[url=http://www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/news/4295/HALLEY%20OPTS%20FOR%20ENGLANDHalley changes allegiance[/url

Good man, I think Dave will really kick on now.

So the attempted free Jolly-Up in Oz didn't work out?

From what I've seen of Halley he is very fast with tons of enthusiasm. He has to develop a whole lot more to be even on the fringe of inetrnational consideration for England. The fact that he is being talked about just shows the paucity of wing talent in this country.

With Danny Brough and now this, I think we're starting to see what the effect of scrapping the GB side is going to have on Scotland, Wales & Ireland. If players have a choice of trying for a place against Australia, New Zealand or France, or having an almost guaranteed spot against Russia & Lebanon, it's pretty much a no-brainer.

The GB side scrapping may have been good for the England side, but it's going to be terrible for the other British sides.

Let's be honest here some of these lads opted to play for the 'lesser' international sides purely so they could have the experience of the World Cup as they weren't going to be selected for their own country. It was a great opportunity to have a free trip Down Under. Unfortunately for the 'Welsh' lads it didn't work out. I blame Iestyn.

It shouldn't be allowed, once you have played for one country, you should have to stick with them.

What if you emigrate?

I agree i think allowing people to change allegiances only degrades the international game.

The RFL wants anybody remotely good to be available for England. I can see Halley at least getting in the train-on squad and depending on form he may be in with a shout.

If Halley didn't play for Bradford I doubt many would give him a second thought. He is 22 & only just managing a first team place. He's scored 5 tries (2 which were for Wakey). Even though wing & FB are our weakest positions I wouldn't have him in the top 5 in either spot. Not to say there isn't latent potential there.

Why?

What?

So if you emigrate you change nationality do you?

Because he isn't good enough, yet. Before I die I want to see a series win against the Aussies. To do that we need comparable players. There isn't one British FB who would get in the NRL & only possibly Peter Fox as a winger. Halley would be lucky to get a sniff at second string. That's how far we are in those positions.

Fair enough, I wasn't disagreeing by the way, I just wanted to hear your reasoning. If -touch wood they don't- injuries occur I can't see him being too far off, but as you said, not yet.

Cheers, I despair when people rave about the likes of Briscoe as England FB. He may well be our best FB, fantastically brave etc, but there has been no-one to compete with Wellens for a good few years & his limitations were cruelly exposed in the WC. Briscoe's defence was absolutely appalling until very recently when he has obviously had some decent coaching. I think possibly Melling at Quins is the best of a mediocre bunch, though there are some bright lights - Owen, Cudjoe - but I've seen enough prospects fade away - Mathers - to not get too hopeful.

I don't doubt that, my point was that i think it's wrong you can change which country you play for after you've already played for one country. We've had the arguments before but it still doesn't change my view.

As is he's gonna get picked for england in any games other than against france?

Briscoe's nothing special, I agree. Whilst he may be better than any other English FB, he would look like an amateur against Hunt, Slater etc.

[url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/jul/02/great-britain-england-rugby-leagueLink[/url

Maybe I'm totally mistaken but it could be that the GB 'name' suffered as a consequence of Sport England being the body that dishes out lottery dosh to sports in, well, England! (not GB as a whole)

GB is far better than the seperte nations anyway.

What I can't understand was the rationale of getting rid of it. The idea was that it seemed daft playing for Gt Britain and then for England in the World Cup. Why have seperate nations for the world cup then?

Surely it would be better for the world cup to get rid of contrived Welsh, Scottish and Irish teams and replace them with contrived teams like USA, Russia or Japan.

It's purely to create a bit more competition. While Wales, Scotland, Ireland may not be the best team, they can at least put up a little fight sometimes. USA, Russia and Japan would get annihilated.

A short term solution maybe, but that's no doubt the thinking behind it. Sadly, if you don't offer those teams any competition outside of the world cup, players just aren't going to want to play for them.

Need to remember that Ireland did damn well in the World Cup.