Current England team

[The storm]

1 Jack Welsby

2 Tom Johnstone

3 Harry Newman 

4 Herbie Farnworth

5 Dominic Young

6 George Williams

7 Mikey Lewis

8 Mikael Odleski

9 Darryl Clarke

10 Tyler Dupree

11 Mike McKeekan

12 Elliot Whitehead

13 James Harrison

 

14 Tom Burgess

15 Kai Pearce Paul

16 Alex Walmsley

17 john bateman

[Mr Frisky]

4 minutes ago, The storm said:

1 Jack Welsby

2 Tom Johnstone

3 Harry Newman 

4 Herbie Farnworth

5 Dominic Young

6 George Williams

7 Mikey Lewis

8 Mikael Odleski

9 Darryl Clarke

10 Tyler Dupree

11 Mike McKeekan

12 Elliot Whitehead

13 James Harrison

 

14 Tom Burgess

15 Kai Pearce Paul

16 Alex Walmsley

17 john bateman

No Knowles or Makinson? - both world class

[Davo5]

12 minutes ago, The storm said:

1 Jack Welsby

2 Tom Johnstone

3 Harry Newman 

4 Herbie Farnworth

5 Dominic Young

6 George Williams

7 Mikey Lewis

8 Mikael Odleski

9 Darryl Clarke

10 Tyler Dupree

11 Mike McKeekan

12 Elliot Whitehead

13 James Harrison

 

14 Tom Burgess

15 Kai Pearce Paul

16 Alex Walmsley

17 john bateman

Exciting looking side although for me Dupree is currently a long way off test level especially defensively & I’d have Radley at 13.

[Chrispmartha]

Id have Cam Smith at 13 - proper old school ball playing loose.

[Chrispmartha]

29 minutes ago, Mr Frisky said:

No Knowles or Makinson? - both world class

Knowles is bang out of form and consistently banned.

[The storm]

6 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

Knowles is bang out of form and consistently banned.

Ive considered both and on current form neither get the nod

[Tippytoe]

40 minutes ago, Mr Frisky said:

No Knowles or Makinson? - both world class

Makinson I agree Knowles not a chance a penalty machine, Cam Smith and Morgan Smithies are in front of him now quite comfortably. 

[WN83]

Depends what we're talking because a full team would be vastly different to what I would select in a few weeks against France but maybe lads will put their hands up in that game and make a case to stay in.

For France I'd expect we'll take a look at a few players. I would go something along the lines of-

Welsby

Marshall Newman Percival Johnstone

Williams (c) Smith

Oledzki Ackers Harrison

Nicholson Farrell Smithies

Subs

Havard Dupree McMeekan Lewis

We don't really need to see what guys like Makinson, Knowles, Lomax etc can do but we do need to start having a look towards the future. There are a lot of guys in the mix for chances, so other names could be thrown in but guys like Marshall, Dupree, Havard, Smith, Lewis, Smithies and Nicholson are really putting strong cases together. I'd have always loved to see a halfback paring of Williams and Smith at Wigan because the balance is absolutely perfect and I think it's a pairing that can take the national side forward as well. Micky Lewis is playing fantastically well also, so there is an opportunity to take a look at him as well. 

 

Edited April 11, 2023 by WN83

[Welshleaguelover]

1 Welsby

2 Makinson

3 Newman

4 Farnworth

5 Young

6 Williams

7 Sneyd

8 Oledzki

9 Clark

10 Burgess

11 McMeekan

12 Bateman

13 Radley

14 Smith

15 Sutton

16 Dupree

17 Knowles

[Man of Kent]

Harry Smith must be getting close to a call up. He's the leading scrum half on SL Fantasy League by a country mile. Ditto Cameron Smith at loose forward.

[daz39]

Stick Abdull in there just for his kicking ability.

[Jughead]

Welsby, Makinson, King, Wardle, Hall, Williams, Sneyd, Hill, Ackers, Lees, Nicholson, McMeeken, Smithies

Clark, Oledzki, Pearce Paul, A Prop. 

That’s about as good as it’s getting for England this month against France. 

[WN83]

18 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

Harry Smith must be getting close to a call up. He's the leading scrum half on SL Fantasy League by a country mile. Ditto Cameron Smith at loose forward.

I agree he must be pretty close now. He does still need to work on his consistency a little, with there being the odd lapse in concentration, leading to things like him kicking out on the full but Friday is him at his best. There are times at Wigan where we play on the back foot due to the pack being outplayed and that isn't easy for him but I'd love to see him on the back of a pack like we had in the World Cup. Him and Williams are as good a balanced pairing as you could hope for really. They both offer creativity and the slight weaknesses of either are the strength of the other. 

[WN83]

15 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Welsby, Makinson, King, Wardle, Hall, Williams, Sneyd, Hill, Ackers, Lees, Nicholson, McMeeken, Smithies

Clark, Oledzki, Pearce Paul, A Prop. 

That’s about as good as it’s getting for England this month against France. 

If we just look to win the games here and now and don't factor in building to the future, guys like Makinson, Hall, Hill and Sneyd are fine but I think we need to take a look at a few players and see what they're about. It will be interesting to see what team we go with. 

[Siwel14]

32 minutes ago, WN83 said:

Depends what we're talking because a full team would be vastly different to what I would select in a few weeks against France but maybe lads will put their hands up in that game and make a case to stay in.

For France I'd expect we'll take a look at a few players. I would go something along the lines of-

Welsby

Marshall Newman Percival Johnstone

Williams (c) Smith

Oledzki Walker Harrison

Nicholson Farrell Smithies

Subs

Havard Dupree McMeekan Lewis

We don't really need to see what guys like Makinson, Knowles, Lomax etc can do but we do need to start having a look towards the future. There are a lot of guys in the mix for chances, so other names could be thrown in but guys like Marshall, Dupree, Havard, Smith, Lewis, Smithies and Nicholson are really putting strong cases together. I'd have always loved to see a halfback paring of Williams and Smith at Wigan because the balance is absolutely perfect and I think it's a pairing that can take the national side forward as well. Micky Lewis is playing fantastically well also, so there is an opportunity to take a look at him as well. 

 

But it's not about seeing what guys can do, those type of call-ups is what the Knights team is for. You need to play your best players and let them build chemistry and develop together.

Leaving out key players for mid-season games but then throwing them into the end-of-year comps does not help out England one bit.

[Jughead]

1 minute ago, WN83 said:

If we just look to win the games here and now and don't factor in building to the future, guys like Makinson, Hall, Hill and Sneyd are fine but I think we need to take a look at a few players and see what they're about. It will be interesting to see what team we go with. 

What are England building towards? They’ve no fixtures planned post the France game, how can they look beyond that? 

[Chrispmartha]

1 minute ago, Siwel14 said:

But it's not about seeing what guys can do, those type of call-ups is what the Knights team is for. You need to play your best players and let them build chemistry and develop together.

Leaving out key players for mid-season games but then throwing them into the end-of-year comps does not help out England one bit.

Disagree, its about seeing what those players can do in the full England set up playing with better players 

Hall, Hill and makinson shouldnt be in the squad against France.

 

[RP London]

20 minutes ago, Jughead said:

What are England building towards? They’ve no fixtures planned post the France game, how can they look beyond that? 

 

19 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

Disagree, its about seeing what those players can do in the full England set up playing with better players 

Hall, Hill and makinson shouldnt be in the squad against France.

 

These two together.. all joking apart, Hill and Hall could well have retired before England play another competitive game let alone one that we may need our 100% strongest team out to win.. 

We'll never know what players can do until we see it. Pick on form against France, we shouldnt lose but if they run us close is that a bad thing in any number of ways really?

Some of the "lesser players" could be going in to play France in the Autumn anyway when we play the Euros (hoping we get to the final) so give them the experience now... who knows what will happen with any touring team, plan for what we know and it may be a year that the NRL players take a year off for England too (which may not be a bad thing)

[Human Punk]

Makinson is still young enough, and still the comp's best winger. I like Tom Johnstone, but his defence leaves a bit to be desired -I'd consider Joe Burgess as an option if Dom Young's still struggling. Mikey Lewis needs to improve his decision making big time before he's ready, Abdull should be 1st choice on current form.

And Welsby should be dropped until he remembers that he's still just a young lad and hasn't earned the right to think he can stroll about the park and somehow his super skills will win matches without putting in any effort.

[WN83]

39 minutes ago, Jughead said:

What are England building towards? They’ve no fixtures planned post the France game, how can they look beyond that? 

The World Cup is 2 years away and we're likely to have games at the end of the year. If we look to 2025, we can pick Makinson because he might be around but there seems very little point in picking guys like Ryan Hall and Chris Hill. They won't be playing in 2025 and realistically we could pick our 5th choice team and beat France, so what are we getting out of selecting them? In 2025 you'd imagine Johnstone, Marshall, Havard, Harrison, Oledzki, Dupree etc will have a decent chance of being in the mix, so it makes far more sense to me to start looking at them now. 

[Jughead]

4 minutes ago, WN83 said:

The World Cup is 2 years away and we're likely to have games at the end of the year. If we look to 2025, we can pick Makinson because he might be around but there seems very little point in picking guys like Ryan Hall and Chris Hill. They won't be playing in 2025 and realistically we could pick our 5th choice team and beat France, so what are we getting out of selecting them? In 2025 you'd imagine Johnstone, Marshall, Havard, Harrison, Oledzki, Dupree etc will have a decent chance of being in the mix, so it makes far more sense to me to start looking at them now. 

You pick your best team available to you, especially if there is actually going to be international rugby league come November. 

 

[WN83]

46 minutes ago, Siwel14 said:

But it's not about seeing what guys can do, those type of call-ups is what the Knights team is for. You need to play your best players and let them build chemistry and develop together.

Leaving out key players for mid-season games but then throwing them into the end-of-year comps does not help out England one bit.

I get what you're saying but ultimately we'll always be doing that because 5 or 6 of our best are in the NRL. I would also look at that team and say there aren't a great deal of players not being selected who form part of our best team. Alex Walmsley is injured, Tommy Makinson is definitely one but looks in need of a rest, Knowles isn't in great form and I presume could be banned, so that probably leaves Lomax and you could argue Smith/Lewis have outplayed him in 2023 as well. I forgot about Andy Ackers tbh, so put him in ahead of of Walker. 

It's positive that there are plenty of names being thrown around tbh. To say those 5 or 6 players are in the NRL, we still have decisions to make in plenty of positions. 

[WN83]

9 minutes ago, Jughead said:

You pick your best team available to you, especially if there is actually going to be international rugby league come November. 

 

I agree to a certain point but I don't see the need to flog somebody like Makinson, Walmsley is inured and Knowles might be banned. I don't think Hall is in a current best 17 anyway and then you have a decision to make on Chris Hill. We'll win games against France with or without him, so is there any need to play him? He also is extremely unlikely to play in the WC in 2025, so do you play him now or even at the end of the season against Tonga (if confirmed)? I'd say no because there is always going to be a ranking of what is more important and we will have minimal games before that WC to prep new players for it. There comes a time when you need to look to some new blood and I think we're at that point. Games against France and Tonga aren't what Shaun Wane will be judged on. 

[Jughead]

2 minutes ago, WN83 said:

I agree to a certain point but I don't see the need to flog somebody like Makinson, Walmsley is inured and Knowles might be banned. I don't think Hall is in a current best 17 anyway and then you have a decision to make on Chris Hill. We'll win games against France with or without him, so is there any need to play him? He also is extremely unlikely to play in the WC in 2025, so do you play him now or even at the end of the season against Tonga (if confirmed)? I'd say no because there is always going to be a ranking of what is more important and we will have minimal games before that WC to prep new players for it. There comes a time when you need to look to some new blood and I think we're at that point. Games against France and Tonga aren't what Shaun Wane will be judged on. 

You know playing injured and suspended players isn’t going to happen, so I’m not sure what weight they have in the discussion when Walmsley’s out till after the international break and Knowles will have 4 weeks off, himself. They’re not going to be selected.

Also, why isn’t Wane being judged? If England were to lose 3-0 to Tonga (or even 2-1 depending on circumstances) come November, how does he keep his job? If England’s competitive record reads one win in the past four games against Tonga and Samoa, I don’t see how he’s looked upon as the man for 2025 with a record like that. 

[dealwithit]

Toby King should be no where near the squad. 
Halves are a really strong point. 
Williams and Abdull would be interesting. I expect Harry Smith to be close. Would have said Dodd after his two games down under, but current form isn’t great.