Re: Who justified their selection? : Tue Nov 15, 2016 8:01 am  

For me - Lomax, Hall, Watkins, McGillvary, Williams, Hill, Hodgson, Garaham, Whitehead, Bateman, S Burgess and Cooper all justified selection.

some -Lomax and Watkins in particular are there by virtue of not really having anyone else who could hit a higher standard than what they produced rather than eye catching performances.

Others - Sam Burgess,Hodgson and Graham never hit their best rugby but still played to a good level.

Sadly we don't have too many players getting close to what we have in this group.

Re: Who justified their selection? : Tue Nov 15, 2016 8:06 am  

Really don't know what people saw in Whitehead in the games against the big boys. For all the noise made about size Bateman gave us a lot more go forward

Vs Aus
Whitehead - 7 carries for 35m
Bateman - 9 for 89m

Vs NZ
Whitehead - 9 for 34m
Bateman - 13 for 87m

Total
Whitehead - 16 for 69m
Bateman - 22 for 176m

Pitiful numbers from Whitehead in a team that went the forwards route.

Re: Who justified their selection? : Tue Nov 15, 2016 8:35 am  

Hall and McGillvary were excellent I thought. Other then that Williams played well in the limited amount of game time he was given. I thought Whitehead was pretty good in the first two games but he was anonymous on Sunday which we couldn't really afford.

I think those four can be pretty pleased with the rest feeling they should be doing better. The only other two players I can think of who I'd tag as playing reasonably well were Hill and Graham although both can play better.

Re: Who justified their selection? : Tue Nov 15, 2016 8:35 am  

Whitehead and Hodgson looked tired to me. They've had a long, long season.

Re: Who justified their selection? : Tue Nov 15, 2016 8:49 am  

For me, Bennett didnt play to any of our strengths. Hall and McGilvary were very good during the tournament.

Gale - Played him on the right when (if you looks at his stats) he is by far and away the most dangerous player on the left.
Clark - Brought him on for the last 15 minutes of the games he played, give him more game time, he is our most destructive runner.

How he could expect to win against the Aussies when it was the 4th H/B partnership in 4 games. For me, the halves should of been Gale and Williams, they looked decent against the Scots when they settled down. Lomax did ok, I would of like to of seen him link in with play more.

Typical England though, basic errors cost us the first half and then brain farts in the 2nd just made it worse.

Re: Who justified their selection? : Tue Nov 15, 2016 12:34 pm  

Jamie Shaul would have added at least some chance of making a break to the team.

Danny Brough also is a massive influence on the Scottish team, something we severely lack!!

Re: Who justified their selection? : Tue Nov 15, 2016 1:11 pm  

McGilvary, Williams, Brown, Bateman (Aus only), Whitehead, Graham and Hill.

Sam Burgess thought he could take on the world, same with Hodgeson, JH was trying to run the game single handed which suffocated our backs I thought.

Re: Who justified their selection? : Tue Nov 15, 2016 1:42 pm  

Brown

Re: Who justified their selection? : Tue Nov 15, 2016 2:01 pm  

Willzay wrote:

Brown

Admittedly his kicking game was poor, but our kicking game was average the whole tournament. But if you actually look at what Brown did with ball in hand it was about the same as Gale, Widdop etc.

Agree about Hodgson and Whitehead looking tired. I've seen Hodgson win games single-handed for Canberra this season, but instead of wanting to do too much, I don't think he did enough this series.

Re: Who justified their selection? : Tue Nov 15, 2016 2:57 pm  

Willzay wrote:

Brown

Ignore him.. He's anti anything Widnes. Probably was hoping he'd get smashed by the Ausies everything he had the ball, and could imagine him throwing his can of mild at the telly if they so happen to show Betts in the frame.