Re: Tom Johnstone : Tue Mar 30, 2021 1:45 pm  

nottinghamtiger wrote:

He's got much more experience playing at half-back now than he had previously. All his previous games (bar one) for England have been at full-back too.
I think he's a better player than he was the last time he played for England back in 2018. He'll have been playing regularly at half-back for Saints for three more seasons when the WC starts.

My biggest worry is Hodgson; looks great for Canberra, but has never been anything other than poor for England.

I agree about Hodgson.
Bennett certainly saw something different than I did.
Lomax, great for a Saints side that "wins every week" but, playing for England is completely different.
Mind you, we havent had a decent HB pairing for 30 years.

The worrying thing is that our pack has been excellent for the last 4/5 years but, there are plenty of changes to be made and whoever we have in the halves will need to be playing behind a competitive pack.
Assuming that some of the Kiwis stay with their Tonga preference, we may be ranked 4th.

Another semi final loss ?

Re: Tom Johnstone : Tue Mar 30, 2021 2:26 pm  

wrencat1873 wrote:

I agree about Hodgson.
Bennett certainly saw something different than I did.
Lomax, great for a Saints side that "wins every week" but, playing for England is completely different.
Mind you, we havent had a decent HB pairing for 30 years.

The worrying thing is that our pack has been excellent for the last 4/5 years but, there are plenty of changes to be made and whoever we have in the halves will need to be playing behind a competitive pack.
Assuming that some of the Kiwis stay with their Tonga preference, we may be ranked 4th.

Another semi final loss ?

Hopefully not - I have tickets for the final.
My main worry is injury. Beyond a good starting 17, I don't think we have much to compete with the Aussies, whereas they can pick two or three players in every position who are international standard.
Lose a couple to injury and we'll be picking players who wouldn't even get a club game in the NRL, let alone who can compete with a team of the best.

Re: Tom Johnstone : Tue Mar 30, 2021 3:12 pm  

Let's see if TJ can actually play 20 games in a season before we start getting too excited about his international prospects.

Re: Tom Johnstone : Tue Mar 30, 2021 3:22 pm  

Jack Burton wrote:

Let's see if TJ can actually play 20 games in a season before we start getting too excited about his international prospects.

Oh dear

Re: Tom Johnstone : Tue Mar 30, 2021 3:37 pm  

wrencat1873 wrote:

Oh dear

Why? He's not managed more than 20 games in a season since 2016, and has never played more than 18 SL games in a season in his entire career.

If he stays fit, he likely plays, but history shows it's a big if.

Re: Tom Johnstone : Tue Mar 30, 2021 3:48 pm  

Jack Burton wrote:

Why? He's not managed more than 20 games in a season since 2016, and has never played more than 18 SL games in a season in his entire career.

If he stays fit, he likely plays, but history shows it's a big if.

So, you are "bagging" a player that had 2 absolutely seperate ACL injuries on different knees and played the vast majority of last season, albeit a disjointed season ?

[Bullseye]

Re: Tom Johnstone : Tue Mar 30, 2021 4:15 pm  

Think we look ok in the wings and centres. We have options at halfback too but it all depends on the pack. We look short on quality, big aggressive backrowers and anyone with a decent offload or passing game. The Aussies seem to have heaps of options (as usual) but we're missing some big names now from the pack that kept us competitive in recent years (Graham, S,Burgess, O'Loughlin).

Fullback is another matter, the Aussies have heaps of amazing options, the Kiwi's have one and we have erm, ummm...

Re: Tom Johnstone : Tue Mar 30, 2021 4:47 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

Think we look ok in the wings and centres. We have options at halfback too but it all depends on the pack. We look short on quality, big aggressive backrowers and anyone with a decent offload or passing game. The Aussies seem to have heaps of options (as usual) but we're missing some big names now from the pack that kept us competitive in recent years (Graham, S,Burgess, O'Loughlin).

Fullback is another matter, the Aussies have heaps of amazing options, the Kiwi's have one and we have erm, ummm...

Sam Tomkins and Niall Evalds.
I think there is a pack that can compete, but lose any through injury and we are replacing them with players who are nowhere near as good.

Re: Tom Johnstone : Tue Mar 30, 2021 8:51 pm  

Towns88 wrote:

If Wane were to pick his starting wingers for an upcoming match he would be insane not to pick Makinson and Johnstone. With maybe Ash Handley if fit in reserve.

Correct.

Half back wise they should all be fighting it out to partner Williams, he’s had a great start to year and is Wane type player. Lomax would be my guess.

Tomkins
Makinson
Sarginson (again Wane a big fan, he signed him twice)
Gildart
Johnstone
Lomax
Williams
Walmsley
Clark
Thompson (hopefully he recaptures 2019 form)
Farrell
Whitehead
Bateman

Cooper
TBurgess
Connor (can cover centre/halves/full back)
Bentley

Re: Tom Johnstone : Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:11 pm  

Farrell? Really? Good club man but not good enough at international level.