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England's pack 2016

Scubby

By Scubby
in The General Rugby League Forum

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Exiled Wiganer

Exiled Wiganer

Posted
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I would add Bateman and Currie, while being doubtful that O'Loughlin will have sufficient in the tank...

Graham - Roby - Hill (the 3 Monuments) - S Burgess - Greenwood - Bateman

G Burgess - T Burgess - Walmsley - Clark

A bit of everything there.

If the young Widnesian Percival kicks on, and Tomkins recovers his zip, then the back line could be pretty handy too.

Anything seems possible on a day like today...

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GeordieSaint

GeordieSaint

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I still think Joel Tomkins has all the attributes to be truly world class as well, if he can fulfil his potential. Size, skill and athleticism is all there.

 

I agree but needs to run his weight more at international level. If you look at the likes of Cordner, Proctor, and even Ferres, they are able to make very good metres with the ball on the fringes whilst not losing any skill levels or athleticism. If Tomkins brings that to his game at international level, he has all the attributes to be a very good international.

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Saint Toppy

Saint Toppy

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I still think Joel Tomkins has all the attributes to be truly world class as well, if he can fulfil his potential. Size, skill and athleticism is all there.

But his attitude isn't since his return to league.

Before he left he'd had to work hard to get where he was in the Wigan team. While he was taking his sabbatical in yawnion the game moved on. He was poor on his return and McBanana made a fatal error in bringing him straight back into the England team last year (where he was pretty dire lets be honest) and his ego made him believe he was something better than he was. This year he's flattered to deceive again and even if he hadn't been injured he didn't deserve a place in the England squad anyway.

 

He has the size, the skills and athleticism to be a top class international player, but he needs to knuckle back down to what he was doing when he first burst onto the scene.

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RSN

RSN

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Joel Tomkins is awful.

I'd have: Ben Currie, Jon Bateman, Danny Kirmond, Elliot Whitehead, Ben Westwood, Joe Greenwood, Stevie Ward, Brett Ferres and Joe Wardle all ahead of him.

Positionally he is awful, he loses his head quite often and has lots of silly penalties in him. He was exposed massively last year, his mis read in defence was the reason for Michael Jennings try in the four nations, those are the sort of margins which define games at test level.

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Tex Evans Thigh

Tex Evans Thigh

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Westwood will be 35 this time next year. I think he's done for internationals after this tournament.

Formerly Alistair Boyd-Meaney

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Futtocks

Futtocks

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After Sunday I wish the BBC would forget about him too. 

I like Eorl, but having him wandering around the pitch during the match was bizarre and a bad idea.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Futtocks

Futtocks

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Back to the OP, we will see a few world-class forwards missing out on England caps, but for the right and encouraging reason that the competition for selection is strong and getting stronger.

 

Here's hoping we have much more of such problems in other positions!

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Father Ted

Father Ted

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I do think Hodgson and Roby go well at 9. With International Rugby so physical then it's a good plan to have two 9s in the 17.

All those mentioned may well be worth a place.

Also I'm sure will be Whitehead. He's in the NRL next year and will improve massively as most seem to do. Cooper for instance would not be anywhere near an International shirt if he was still at Warrington.

If Joel Tomkins can play a season in the 2nd row without having to move to centre then he could well kick on. At one point last season Wigan's right side of Tomkins, Gelling and Manfredi were almost unplayable. 

Injuries to all three at different times ended that.

Bateman has to be a contender for 2nd row next year too.

Hopefully we will have two or three centres in the squad with Watkins, Reed and Shenton. Percival could be in contention by then too.

 

The biggest improvement though will be if we can get a top quality England coach for next year.

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ghost crayfish

ghost crayfish

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Hodgson is a good, solid player who definitely adds great depth, but I think Roby is a much better player. At his best, so is Clark. As for Joel Tomkins, I agree with the criticism of him here, but just saying he's still got the potential to be a true top liner. Before he went to rugby I thought he was the best Tomkins brother - a future Superstar second rower. He still has those ingredients, but needs to roll up the sleeves to do a bit more of the hard work. Right now he seems to only want to run out wide and throw flick passes. If he doesn't change, and if Whitehead continues to improve in the NRL and the other young guys keep improving too, he'll be left behind. That's a good position for England - everyone needing to perform at that level to earn their place. That's how teams become champions.

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ghost crayfish

ghost crayfish

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Here's me thinking he'd been playing rugby at Wigan too!!

Haha you sound like the whiney Australian soccer fans who get wound up when people refer to other sports as football.

The rest of the world (including Australia, where I'm from) calls rugby union 'rugby' and rugby league 'rugby league' or, in Australia, 'league' or 'footy'. Slip of the tongue, apologies, I must remember that such terminology is almost unforgivable around here...

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