Re: England Squad Announced : Tue Apr 06, 2021 11:00 am  

Connor was excellent last season under Last and he is one of the few players that has stepped up and played well at international level. He wouldn't be in the 17, but should certainly be in the squad.

Newman hasnt played for about a year and Watkins last good game was about 3 years ago.

Re: England Squad Announced : Tue Apr 06, 2021 11:07 am  

Dave K. wrote:

Connor was excellent last season under Last and he is one of the few players that has stepped up and played well at international level. He wouldn't be in the 17, but should certainly be in the squad.

Newman hasnt played for about a year and Watkins last good game was about 3 years ago.

I wouldn't have picked Watkins, but saying he hasn't had any good games for Salford just isn't accurate, he has re-found form there. It's just better to turn the page and start looking at our younger centre options whilst we have quite a few good ones IMO.

[Bullseye]

Re: England Squad Announced : Tue Apr 06, 2021 11:24 am  

I see that Wane has come out and said that Tomkins is his current fullback choice. Just worry a bit about his size when bringing the ball back - he looked out of his depth at the Warriors. I know it was some time ago but playing for England he's going to be in a side that might struggle for go-forward versus the likes of Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. Hope he's improved under the bomb too as he'll get plenty of those.

Compared with the likes of Tedesco, Mitchell, Papenhuyzen, Gutherson, RTS etc we're severely lacking at fullback.

Re: England Squad Announced : Tue Apr 06, 2021 11:51 am  

Bullseye wrote:

I see that Wane has come out and said that Tomkins is his current fullback choice. Just worry a bit about his size when bringing the ball back - he looked out of his depth at the Warriors. I know it was some time ago but playing for England he's going to be in a side that might struggle for go-forward versus the likes of Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. Hope he's improved under the bomb too as he'll get plenty of those.

Compared with the likes of Tedesco, Mitchell, Papenhuyzen, Gutherson, RTS etc we're severely lacking at fullback.

Evalds is a great fullback in attack and defence.

Tompkins attacking play is streets above any other full back though.

Re: England Squad Announced : Tue Apr 06, 2021 12:16 pm  

Amazing how Salford players shouldn't be considered for an England squad until they leave for elsewhere (Evalds being the prime example). I take it he's improved massively in those 2 games for Cas?

[Bullseye]

Re: England Squad Announced : Tue Apr 06, 2021 12:44 pm  

Dave K. wrote:

Evalds is a great fullback in attack and defence.

Tompkins attacking play is streets above any other full back though.

I like Evalds and I agree that Tomkins is good coming into the line. Unfortunately neither are anywhere near the top echelon of NRL fullbacks.

Re: England Squad Announced : Tue Apr 06, 2021 12:48 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

I see that Wane has come out and said that Tomkins is his current fullback choice. Just worry a bit about his size when bringing the ball back - he looked out of his depth at the Warriors. I know it was some time ago but playing for England he's going to be in a side that might struggle for go-forward versus the likes of Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. Hope he's improved under the bomb too as he'll get plenty of those.

Compared with the likes of Tedesco, Mitchell, Papenhuyzen, Gutherson, RTS etc we're severely lacking at fullback.

Tomkins is defo the best current English fullback atm. However there isn’t an NRL club he would get a game for and as you say, shows the gulf in class and depth. Even someone like Dufty at the dragons would keep his shirt over Tomkins

Re: England Squad Announced : Tue Apr 06, 2021 1:23 pm  

SaleSlim wrote:

Amazing how Salford players shouldn't be considered for an England squad until they leave for elsewhere (Evalds being the prime example). I take it he's improved massively in those 2 games for Cas?

He was in the last squad when he was still at Salford. He deserved it then and he deserves it now.

Watkins deserved to be in the last time it was picked and Wane clearly has stuck with those players and that’s fair. I don’t think Watkins will keep his place come World Cup time unless there’s a real pick up from these first two games but it’s such early doors and he’s more than capable if challenging. That centre area is cut throat though, so whoever gets in will have earned it.

Re: England Squad Announced : Tue Apr 06, 2021 4:18 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

Think we're lacking a bit of a ball handler in the pack and a bit of size in the backrow. A sort of Burgess or O'Loughlin size hole in fact. Williams is key too as I'm not convinced there is another halfback in the squad at his level.

Also interested to see how Wane handles the hooker/dummy half issue. Having a specialist hooker on the bench may be a bit of a risk. A lot of NRL teams seem to play the same dummy half for 80mins. How many subs are allowed at international level?

You'd assume Thompson is going to play 13 so that adds some size, although ball handling skills nowhere near the level of Burgess or O'Loughlin. Same with Ryan Sutton - Wane liked playing him at 13 occasionally.

Agree on the hookers too. Picking 4 in the squad seems a bit crazy but it is very competitive. Hopefully he doesn't put one on the bench just because he can't pick between 2 of them. At least McShane can backup in the halves I guess at a push.

Re: England Squad Announced : Tue Apr 06, 2021 4:38 pm  

Wigg'n wrote:

You'd assume Thompson is going to play 13 so that adds some size, although ball handling skills nowhere near the level of Burgess or O'Loughlin. Same with Ryan Sutton - Wane liked playing him at 13 occasionally.

Agree on the hookers too. Picking 4 in the squad seems a bit crazy but it is very competitive. Hopefully he doesn't put one on the bench just because he can't pick between 2 of them. At least McShane can backup in the halves I guess at a push.

Sutton played 13 last weekend and was absolute quality against the titans