England Squad

[Welshleaguelover]

12 minutes ago, Mr Frisky said:

From your first sentence replace Hodgson with Roby and you have a point - add in lockers and your 100% correct.

O'Loughlin was done in the early 2010s and Roby is a grandad. Both great players in their prime.

We have to get our best athletes on the field in these international tournaments.

We can't have a team of Shaun Briscoes and Chris Bridges. No offence to those lads.

I've been on this forum for a few days. I feel like my opinions are very different to the consensus.

[Dunbar]

2 minutes ago, Welshleaguelover said:

O'Loughlin was done in the early 2010s and Roby is a grandad. Both great players in their prime.

We have to get our best athletes on the field in these international tournaments.

We can't have a team of Shaun Briscoes and Chris Bridges. No offence to those lads.

I've been on this forum for a few days. I feel like my opinions are very different to the consensus.

I don't think you going against the grain on here.

Plenty of people have been advocating for our best young athletes to be picked... Farnworth, Murphy, Young, Newman etc.  Even when it hasn't looked likely with Farnworth dropped from the squad and Young in his early days at the Knights. 

[GeordieSaint]

1 hour ago, Davo5 said:

Team for first game V Samoa.

1.Welsby 2.Makinson 3.Farnworth 4.Watkins 5.Young 6.Tomkins 7.Sneyd 8.Oledzki 9.Leeming 10.Thompson 11.Radley 12.Whitehead 13 Knowles

14.Burgess 15.Batchelor 16.McMeekin 17.Lewis

1. Tomkins 2. Young 3. Watkins 4. Farnworth 5. Makinson 6. Williams 7. Smith 8. Oledzki 9. Leeming 10. Thompson 11. Whitehead 12. Batchelor 13. Knowles 

14. Burgess 15. Cooper 16. Radley 17. Welsby

[Welshleaguelover]

7 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:

Smithies is an awesome prospect who looks like a player who'll step up and impress on the big stage.

I love him. I think he's going to be an international and a good one at that. However, he's clearly behind Knowles and Radley. He was never really in the mix for the 24.

Oh yeah. There's no doubt that Radley and Knowles are ahead of him.

I just think he's a different player. He can play in the middle but also has the late offload on the edge if need be.

A bit like a poor man's SBW.

[DoubleD]

1 hour ago, Dunbar said:

If we had a fit Harry Newman to partner Farnworh in the centres, Lomax at 6 and Walmsley in the pack, I would have us as stronger than 2017.

Now, probably not a lot in it.

But I think New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga are all stronger than 2017.

Australia is a funny one as they have lost some greats in Cronk, Slater, Smith and Cordner.... but they are always strong.

I disagree, I think we’re significantly weaker than 2017.

I also think we’re weaker than we were in 08 when we had Lee Smith and Paul Sykes in the squad

[usain bolt]

Hasn't Smithies pulled out of the knights squad, I'm sure there's at least 3 or 4 who've been replaced. Injured or tactical, guess we'll see when the squad is picked

[StandOffHalf]

14 minutes ago, Welshleaguelover said:

Oh yeah. There's no doubt that Radley and Knowles are ahead of him.

I just think he's a different player. He can play in the middle but also has the late offload on the edge if need be.

A bit like a poor man's SBW.

I am a big fan of his. I'm looking forward to seeing him develop and mature over the next couple of seasons. For me, there were only two lock positions up for grabs in a small squad of 24. He's not too far off.

[StandOffHalf]

Just now, usain bolt said:

Hasn't Smithies pulled out of the knights squad, I'm sure there's at least 3 or 4 who've been replaced. Injured or tactical, guess we'll see when the squad is picked

Interesting twist, if true...

[Welshleaguelover]

4 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

I don't think you going against the grain on here.

Plenty of people have been advocating for our best young athletes to be picked... Farnworth, Murphy, Young, Newman etc.  Even when it hasn't looked likely with Farnworth dropped from the squad and Young in his early days at the Knights. 

Maybe not. I plan on sticking around. It's good to see/hear differing opinions and chat about it.

[Curly perm]

There’s a thread on here about whether Nathan Cleary will make the Australian squad and we’re talking about Sneyd as our starting 7. Talk about levels. Hardaker, Hall, McIlorum? Time to give the young uns a go I think. I’m pretty nervous for the Samoa game if I’m honest. 

 

[StandOffHalf]

Just now, Welshleaguelover said:

Maybe not. I plan on sticking around. It's good to see/hear differing opinions and chat about it.

Picking young athletes is definitely one area where England could up their game, I feel. I think we see eye to eye on that.

[StandOffHalf]

10 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

1. Tomkins 2. Young 3. Watkins 4. Farnworth 5. Makinson 6. Williams 7. Smith 8. Oledzki 9. Leeming 10. Thompson 11. Whitehead 12. Batchelor 13. Knowles 

14. Burgess 15. Cooper 16. Radley 17. Welsby

Good 17, Geordie. I could live with that.

I might switch the halves the other way around, and start with Radley's physicality. Leeming could then come on after 30 minutes and be freer.

[EastLondonMike]

I’ve always felt we were heading for a 1982 moment at this World Cup, and with the withdrawals due to injury I’m now convinced. 
Some of the names getting thrown around as our best options is genuinely worrying.

[Welshleaguelover]

2 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:

Picking young athletes is definitely one area where England could up their game, I feel. I think we see eye to eye on that.

I'm sure we'll agree on plenty and disagree on plenty too.

My one thought about the England/GB national team (and it should be GB, but that's an argument for another day) is that we should disregard form. It shouldn't matter how good Tom Johnstone is playing at Wakey or Mark Percival at Saints or Ben Westwood at the Wire. If they are a liability then she should be treated as such.

For me, Jake Connor is less of a liability than the players I mentioned above. His biggest problem is that he's fat and out of shape and is convinced that he needs to make a miracle pass because he's not been coached properly. Eddie Jones was right.

Anyway, I'm an opinionated old fella, and I'm not even that old.

[usain bolt]

Sometimes a bit of brilliance is needed, Connors last outings v New Zealand in the home series were excellent, forming a top partnership with makinson. Where did that momentum of that series fizzle out to. A maverick like Connor can be a winning selection or a dumb choice, but sometimes the gamble pays off, there's a fine line, but I don't think we'll see it this time around. Conservative seems the order of the day

[Dunbar]

22 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

I disagree, I think we’re significantly weaker than 2017.

I also think we’re weaker than we were in 08 when we had Lee Smith and Paul Sykes in the squad

That 2008 team is a mystery. 

On paper when we look back it full of what we would describe as some of the best players of the last 20 years.

But they got absolutely mullered by Australia, beaten twice by New Zealand and scraped past PNG.

[Welshleaguelover]

1 minute ago, Dunbar said:

That 2008 team is a mystery. 

On paper when we look back it full of what we would describe as some of the best players of the last 20 years.

But they got absolutely mullered by Australia, beaten twice by New Zealand and scraped past PNG.

Slater turning Calderwood inside out is the moment I gave up on rugby union and became a fully devoted league fan.

[DoubleD]

7 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

That 2008 team is a mystery. 

On paper when we look back it full of what we would describe as some of the best players of the last 20 years.

But they got absolutely mullered by Australia, beaten twice by New Zealand and scraped past PNG.

I agree that the sum of the parts was better than the team. I remember hearing an interview with Tony Smith some years later where he revealed that there were cliques in the squad and the Leeds and Saints players didn’t gel and that club culture was to blame…………which was one of the things Steve McNamara went to lengths to rectify when he became coach and put in place performance squads, regular meet ups to foster a togetherness for England teams. Let’s hope the team is greater than the sum of the parts this time around because it looks really concerning on paper to me

[StandOffHalf]

31 minutes ago, Welshleaguelover said:

I'm sure we'll agree on plenty and disagree on plenty too.

My one thought about the England/GB national team (and it should be GB, but that's an argument for another day) is that we should disregard form. It shouldn't matter how good Tom Johnstone is playing at Wakey or Mark Percival at Saints or Ben Westwood at the Wire. If they are a liability then she should be treated as such.

For me, Jake Connor is less of a liability than the players I mentioned above. His biggest problem is that he's fat and out of shape and is convinced that he needs to make a miracle pass because he's not been coached properly. Eddie Jones was right.

Anyway, I'm an opinionated old fella, and I'm not even that old.

I agree in so much that form isn't the ONLY parameter guiding international selection. I liked Benny Westwood but he did have a bit of a grubby side to him, haha...

I agree with you on Connor relying on his passing skills, perhaps overly so. I was watching a highlights clip of his best moments a while back and I was struck by the similarity and repetition of his assists. The thing is though that that singular timing of the pass CAN be the dazzling moment in an international that'll break the game open. True vision and creativeness only needs a chink. Other solid players around him would give him the best opportunity to deliver his maverick party-tricks. I would have Connor at right centre and Farnworth at left centre.

Bit opinionated myself...

I

 

[Harry Stottle]

3 hours ago, graveyard johnny said:

old mother hubbard had more choices than sean wane - we are really gonna pay for the lack of development and investment over the last decade in this wc 

Did this all start in the last licencing era, when all these club's with no pressure on them of relegation would be able to bring young talent through?

Just asking.

[Loiner]

Percival and Lomax no great loss.

[Ragingbull]

9 minutes ago, Loiner said:

Percival and Lomax no great loss.

Have you been in Wetherspoons all day? 

[GeordieSaint]

2 hours ago, EastLondonMike said:

Some of the names getting thrown around as our best options is genuinely worrying.

Like who? 

2 hours ago, Dunbar said:

That 2008 team is a mystery. 

On paper when we look back it full of what we would describe as some of the best players of the last 20 years.

But they got absolutely mullered by Australia, beaten twice by New Zealand and scraped past PNG.

A bunch of individuals can be individually great but rubbish if they don’t bond and work as a team. Same with any sport at any level. I think that’s what happened in 2008; no integration as a unit to work as a team.

[ghost crayfish]

No Lomax is a huge blow. I think he's shown in test football (most at no. 1) he's up to the level, and I still think he was the best halfback on the field in the WCC a few years ago against the Roosters. It's really disappointing that he's out. Percival, less so.

[SUPERSTUD]

Dom Young. Is he the best we have to offer out wide? Woeful positioning and weak as when It comes to tackling. Is he the in the best two wingers that we possess today?