and as arrogant a mistake as I've seen. What was he doing? He seemed to realise he had totally messed up but wanted to refuse to acknowledge it and was hoping the players would just go with it. I listened to an Aussie RL podcast earlier and they were laughing their heads off at the error.

Fitness looked an issue in the first game. They’ll bring it early doors this time and we’ll have to stick at it but guys like Hill, McIlorum, Bateman, Radley, Knowles, Lees, Cooper etc will just keep going and going all game. It’s one area I’m confident we have a pretty big advantage.

Just saw a report in the Hull Daily Mail saying sales are around 43,000 to date for Saturday. A reasonable figure and it would be nice if we could get that up to 47/48k come the game. Maybe wishful thinking but there are plenty of reasonably priced tickets left. What sort of work they’re doing to get people there from the local areas around London I have no idea.

We have to be confident after the way we’ve played. Samoa have threats across the field though and we’ll need to be switched on. I just can’t see a Shaun Wane coached team not being, not at this stage and not in his first World Cup as coach. England by 12

I think it was Ellgren Shellsuits actually

I think the Aussies will take it reasonably comfortably. I just don’t think you can turn good form on like a tap and for all the hype, I’ve yet to be impressed with the Kiwis. There’s no doubt they’ve got great players and on a piece of paper, you could make a case for them challenging the Aussies in a number of positions and maybe they’re better in a few but I just can’t see it on the field. Australia by 18

Other than the 35,000 sold comments a couple of weeks back, it’s tough to get a grip on it. They seem to have gone underground when it comes to shouting about ticket sales. How they didn’t make more of only having 1,000 or so tickets left for Saturday is beyond me. Even if it tempted an extra few people to go ‘I fancy a bit of that’ just tweet it, get it out there. You can still add ten £30 tickets to your basket on the ticket site but they’re in a £55 area. A sign we’re struggling? Or a weird reward for buying late? Who knows. I’d be chuffed to bits with 50k plus and miffed if we end up under 40k.

Just a factual comment. It’s 50% Englishmen and 50% guys born overseas is it not? I’m with you, it should be mixed between Superleague and NRL guys. I wonder what it was like for the last World Cup? I doubt the Aussies Sat many of our guys on those panels but I could be wrong.

The panel was Jerome Guissett, Paul Dixon, Nathan McAvoy and Phil Vievers, so 50/50 in terms of English and overseas, although admittedly it is Superleague heavy.

Ha ha. Maybe our lads can go round suplexing the opposition and just say "yeah, it's my tackling style, what of it?"

Well there's my answer to this being a new thing or not. How this hasn't been sorted before now is beyond me.

I'd be worried about my collarbone as much as anything with it. I watched him after that first one and it didn't sink in for him but he was lucky he didn't catch anybody else. We need to pile in early on Saturday if he even comes close to doing it again and make sure the ref has eyes on it. I've not seen much if anything of him in the NRL. Is this a new thing or is it what he's been doing all year? Sometimes I suppose these things can creep in to your game and the lad is bumping people off left, right and centre by doing it, so he won't want to bin it but he should have no choice.

You'd be fuming if you copped an injury from that. There's every chance of concussing somebody and ruling them out for 11 days at the very least. The England players can't be shy about calling that out on Saturday if it happens again (and it will going off yesterday).

It wasn't the only incident of him doing this either. It looks to be his style and how he is managing to bump people off so often. Great young player but that needs taking out of his game. I didn't want to see him or Paulo banned but I'm not sure how he's avoided it, especially if he did get a caution for it in week one.

He's been very good. I thought he played a huge part in that second half against France, had his moments against Greece (but only played half a game didn't he?) and then was a handful on Saturday. The big forwards like Hill and Burgess eating up the ground is allowing that bit of space for him to work with and he's doing a good job. Overall I think peoples selections highlight how well we've done. At the start of the tournament everyone was naming different start 13's and 17's and debating those left out against their peers. That's dying off now and pretty much everyone is just 1 or at most, 2 bench players away from agreeing. The starting 13's for pretty much everyone are identical.

It felt like it might be the other way round. I saw somebody saying Sua'ali'i got a caution after Newcastle about the same issue. If that's the case, it's tough to see how he then gets another after yesterday. It wasn't a one off yesterday either, he did it before and after the incident and it's something he clearly needs to work on. We'll see how they go with Paulo. I think they might overturn it but I'm glad it was picked up. It's creeping in to the club game people leading with the non ball carrying arm and it's dangerous.

I think it's how he will go again. I think he might make that Lees to Thompson change or he'll go same again. We've got good options regardless. He'll never please everyone Wane but the performances are earning the right for him to pick whoever he sees fit.

I wouldn't have any worries at all with Knowles or even Radley in the second row tbh. I know Knowles has played in the position over the years now and again, including on a couple of occasions this season. Maybe I'm just not wanting to make a decision on which prop to leave out but I think all 3 of Thompson, Cooper and Lees should be in and they all bring something a little different. You then have Knowles who is versatile and can cover pretty much any position in the pack. If there's an issue at 9 Radley can go in there. At centre Bateman can shift over and Knowles covers back row (same if a winger goes down and Farnworth would move out there). We'll see what he goes with. In my mind there are 2 bench spots up for grabs between Lees, McMeekan and Thompson. I think the other 15 players have nailed their spots.

I've seen a few people question Coopers place on social media and the odd one on here and I must be watching different games. He's constantly making ground and getting us on the front foot. He ran over 100 metres in the first game and again on Saturday. There was an article somewhere that highlighted Lees lack of go forward on Saturday but I'd have him in the side as well. Matty Lees is not a big metre maker but he's defensively very good. The missed tackle stats are a bit misleading, much like they are for guys like him and Knowles in Superleague. They get off their line and try to bash people and that will always lead to the odd miss here and there but it's very rarely costly, if the rest of the team is following their lead and defending with intensity and energy. We've had every game our own way so far but that might not be the case on Saturday and it certainly won't be the case if we reach a final, so we then need guys like Lees and Knowles more than ever. That's why my change would be Thompson for McMeekan. Bateman and Whitehead can do the 80 mins and if there is an issue there, Knowles can slot in to the second row.

We just need certainty and a long term plan. I'd like to see Ashes series in there somewhere, even if it's every few years and we need to be looking at 4/5/6 nations or whatever in between, as well as World Cups and everything that is needed in terms of developing teams. I have very little faith it will be allowed by the NRL though and we'll continue to feed on scraps. The talk pre tournament was that we'd have a series in the UK next year but that looks to be off the table now. Haven't they pulled mid season tests next year as well? The Australian team hardly ever plays nowadays and we all dance to the NRL's tune. We can't even be confident we can go it alone without the Australian team and play teams like the Kiwis, Tonga, Samoa, PNG etc because they control those players as well and want them to be rested up in the off seasons, ready for the pre season friendlies, games that the NRL seemingly value higher than internationals.

Definitely. I was confident going in to this tournament. We got written off on the basis that lads hadn’t had the chance to show their class in internationals. The media down under especially just saw the exits of guys like Burgess and Graham and went ‘they’ve gone backwards’ but that was simply because they’re ignorant to how good guys like Welsby and Knowles are and if you’ve not played in the NRL as Makinson, Hill, McMeekan etc haven’t, they’re not having you. We’re doing really well and we’ve probably been hit harder than anyone with injuries pre tournament, so we can probably get a stronger team out in future years.

I’d take it! I just need to see us beat the Aussies in a sudden death game. I’ve sat through too many beatings by them to not get a reward some day. It has to happen one day surely?!