Re: Team to face Australia : Tue Nov 08, 2016 2:00 pm  

The video of Bennett laughing along with the team when Burgess was leading the post game sing along suggests he has a very different relationship off camera.

We lost by a point against a good Kiwi team where in reality we played far better than the score line suggests and but for a few handling errors and 1 misplaced pass could have been 18 point plus ahead.

We had a poor 1st half against a fired up Scottish team with a point to prove but sorted things out in the 2nd half.

He made a couple of changes that reflected what most people were saying : our centres were poor and our half backs lacked spark. That's a big plus on what we've seen before with some other coaches reluctance to change.

He obviously knows how he wants the team to play and has given them clear directions.

The only valid criticism I believe is is interviewing persona which is not great from a PR viewpoint.

Re: Team to face Australia : Tue Nov 08, 2016 8:23 pm  

For Saturday I'd keep Percival at Centre and bring in Cooper/Taylor moving Sam Burgess to SR and playing Cooper/Graham at 13 for a bit more size.

I'm undecided about full back and the halves. I'm not a fan of chopping and changing those positions as players need to develop an understanding, however, I'm not convinced by Lomax or Gale & we are yet to see Williams against Australia or NZ. I'm leaning towards Widdop at FB and Gale & Williams in the halves.

What I think is more important is the tactics. Although many people are commenting how good Australia are they play a very similar style to Bennett of playing for position and completing sets. They are without doubt better at it than we are and I don't think we can match them playing the same way. I feel we need to offer something different and take a few chances, I think they can be rattled. We need to play with a bit more fire and really get stuck into them, we have seen in the past they can be put off their game.

Re: Team to face Australia : Wed Nov 09, 2016 8:50 am  

Quick line speed is a must. Need to be far sharper and more aggressive in defence.

Re: Team to face Australia : Wed Nov 09, 2016 9:04 am  

Big Steve wrote:

Quick line speed is a must. Need to be far sharper and more aggressive in defence.

Agree Steve, this is an absolute must. Intensity and line speed has to be absolute red lining and we certainly need to up the aggression and NOT stand back and show them respect like we have in the past and start playing when the game is gone.

Re: Team to face Australia : Wed Nov 09, 2016 2:45 pm  

Biff Tannen wrote:

Agree Steve, this is an absolute must. Intensity and line speed has to be absolute red lining and we certainly need to up the aggression and NOT stand back and show them respect like we have in the past and start playing when the game is gone.

Yep. Up in their faces every tackle. Hitting them after they've passed/kicked etc etc.

Pressure and hit Thurston. He was playing on one leg v NZ. He's obviously got a knock of some kind.

Re: Team to face Australia : Wed Nov 09, 2016 5:33 pm  

Robert Hicks is the referee for the game.

Re: Team to face Australia : Wed Nov 09, 2016 5:46 pm  

Barbed Wire wrote:

Can't see many changes from the original line up vs NZ. Percival and Williams did enough, but that's it for changes I think.

Lomax
McGilvary
Watkins
Percival
Hall
Williams
Widdop
Hill
Hodgson
Graham
Whitehead
Bateman
Burgess

Clark
Burgess
Burgess
Cooper

Benett is on record that Williams and Widdop are not 'half backs' (i.e. Number 7) so he'll never play them both in combination. Gale has ben disappointing but he's clearly not been allowed to steer the team around the field as he does for Cas, Hodgson seems to have that role. Give Gale the main playmaking responsibility and I think he'll come good.

Re: Team to face Australia : Wed Nov 09, 2016 6:02 pm  

Looks like Bennett has pretty much confirmed Widdop will be back in and he mentions giving lads a game last week so they didn't feel like the month was wasted so I expect we'll be back to the side that played the Kiwis (expect Percival for Sarginson and maybe Farrell for Bateman or a prop).

Graham looks like he'll be ok also according to the interview I read.

Re: Team to face Australia : Wed Nov 09, 2016 6:47 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

Looks like Bennett has pretty much confirmed Widdop will be back in and he mentions giving lads a game last week so they didn't feel like the month was wasted so I expect we'll be back to the side that played the Kiwis (expect Percival for Sarginson and maybe Farrell for Bateman or a prop).

Graham looks like he'll be ok also according to the interview I read.

I read that has well and it says if we beat the ozzies by more then 12 points they might be in trouble for the final I know its a big IF but it has got to happen some time why not Sunday

Re: Team to face Australia : Wed Nov 09, 2016 7:21 pm  

whenever i've seen Graham in the nrl he sometimes operates as an extra half to move the ball about a bit, he has a great pair of hands. hope he can do this a bit more for england if needed