Is Lineham good enough for England?

[Lowdesert]

Well?

[Dunbar]

He's a good deal better than some wingers we have played in my time watching the national team. So yes.

But he is not as good as a few who are in front of him at the moment.

[Desert Skipper]

He’s not a fashionable winger.   Statistically though, he’s got a fantastic strike rate and is better than most defensively.

Last year in a terrible Warrington team that couldn’t score for toffee he managed 20 tries.

[Damien]

I just think there are better wingers in front of him. In the early 2000s he would have certainly played, Karl Pratt and Richard Horne anyone, but we've come on a long way since then when it comes to wingers.

[Dave T]

3 minutes ago, Damien said:

I just think there are better wingers in front of him. In the early 2000s he would have certainly played, Karl Pratt and Richard Horne anyone, but we've come on a long way since then when it comes to wingers.

I think that's fair. He is a hard working decent try scorer and I'm happy he is at Wire, but we have no shortage of wingers for England so have no issues with him not being selected. 

He does have brain farts, but then which wingers don't?

[The Daddy]

Not at this point but he has potential 

[Lowdesert]

24 minutes ago, Damien said:

I just think there are better wingers in front of him. In the early 2000s he would have certainly played, Karl Pratt and Richard Horne anyone, but we've come on a long way since then when it comes to wingers.

Richard Horne?

[Lowdesert]

12 minutes ago, The Daddy said:

Not at this point but he has potential 

Based on last nights performance he certainly has.  Never saw much of a replay of it but Charnley blew a chance before half time and that’s the last we heard of him.  Charnley has been mentioned for England too.  Wire are blessed atm.

 

[Damien]

55 minutes ago, Lowdesert said:

Richard Horne?

Yeah he was bizarrely selected for at least one game on the wing against Australia. Stuart Reardon played a few games on the wing too. Our wing stocks have improved significantly since then.

[Lowdesert]

4 minutes ago, Damien said:

Yeah he was bizarrely selected for at least one game on the wing against Australia. Stuart Reardon played a few games on the wing too. Our wing stocks have improved significantly since then.

I know him but I’d forgotten all about that.  Waite was the coach, so anything’s possible.  It must have been the only time in his career, amateur or professional he’d played on the wing.  Mostly he was a half or FB.  An odd time centre.

[Dave T]

18 minutes ago, Damien said:

Yeah he was bizarrely selected for at least one game on the wing against Australia. Stuart Reardon played a few games on the wing too. Our wing stocks have improved significantly since then.

I remember those days, everything was ace, loads of household names and player development was far better.

I think...

[Spidey]

10 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I remember those days, everything was ace, loads of household names and player development was far better.

I think...

...and they played in a GB shirt 

[Dunbar]

11 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I remember those days, everything was ace, loads of household names and player development was far better.

I think...

It was almost embarrassing when BBC Sports Personality of the Year dedicated almost half the show to Karl Pratt and Mark Calderwood.

[Desert Skipper]

Funnily enough though, I don't remember us getting a hammering by the Aussies under Waite.   We were let down by some stupid indiscipline from the likes of Morley and Newton that put the Aussies in some decent field position that fed them a couple of easy scores.   Maybe its just nostalgia creeping in, but weren't we a pretty solid defensive GB team at the time?

[Kirmonds pouch]

I think he'd be ok though personally he lacks consistancy IMHO but there are a lot of wingers out there at the moment - if we could produce the centres to go with them then that would be something good.

[Dave T]

8 minutes ago, Desert Skipper said:

Funnily enough though, I don't remember us getting a hammering by the Aussies under Waite.   We were let down by some stupid indiscipline from the likes of Morley and Newton that put the Aussies in some decent field position that fed them a couple of easy scores.   Maybe its just nostalgia creeping in, but weren't we a pretty solid defensive GB team at the time?

Aye we lost 3 close games in that Ashes series with Horne on the wing. Funnily enough that was one of the few real weak positions we had back then, maybe the quality of wings we have had since would have made a big difference that year.

[DavidM]

Pigs might fly ... for England ! Not sure personally but I do like him as a player and he’s a real trier 

[Damien]

15 minutes ago, Desert Skipper said:

Funnily enough though, I don't remember us getting a hammering by the Aussies under Waite.   We were let down by some stupid indiscipline from the likes of Morley and Newton that put the Aussies in some decent field position that fed them a couple of easy scores.   Maybe its just nostalgia creeping in, but weren't we a pretty solid defensive GB team at the time?

It did include a record defeat, 64-10 against Australia and some close matches against some poor Australia teams, due to injuries, which we really should have won. There was one test series at home which we really had a great chance of winning and somehow conspired to lose all 3 matches.

[Jim Prendle]

4 minutes ago, Damien said:

It did include a record defeat, 64-10 against Australia and some close matches against some poor Australia teams, due to injuries, which we really should have won. There was one test series at home which we really had a great chance of winning and somehow conspired to lose all 3 matches.

Wasn't that the series when Darren Lockyer became invisible to the GB defence in the last 5 minutes of each game?

[Damien]

12 minutes ago, Jim Prendle said:

Wasn't that the series when Darren Lockyer became invisible to the GB defence in the last 5 minutes of each game?

Yeah he was certainly the difference. as he often was around that time. 3 games lost and none by more than 6 points against probably the poorest Australian team I have seen on these shores. Even England A only lost by 4 points!

[Ant]

7 minutes ago, Jim Prendle said:

Wasn't that the series when Darren Lockyer became invisible to the GB defence in the last 5 minutes of each game?

Yeah to be fair, that was 3 tests single handedly won by Lockyer rather than GB losing, if you take my meaning

 

As for Lineham, a fullback prepared to commit to a tackle would have stopped him last night 

[Jim Prendle]

1 minute ago, Ant said:

Yeah to be fair, that was 3 tests single handedly won by Lockyer rather than GB losing, if you take my meaning

 

As for Lineham, a fullback prepared to commit to a tackle would have stopped him last night 

A half back who could tackle may have even slowed him down a bit to give somebody else the chance to stop him.

[Ant]

True 

I should have added that, despite that, Lineham is a good winger, is he good enough- only playing for England will show us.

As many people have said, we are blessed with high quality wingers these days across a number of clubs, compared to previous years 

[Dunbar]

I have seen some wonderful players play Rugby League and while Ellery Hanley remains my favourite, I think Darren Lockyer is probably the most complete player I have ever seen. He was almost unplayable on that series.

[Damien]

1 minute ago, Dunbar said:

,I have seen some wonderful players play Rugby League and while Ellery Hanley remains my favourite, I think Darren Lockyer is probably the most complete player I have ever seen. He was almost unplayable on that series.

Indeed, he was unplayable on his day and probably put in some of the best performances that I have ever seen. He really was the difference in a number of matches, spanning years, and his performance in the 2004 Tri Nations final were Australia won 44-4 was sublime.