England 4N team

[BrisbaneRhino]

You can't talk about Australia not picking the likes of Lyons and not playing them out of position and then ignore the fact that if everybody was fit Australia would probably have 3 fullbacks (Slater, Inglis, Boyd) shoehorned into the back 5 - possibly 4 with Hayne as well.

Anyway, England simply don't have enough talent to leave out any real quality players they have, especially when the big glaring weakness in the backs is halfback. I have no problem with picking genuine halfbacks if they are any good. The only halfback in SL who even warrants discussion is Brough, who is inconsistent and in any event ruled himself out by spitting the dummy last year and becoming Scottish.

Agree with WireMan - nobody's saying Cooper's the best forward in the world - but as a squad player his NRL experience will be more useful than a possibly more 'talented' SL player (plus that list includes some deperately ordinary players).

 

[goodplayer]

It's a weak squad. Samoa will beat England

dont be like that, you should be talking up englands team ok;-)

england can win a. this cup

 

[JonG]

England have this - we've got better and better each year tournament since 2008 and have some of the best players in the world in their positions playing in this comp.

1 - Tomkins
2 - Hall
3 - Watkins
4 - Shenton
5 - J.Burgess
6 - Widdop
7 - Smith
8 - Graham
9 - Clark
10 - G.Burgess
11 - Whitehead
12 - Ferres
13 - O'Loughlin

14 - Hardaker
15 - Hill
16 - T.Burgess
17 - J.Tomkins

Plenty of speed, size, experience (international and NRL) and rotational ability.

It would have been stronger with S.Burgess in the second row, but I think Whitehead and Ferres are massively underrated - pretty much like all England players until they play in the NRL.

I'd have Hardaker/Smith/Clark interchanging to mix up the 1,7,9 positions with Tomkins during the game.

In Graham, G.Burgess, T.Burgess and Hill we have 4 of the best props in the world (Tom is a season behind George, but is going to be world class by end of next year) and they can all play 50min +

J.Tomkins can move between centre and 2nd row dependent on need and will be solid if not spectacular.

Feeling good about this tournament, and this should be seen as the first step in a 4 year programme to eventually win the WC in 2017

 

[goodplayer]

thats the talk we want . dont under estimate this england team ok;-)

 

[Billythekid]

You can't talk about Australia not picking the likes of Lyons and not playing them out of position and then ignore the fact that if everybody was fit Australia would probably have 3 fullbacks (Slater, Inglis, Boyd) shoehorned into the back 5 - possibly 4 with Hayne as well.

Actually they would be picking Hayne as well so make that 4 fullbacks. Of course that's an incredibly misleading point to make. Firstly Slater would be playing fullback which isn't out of position. Inglis has played a significant portion of his career at centre and for a long time was the best centre in the world. He has also played his entire rep career at centre essentially.

Boyd started his NRL career off on the wing and has played quite a bit there. Like Inglis he has also spent his entire rep career on the wing so he has quite a bit of experience. Then there is Hayne who again has plenty of experience playing outside of fullback.

Hayne and Inglis in particular it barely counts as being out of position as the position they're being put in they're the best players in the world there.

 

[BrisbaneRhino]

Inglis doesn't play centre for Souths. Boyd doesn't play on the wing for the Knights. Hayne doesn't play in the centres for the Eels. They're picked because they are considered better than genuine specialists even in their second choice slot, both for Origin and Australia.

In that sense its exactly the same - getting both Hardaker and Tomkins in the side because they're - IMO - a better combination of ability than Tomkins + Smith (or whoever) at halfback. Tomins originally started as a halfback, and from what I've seen that's where I'd play him anyway - his defence is not good enough for fullback, either in the NRL or for England.

 

[roughyedspud]

neither is billy slaters but he seems to have done alright for himself

 

[roughyedspud]

anyone seen the videos england RL have been posting on facebook??

having been present at a england training session in townsville during the 08RLWC i get the vibe from the videos that this england team is far happier as well has having the steely eyed look to put right want went wrong in last years semi final...

previous england teams dwelled on the fact they lost,i get from this england they are annoyed they should have won and know now what to do to win...

even on the training pitch,in the videos,you could see james graham laying down some serious finger wagging...#wallofwhite indeed

 

[goodplayer]

good 1 spud , any video links . england team is annoyed . ok

 

[Billythekid]

neither is billy slaters but he seems to have done alright for himself

You're kidding right (assuming you're referring to defense)? Slaters defense at the back is as good as any fullback i've got to see, especially if you take into account positioning on kicks. Comparing him to Tomkins in this regard is laughable.

 

[roughyedspud]

yeah hes that good ( i mean late) he has to slide in feet first......not to mention kung fu-ing bomb chasers in the head...hes a merkin of the highest order

 

[roughyedspud]

ps " merkin" = c u next tuesday

 

[Son of Minto]

Slater is a great defender for a fullback. His positioning is second to none. He's a million times better than Plodkins.

 

[BrisbaneRhino]

Slater's one-on-one defence is as good as anybody's. As is his defence of kicks, which he also reads exceptionally well. He's miles ahead of Tomkins in both areas.

I know some people overdo the confidence thing (i.e. if only England weren't scared they'd beat Australia), but there is something to it IMO. Both games I've been at live in Brisbane (GB vs Aus), a fair few GB players were completely overawed and never got into the game at all. I'm not saying England should assume they will beat either NZ or Aus, but they must believe they can if they play to their best (otherwise why bother TBH?). In that respect having a fair few NRL players is a massive help.

 

[BrisbaneRhino]

Tomkins isn't terrible but he's miles off Slater in defence.

Just as an aside, how depressing is it that three of the main choices for England RU fly half are Farrell, Ford and Myler - all sons of league players.

 

[roughyedspud]

i used to watch george ford play for the oldham service area (town team) as a 14-15 year old...you could tell then he was a future star..

 

[JasonE]

i used to watch george ford play for the oldham service area (town team) as a 14-15 year old...you could tell then he was a future star..

Spud, i got told about George Ford at around the same time by a Wigan fan, he said he was one of the best young players he had ever seen, he was playing RL at the time.
Similar with Owen Farrell.

 

[goodplayer]

billy slater was jumping up. catching a kick . the tackler ran into billys boot,, and billy has sled in to kick the ball. not slide kick the players

 

[Billythekid]

yeah hes that good ( i mean late) he has to slide in feet first......not to mention kung fu-ing bomb chasers in the head...hes a merkin of the highest order

I never said anything about him being a merkin or not. He may be the biggest d*ckhead to ever lace up a pair of boots but compared to Tomkins defense he's basically jesus.

 

[roughyedspud]

jesus could walk on water....slater can barely f**king walk these days