I hate to agree with Mr Swiftcorn (well, hate's a strong word) but the gap in quality in the halves and outside backs between us and the Aussies and Kiwis seems to be getting wider. Centres remain my great hobby-horse. Why can we not produce decent centres in this country at the moment. We have a few wingers with the potential to become very good players, but in the centres, Shenton and Atkins look the best of the bunch and, while still young just look like very limited players to me. Even without Morley we'll match up OK in the forwards, but it's hard to see where enough quality behind the pack is coming from. Tomkins could yet prove a very good player, but he can't carry a test team yet, and certainly not without a bit of support.

Perhaps I'll be proved wrong, and I'll still get behind the team and everything, but the warm-up performances have not served to lift much of the pessimism induced by a look at the initial squad.

I hope James Graham doesnt do his usual when we start losing(after about 35 seconds), thats all you need from a captain isnt it!

Lol at this what do we get on here when Sinfield approaches Refs??
Graham should be nowhere near the captaincy he's been got at time after time and his dummy spits and rants are well known so expect the Aussies ,Kiwis and Kumuls to have a field day.
Ellis or O'loughlin out of who we have out there should of got it.

Will they?

How often have GB/England forwards matched the Aussie forwards?

This "Our forwards can match the Aussie forwards" mantra needs putting to bed.

There's very little evidence to support it.

We've very seldom matched them in terms of actually winning the arm wrestle. We're usually close enough to keep them reasonably well matched up front. I certainly don't think you can look at the individuals in the two packs and point out the same kinds of horrible mis-matches you can in the backs. With a few exceptions, recent Test matches have tended to feature a lot of fairly brutal forward play, with the Aussies generally taking any decent platforms laid by their packs and turning them into points, with England/GB largely failing to reciprocate. Greater fitness tends to tell a bit towards the end of the match as well. That, at least, ought to be something that can be addressed at Super League level. The Aussies are unlikely to be genetically superior after all.

The forwards could more readily be brought up to the Aussie standards than the backs, who, with the best will in the world, seem to lack the raw talent for the job.

Only my opinion, but that's the way I expect it to go this time as well. The only question for the scoreline is how long our backs can hang onto their opposite numbers for and keep things interesting.

Sinfield has a right to 'approach' a ref as a captain. If he speaks beyond his remit and the referee accepts that, then fool on the ref in my honest opinion. Would Graham or Sinfield backchat Ganson? It might alientae fans, but if the ref accepts it then the players will take advantage of the leeway.

As I said, Hanley and Murphy were two inspirational captains who were ear ache for the ref. They were also good captains, because like Graham, they were good players.

It depends which approach Graham uses.

If it's the one where he jumps in the air, waving his arms around and generally going berserk (as was on show in the GF) I doubt many referees will repond positively.

On the other hand the responsibility could be just what he needs to get his Premiership footballer mentality under control.

Let's all hope so.

It's not particularly the end of a match that the GB or England forwards go MIA. It can be any time during a game. They went MIA in the entire 1st half at Elland Rd when they lost 4-44... it was 0-38 at half time. Similarly last year at Wigan... it was 0-26 at half time. It was 0-30 at half time in 2001 at Bolton. They didn't turn up early doors in Brisbane in 2006 either and the game was gone inside the first 15 minutes. Sometimes, they don't show up at all... 10-64 in Sydney (2004) and 4-52 in Melbourne (200icon_cool.gif.

They are consistently incapable of competing for the full 80 mins against the Aussies and when they do, it's the exception rather than the rule. Yes, we lack world class backs but they aren't helped by the failure of their forwards on so many levels (skill, nous, fitness) who, IMHO, are also mismatched against their Aussie opponents.

We used to have backs like Connolly, Newlove, Schofield and Davies etc etc... Now we have a 21 year old full back who can't even get a game for the 1st team. At 17, Connolly was putting Brendan Hill and Kurt Sorenson on their ass and an 18 yr old Newlove was on the rampage.

The forwards spend most of the time like table footballers because the backs are exposed time in time out. It must be a 'mare to know that as soon as the ball is given any air then you will spend the next minute panting like a XXX model.

It must be a dream to play scrum half for Aus because you would get so much time to organsie. The forwards for GB/ENG are knackered having swept up so much that the back invariably get us into.

I'm less interested for thisdiscussion in some of the more historic instances. While I don't disagree about the 2004 matches for example, few of the forwards from those games are on this tour. Last year at Wigan, in the first half, we were cut to ribbons every time the backs got the ball out wide. That was certainly my (rather disconsolate) view at the time. I'm not suggesting by any means that our forwards were kicking a55, but the big problems were on the fringes.

I would say that its more like the English forwards aren't as far behind as the backs.

Some good individuals, who when they have tested themselves in the NRL have done above average, but there are some very average forwards too.

James Graham, Captain - wtf! McBananas biggest stunt yet.

Has James Graham ever carried the captain armband for Saints? No doubt about it he has got passion, but as far as leadership goes thats about it. The lad has got a temper and he has shown it to everybody, most notably right in Aliberts face.

It will simply give Billy Slater something else to run like the wind at the defence with when he catches Grahams giant dummy spit.

The ginger ponce.

Chris Irvine has posted on Twitter...

"James Graham picked as England captain for his communications skills on and off the pitch. That's Scousers for you"

As stunned with the announcement as much as me then



I've never been a fan of O'Loughlin, but he was the obvious choice.....to absolutely everyone bar MacBanana!!

Hmmm...could be the worst squad and the worst coach we've ever sent overseas...keeping losing margins below 20 points for both NZ and Australia's 2nds will be an acheivement indeed

Only in a friendly. Cunningham was captain with Wello as deputy when he was off the pitch. That's how it's been since Scully disappeared. However, James Graham is a fantastic motivator. He has high standards and lots of passion and while non-Saints fans take the mick for him 'spitting his dummy out', and yes he was embarrassing at the Grand Final with his frustration at the way things had gone, we Saints fans have also seen the flipside to that same behaviour, which is his amazing ability to get his team going again through the tough times.

McBanana rightly said that England capitulated under pressure on Saturday. That's exactly what happened. Graham would not do that; he never does capitulate under pressure. He faces it and tries to conquer it. That is what a captain should be able to do. He should also be able to motivate his team mates and Graham has done that many times with his Saints team mates. No reason to believe he can't do it with his England team mates too as his ability must have earned him their respect over the years.

James Graham has capitulated in the last 4 grand finals. No pressure there then

what was that noise I just heard?



Oh its TMFMISL laughing at Grahams appointment...

I won a nice amount from Billy Hills for predicting the score margin that night

Don't be childish. James Graham has yet to capitulate in any game. He gets frustrated at losing but so do all the best sportspeople.

<fx scouse accent> "ref, he chicken winged me"

Envious, much.

nope

I find it funny our National team coach has picked a player whose head is most likely to go in big games and get easily distracted when someone gets under his skin to lead our country. I most look forward to seeing the Aussie big boys wind him up

No, of course not.


Tell me. When has James Graham lost his head in an international? Bear in mind he's been playing in them since 2006. So maybe you can remind me of all those times he has lost his head in internationals, including the academy side he captained to victory against the Aussies.

why should I be envious? Is it because a fellow ginger has done well I should be jealous, that what your trying to say?




Amount of St Helens fans who have told me how he Captained the academy side etc...look that was a while back, players change, christ Fielden was an hard man then....

the past FOUR Grand Finals he has gone missing, he went missing when Bailey marked him out of the Semi Final, he loses his concentration whenever anyone spots a weakness of him.