www.superleague.co.uk/article.php?id=15657 A few absent 'Names'

www.superleague.co.uk/article.php?id=15657 A few absent 'Names'

Oh dear

Plus Sykes and Bridge

Chris Bridge (Warrington Wolves, Waterhead)
Shaun Briscoe (Hull Kingston Rovers, Wigan St Patricks)
Sam Burgess (Bradford Bulls, Dewsbury Moor)
Garreth Carvell (Warrington Wolves, Stanningley)
Eorl Crabtree (Huddersfield Giants, Huddersfield YMCA)
Kyle Eastmond (St Helens, Oldham St Annes)
Gareth Ellis (Wests Tigers, Castleford Lock Lane)
Peter Fox (Hull Kingston Rovers, York Acorn)
James Graham (St Helens, Blackbrook)
Ryan Hall (Leeds, Oulton Raiders)
Danny McGuire (Leeds, East Leeds)
Scott Moore (Huddersfield Giants, Blackbrook)
Adrian Morley (Warrington Wolves, Eccles)
Richard Myler (Salford City Reds, Halton West Bank)
Sean O’Loughlin (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)
Jamie Peacock (Leeds, Stanningley Rangers) (captain)
James Roby (St Helens, Blackbrook)
Michael Shenton (Castleford Tigers, Upton)
Kevin Sinfield (Leeds, Waterhead)
Lee Smith (Leeds, Drighlington)
Paul Sykes (Bradford Bulls, Thornhill Trojans)
Sam Tomkins (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)
Ben Westwood (Warrington Wolves, Normanton Knights)
Jon Wilkin (St Helens, East Hull

interesting....pick a team out of that!

No Rob Burrow, Leon Pryce or Paul Wellens. Intersting choices.

So what have we got?

1. Briscoe
2. Hall or Briscoe 3. Shenton 4. Bridge 5. Fox
6. Tomkins 7. Myler (or Danny McGuire in either slot)
8. Peacock 9. Moore 10. Graham
11. Burgess 12. Ellis
13 O'Loughlin

14. Roby 15. Carvell 16. Morley 17. Westwood

As usual, the forwards look better than the (inexperienced) backs, but the real challenge is to bring them all together without them playing like a bunch of f*ckwits like they did las year.

No idea who will play in the halfbacks, centres or back row. The props look good though.

The squad does a least offer Smith a lot of options to introduce variety. There is no one obvious strongest 13.

Full Back
Shaun Briscoe (Hull Kingston Rovers, Wigan St Patricks)

Wing
Ryan Hall (Leeds, Oulton Raiders)
Peter Fox (Hull Kingston Rovers, York Acorn)

Centre
Michael Shenton (Castleford Tigers, Upton)

Utility Backs
Lee Smith (Leeds, Drighlington)
Chris Bridge (Warrington Wolves, Waterhead)
Kyle Eastmond (St Helens, Oldham St Annes)
Paul Sykes (Bradford Bulls, Thornhill Trojans)

Halfback
Danny McGuire (Leeds, East Leeds)
Sam Tomkins (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)
Richard Myler (Salford City Reds, Halton West Bank)

Hooker
Scott Moore (Huddersfield Giants, Blackbrook)
James Roby (St Helens, Blackbrook)

Second Row
Ben Westwood (Warrington Wolves, Normanton Knights)
Gareth Ellis (Wests Tigers, Castleford Lock Lane)

Lock
Jon Wilkin (St Helens, East Hull
Sean O’Loughlin (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)
Kevin Sinfield (Leeds, Waterhead)

Prop
Garreth Carvell (Warrington Wolves, Stanningley)
Jamie Peacock (Leeds, Stanningley Rangers) (captain)
Adrian Morley (Warrington Wolves, Eccles)
James Graham (St Helens, Blackbrook)
Sam Burgess (Bradford Bulls, Dewsbury Moor)
Eorl Crabtree (Huddersfield Giants, Huddersfield YMCA)

briscoe
fox
ellis
sykes
smith
tomkins
eastmond
morley
roby
peacock
westwood
shenton
sinfield

SUBS
myler
lockers
burgess
crabtree

From that. For me it's...

1. Briscoe
2. Smith
3. Eastmond
4. Shenton
5. Hall
6. Tomkins
7. McGuire
8. Graham
9. Moore
10. Peacock
11. Ellis
12. Burgess
13. O'Loughlin

14. Roby
15. Morley
16. Carvell
17. Wilkin

Briscoe
Fox
Smith
Eastmond
Hall

Maguire
Myler/Tomkins

Peacock
Roby
Graham
Ellis
O'Loughlin

Sinfield

Subs: Burgress, Morley, Crabtree, Moore (if he needs two hookers) otherwise Wilkin

I think that squad is an embarrassing indictment for the standard of super league.

What the hell is Smith doing in the squad anyway as he's offsky to RU.

Lack of quality in the outside backs.

Its quite important to do well in this tournament, so pick the best players. Who cares what he does once its over.

Briscoe
Smith
Shenton
Bridge
Hall
Sinfield
McGuire
Peacock
Moore
Morley
Ellis
Burgess
O'Loughlin

Crabtree
Carvell
Roby
Tomkins



poor squad

Pryce and Wellens don't deserve to be in there, particularly Pryce who I think has been poor for about 2 months now.

Briscoe deserves the spot above Wellens, I'm surprised Burrow isn't in there, his try against NZ last year in the World Cup shows what he can do when a freak try needs to be scored.

I think Smith has picked as good a side he could of on form, picking the same names every year is exactly why Brian Noble failed. The forwards look good with Morley, Graham, Ellis and Sinfield all in top form this year.

Not sure whether Moore and Roby are strong enough at hooker, but there's limited choice out there at the moment. Eastmond, Myler and Tomkins all play with no fear and I think the Aussies and Kiwis will know little about them to do their homework.

Let's see how they play first before having a go!

True, but it showed last year that players made predominantly from the same two clubs didn't work. I'd rather see inexperience that can gel together and play better than a team divided and concede over fifty points against Australia.

Right now, Greg Inglis is sat at home p*ssing himself laughing at the prospect of lining up opposite Michael Shenton and Chris Bridge.

How has Eastmond got in ahead of Burrow? He can't even get a game in the halves for his club side because two players not good enough for this squad are keeping him out.

How would that mythical squad do placed in a "full strength" superleague?

don't think it would be top 4 TBH

Eastmond at centre or wing would be the only outside back in that squad capable of troubling the Aussies IMO. Most dangerous Saints player in the GF by a mile.

I'm more worried about Sykes than Shenton or Bridge.

Don't have any real complaints about Burrow missing out. In the WCC and World Cup he looked vulnerable, and hasn't really been on top form this season IMO.

Looks pretty strong to me. I am not quite sure what people expect. I agree with the squad and the players that have been left out.

1. Shaun Briscoe (Hull Kingston Rovers, Wigan St Patricks)
2. Ryan Hall (Leeds, Oulton Raiders)
3. Lee Smith (Leeds, Drighlington)
4. Michael Shenton (Castleford Tigers, Upton)
5. Peter Fox (Hull Kingston Rovers, York Acorn)
6. Sam Tomkins (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)
7. Richard Myler (Salford City Reds, Halton West Bank)
8. Adrian Morley (Warrington Wolves, Eccles)
9. Scott Moore (Huddersfield Giants, Blackbrook)
10. James Graham (St Helens, Blackbrook)
11. Jamie Peacock (Leeds, Stanningley Rangers) (captain)
12. Gareth Ellis (Wests Tigers, Castleford Lock Lane)
13. Sam Burgess (Bradford Bulls, Dewsbury Moor)

14. James Roby (St Helens, Blackbrook)
15. Kevin Sinfield (Leeds, Waterhead)
16. Garreth Carvell (Warrington Wolves, Stanningley)
17. Eorl Crabtree (Huddersfield Giants, Huddersfield YMCA)

Chris Bridge (Warrington Wolves, Waterhead)
Kyle Eastmond (St Helens, Oldham St Annes)
Danny McGuire (Leeds, East Leeds)
Sean O’Loughlin (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)
Paul Sykes (Bradford Bulls, Thornhill Trojans)
Ben Westwood (Warrington Wolves, Normanton Knights)
Jon Wilkin (St Helens, East Hull

I'd put Eastmond in ahead of Myler. Myler has played 18 games this year for a club that has played with zero pressure on there backs and that is deemed test standard!

At least Eastmond has proved he can handle pressure. Scored last Saturday and got a vital match winner against Wigan in July in the dying minutes. Sure theres more that Saints fans could remember.

But what has Myler ever done? Might have the potential but right now? Ahead of Burrow?

And chris bridge? The man is having a laugh!

I couldn't be more embarrassed.

Perhaps he's included eastmond for the centres? if not picking 3 young inexperianced half backs does seem a strange choice, one thing is clear though we are going to have to pick an experianced half back to go along with myler/tompkins/eastmond and out of that team the only real option is going to be sinfield. Shame brough wasnt picked so we could have had sinfield at lf. As for eastmond being kept out by two players that are too poor for the sqaud-long would still walk into the england team if he hadnt quit, still our best 7, though fortunatley we have brough, myler, tompkins and eastmond for the future, hopefully mcnally, southernwood and brierly can all kick on to the next level one day too.

Second best league in the World.



Given the lack of sensible comparitors, it is difficult to say whether SL is better or worse than should be expected.

Briscoe, Fox, Smith, Shenton, Hall
McGuire, Eastmond
Graham, Moore, Peacock, Ellis, Westwood, Sinfield.

Bench: Burgess, Morley, Wilkin, Roby

A few years ago, we would have killed for 4 young halves the quality of McGuire, Tomkins, Eastmond and Myler (remember the era of loose forward half backs?) so some areas are definitely improving

I actually think that Roby and Moore could do a great job alongside two dynamic halves from the 4 above

The props and back row look solid as always

Briscoe, Fox and Hall as a back three is not the best we've ever had but not bad, I think we will look to attack down the middle as we did gainst NZ two years ago

Obviously the centres look to be the weak area but we knew that already - Shenton is surely nailed on, I guess it's Sykes/Smith/Bridge for the other spot... maybe Ellis as an outside bet