It's probably me, but I am not looking forward to this tournament .
I have witnessed too many false dawns. As for Joel Tompkins inclusion in the squad, I am not impressed at all.

Not a bad squad overall, however I'm left scratching my head by the selections of Cooper, Joel, J. Burgess and Sarginson.

It definitely wont be our new captain that's for sure

Scratching your head oner Joe Burgess!!!! He is electric, wish he was on our wing.

Cooper's apparently been very steady in the NRL this year. Given McNamara still has that attitude that anyone who plays in the NRL is automatically brilliant, no surprise to see him in there.

Joel tomkins hasnt done anything to deserve his spot

I agree re J Tomkins to an extent. He's improving though and definitely worth a place if it further accelerates that process.

I agree that it's no surprise he's in the squad, I've been very impressed for one so inexperienced whenever I've seen him.
The big surprise to me was that he was overlooked for Young Player of the Year.

He can catch a ball near his try line too.

Joe Burgess is a hugely exciting prospect. I was a bit mystified that he wasn't a young player of the year nominee.

Selection of Joel Tomkins after a tiny handful of RL games and no real impact in RU is a bit surprising. Decent player though. I think Ablett is very, very unlucky not to be in. Watkins, as others have said, for all his talent has been off the boil of late. He'll be back of course, but not sure he's justified selection this year.

Not seen any of the NRL players, so no idea how they've got on really.

Is there a reason Shaun Lunt isn't in? Is he injured?

The only NRL players not in the squad are Luke Burgess, who was very much reduced to a backup forward this year, and Jack Reed, who probably would have been in the squad but did his shoulder at the end of the season.

Cooper has been more a good solid forward for St George. He's not been picked as first choice, and given the lack of exceptional alternatives I can fully understand McNamara picking him. An average player in the NRL at least gets to experience playing against world class players on a regular basis, and the sort of plays they put on. That would give Cooper the nod over an equivalent player in SL.

The biggest worries for me are hooker - where we'll at least get to see if Clark is the real deal or not - and the backrow, which looks poor. What a difference Sam Burgess would have made there.

I'd like to see Whitehead get some game time. I still have concerns about his defence, but he's come on leaps and bounds this year. He might be a bit of a risk, but given recent results against the Aussies, we haven't exactly got much to lose.

O'Loughlin and Whitehead are decent options. I would have picked Ablett over the other options there. Westwood is a loss, undoubtedly, and we don't have huge depth in any position. Ferres has seemed a bit subdued when I've seen Hudds this year. Played very well in the World Cup though.

The Lunt omission doesn't make sense to me.

Judging on this year his defence isn't an issue, considering the amount of tackles he makes. He by far makes more tackles than anyone else in a Catalans shirt. Odd few round head, but he's in good company there!

He's been injured, and ordinary for most of the season. Hodgson has been consistantly the best performer in a poor Hull KR team.

I have no issue with Hodgson getting the nod. But one hooker does not a touring party make.






Innuendo potential quite high...

You're right. But thankfully there's 2.

Oh yeah. Missed that...



Carry on.

The sad thing is that had it not been for Roby and McIlorum withdrawing from the squad, Hodgson wouldn't have got a look-in based on who he plays for despite arguably being better than both throughout the season.

That and the fact that Clark and Roby are better players and have had tremendous seasons.

Obviously Clark has proved himself to be an excellent player this season.I do have slight reservations on how he will go this winter though if given the 9 shirt as he won't be given the space he gets in SL to do what he does best and his distribution some of the times i have seen him late in the year has not looked the best.That said he deserves his chance and what a great opportunity to prove himself at such an early stage in his career.

Roby I'll grant you.

Clark? Excellent athlete and will do some freakish stuff, doesn't do the basics of the game that well IMO.

He's nowhere near the finished article but he can be a match winner. His distrubution isn't good enough fo him to play 80 minutes but with Roby injured he could come on and provide that extra speed around the ruck that we'll no doubt need. Saying that, if Roby was fit I'd have played him for the full 80 minutes and had 4 'forwards' on the bench.

Always a bit puzzled by what he sees in Liam Farrell tbh, run of the mill second rower thats all

He looks good in the super league but he'll be smashed by australia and new zealand. His lines of running will be ineffective and he'll go to nothing in the collision. Everything goes on about our pack but we always only have 2 or 3 that can mix it with them.

Our pack *would* be the best GB/Eng pack in recent memory *if* Sam Burgess was in it. Graham/McIlorum(Roby)/G.Burgess/S.Burgess/Whitehead/O'Loughlin would be very good. Good balance in the back row between offloader, destroyer and organiser. The problem is that when you get beyond those three there's a massive lack of quality in the back row compared to Aus/NZ's options, so you get Farrell - who is good in Super League - getting a gig, when he'll be the international equivalent of Chris Clarkson - work hard enough with no impact because he'll be a level or two beyond his ability.