nottinghamtiger wrote:

At the moment, I’d go with:
FB - Tomkins
RW - Makinson
RC - Hardaker
LC - Farnworth
LW - Johnstone
HB - Lomax
HB - Williams
P - Walmsley
H - Clark
P - Thompson
SR - Whitehead
SR - Knowles
LF - Bateman

S - Watts
S - Burgess
S - Sutton
S - Ratchford

Thought Morgan Knowles was Welsh?? Has he changed his mind?

Steph Curry wrote:

That exact same line has been peddled on this forum, every year, since its inception and every year since RLFANS inception our pack has been mullered by the aussies with the exception of about 3 games.

That’s interesting, because I’ve always thought we’ve been mullered more in the backs. In recent years, we’ve just not been able to contain Slater, Inglis, Thurston, Cronk, Smith et al.
Granted, they need a platform but I think if those players were English we would have seen a different outcome over the last decade or so.

dboy wrote:

Thought Morgan Knowles was Welsh?? Has he changed his mind?

Yes, switched to England last summer.

wrencat1873 wrote:

Yes, he can do 80 minutes in SL, as could Roby a couple of seasons back but, it's all about how effective those minutes are.
Back in the day, they didn't have hookers on the bench but, a fresh player, taking advantage of tiring players around the ruck is an area that most sides would want to use.
It's not whether he can last the full 80, it's whether having a fresh player and quicker ptb, scoots etc, is more advantageous.
Again, Clark is excellent at exploiting those spaces.

McShane to start and Clark as an impact sub it is, then!

Egg Chasing wrote:

Plays for Wigan so he's instantly overrated.

Typo corrected.

No-one said he's crap. He's a very good player in SL who (IMO) is one of those guys who gives you a 7/8 out of 10 every week. Every time I've seen him play he's been decent but I've never thought "wow, he's ripped us a new one there". As has been stated above with regards wingers etc you need someone at International level who can provide that bit of magic.

If we don't have 2 better eligible second rowers than Farrell then (IMO) the game isn't in a great state.

Bullseye wrote:

Hodgson is good when he's on song but he sometimes overplays and this disrupts things. Even Canberra fans were saying that last season until he got injured. He's done it a bit this season too. It's a difficult one as he has a great kicking game and when he's on song he's great around the ruck.

The way Hodgson plays doesn't lend itself to International rugby because his team mates won't be familiar with his style of play as he hammers the short side and plays so flat with his runners.

Staying on Canberra players, Ryan Sutton has got to be on the bench if he carries on his recent form as he has been superb for Canberra in every game so far, coming off the bench and making a massive impact.

The England team definitely doesn't look as strong as it did in 2013 or 2017, it's a shame we didn't have a better coach at the time, as both those teams were strong enough to win the tournament

Jack Burton wrote:

The England team definitely doesn't look as strong as it did in 2013 or 2017, it's a shame we didn't have a better coach at the time, as both those teams were strong enough to win the tournament

Not renewing McNamara’s contract and bringing in Bennett was a massive mistake.

SaleSlim wrote:

Typo corrected.

No-one said he's crap. He's a very good player in SL who (IMO) is one of those guys who gives you a 7/8 out of 10 every week. Every time I've seen him play he's been decent but I've never thought "wow, he's ripped up as s new one there". As has been stated above with regards wingers etc you need someone at International level who can provide that bit of magic.

If we don't have 2 better eligible second rowers than Farrell then (IMO) the game isn't in a great state.

I agree with this. There is no doubt that Farrell is a quality SL back rower but would struggle to get in an nrl reserve team. That’s the gulf in class between nrl and SL