4N - ROUND TWO - AUS V ENG // Mon 14 Nov 1AM (AEST) 3AM (NZDT) Sun 2PM (BST)

[East Coast Tiger]

Hodkinson?

They tried picking a half who played shit for a shit NRL side already. He played shit. Shit.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

i don't have a problem with it,id have selected him for this 4nations..

but he didn't give the existing halves go..he left matty smith out..



matty smith was our 7 in the 2014 4 nations when we looked effing fantastic with the ball in hand,id go as far too say its the best ive ever seen a England or GB play.....and i mean EVER

in the kiwi test series last year,mcnamara blooded a 20year old george williams in 2 tests,nothing wrong with that, but brought matty smith back for the 3rd,must win test...matty smith calmly marshaled england round the field,kicked the kiwis to death,england never looked like losing and smith was head and shoulders the best player on the field..



thats where bennett went wrong...and i said this before the comp started

This! I am baffled as to why he was left out. The kicking and attack is so much better with him in the side. Has anyone heard any explanations for his omission?

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Smith and Brough should have been this generations halves for England

 

[Frank Discussion]

i don't have a problem with it,id have selected him for this 4nations..

but he didn't give the existing halves go..he left matty smith out..


matty smith was our 7 in the 2014 4 nations when we looked effing fantastic with the ball in hand,id go as far too say its the best ive ever seen a England or GB play.....and i mean EVER

in the kiwi test series last year,mcnamara blooded a 20year old george williams in 2 tests,nothing wrong with that, but brought matty smith back for the 3rd,must win test...matty smith calmly marshaled england round the field,kicked the kiwis to death,england never looked like losing and smith was head and shoulders the best player on the field..



thats where bennett went wrong...and i said this before the comp started

Ok sorry I read your comment about Hodkinson as a diss.

 

[Arucard]

How's England losing all of Rugby Leagues fault?

Do you think we can attract new fans after that? Another year of failure, another year of only having 1 competitive team internationally, another year to build confidence towards having a final that doesn't involve said team. This is very much RL's loss as well as for England.

 

[PARRA_FAN]

The England team I saw this morning was basically the same sort of team that plays against Australia in the past 10 years. Play well in the first 20-25 minutes. Good possession, defend alright, score the first try, then when there's a mistake and Australia are in the opponents 20m for the first time, they score and England's heads go down.

I think its their attitude, they seem to panic a lot with these missed opportunities and defensively they either rush up too much or wait and panic.

And with the halves, they seem to change their combinations all the time. You see Widdop being there for a while but the halfback changes. I don't know whether they're just not satisfied. Matty Smith Ive seen a few times, he's probably the best out of the lot but I think the game in 2014 he barely took on the line and didnt put pressure on Australia when the game was theirs.

Australia has basically the same halves combination for a long time and work well together, both being at Origin and International level.

Maybe they'll turn things around for the World Cup next year, who knows.

 

[Stallion]

Channel 9 coverage was absolutely disgraceful

Wonder what the free to air TV ratings in England were like? They normally are superior to the rugby union product.

Given that RL doesn't enjoy the free kicks in publicity RU gets in Southern England perhaps one day the penny will drop and even people not a fan of the game of rugby league will concede that it is clearly a superior viewing product compared to other "rugby " like codes bar none!

 

[kbw]

They should never have gotten rid of Steve Mac. He cared for and was involved in organising junior development and preparation, helping to grow the game in the UK. Bennett does the opposite, he kills off anything under the level he is coaching at.

Typicaly Burgii effort today too. #1 puts in 1000% effort but stuffs up with poor hands and giving away penalties. A lesser Burgii should have been sent for that trip

 

[Perth Red]

Not taking opportunities, stupid errors and missed defence. Same shite we have been putting up with 40 years. Not like this is anything new to England GB RL fans!

 

[adamkungl]

And the problem with this is?
He gave the existing halves a go. They failed. You would be stupid to not attempt a different method.

I back Bennetts ability to select and identify talent.

Hodkinson is an even bigger genius than Widdop.
Smith and Williams is the best combo and if Supercoach bothered to watch Super league he might have noticed

 

[Caped Crusader]

3rd place Poms deliver again

 

[taste2taste]

A bit off topic, but does anyone know the playing pool in england compared to Australia ? Ie: how many registered player there are ?

The reason I ask is , I don't think England will ever be able to beat Australia as long as its our no.1 sport and England's number 3 sport.

PS1 hodgson gave away a few penalties but f'in hell ! He's a good player!!! , top 3 in the world imo

PS2 wouldn't mind knowing the BBC ratings if any one knows ?

 

[roughyedspud]

According to wiki the RFL reported it was nearing 300,000 registared players,thats everyone from kids to open age..australia is at around 460,000.....the number of registared players isn't the issue.. whats stopping us beating australia is mainly a mental thing now

Tv viewing figures should be 2millionish i imagine.

 

[Stallion]

According to wiki the RFL reported it was nearing 300,000 registared players,thats everyone from kids to open age..australia is at around 460,000.....the number of registared players isn't the issue.. whats stopping us beating australia is mainly a mental thing now

TV viewing figures should be 2millionish i imagine.

Wonder what the TV audience numbers were in England for the BBC?Apparently RL rates very well on TV in England? It would be good to see some figures.

 

[RedVee]

Taped it, haven't watched it yet. Should I bother?

 

[deal.with.it]

Did brown get picked thanks to betts?

Agree Smith is best halfback.

 

[roughyedspud]

Wonder what the TV audience numbers were in England for the BBC?Apparently RL rates very well on TV in England? It would be good to see some figures.

Its in my quote you quoted....2million-ish

 

[kbw]

A bit off topic, but does anyone know the playing pool in england compared to Australia ? Ie: how many registered player there are ?

Its much smaller. I attended a talk by Steve Mac a while ago where he was talking about player development.He mentioned that at the U14 age, the Penrith district had more players to choose from than the whole of England had.

On another note, I am pretty quick to bag Ingli$, hell over the last 2 years its been pretty easy, but he played well.

 

[siv]

Can it record?

Buy a new DVR and stop wasting peoples time

 

[Matterhorn]

For all the doom / gloom about the result , people are forgetting how good this Australian team is.

The 3 best players of the last 10 years have been Thurston/Cronk/C. Smith - take them out and see how Australia goes then - I'd even chuck Inglis in as well on recent form.

See the common thread - all Qlds and we know how many series they have won recently.

They will all most likely retire after the world cup depending what happens.

We know the forwards of aus / nz / eng are almost on par with each other.

Its no coincidence that when nz went on there 3 game winning streak they had Sheck, Foran, Johnson & luke

It may be one sided now but I bet in about 2 years we could have a completely different pecking order.

Sure Aus have a big backyard to choose from but I don't see anyone that is currently in the class of the above mentioned players.