So in Burrows case we dismiss the last 3 months then??
Plus i take "on form" to mean at least the last 6wks or so not april and on that criteria Myler and Shenton don't warrant a starting place imo.
I don't see how you can say to a player it's ok if you've not played or have been average for 3mths you are still starting


We might aswell get fielden in there then because i can remember when he was on form.

Jjb has had a knee op and is out till pre-season


Burrow on the bench!!

You should be drug tested!!

C'mon then "uber coach" lets hear your wisdom!!
P.s Don't forget you are way down with damo in the credabillity stakes!!

There's a lot of merit in what you say in this post and I agree that Owen has to be a future England full back. But in reality that team isn't massively different from the one that will be playing on Saturday.

Smith
Hall
Senior
Price
Fox
Tompkins
Eastmond
Morley
Diskin
Graham
Peacock
Ellis
Burgess

Roby
McGuire
Bailey
Carvell.

Bench too light. No such player as price. Bailey

Brough isn't eligable. Shenton is the form centre in SL after Senior (who's 33 by the way). I don't agree with Myler's selection over Burrow's but I can understand it. ATEOTD barring the odd selection Smith has picked the best squad he can with the players he has available. I think Smith knows that England arn't in a position to win any tournament and he probably sees it as his job to try a build a side capable of winning major tournements in the future. Why can't people just give the guy a chance.

Is this the same Diskin you've dismissed as past it and cr#p all year???
Re-Eastmond how many games has he started at 7 at SL level and excelled in? so i don't agree he should start at 7 for england
I actually think Smith at FB is good call btw


As for Fox,Briscoe "outplayed" him imo and rightly should start.
Again there is an issue with Pryce many fans bang on about him whilst many others myself included don't think he cuts it anymore and hasn't for at laest 2 seasons.
Not a bad squad given who's available but i'd like to hear yer counter reasons other than "you should be drug tested"

Yikes, spelling mistakes make you laugh, god you must have a thrill ride of a life.

Anyway.........

Plenty of options to rotate the players around that are actually on the park which is always good when facing the likes of Australia and New Zealand.

My side would put 30 points on rhinoms (his looks as dangerous as a water pistol on the streets of Helman Province).

Interesting that a lot of you would select Diskin over Roby? Any particular reason for that?

I'm more than happy to give him a chance but didn't he get that at the WC?????
Like i've said more than once i hope i'm proved wrong and believe it or not it's not a TS witch hunt at all.
All i'm saying is that when he makes his statements about form and future etc he contradicts himself with his selection policy.
When things like this happen fans are gonna question it and offer differing opinions and players.
Isn't that what forum is for to offer differing opinions and selections to others???

His is when compared to Buderus however with the shocking quality banging around in SL he is the only option - Roby aint a 80mins hooker and Moore is gash.



Fast and an exceptional talent, better and quicker than anything currently available.



Briscoe is lazy, Fox continually looks for work and is exceptionally quick.



Pryce is a top quality player, absolutely shocking he is not in that side.



Translation - Ramrod knows best!!

You've given yourself a 12 man starting team as it is with the invisible man in the centre!!
ATEOD richie i guess we'll never know but i do expect a defeat tmw and the class of the aussie backs to be the deciding factor.

If I was coach we would win, as it is I expect a 28 - 12 defeat and a bit of pride for at least having a dig.

Don't mistake Ramrod and Serge as a lot of us or even class them as representative of the sane amongst us.

Having said that whilst I personally wouldn't select Diskin over Roby I'd select him over many others. The argument for selecting him over Roby being that Roby has always enjoyed the luxury of coming off the bench and running at fatigued players and his game was stifled somewhat this year with Saints slower PTBs.

That said I think Roby has always shown up well against the Antipodeans and I would select him.

At the moment I probably wouldn't.

However, from the games I've seen Roby hasn't really stood out for Saints this year. He's obviously making less of an impact with the new rule interpretations making it harder for him to win easy yards by scooting off the back of fast PTBs.

By contrast Diskin was in top form at the end of the season once he was no longer being spelled with Buderus.

IMO both players have recently shown that they are better when played for most of the game. In this respect the continued presence of Cunningham and Buderus at both clubs is stunting their respective development. But ultimately, it would be highly risky for both clubs to only have one hooker. It will be interesting to see how Roby gets on with Moore and Cunningham to battle it out with.

He's picked mainly on form (Myler over Burrow aside). Who do you think is in the squad that shouldn't be and who would you say isn't in the squad who deserves to be?

England as a collective were poor and Smith has to take a large propotion of the blame, but the year before that he coached England to their first series win in 20 years and as a club coach has helped Warrington to their first trophy in an age. Now I'm not saying he's perfect but he's probably the best coach England could have at this point in time.

Senior,burrow,Gilmour,Mccarthy Scarsbrook and Owen Should be in imo.
Sykes,Bridge,Myler,Westwood and wilkin out.

Senior retired. Burrow i agree. Gilmour I don't. LMS I would've had had over Carvell tbh. Owen is not ready yet.

Those are all debatable and not one is an obvious no-brainer that Smith has gotten wrong.

I didn't say they were no-brainers i was asked who i thought should/shouldn't be in and that's just my opinion.
Re-Owen he's got to be a better option than Sykes surely!!!
Senior did say he'd play if contacted and then TS said he hadn't been contacted by Senior i'm sure if either had picked up a phone he would be in.
As for debating his commitment you could say the same about L.Smith!!
It's all opinion and in mine i don't think TS has selected the best available.
Like i said though hopefully i'm proved wrong and will happily take the flack and banter if it proves to be the case.
P.s With Gilmour in the team it would enable us to get the best out of JP at prop whereas at the moment i don't think playing in the SR he'll be as effective.

I'm not so sure about that. The Aussies are pretty big all over the park, and I think having 3 big forwards of that kind to biff the ball up, whether they do it out wide or up the middle, could be very useful, particularly in the early exchanges. It also adds a bit of muscle in our wide defence, albeit at the expense of a bit of agility.

The selection issues you raise, some of which i agree with, are all very debatable so, IMO, its' hard to criticise a coach for not making what is at best an [iarguably[/i better selection.

If it were an obviously dumb selection then, yes, criticism is valid.

Which of course leads to the valid questions you raise about Paul Sykes.

I personally think Roby has gone backwards as a player - he needs to the major force at 9 for Saints but he will have yet another season playing a part time second fiddle role to Kieron - if they can find some shorts big enough for KC



Diskin has had a very good end to the season and if the team were picked on form Diskin was the form 9 at the end of the season

Owen is as ready as Briscoe and a better player now.

As you say these are semmantics - Smith hasn't made any major gaffs IMO his team is as strong as squad will allow