If picking an England team Now

[JM2010]

46 minutes ago, RugbyLeagueGeek said:

Lots of exciting talent to pick from at the moment. But... Are they actually going to be playing this year??

They should try get themselves involved in the Pacific Cup at the end of the year otherwise it’s just a team on paper with nobody to play 

[WN83]

I think 1-7 pretty much picks itself at the minute if everyone was available. Micky Lewis and Lewis Dodd could continue to apply pressure to Williams and Smith however.

 

The forwards are more of a debate. On what I’ve seen so far this season, I’d struggle to think Luke Thompson isn’t in our best 17 and I’d apply that to Brad O’Neill as well, who I think is made for international rugby league. I see people question a lack of threat out of dummy half sometimes but he plays to orders. When he does run, he’s effective and I can only see that Daz Clark has a better average per carry than him on the Superleague site. His defence is absolutely brutal and I think him and Clark would offer a great balance if both were in the 17.

 

Give us a big international tomorrow and I’d go-

 

Welsby

Young Farnworth Wardle Johnstone

Williams Smith

Walmsley O’Neill McMeekan

KPP Bateman Radley

Subs

Burgess Oledzki Thompson Clark

[WN83]

5 hours ago, GeordieSaint said:

Walters is going to rip it up at Wigan. Some proper coaching and playing in a quality team will rapidly improve his obvious potential. I was gutted when he signed for Wigan. Exactly the type of mentality and attitude we need in our second rowers playing against Australia, New Zealand, Samoa et al. 

It will be interesting to see how he gets on knowing he’ll be playing second row full time.  He looked a bit leaner in pre season and showed some great touches up until doing his collarbone. I hope he does make the grade and can transfer that to internationals. To have him and KPP to pick from would be exciting. It’s not often you have 2 lads in the back row who are 6ft 5, mobile and can play with the ball. It’ll be a while yet but Junior Nsemba could add a third option in that mould (although more if a power runner and I don’t think he quite has the handling  ability of the other two). 

[WN83]

1 hour ago, meast said:

Wilson would already be a shoe in if he played for certain other teams, one of the best props in the league right now but there must be Wigan or St Helens reserve that hasn't been picked yet  

Wilson was outstanding in that academy series win verses the Aussies snd I think he’ll get to international level eventually but there’s a way to go. That isn’t about him not playing for Wigan or Saints, it’s just that he’s really young for a prop forward and it takes a good while to find consistency. It’s the same for guys like Havard and Holroyd, who also played in that academy series.
 

I looked at his game by game stats and he’s had big games in terms of metres and metres per carry against Cas, London and Hull but seemingly struggled against Saints and Wigan. It probably tells a tale of there still being some developing to do yet but it’ll come. 

[OMEGA]

2 hours ago, meast said:

These posts turn up countless times every year and they never fail to amuse me, the amount of players that have been "shoe-ins" based on a couple of decent games for Wigan, Saints and in the NRL etc  

Like who?

[OMEGA]

15 hours ago, meast said:

These posts turn up countless times every year and they never fail to amuse me, the amount of players that have been "shoe-ins" based on a couple of decent games for Wigan, Saints and in the NRL etc  

So don’t read them then!

it’s not rocket science is it and you don’t have to take part in the discussion

[East Hull Robins]

Own club perspective

 

Does Niall Evalds get spoken about as an option? He’s on fire at the moment and can cover a couple of positions. 

I also think Jez Litten is above the other hookers mentioned, defence is outstanding and is a good place kicker as well. We all know he can jump out. Him and O’Neil would complement well.

other clubs 

I think a couple of the lads at Wire have really developed under Burgess. You could argue for both Catalan wingers to be the starting wingers too, it’s just unfortunate for them we have a wealth of talent across the backs

half backs - Williams, smith, Dodd, Mikey Lewis - are we starting to see some decent depth in a position we have historically failed to produce. Same with centre really Farmworth, Newman, Wardle all coming along nicely.

 

Thompson, Walmsley, Lees, Oledski would be my 4 props I think

13’s a challenge, we’ve got some quality there as well haven’t we.

2nd row is where I’d say we are weakest - KPP should get there, not sure who else. Not convinced Bateman is the player he was

[DavidM]

I wouldn’t be picking Bateman and presume Whitehead is done 

[Barry Badrinath]

On 13/04/2024 at 17:53, Charlie said:

Solid and would do a job but no where near the class of the players I mentioned 

How about today?

[Charlie]

33 minutes ago, Barry Badrinath said:

How about today?

No difference like I said there very good sl players but we need props who can compete with haas Tino, Jfh Leota 

[Worzel]

Too early to tell in the forwards and outside backs, but for the spine I think Williams at 7 and Lewis at 6 is the half-back combination that gives us the best mix 

[Stanley30]

Surdly Adam sidlows your starting prop!! If not then he's at least 1st rotation 

[NRLandSL]

9 hours ago, DavidM said:

I wouldn’t be picking Bateman and presume Whitehead is done 

Bateman was far and away Englands best player in the last game they played, seems harsh to drop him.

[Barry Badrinath]

11 hours ago, Charlie said:

No difference like I said there very good sl players but we need props who can compete with haas Tino, Jfh Leota 

So to clarify,  you're opting for walmsley,  but harrison who's probably playing as well, if not better than and out played him yesterday, isn't good enough...

 

Reyt.

[NRLandSL]

2 hours ago, Barry Badrinath said:

So to clarify,  you're opting for walmsley,  but harrison who's probably playing as well, if not better than and out played him yesterday, isn't good enough...

 

Reyt.

Walmsley is one of the greatest English props to ever lace up, Harrison has only played 40 SL games his whole career. He’s on good form but to  even compare to Walmlsey is an insult.

Walmlsey is still miles clear of Harrison.

[WN83]

Harrison is a guy to give serious thought to IMO. He's playing really well and is reaching his prime now. Walmsley has been a World Class player and on his day can still reach that level, as he proved on Good Friday when he was immense but I don't think he's quite hitting that consistently top level as often nowadays. There's room for both of them in a squad and if I was picking a 24 man group, they'd both be in it. 

I'm not convinced Walmsley will put his hand up for England going forward though tbh. He spoke previously about considering international retirement and even full time retirement from the game and then he got that bad injury last year. Saints players aren't well known for throwing their hands up for mid season games and in some cases for any England games whatsoever, so it'll be interesting to see what desire Walmsley has to continue with England. I hope he does though because on his day, he's still our best prop IMO. 

[Charlie]

4 hours ago, Barry Badrinath said:

So to clarify,  you're opting for walmsley,  but harrison who's probably playing as well, if not better than and out played him yesterday, isn't good enough...

 

Reyt.

Yes because I’m not a delusional wire fan like you. No doubt he’s a good player but i very clearly said England are missing the likes or a burgess and peacock and you come in with Harrison 

[DavidM]

9 hours ago, NRLandSL said:

Bateman was far and away Englands best player in the last game they played, seems harsh to drop him.

Was he , i cant remember 

[NRLandSL]

8 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Was he , i cant remember 

Against Tonga in the final test, he had a cracker of a game. Was MOTM I believe.

[Dunbar]

15 hours ago, Worzel said:

Too early to tell in the forwards and outside backs, but for the spine I think Williams at 7 and Lewis at 6 is the half-back combination that gives us the best mix 

For me, Williams and Lewis are a little too similar, a good running threat and a creative short kicking game.

But I think we would lack a long kicking game that Smith offers.  Smith plus Williams is probably the best option with Lewis as back up (he did really well when given the chance against Tonga but Smith for the 3 match series was also excellent).

[WN83]

2 hours ago, Dunbar said:

For me, Williams and Lewis are a little too similar, a good running threat and a creative short kicking game.

But I think we would lack a long kicking game that Smith offers.  Smith plus Williams is probably the best option with Lewis as back up (he did really well when given the chance against Tonga but Smith for the 3 match series was also excellent).

They're the leading 3 candidates as things stand, that's for sure. I'm with you, the balance Smith gives us alongside Williams or Lewis is ideal but he'll need to continue playing well for Wigan. I thought he had a pretty ordinary start to the season up until last week at Leigh but he was excellent in that game and carried it on yesterday. 

[graveyard johnny]

the way things are going on the international scene for England we should be looking at players in the u/15s to see who makes the next England team - such is the lack of fixtures (especially against NZ and AUS)

[Moe syszlak]

Harrison might not be better than walmsley, but he's certainly better than oledski who a few people are putting in England's first 17!

[daz39]

22 minutes ago, Moe syszlak said:

Harrison might not be better than walmsley, but he's certainly better than oledski who a few people are putting in England's first 17!

Agree, i've never seen anything from him to suggest he's anything other than an average player in an average team, i remember the Sky lot bigging him up a few years ago as a youngster so maybe that's where the presumption that he's an international quality player comes from.

[Dunbar]

30 minutes ago, Moe syszlak said:

Harrison might not be better than walmsley, but he's certainly better than oledski who a few people are putting in England's first 17!

 

4 minutes ago, daz39 said:

Agree, i've never seen anything from him to suggest he's anything other than an average player in an average team, i remember the Sky lot bigging him up a few years ago as a youngster so maybe that's where the presumption that he's an international quality player comes from.

I like Olędzki, I think he is a quality prop.

He isn't going to be one of those tackle busting props but for a big man he is very mobile in attack and defence.

You need a player who can play decent minutes, lead the line in defence and be agile enough to adapt his body position (which ghe likes of Burgess and Walmsley can't do).  He could play a similar role for England that Lees did against Tonga but just a bigger body and not bullied as much.