The World Cup

[Jim from Oz]

Jason Taumalolo will miss first two RLWC matches, it seems

https://www.intrl.sport/news/taumalolo-judiciary-blow-for-tonga/

[AB90]

5 minutes ago, Tex Evans Thigh said:

England's pack suffers massively without Walmsley. I dont know if sutton plays but agree he's not a top line forward. A middle of burgess/thompson/knowles/walmsley/radley/oledski isnt bad but i dont see who replaces Walmsley. Australians don't realise how good he is, and probably never will now.

Yeah, Walsmley is a big loss for England.

You may be right about Sutton not making the 17 but the fact that he’s even in the squad (and in conversation about making the starting 17) is concerning for England.

What i find slightly puzzling is that some posters here say things like ‘the Aussie front row looks really weak’ yet England will have guys like Luke Thompson and Ryan Sutton who wouldn’t get any wear near the Aussie squad. Yet apparently we are going to have the better forward pack (the logic seems a bit off to me).

But hey, I hope I’m wrong and we do have an incredible pack far superior to the Aussies!

[SydneyRoosters]

Does anyone know if Walmsley would be back for the quarter’s or semis if so, would he be worth bringing ?.

[Dunbar]

2 hours ago, AB90 said:

What i find slightly puzzling is that some posters here say things like ‘the Aussie front row looks really weak’ yet England will have guys like Luke Thompson and Ryan Sutton who wouldn’t get any wear near the Aussie squad. Yet apparently we are going to have the better forward pack (the logic seems a bit off to me).

I think that is a very fair point.

With Thompson, I think most British fans will argue that he is better than he has displayed so far in the NRL.  Maybe the Aussies as well as his Bulldogs career has been a little stop start so far.

I like Sutton and would probably have him in the England squad and maybe the 17 as all teams need some middles which are safe and strong in defence which Sutton is.

But Walmsley is a huge loss as with him and Burgess and Oledzki we would look a lot better.

[SydneyRoosters]

3 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

I think that is a very fair point.

With Thompson, I think most British fans will argue that he is better than he has displayed so far in the NRL.  Maybe the Aussies as well as his Bulldogs career has been a little stop start so far.

I like Sutton and would probably have him in the England squad and maybe the 17 as all teams need some middles which are safe and strong in defence which Sutton is.

But Walmsley is a huge loss as with him and Burgess and Oledzki we would look a lot better.

Oledzki is going to be very important he is so talented and has loads of potential. He could become one the best props in the world.

[Harry Stottle]

On 21/09/2022 at 14:12, Jughead said:

Whose rules are we using for the World Cup?

The 'hybrid' international ones I should imagine, but more to the point is how the refs interpret those rules.

[DavidM]

2 hours ago, AB90 said:

the Aussie front row looks really weak’

I’ve never seen an Aussie side or part of it that’s ‘ really weak ‘ by definition of the standard they play to . Everything’s relative I guess but an Australian team turning up anywhere is still the team to beat and the team that does it will win the World Cup 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

23 minutes ago, SydneyRoosters said:

Oledzki is going to be very important he is so talented and has loads of potential. He could become one the best props in the world.

Wait and see how his shoulder holds up today 

I would not be surprised if he pulls out sometime from Sunday afterwards 

[DavidM]

4 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

The 'hybrid' international ones I should imagine, but more to the point is how the refs interpret those rules.

This exactly Harold . Rules are one thing but officials have been trained to interpret a certain way all season and players to play to them , as well as different protocols being in place .  The play the ball , what’s foul play and the punishments for it , the video ref involvement . Little things like here you see penalties for taking out a marker whereas in the NRL you go back and play the ball . Lots of different things just from watching games . There’ll be some confusions for players not used to something or other 

[SydneyRoosters]

2 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Wait and see how his shoulder holds up today 

I would not be surprised if he pulls out sometime from Sunday afterwards 

I really hope not England would be screwed without him.

[Harry Stottle]

On 22/09/2022 at 01:07, SydneyRoosters said:

Like i said it must be very disheartening to all people involved in rugby league in France. They put in all this effort, time and money into developing sport yet they aren’t one of the best teams in the world.

And why is that?

[Harry Stottle]

35 minutes ago, SydneyRoosters said:

I really hope not England would be screwed without him.

Why has all your confidence of the England team evaporated with the absence of just this one player?

[Mr Frisky]

3 hours ago, AB90 said:

Yeah, Walsmley is a big loss for England.

You may be right about Sutton not making the 17 but the fact that he’s even in the squad (and in conversation about making the starting 17) is concerning for England.

What i find slightly puzzling is that some posters here say things like ‘the Aussie front row looks really weak’ yet England will have guys like Luke Thompson and Ryan Sutton who wouldn’t get any wear near the Aussie squad. Yet apparently we are going to have the better forward pack (the logic seems a bit off to me).

But hey, I hope I’m wrong and we do have an incredible pack far superior to the Aussies!

I think most people on here believe the Aussie forwards are not weak but they are not as strong as in 2017 - but then Englands forward pack isn't as powerful as in 2017.

Englands cuttent pack looked very strong with the 3 main forwards as Burgess, Oledzki and Walmsley- now Walmsley has gone we suddenly don't look as good as he was our best prop. 

I think the only option to keep a powerful pack is to bring in Hill. Hill maybe not as Mobile as Sutton but he never has a bad game and can mix it with the grubs on other teams and won't take a step back.

With the form he was in I think Farrell is a big loss - just consistently good and gets trys - almost as big a loss to the forwards as Walmsley. 

[Dunbar]

16 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Why has all your confidence of the England team evaporated with the absence of just this one player?

Cumulative effect Harry.  We have lost one of our big middles in Walmsley.  Losing Oledski as well would take one of our theoretically strongest positions (prop) and really reduce it.

I read the comment as screwed for front row rather than screwed in our overall chances of success.  But we don't have huge depth of quality as Australia does and losing any given player weakens us more than them.

[Mojo]

That try by Brian To'o was bloody amazing holy!

[Dunbar]

4 minutes ago, Mojo said:

That try by Brian To'o was bloody amazing holy!

To be honest he should have been stopped.  At least 4, possibly 5, Souths players could have caught him but the attempt by Walker was shocking and then it was Keystone Cops stuff with Souths players falling over each other.

To'o did well but it was laughable defence.

[Mojo]

14 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

To be honest he should have been stopped.  At least 4, possibly 5, Souths players could have caught him but the attempt by Walker was shocking and then it was Keystone Cops stuff with Souths players falling over each other.

To'o did well but it was laughable defence.

You're a hard man to impress lol gotta give credit to To'o power too not many wingers can score tries like that especially in the finals

[Dunbar]

1 minute ago, Mojo said:

You're a hard man to impress lol gotta give credit to To'o power too not many wingers can score tries like that especially in the finals

Yes, I give credit to To'o, I said he did well. 

But the shocking tackle attempt by Walker (looked like he went for the ball) and the Souths players falling over each other helped him.

It was clear that To'o didn't have the pace to get there otherwise and he beat 1 tackle.  Good but not outstanding. 

[DavidM]

Looking ahead to the WC we saw negative  side of Latrell … really lazy , way underinvolved and loose with some of what he did do . Shamed by Dylan Edwards . Also how far back Cook has fallen and should be way out of contention . And Kikau could easily do a Latrell and get himself banned at anytime 

[Dunbar]

1 minute ago, DavidM said:

Looking ahead to the WC we saw negative  side of Latrell … really lazy , way underinvolved and loose with some of what he did do . Shamed by Dylan Edwards . Also how far back Cook has fallen and should be way out of contention . And Kikau could easily do a Latrell and get himself banned at anytime 

You can see by his body shape that Mitchell isn't fit enough.  His laziness is his entire approach, not just game day.

It is a pity because he is capable of exceptional things.

[bobbruce]

8 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

You can see by his body shape that Mitchell isn't fit enough.  His laziness is his entire approach, not just game day.

It is a pity because he is capable of exceptional things.

Hardly saw him after he was monstered early on. 

[Chris22]

I saw a reference on Twitter earlier that the captain's challenge will be in the World Cup - first I'd heard of this?

[DavidM]

He wanted to play fullback he needs to get fullback fit or let him coast out in the centres . 

[Harry Stottle]

2 hours ago, Dunbar said:

But we don't have huge depth of quality as Australia does and losing any given player weakens us more than them.

That goes without saying Dunny, Australia are most probably still the favourites to win the comp even though they have lost more Australian born player's through them electing to play for other nations by way of the heritage rules.

[Mojo]

Panthers will win the final easy. They played there worst rugby in the first half of the season as a full strength team and still won comfortably. Panthers are gonna win 5 championships in a row.