Just wondering if anyone else feels like this.

I remember watching Great Britain play and being generally impressed at the line ups, whereas in recent years the England squads have felt, in some way, not as good.

I dont know if this is down to not having as many big big names, like Farrell and Scully, Newton etc or something else but I have found that if someone has worn a GB shirt I have a lot more respect for that player than someone who has only worn an England shirt, it seems like a weaker version.

Just me or anyone else feel like that?

That's because the standard is crap these days.

i think your right.
Apparently sl is producing more home grown player these days than the sport as ever produced before.Even if thats true its clearly obvious these players are of the same standard,and that standard isnt good enough.
Theres a bradford fan who posts on here and he's said for a while now that the reduction in overseas players coming here has had a detrimental effect on the standard of home grown players being produced,i always thought he was wrong,i'm now starting to think he was/is right.

Look at the 1994 GB team that beat Australia at Wembley. That team would beat England every day of the week imo.

Then take the England v Wales semi final in 1995 and compare that Welsh side to the current one. No contest. (even the England side is no contest)

Thers been some seriously quality welsh teams in years gone bye,its a shame we'll never see that again since union went pro

No it wouldn't. The 2012 team is so much fitter, stronger and (Offiah aside) faster than the 1994 team, they would wipe the floor with them.

You can't compare teams from different generations, its just daft.

They're far more skillful. If they had the same fitness programs that the current side have then they would destroy them.

I think we are lacking genuinely world class players at the moment in key positions. We probably have 2-3 that would make a World top 25 players list compared 6-7 in the early 90's. Need more top RU converts, allow any club making a profit be able to sign any Home Nations International RU player salary cap exempt. Would bolster the GB squad (please bring GB back!) and bring some fresh talent into RL. Reality is with the number of kids we have playing the game and the development structures we have the cream at the top is always going to be a very thin lair.

I think it's partly rose tinted glasses, while people remember the days of Gary Schofield and Martin Offiah being great, lets not forget that in the later 90's Paul Atcheson was once the GB starting full back. Richard Horne was once a GB winger, Karle Hammond a Standoff.

I think with players like Tomkins, Hall, Burgess, Graham, Ellis, Roby, Reed & Widdop, with some really good young players coming through we're going in the right direction.

One must remember we're not pinching 4-5 of Union's best players anymore. It's rather disturbing how dependent our sport was on such a small core, but influential bunch of converts. Makes you think we never as a sport truly produced enough quality players.

are we i hope you are right lets hope so it does get

waiting for a team England or G Britain to beat the Aussies

our problem at the elite level is and always will be not having the depth of talent. We can put a 17 out of our very best all in form and fit we can be in with a shot. but if we have to rely on the 2nd best players in positions we are stuffed. This is the big difference with both NZ and Oz being able to call on 2-3 very top quality players in most positions. As usual we will once again have a pack to match them in the next WC but our backs will be sadly lacking. Hence why I would have gone out last year and let clubs sign RU backs!

Why would any union player want to come to a sport that can't pay him near what he will be getting from union? or get any value from image rights. In the past the few that did come made the choice to get a paid & set up thier family, mostly working class Welsh lads.

That's why I'd let the profitable clubs splash some cash, If Leeds or Wigan want to spend 250k bringing a world class halfback or centre or wing from RU to League then let them! We all benefit if it helps England win the WC or GB win the Ashes, if the RFL ever see sense and bring back GB v Oz!

In a sport which has just 5 countries with a professional team (Aus, NZ, Eng, Wales, France) it makes absolutely no sense to put two of them together.

Playing Wales isn't ideal but it's far better than playing nobody.

Another bring back GB thread?

Like I've said many many times, what's the point of eliminating 3 RL nations for what is essentially the same team if they're all separate? Makes no sense. It won't make us stronger. It won't make a difference. Time to move forwards, not backwards.

Exactly. If we have a full strength World Cup squad we have just as good a squad as NZ & OZ, but injuries cripple us, whereas Australia have players like Ben Barba who is only 3rd choice full-back for Queensland!

For what its worth, heres my potential England World Cup squad:


1. Sam Tomkins
2. Josh Charnley
3. Jack Reed
4. Ryan Atkins
5. Ryan Hall
6. Gareth Widdop
7. Danny Brough
8. Adrian Morley
9. James Roby ©
10. James Graham
11. Gareth Hock
12. Gareth Ellis
13. Sean O'Loughlin

14. Jonny Lomax (impact)
15. Kevin Sinfield (utility)
16. Lee Mossop
17. Sam Burgess

Squad members.

18. Tom Briscoe (wing cover)
19. Leroy Cudjoe ( cover)
20. Mike Mcllorum (hooker cover)
21. Rob Burrow (hooker/halves cover)
22. Jon Wilkin (utility)
23. Ben Westwood (forward cover)
24. Eorl Crabtree
25. Garreth Carvell

A good mix of youth, experience, with both specialist and utility value there I think.
I don't agree with Brough or Mcllorum playing for England, but they are the rules so ho hum.
Lomax, Mossop & Mcllorum will be a year older and wiser too.
Morley would be great to have around camp even though he wouldn't feature in every game.

Hopefully players like Stefan Ratchford & Kallum Watkins will have a great 2013 and will be making strong cases for a test shirt too.

England need a world class number 7.

Love your patriotism bu you are kidding yourself if you think our starting 17 are close to the Kangaroos. And for most of those positions we are not talking a little bit better, we are talking massively superior.

I certainly would n`t be starting with Morley, fantastic player that he`s been its time he followed Peacocks lead.

Nevermind England or Great Britain it should be a case of you pick your nation and you are stuck with it for the rest of your career.

Some of us are realists and recognise that the biggest thing to watch at international level is a three match GB v Aus test series, Wales are not an RL playing nation, they have one semi professional side and have to make do with dubious Welsh connections to fill a side. Expansion on the scale the RFL want will never happen, we will NEVER see a SL with teams from Edinburgh, Coventry, Birmingham or wherever else they might want it to be played, because the locals (apart from a fe hundred converts) don't want it.

South Wales Scorpions or North Wales Crusaders?
The biggest thing to watch at international level doesn't include the world champions? Really? Like it or not, and it sounds like you really don't, expansion is happening. Spreading the game gives us, be it England or GB, a bigger talent pool to choose from and surely that can only be a good thing. We don't need Coventry, Birmingham or Northampton in Super League but we do need people playing the game in those areas along with Cumbria, London etc.

Wow. Just wow.

Realist? Or pessimist?

Realist. In the next 10 years SL will not have a successful new club, they may have had one or two try, but they will not last.