When stevo said Brough should be in the England squad Wilson disagreed because of his poor defence on Boots n all extra time and said that although Brough is good attacking his defence is poor.
( most Giants fans actually rate his defence quite highly)

But what do OPTA make of it all.




Danny Brough 60 tackles 5 marker tackles 5 missed

Rangi Chase 24 tackles 2 market tackles 10 missed

McGuire 66 tackles 9 marker tackles 8 missed

which of the above stats suggest who has the best defence.

Andy Wilson get your head out of your arris and look at the evidence not your blind prejudices.

Every time I read his column or hear him comment I become sure he doesn't like RL given his willingness to talk it down and his lack of knowledge of players and their abilities

I'm don't agree with Andy here, but he is by far the best on that show when it comes to balanced and justified views. To focus on a couple of things you don't agree with, ignore the rest and form an opinion on him isn't fair.

I tried watching an episode of BackChat last year and turned off after 10 minutes, it was unwatchable due to the stupidity of Andy Wilson and Chris Irvine.

Broughy should be a dead cert for the England team, his defence is better than most of his competitors, his pace and distribution are superb and he has the best kicking game in SL.
He had an attitude problem, but seems to have got over that.

You should put your name forward, just to replace like for like.

I think Andy Wilson is a good counterbalance to that buffoon Stevo on Back Chat and I enjoy the programme far more when he is on it. As for his comment on Brough, he made a point about Brough's defence and perhaps it was valid. I haven't seen enough of Brough play to comment but just because he holds that view doesn't make him an "a rse". It simply means he has a point of view. Clearly something is amiss with Brough as a number of national coaches have bypassed him for internationals. At least the current one gave him a chance but he was poor. If he can't step up when finally given the opportunity, what chance that he will do so against the Aussies? We can't afford to offer too many chances to players now because the world cup is at the end of the season. Better to go with what we know at halfback than risk the unknown going pear shaped at this late stage.

Brough is everything, good and bad, a scrum half should be.

The programme is called Super League Back Chat (not what you called it).

Andy Wilson didn't slate Brough's defence, he suggested one possible reason for his non-selection in the ETS using an example from one recent game as part of a discussion. Whilst the other three were continuing to go around in circles saying "why has he not been picked" over and over and offering no theories as to why a succession of England coaches have not picked Brough, other than to question his character, Wilson suggested something that could have influenced McNamara's choices at the time he was choosing the squad. He just mentioned that in one recent game a team (or perhaps just Dean Collis) had exploited Brough as the weak link to penetrate an otherwise solid defence. All he was doing was suggesting a possible reason for a choice that Steve McNamara made in response to being asked to give one.

Stevo is so much more knowledgeable than a clown like Andy Wilson that it's not even funny.

I don't understand why Gareth Widdop is over looked so frequently, he's a far better 6 than Sinfield and is the only English half back of genuine world class in my opinion.

Not convinced at all by Widdop.. I thin he'll struggle once Cronk and Smith retire or leave the Storm.

Unfortunately for England, Brough is the best we have.

Brough should be nowhere near England, as he has already played for Scotland.

In the wakey game brough was injured very early in the game and played the whole 80 mins for the benefit of the team. This is why brough was not available the following week.

Wilson is a lazy journalist jumping to ill informed conclusions to back up his soundbites



Wilson could not be bothered to check the stats or find out about Brough....so much easier to jump to a conclusion than actually do some spadework. p*ss poor journalism.

Do you have the same view about McIlorum

Wonder if something has happened behind the scenes? Brough has been in fine form this season. Would like to see Chase / Brough having a crack together, surely worth an experiment.

It's a shame for Brough that Wilson picks the team, otherwise his opinion would have no relevance whatsoever.

Yep, and Ben Harrison, Chris Bridge, and all you other plastic paddy's

Perhaps if Brough can maintain his form and turn it on against the big clubs when it counts then he'll get selected. It's not like other Huddersfield players haven't been selected for England, so some of the paranoid talk of some fans of a conspiracy against players from the lesser clubs is well wide of the mark. If Ben Cockayne can get a berth, there's certainly hope for Brough.

Never saw Brough as a weak link in defence during his time at Wakefield. He had the pace to chase back and made some great tackles if I remember right.

The clown is Stevo, knowledgeable or not.

I don't mind Andy Wilson, but I didn't agree with him on this issue and I didn't think his claims had much substance. As Durham Giant pointed out he is probably better than those defensively apart from Sinfield (although he missed 5 tackles in the WCC) but Sinfields made 100+ tackles this year and is very good defensively which is why I think he should go at 13 for England.

Also didn't get his argument about if we choose Brougj, we've thrown all the preperation we've being doing last couple of years. How many games have Chase and Sinfield actually played together?

It does annoy me when they mention half backs defence. As long as its reasonable and not a turnstile, who cares as long as their good attackers. A half backs job is to create for his team. How good at defending are Thurston, Marshall, Cronk Etc., Too often we go with a rigid team instead of a more creative/flair team. Choose the most creative half backs and you've got a chance. End of day none of our half backs are going to stop a full flight Greg Inglis on their own.

Spot on. I can't stand it when people focus on a half-back's defence. The whole idea of a half-back is putting players into gaps, making breaks, creating attacking plays. I've no problem with Sinfield at 13 but he should be nowhere near the England 6 shirt.

Don't we have this discussion about Brough around this time every year until he and his team fall out of form? If he can maintain his start to the season and perform in the big games (last week wasn't one) then I'm sure he will come into consideration.

I heard he was considering Scotland again now?