Wasn't the nsw fullback matty moylan? Nothing we have to offer is near his level....smells trouble to me

But against Hull and Wire Sarginson playerd very well (was m.o.m. for me in the final) and he was playing against very good tactical kickers in Sneyd and Gidley. It really all depends how you want the fullback to play. If you want him to be the "extra half-back" then it's either Lomax or Ratchford. If you want someone to take you forward then it's Sarginson, if you want a try poacher/back up player then it's Shaul.
It's a pity that O'Loughlin is unfit as he could be the extra ball playing forward that we sadly lacked on Saturday.

19 man squad announced. Graham has a light knock and isn't risked. No Widdop either but no mention of any injury. Scott Taylor and Percival come in to the 19.

Lomas
McGillvary
Watkins
Percival
Hall
Williams
Gale
Hill
Hodgson
G.Burgess
Whitehead
Bateman
S.Burgess

Clark
Farrell
Taylor
Cooper/T.Burgess

One of those props to miss out and Sarginson for me. Want to see Percival at centre and barring that missed tackle I thought Lomax looked ok at FB.

I was dissapointed in Widdop, other than the quick hands that led to Halls try I didn't see anything from him that impressed. Overall the kicking game was average and if we are to advance against ANZ teams we have to improve the half backs, end of story

Its nothing to do with attack, it is positionally in defence. Wire and Hull don't have anyone near the kicking capability of Cronk or JT, or Smith for that matter.
Thats why in previous years I have advocated picking Hardaker, as his position play is far better than other English fullbacks, but he has really let his form drop this year.

I disagree about O'Loughlin because Graham can provide that extra pivot and you could end up with too many cooks.

Ive always been in the camp that Watkins could be the best centre in the world but simple mistakes in his game show he's not what his potential could be. Maybe he's stale maybe he's too soft but it's not great he is still the best option we have at centre when he's not tough enough to compete. This isn't trolling I thought he was pur best centre and he still is but shows how much we lackig

Anonymous is the best I can say to defend him in this game. Certainly hasn't looked like a standout world beater. But then not many in white have

Percival been worse doesn't say much

Surely none of you can defend him after today? The guy is stealing a living!

There's a reason no one outside 5 miles of Leeds rates him!

F**k off you f**king moron.

You stop stealing a wage off Beaumont with your Daily Star level media c**p.

What centre would've done better?

If anybody says Ryan Atkins I'll hunt you down and shoot you.

In all honesty i thought he was pretty good today. A thankless task marking Inglis and it didn't help the whole team stood off him and allowed him far too much space.

Watkins is still the best English centre by a margin imo. we simply don't have the talent in that area and in the halves to live with the Aussies and it has been that way for as long as i remember.

I thought we needed another Kallum Watkins thread.

It's all Watkins' fault boo hoo!

You are such a sad sack,

for FFS get your self a life and make all that know you and those who don't happy

He came close to the Aussie line twice

His defence was solid throughout

The penalty for the late hit on the kicker was a joke decision

His knock on from Thurston's kick was a tricky one that many would not catch and would've lead to a catch had he not gone for it.

yeah absolutely disgusting that Watkins couldn't be arised to get himself in position to stop Matt Scott and trent Merrin barging over...then he had the cheek not to assist Percival when trying to stop cronk walking through for another easy try... bloody Watkins if it wasn't for him we would be in the final!

edited

Not another pointless thread?

In a game where our "NRL Superstars" have been humped without any lube & "Uber Coach" has been shown up we get a thread about Watkins

He looked threating at times, and went looking for work. He defended OK overall, but tried to force it a few times which led to mistakes.
On the other side Percival showed some glimpses, but is way off the mark physically, and in terms of his decision making, he probably wouldn't have been in if we had a better options, but I'm sure he'll get better.

The NRL based players were the most disappointing for me, apart from Graham, perhaps. The Burgess twins were especially shocking, Whitehead doesn't seems to do anything apart from pop up with the occasional try, Hodgson was poor today, and Widdop was beyond mediocre.

Watkins was solid throughout in defence today and thought he kept inglis quite quit, in attack he had little ball but looked dangerous when he did have it skipped past inglis a couple of times, but that second half effort from most of the squad was poor we just couldn't cope at times.

don't you know he was the agreed scapegoat before a ball had been kicked. i for one am sick of average players getting picked because they play in NRl

England would've won had Ryan Atkins played instead.....no honestly.

Bennett will pick a load of Aussies for the WC next year. won't make any difference and we will become an even bigger laughing stock for using their cast offs.

Should get rid of Bennett now. Scotland showed you can get a result with the right attitude. Wane or for all his criticisms McDermott would be better than the half a**ed Bennett