I personally thought England were woeful and i feel extremely sorry for the RFL - they have made a huge effort to market the backside off this game and despite no national media coverage - pulled in a very respecitable crowd.

The product however was aweful - the idea was great, the concept was great but the England team looked pathetic.

I'm afraid after tonights showing, those down under who call our competition amateur have a point. The standard of our players across the board is shameful.

They lack skill, speed, intelligence + I thought the effort, passiona and agression was non-existant. I think there was the odd player who looked relatively useful and that was Sam Tomkins and Ben Westwood.

The England crowd booed Tomkins probably because they were bored of a totally unimaginative and talentless England team. Peacock needs to concentrate on his own game before critiscing a healthy crowd who spent their own hard earned money to come and watch a bunch of amatuers.

Tomkins - the best we have by a mile but had no opportunities
Briscoe - I dont care what you say - he is average
Shenton - average
Bridge - I continue to ask why on earth he is plays representative football - embarrassing
Hall - not bad but aint great
Sinfield - not good enough and never has been at this level. Not only is he not big enough, fast enough or agressive enough but his tactiacl kicking is dire
Myler - non existant. Brough is miles better and we desperately need him for the 4 nations
Peacock - good enough at Leeds but thought he was too old for this level 2 years ago... international retirement pls
Robinson - actually stood out but should have been coming off the bench behind a dominant pack
Graham - not bad but not great either - think he will find it very tough down under
Wilkin - no where near good enough
Westwood - thick as too planks but at least gave his all
O'Loughlin - not good enough at this level and is miles behind a Farrell or Sculthorpe

McIlorum - sounded like a typical English RL player when interviewed pre-match. 1 brain cell might be hard to find. Average
Morley - embarrassingly stands out compared to our inempt forwards - class act
Carvell - not good enough at this level
Tomkins - not bad i guess

I think the RFL will have to change the venue if they have any chance of getting a 1/2 decent crowd to turn up next year. I was gutted I couldnt go and when I watched it I'm glad I didnt.

The exiles were exciting and energetic - not bad for a bunch of old men.

They wanted to send a message down under - I'm sure Billy Salter and Benji Marshall & Co are having sleepless nights!

Where was this talent in the last World Cup under Tony Smith (or was Tony Smith also a "non-elite" coach)?

Come to that, where has it been for the last 15- 20 years?

You could put McNamara in charge of Australia and Wayne Bennett in charge of England. The result would be absolutely no different.

bet it would

That's your opinion and you're entitled to it.

Quite how you've come it I've no idea, given that once the players get on the field the coach has a limited amount he can do to influence their performance.

Changing coaches won't make Sam Tomkins better than Billy Slater, or Luke Robinson better than Cameron Smith, or Atkins/Shenton better than Inglis/Hodges.

It's a British disease passed down from the round ball game that if it's all going wrong on the pitch then it's entirely down to the coach and simply changing that one person will make all the difference.

wayne bennett would let em play......McNamara does'nt


can i just say as well......theres a few people whinging about the exiles being over 30's has beens


the average age of the exiles was 29!....with 200 test caps


in todays origin game 2.....theres a fair few 29-30 years olds....and a couple of 34 & 35 year olds...and steve price was 36 last year
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Average age was 30
Youngest 24, 3 x 25 year olds a 28 year old and the rest over 30, hardly a squad that will be together for the future.

You may have missed it but Steve Price did not play SOO last year and retired in June last year.