England Line Up, Next Time They Play?

[OMEGA]

This World Cup is over for England   
We’ve seen plenty of debate about Wane’s selections both before and after the Tournament, some of his players won’t be available next time we play in a World Cup

Who do we have with the quality to come into the line up and improve us, what will our team line up look like

1. Welsby/Price   
2. Young/Murphy
3. Wardle/Newman   
4. Farnworth/Percival
5. Makinson/Johnstone   
6. Dodd/Williams
7. Smith/Lewis   
8. Burgess/Havard/English
9. Ackers/Leeming   
10. Walmsley/Oledski/Thompson
11. McMeekin/Batchelor
12. Gannon/Lees   
13. Radley/Knowles

Will we be better or worse by the time the next World Cup comes around

Edited November 13, 2022 by OMEGA

[Chrispmartha]

11 minutes ago, OMEGA said:

This World Cup is over for England   
We’ve seen plenty of debate about Wane’s selections both before and after the Tournament, some of his players won’t be available next time we play in a World Cup

Who do we have with the quality to come into the line up and improve us, what will our team line up look like

1. Welsby/Price   
2. Young/Murphy
3. Wardle/Newman   
4. Farnworth/Percival
5. Makinson/Johnstone   
6. Dodd/Williams
7. Smith/Lewis   
8. Burgess/Havard/English
9. Ackers/Leeming   
10. Walmsley/Oledski/Thompson
11. McMeekin/Batchelor
12. Gannon/Lees   
13. Radley/Knowles

Will we be better or worse by the time the next World Cup comes around

I think we will be better, players like Dodd, Pryce, Newman, Gannon, Lewis, Welsby, oledski will be older and better and should be in the team

[Jughead]

Who are England playing next? Where is it? How can I get tickets? That’s more important than whoever lines up for them. As usual, there’s no plan. 

Edited November 13, 2022 by Jughead

[OMEGA]

3 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Who are England playing next? Where is it? How can I get tickets? That’s more important than whoever lines up for them. As usual, there’s no plan. 

This is a forum mate, it’s not the official England Rugby League website

[Jughead]

Just now, OMEGA said:

This is a forum mate, it’s not the official England Rugby League website

And you’re missing the point. It’s utterly meaningless guff because, guess what? England have no games planned and you can’t buy tickets and discussing who plays is meaningless. 43,000 at St James’, the traction that created, 40,000 in London. Momentum stopped dead because nothing is planned and for those who enjoyed it, it’s out of their heads again in a few days. 

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Jughead said:

And you’re missing the point. It’s utterly meaningless guff because, guess what? England have no games planned and you can’t buy tickets and discussing who plays is meaningless. 43,000 at St James’, the traction that created, 40,000 in London. Momentum stopped dead because nothing is planned and for those who enjoyed it, it’s out of their heads again in a few days. 

We will have NZ for three tests next year.

And it is always good to do - because England will play again won't they. They haven't be disbanded.

[Jughead]

6 minutes ago, Leonard said:

We will have NZ for three tests next year.

And it is always good to do - because England will play again won't they. They haven't be disbanded.

When is it? Where can I buy tickets? When do they go on sale? All questions unanswered because nothing has been confirmed. So much for striking while the iron is hot. 

 

[Davo5]

53 minutes ago, Jughead said:

And you’re missing the point. It’s utterly meaningless guff because, guess what? England have no games planned and you can’t buy tickets and discussing who plays is meaningless. 43,000 at St James’, the traction that created, 40,000 in London. Momentum stopped dead because nothing is planned and for those who enjoyed it, it’s out of their heads again in a few days. 

Start a thread then & let others get on with this one.

[Davo5]

1 hour ago, OMEGA said:

This World Cup is over for England   
We’ve seen plenty of debate about Wane’s selections both before and after the Tournament, some of his players won’t be available next time we play in a World Cup

Who do we have with the quality to come into the line up and improve us, what will our team line up look like

1. Welsby/Price   
2. Young/Murphy
3. Wardle/Newman   
4. Farnworth/Percival
5. Makinson/Johnstone   
6. Dodd/Williams
7. Smith/Lewis   
8. Burgess/Havard/English
9. Ackers/Leeming   
10. Walmsley/Oledski/Thompson
11. McMeekin/Batchelor
12. Gannon/Lees   
13. Radley/Knowles

Will we be better or worse by the time the next World Cup comes around

Welsby,Young,Newman,Farnworth,Makinson,Williams,Dodd,Walmsley,Ackers,Burgess,Bateman,McMeekin,Radley

McMeekin,Thompson,KPP,Knowles

[Archie Gordon]

I still think two of the first names on the sheet should be Connor and Clark.

[Exiled Wiganer]

From Wigan, I could see KPP, Smith, Havard, Bateman, Farrell and Smithies being in the mix in the future. 

The OP left out Lomax - I didn’t think he was that old: he would have been better than Welsby this year. 

[Dunbar]

Certainly, for me the two young players who were unlucky with injury this time round and should be really ready next time are Lewis Dodd and Harry Newman.

I think Harry Smith is developing into a good game management half as well while Mikey Lewis is more of a running half.  Add Dodd, Lewis, Smith and Pryce and we should be ok in the halves.

I think Newman and Farnworth are the most talented centres and could be our choices for a few years.  The wings come from Makinson plus one of a few - Young, Murphy, Johnstone and I think Joe Burgess is unlucky to not be in the mix.

Radley and Knowles for loose forward with Smithies knocking on the door while Tom Burgess and Alex Walmsley are clearly our best middle options while Oledski will be a year better as well (assuming next year is a year too late for Hill and Cooper).  I would like to see Havard or English step up.  I also think that Tom Holroyd still has the potential to be the best of the young props.

I like the look of Brad O'Neill at Wigan and hope pushes on for the 9 jersey while Gannon also looks like a special player.

[Jughead]

1 hour ago, Davo5 said:

Start a thread then & let others get on with this one.

When it’s relevant to this one, no. 

[SUPERSTUD]

2 hours ago, Dunbar said:

Certainly, for me the two young players who were unlucky with injury this time round and should be really ready next time are Lewis Dodd and Harry Newman.

I think Harry Smith is developing into a good game management half as well while Mikey Lewis is more of a running half.  Add Dodd, Lewis, Smith and Pryce and we should be ok in the halves.

I think Newman and Farnworth are the most talented centres and could be our choices for a few years.  The wings come from Makinson plus one of a few - Young, Murphy, Johnstone and I think Joe Burgess is unlucky to not be in the mix.

Radley and Knowles for loose forward with Smithies knocking on the door while Tom Burgess and Alex Walmsley are clearly our best middle options while Oledski will be a year better as well (assuming next year is a year too late for Hill and Cooper).  I would like to see Havard or English step up.  I also think that Tom Holroyd still has the potential to be the best of the young props.

I like the look of Brad O'Neill at Wigan and hope pushes on for the 9 jersey while Gannon also looks like a special player.

Tom Holroyd needs to get some club form etc first. Big amateur bully who has so far failed within the professional arena.

[The storm]

I think england were better than i expected. 

But we need more high intensity games year on year so that we dont "freeze" in critical moments. 

The test series against the kiwis is vital but we also have tonga and samoa as world class opponents, so in theory we could have a test series every year. 

PNG and fiji would also be worthy tourists and there is an argument for these teams to tour also. 

On the whole i feel that samoa and tonga have added significantly to our sport. 

 

I think Farnworth, makinson, young, burgess, whitehead and Mckeekan have been world class. 

 

[Mr Frisky]

4 hours ago, Jughead said:

When is it? Where can I buy tickets? When do they go on sale? All questions unanswered because nothing has been confirmed. So much for striking while the iron is hot. 

 

A wild stab in the dark says at the end of October into November mate. 

[Spidey]

13 hours ago, Davo5 said:

Welsby,Young,Newman,Farnworth,Makinson,Williams,Dodd,Walmsley,Ackers,Burgess,Bateman,McMeekin,Radley

McMeekin,Thompson,KPP,Knowles

McMeekin is some player

[Davo5]

10 hours ago, Spidey said:

McMeekin is some player

Yeah I was struggling to come up with a hooker & got all discombobulated

[EagleEyePie]

It's going to be an interesting balancing act when it comes to building a squad with the next world cup in mind. You could just go all out and not pick players in their 30's but that would be both unprecedented and also unfair as age shouldn't rule you out of playing for your country.

On the other hand, while you definitely want your best players selected there has to be some consideration given to the age of the squad because we already had one of the oldest squads in the world cup and if we're still relying on the same players in two years time we can only have gone backwards.

Thinking of players who have been in the squad or at least discussed as being in contention we have the following aged 30 or over:

35 - Hill

34 - McIlorum, Cooper, Hall

33 - Whitehead, Tomkins, 

32 - Walmsley, Lomax, Farrell, McShane, 

31 - Watkins, Sneyd, Makinson, Hardaker, 

30 - Burgess

I may have missed a few others off but you can certainly rule out Hill, McIlorum, Cooper and Hall from the next world cup. Whitehead and Tomkins would seem incredibly unlikely. We're basically in a situation where any of those players over 30 would be unlikely to feature in the next world cup unless they are mainstays of the team.

We need to start building up the experience of players in their early to mid 20's but it needs regular England fixtures to do it. The Combined Nations doesn't seem to be a suitable test because clubs and players just don't take it seriously enough. Perhaps a West v East all-star game would be more suitable. I don't mean in terms of creating a rival to Origin or anything like that, but just as a way of pitting the best UK-based England contenders against each other.

I know Shaun Wane got some criticism for picking older players but given the lack of meaningful internationals England have had you can't blame him for going tried and trusted. We need to how players perform away from their club environment but the pitiful international calendar doesn't provide enough opportunity.

[GeordieSaint]

We have to build for 2025 now. The next time we’ll play will be mid-season (against France) so we’ll not have our NRL players. So I’d go with something like this:

1. Welsby 2. Makinson 3. Newman 4. Wardle 5. Johnstone 6. Williams 7. Dodd 8. Lees 9. Leeming 10. Oldezki 11. Bateman 12. McMeeken 13. Knowles 

14. O’Neill 15. Harvard 16. English 17. Pearce-Paul

[eal]

This mid-season test against France better be on Bastille Day or it is a waste of time.

[Saint Toppy]

The SL Teams 1st team squads will change a fair bit over the next 3 years and there's probably players not getting regular 1st team action now who will be prominent for their clubs by the time the next WC comes around.

As a couple of examples from my own club Saints, Jake Wingfield just started to establish himself as a 1st team regular this year and I think if he continues his progression, by 2025 he'll be in the starting 13 every week, he's only 21 now which is pretty young for a forward. I also think teenager George Delaney will be in the Saints starting 17 by 2025. At just 18 and having only made a couple of 1st team appearances he's already been picked for the England Knights and Wellens has just promoted him into the 1st team squad for 2023.

I do think there's probably quite a few young players from all SL clubs who will really be pushing for England spots in 3 years time.

Edited November 15, 2022 by Saint Toppy

[arcticchris]

On 14/11/2022 at 19:47, EagleEyePie said:

It's going to be an interesting balancing act when it comes to building a squad with the next world cup in mind. You could just go all out and not pick players in their 30's but that would be both unprecedented and also unfair as age shouldn't rule you out of playing for your country.

On the other hand, while you definitely want your best players selected there has to be some consideration given to the age of the squad because we already had one of the oldest squads in the world cup and if we're still relying on the same players in two years time we can only have gone backwards.

Thinking of players who have been in the squad or at least discussed as being in contention we have the following aged 30 or over:

35 - Hill

34 - McIlorum, Cooper, Hall

33 - Whitehead, Tomkins, 

32 - Walmsley, Lomax, Farrell, McShane, 

31 - Watkins, Sneyd, Makinson, Hardaker, 

30 - Burgess

I may have missed a few others off but you can certainly rule out Hill, McIlorum, Cooper and Hall from the next world cup. Whitehead and Tomkins would seem incredibly unlikely. We're basically in a situation where any of those players over 30 would be unlikely to feature in the next world cup unless they are mainstays of the team.

We need to start building up the experience of players in their early to mid 20's but it needs regular England fixtures to do it. The Combined Nations doesn't seem to be a suitable test because clubs and players just don't take it seriously enough. Perhaps a West v East all-star game would be more suitable. I don't mean in terms of creating a rival to Origin or anything like that, but just as a way of pitting the best UK-based England contenders against each other.

I know Shaun Wane got some criticism for picking older players but given the lack of meaningful internationals England have had you can't blame him for going tried and trusted. We need to how players perform away from their club environment but the pitiful international calendar doesn't provide enough opportunity.

On that list Tom Burgess should be a 100% definite and Makinson and Whitehead should both be involved next year at least if they want to.

Beyond that time to thank the likes of Hill and Tomkins for their service and move forward with a fresh group.

Welsby/Farnworth/Young are near certainty picks in the backs and there are lots of good options that need to stay fit Johnstone/Newman or gain consistency and reach the next level eg Wardle/Pryce.

Biggest need going forward is an elite hooker who is strong in defence and a great distributor in attack.

[Mr Frisky]

35 minutes ago, arcticchris said:

On that list Tom Burgess should be a 100% definite and Makinson and Whitehead should both be involved next year at least if they want to.

Beyond that time to thank the likes of Hill and Tomkins for their service and move forward with a fresh group.

Welsby/Farnworth/Young are near certainty picks in the backs and there are lots of good options that need to stay fit Johnstone/Newman or gain consistency and reach the next level eg Wardle/Pryce.

Biggest need going forward is an elite hooker who is strong in defence and a great distributor in attack.

So are we asking Roby to come back??

[arcticchris]

10 minutes ago, Mr Frisky said:

So are we asking Roby to come back??

If we could put him in a time machine and knock off 10 years of wear and tear that would be perfect