So the domestic season is now over and the international season is almost here and all the teams involved have named their squads:

Aussie squad:

Greg Bird (Gold Coast Titans/West Maitland Red Dogs/ Maitland Pumpkin Pickers)
Daly Cherry-Evans (Manly Warringah Sea Eagles/Mackay Brothers)
Boyd Cordner (Sydney Roosters/Old Bar Pirates)
Cooper Cronk (Melbourne Storm/Souths Acacia)
Robbie Farah (Wests Tigers/Enfield Federals/Leichhardt Wanderers)
Aidan Guerra (Sydney Roosters/Townsville Brothers)
Jarryd Hayne (Parramatta Eels/East Campbelltown Eagles/Cabramatta)
Ryan Hoffman (Melbourne Storm/Campbelltown Collegians)
Ben Hunt Brisbane (Broncos/Blackwater Crushers)
Greg Inglis (South Sydney Rabbitohs/Bowraville Tigers)
Josh Jackson (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs/Gulgong Terriers/Mudgee Dragons)
Michael Jennings (Sydney Roosters/St Marys/West City Tigers)
Alex Johnston (South Sydney Rabbitohs/La Perouse Panthers)
David Klemmer (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs/All Saints)
Josh Mansour (Penrith Panthers/St Johns/Kingsgrove Colts)
Sione Mata’utia (Newcastle Knights/Raymond Terrace/South Newcastle)
Josh Papalii (Canberra Raiders/Logan Brothers)
Corey Parker (Brisbane Broncos/Logan Brothers)
Beau Scott (Newcastle Knights/Picton Magpies)
Cameron Smith (c) (Melbourne Storm/Logan Brothers)
Sam Thaiday (Brisbane Broncos/Townsville Brothers)
Daniel Tupou (Sydney Roosters/Berala Bears/Guildford Owls)
Dylan Walker (South Sydney Rabbitohs/Mascot Jets)
Aaron Woods (Wests Tigers/Leichhardt Juniors)

New Zealand squad:

Gerard Beale (St George Illawarra Dragons)
Adam Blair (Wests Tigers)
Jesse Bromwich (Melbourne Storm)
Lewis Brown (Penrith Panthers)
Greg Eastwood (Canterbury Bulldogs)
Sosaia Feki (Cronulla Sharks)
Kieran Foran (Manly Sea Eagles)
Tohu Harris (Melbourne Storm)
Siliva Havili (Vodafone Warriors)
Peta Hiku (Manly Sea Eagles)
Shaun Johnson (Vodafone Warriors)
Shaun Kenny-Dowall (Sydney Roosters)
Thomas Leuluai (Vodafone Warriors)
Issac Luke (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
Simon Mannering (Vodafone Warriors)
Suaia Matagi (Vodafone Warriors)
Sam Moa (Sydney Roosters)
Jason Nightingale (St George Illawarra Dragons)
Kevin Proctor (Melbourne Storm)
Jason Taumalolo (North Queensland Cowboys)
Martin Taupau (Wests Tigers)
Manu Vatuvei (Vodafone Warriors)
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (Penrith Panthers)
Dean Whare (Penrith Panthers)

England squad:

George Burgess, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Dewsbury Moor
Joe Burgess, Wigan Warriors, Ince Rose Bridge
Tom Burgess, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Dewsbury Moor
Josh Charnley, Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks
Daryl Clark, Castleford Tigers, Newsome Panthers
Mike Cooper, St George Illawarra Dragons, Latchford Albion
Liam Farrell, Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks
Brett Ferres, Huddersfield Giants, Smawthorne Panthers
James Graham, Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs, Blackbrook
Ryan Hall, Leeds Rhinos, Oulton Raiders
Zak Hardaker, Leeds Rhinos, Featherstone Lions
Chris Hill, Warrington Wolves, New Spring Lions
Josh Hodgson, Hull KR, East Hull
Sean O’Loughlin (captain), Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks
Stefan Ratchford, Warrington Wolves, Wigan St Patricks
Dan Sarginson, Wigan Warriors, Hemel Stags
Michael Shenton, Castleford Tigers, Upton
Matty Smith, Wigan Warriors, Blackbrook
Joel Tomkins, Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks
Sam Tomkins, New Zealand Warriors, Wigan St Patricks
Kallum Watkins, Leeds Rhinos, Latchford Albion
Joe Westerman, Hull FC, Featherstone Lions
Elliott Whitehead, Catalans Dragons, West Bowling
Gareth Widdop, St George Illawarra Dragons, King Cross

Samoa squad:

Leeson Ah Mau (St George Illawarra)
David Fa'alogo (Newcastle)
Pita Godinet (Wakefield)
Tim Lafai (Canterbury Bulldogs)
Joey Leilua (Newcastle)
Ricky Leutele (Cronulla Sharks)
Isacc Liu (Sydney Roosters)
Dunamis Lui (Manly)
Penania Manumalealii (Cronulla)
Mose Masoe (St Helens)
Peter Mata'utia (St George Illawarra)
Reni Maitua (Canterbury Bulldogs)
Tautau Moga (North Queensland Cowboys)
Dominique Peyroux (NZ Warriors)
Frank Pritchard (Canterbury Bulldogs)
Ben Roberts (Melbourne)
Jesse Sene-Lefao (Manly)
Tim Simona (Wests Tigers)
Michael Sio (NZ Warriors)
Kyle Stanley (St George Illawarra)
Sauaso Sue (Wests Tigers)
Sam Tagataese (Cronulla)
Daniel Vidot (Brisbane)
Antonio Winterstein (North Queensland Cowboys)

Austrailia are weaker than they've been for a long time but there's no such thing as a poor Aussie RL team, and England without Burgess and Roby are obviously weaker.
I reckon NZ will be very confident about winning this competition, they have a strong squad and always seem to be better at home.
Samoa probably won't win a game but they'll provide more of a test than Wales and PNG have in previous years.

I can't wait

Lot of responsibility now falls on Cronk for Australia. Were he to get injured or not play at his best, Australia would be vulnerable if they had to rely on DCE.

Australia playing at anything approaching their best though should walk it.

The worry for me is that England are going to come back winless. There's some experience and no little ability in that Samoa squad.

Gidley, Hunt, or Inglis could step into the halves, to me they look weakest at prop, and on the wings.

?

Smith could move to the halves with Farah starting at 9 were Cronk to get injured.

Does anybody keep tabs on how many England/GB internationals the amateur clubs produce over the years? Lots of familiar names on there that would doubtless have very big numbers, some less frequent flyers too.

Would Sarginson be Hemel Stags' first full international if picked?

Oops, hadn't realised he wasn't in the squad.

Does that mean Hayne is out of 4nations with him joining NFL or is it after he goes?

Would imagine GI to fullback. if so, good news as it severely weakens their centres which would be very good news for whichever Centre of ours would have had to mark him. That said, he is probably Australias best full back and his extra involvement could make him more dangerous so perhaps not such good news after all!!

Hayne is out of the 4N. I'm struggling to predict what their team will look like.

Best i can come up with for the Aussie team is:

Inglis
Tupou
Jennning
Walker
Johnson

Cronk
Cherry-Evans

Scott
Smith
Woods
Cordner
Hoffman
Bird

Hunt
Parker
Thaiday
Papalii

Hayne has been replaced in the Kangaroo squad by Moylan which may indicate that Inglis shall remain at centre.

Fair enough.

Have not been able to watch much NRL this year and have to confess i don't know Moylan. Is he a young kid who has just had a big year?

He's had a very good season with his club side who were a solitary missed drop goal away from reaching the NRL Grand Final this season. He will not look out of place in the Green & Gold.

That Hayne news is disappointing on so many levels. Even with the millions of dollars swilling around the NRL, it still cannot compete with top offers from other more high profile sports.

However, it's not just about the money. Hayne isn't fussed about missing out on this 4N tournament. He could easily have delayed his announcement by a month. Along with all the other players who have pulled out of the upcoming 4N, it is further testament to the current profile and standing of international RL which registers a big fat zero on the sporting richter scale.

True.And it will take something like us taking advantage and beating them while they have left the door slightly ajar for us this time .Sadly, i still don't think we are good enough to do so but NZ will.

Still Australia's tournament to lose IMO.

Normally, I reckon Australia are an 80% chance to win, Kiwis 20% and we are 0%.

I think it's 67%, 33%, 0% this time around.

England with Sam Burgess could give NZ a damn good game. With or without him the only way we beat Aus is if for some reason they don't play an expansive game. As soon as they start throwing the ball around they'll score a lot of points against England.

Sheens has shown that he's decided that's the best plan by picking only 2 real props in his squad. It will leave England with a big, strong front row probably making good yards up the middle but being comprehensively beaten out wide, where all the points are. A bit like Souths last year in fact.

Are the BBC showing the games - it appears Sky are not?

BBC Two are showing all the England games and the final. All other games are on Premier Sports.

There are still some tough Aussie forwards in there. They may choose not to mix it but they would still be competitive if they chose to. Out wide they [iwill[/i have the beating of us - there's a lack of experience and/or form in our three-quarter line just waiting to be exploited.

I have my concerns with the hookers aswell but that can't be helped, they are two of the best three available. I'd like to think we will be competitive but would be a huge surprise if we beat either Aus/NZ, and Samoa don't look too shabby either.

I agree that it would be silly to underestimate the Aussie forwards, but genuinely up the middle England look stronger, particularly if Woods is off the field. I don't think that we'll necessarily be able to score a lot of points even if we are dominant up the middle though.

I've said before, my main hope is that we're competitive for 80 minutes against Australia and NZ. That would be a big start. Sadly I just think Australia will be able to score too easily. Losing Thurston hurts, but they'll play Cronk left and DCE right, and all it takes is one England player to misread the attack and they'll be in - not to mention they both have super kicking games if all else fails.

I don't think OZ will score as easily this time out as in recent years.usually there is practically a full team of danger men, looking at this squad only Inglis,Cronk and Smith stand out as major threats.Yes,it will still probably be enough to beat us but if we can execute the correct game plan to somehow keep a lid on these 3 guys then you never know.

If it was in England I might give England a chance but not really expecting much over in Australia for them.

I think with how comfortably they were beaten in the WC Final last year that the Kiwis will be out for revenge and will beat Australia in the final.

Not overly impressed with the Kiwis. Looked desperately out of their depth against the Aussies in the WC Final last year.

Even with Australia missing key figures, I can't see NZ troubling them when it really matters.

Hardaker not selected for the England team to face Samoa this weekend. It is to be hoped his non-selection isn't a cue for the onset of unregulated behaviour this time around.

[uEngland[/u - 1 Sam Tomkins, 2 Josh Charnley, 3 Kallum Watkins, 4 Michael Shenton, 5 Ryan Hall; 6 Gareth Widdop, 7 Matty Smith; 8 George Burgess, 9 Josh Hodgson, 10 James Graham (c); 11 Liam Farrell, 12 Joel Tomkins; 13 Joe Westerman. Interchange: 14 Daryl Clark, 15 Brett Ferres, 16 Tom Burgess, 17 Chris Hill.

[uToa Samoa[/u - 1 Tim Simona; 2 Antonio Winterstein, 3 Ricky Leutele, 4 Joey Leilua, 5 Daniel Vidot; 6 Ben Roberts, 7 Kyle Stanley; 8 Sam Tagataese, 9 Michael Sio, 10 David Fa’alogo; 11 Frank Pritchard, 12 Leeson Ah Mau; 13 Josh McGuire. Interchange: 14 Pita Godinet, 15 Jesse Sene-Lefao, 16 Isaac Liu, 17 Mose Masoe, 18 Dunamis Lui.

Billy, how strong do you think the Samoans will be? I don't know a huge amount about a lot of their players, and many of the ones I do know I haven't seen play in a while. There are a lot of NRL clubs on their squad list. How many of them are playing regularly and making an impact? It doesn't look like a particularly soft side to me. Have they had a warm-up game? If not, our decision not to looks a bit rash.