On the back of McNamara's comments about NRL based England players, what are peoples thoughts as to what the England team should look like?

To me a lot of positions are easy to fill at this point, with only one or two contenders for most positions:

Full Back - Tomkins - Short of him moving to the halves like some people have suggested Id say barring injury he is our best bet for it.

Wings - Hall and Charnley - Again, these seem pretty nailed on, both performing well, both looking for work on the pitch, Tom Briscoe (who was in the frame for some people) hasnt really been on form for me this season. If an injury occurs, maybe Lineham would be worth a look at, big and fast, albeit inexperienced.

Centres - Reed and Watkins - For me this is so simple, Watkins is great with the ball, and nippy, Reed is all about reliability and taking high ball, I just dont see anyone else contending for these spots bar injury.

Props - Sam and George Burgess, Graham and Mossop - First off, before people say it, I know that Sam has been playing Loose and Second Row and playing more minutes than a typical prop. But in internationals I dont see why he couldnt be expected to do hard spells. His running is nearly as devastating as his brother, and it wont hurt him to have breaks to refresh before coming back on to cause more problems for the opposition. George has pretty much forced his way in, he is absolutely devastating right now. Graham is playing great and has good distribution to boot to throw defenders confidence in what is going to happen. Mossop is being reliable as ever for Wigan, and I would expect him to up his game , like the others, for the big internationals.

Second Row - Westwood, Ellis and Hock - Westwood brings great workrate and aggression, Ellis knows the opposition and has a good mind for gaps and offloads, Hock is hard to stop, and if he has his had screwed can show just the right aggression. These are quite simple for me although I would hope Ellis picks up some steam towards the end of the season.

Loose Forward - Sean O'Loughlin - Tackling machine, great aggression and will play his heart out.

Hooker - Roby if fit, although I would hope he would save his dummy running for later on in games, rather than just doing it too early and not making any yards, if not fit in time, Micky Mac or Houghton for me, both great workers.

Half Backs - This is where the problem is, Sinfield is one of them, that much is clear whether we like it or not. For me the other is Widdop is fit. He simply has to be there if available, it makes sense. If he isnt fit in time, then its a problem. Chase isnt a fit for me (and more than that is not English and doesnt have pride in the shirt to me). This leaves Myler who seems to be on fire one moment, anonymous the next, or an outsider as to present himself yet like if Matty Smith came good at the end of the season or something like that. Without Widdop our halfbacks are pretty weak to me though either way.

What do people think, and do people think it is necessary for our national side coach to basically have a crack at bigging up the SL by saying players playing in the NRL will have to do something great to beat the SL based players?

I mean, what has Premiership winning, high flying (before injury), highly paid Widdop have to further do to prove himself to McNamara? What about the Burgess brothers? They need more metres and line breaks against the best defences in the world or something? Or is it just a PR exercise and really, McNamara cant wait to get his hands on the NRL based players?

Decent analysis, though I wouldn't have Hock in at second row, he's too much of a liability - especially with Kirmond playing how he is.

Tomkins
Charnley Watkins Reed Hall Sinfield Chase
Graham McIlorum S Burgess Westwood Ellis O'Loughlin

Subs- Hill G Burgess Hock/Kirmond Roby

Agree with most of the original post, perhaps with just a few minor points

I like O’loughlin and would have him in the squad but at this stage a think a stronger England team would have Sam Burgess at loose and bring in Hill into the front row rotation. This gives us that extra size

At hooker, I really like the option of having a kicking game out of dummy half and Houghton brings this element more than any of the others (including Roby) so if Roby wasn’t fit I would plump for Houghton

Tomkins
charnley
Watkins
reed
hall
widdop (if fit. if not chase)
sinfield
graham
Houghton
S.burgess
westwood
hock
ellis
Subs
mcilorum
O'Loughlin
mossop
G.burgess

Tomkins
Charnley
Watkins
Cudjoe
Hall
Sinfield
Widdop
Graham
Mcilorum
Sam Burgess
Westwood
Ellis
Oloughlin

G Burgess
Hill/Crabtree
Kirmond
Roby

mossop hasnt been good enough for international standard whereas hill has consistently impressed and crabtree has looked good before, and id have cudjoe before reed, another big athletic centre like watkins.

I'd be tempted to put Hardaker at full back and bring Tomkins into the halves.

If not Mossop definitly Hill. I honestly dont think Crabtree will cause many probs international wise.

Same for Cudjoe he is big and athletic but Watkins is more dangerous with ball and Id say Reed is the better reader jumper and defender.

Like i said i think Sam Burgess would be better concentrating on troubling the opposition defence while Lockers deals with defence but its no loss either way.

Honest question. If Sinfield is injured or whatever, who would you pick as half backs and who would be captain?

Watching Myler all year he must be in with a shout, has been massive this year for us and lead us around the field very well...

Tomkins
Charnley
Watkins
Cudjoe
Hall
Widdop
Smith
Graham
Sinfield
S. Burgess
Farrell
Kirmond/Ferres
O'Loughlin

Houghton
G Burgess
Hill
Westwood

Kirmond could be worth looking at, need to smarten up a bit and shave the beard though lol.

Myler has been great for Warrington, I would sooner have him than Chase.

Good to have options though!
I'm worried that our array of second rowers arn't playing particularly well though. Ellis, Hock and Westwood. I'm not a big fan of Westwood but he's played well the last few games i've seen him.

Luckily though we arent short in that department. I would hope Ellis would improve as he doesnt seem to be firing properly, but you have Sam Burgess who could slot in then add another prop or loose, and they you have players like Farrell who have had great form.

Although knowing McNamara he would pick JJB, or even better MediaMan - formerly known as Wilkin.

I'd go with:

1. Tomkins
2. Charnley
3. Watkins
4. Cudjoe
5. Hall
6. Sinfield
7. Myler
8. Burgess, S
9. Roby
10. Graham
11. Westwood
12. Ellis
13. O'Loughlin

14. Burrow
15. Burgess, G
16. Hill
17. Farrell

18. Hardaker
19. Mossop
20. Morley
21. Widdop
22. Kirmond
23. Houghton
24. Crabtree

This is where the lack of decent international competition during the year hurts us. With a more comprehensive int fixture list we could have been trying out different combinations instead of lick the finger and see how they go in the WC scenario.

Would love to see SOO move to stand alone weekends and see England play NZ at the same time every year.

good

I think we would all love to see England play NZ every year but it will not happen

One thing I would say is we need burrow on the bench, possibly even burrow and roby on the bench could be hugely effective
Higham should be forcing his way in if he carries on his form.

Sinfield and chase/widdop is my choice in the halves.
Crabtree has always been a big performer for England too.

The team does more or less pick itself though with a few tough choices

I'd go with:

1. Tomkins
2. Charnley
3. Reed
4. Cudjoe/Watkins
5. Hall
6. Widdop
7. Myler
8. Hill
9. Sinfield
10. Graham
11. Burgess. S
12. Ellis/Westwood
13. O'Loughlin

14. Roby /Burrow
15. Burgess, G
16. Westwood/Ellis
17. Mossop/Crabtree/ Kickmond

Might have guessed that Sinfield would be getting it in the neck why waste time with another anti Sinfield post

Where did I give it Sinfield in the neck? All i said is that he is already definitly a halfback so there is no point questioning it whether you like it or not. Short of injury he is in the England squad end of the matter at this point.

And i say half backs is where we are weakest, do you disagree? Our forwards are strong, as are our backs but we have zero proven half back combinations at international

That's good news. It means we can rid of Macnamara.

Hard to pick an exact team, but here IMO are the certs for the starting 13:

Ellis
S Burgess
Westwood
Graham
Tomkins
Sinfield
roby
watkins
hall

I think those players are musts, the rest of the starting line up and the bench is open to interpretation.

Tomkins
Charnley
Watkins
Cudjoe
Hall
Sinfield
Chase
Graham
Roby
Hill
Westwood
Farrell
Burgess

Burrow
George Burgess
Crabtree
Ellis/Kirmond/Abblett

The 'banana' wasn't even deemed good enough for Bradford, who were falling apart at that time. 'The bulls' got rid of him.

Who the hell decided he should be GB/England coach ?

Hey, I am available.

I have been an [iafficionado[/i since the late 1950s and what I don't know about RL, I can ask my dad. Who has been watching the game since 1928.

We could coach England/GB even cheaper than the 'banana man'.

What's McNamara done that's so wrong so far?