Quote ="SmokeyTA"And Crooks, Lineham, Houghton, Kirmond have been turned over a large number of times. There is no way on earth that Crooks has been a better player than Watkins or Moon this year. He may have over-performed compared to expectation but he simply hasn’t been up to their level. Houghton has had a good year, but he isn’t a patch on James Roby and hasn’t been this year even though Roby has missed some through injury. There is a performance/expectation issue going on here.
If Jamie Peacock has been the only player to drag Leeds to where they are right now (taking in to account where they could have been) then he would be the clearest winner of the MoS in the history of the award, he is, pretty much single handedly, the 4th best team in SL, That is pretty much what we are saying here, that 36 year old Jamie Peacock is the 4th best team in SL.'"
Watkins is currently England's best centre, but you are underestimating Crooks' performances this year with your 'no way on earth statement'. Crooks has almost scored as many tries as Watkins and Moon combined this season, he has more try assists than either of them, made more tackle busts, more clean breaks, more metres per carry and has made more tackles. He's also missed more tackles (although not as a percentage vs. Watkins) and made a couple more errors.
He's played consistently well all season irrespective of age or expectation and people are justified in selecting him for this years dream team.
Watkins is a great talent and will start at right centre for England, but based on this season's performances Crooks isn't far behind.
