I said Luke Thompson should be in the England squad and got laughed at. Don’t see anyone laughing at that suggestion now. Been the best prop in SL this season by a mile and it’s great to see him get some recognition.

How George Williams is in I don’t know, he’s been one of the worst halves in SL this season.

Grace is Welsh (and actually Welsh by birth n’all, not just through a Great Grandmother who went on holiday there once)

By a mile? He’s just run a lot harder. Not seen his passing or offload game improve all that much at all. And through all those extra carries and metres he’s only made a modest amount of tackle busts. His footwork isn’t that good neither, he just runs straight and hard.

Richardson is starring every week for Saints, Williams is abysmal every week for Wigan. Work that selection out.

That’s how James Graham started his international career just running straight and hard and loads of carries, the offloads and passing skills came later with experience.

Plus in my opinion would get slaughtered at international level against the best

In the forwards I would have definitely had Oliver Holmes in, considering there were talks he might have to retire to come back like he has is testimony to his attitude and talent

We're not short of wingers and even if were Grace should still be nowhere near a top level international side. Thompson has been very good but the best prop [iby a mile[/i? More blinkered Saints hyperbole.....try watching opposition players now and again.

Go on then, who’s been better or close?

Scott Taylor is close (This season, although Taylor has been great for the last 4/5 seasons), his stats aren't far off Thompsons and has been injured a bot this year, including having his appendix out.

Also easier to have better stats in a dominate team.

Chris Hill isn't far off either, his go forward is similar, but miles better defensively.

Thompson deserves his chance though, been great this year, hopefully his form will continue.

Weren't only 3 players from 1 club enforced ? Might explain Richardson's omission.

Edit just seen saints have bare players involved.

And last year arguably you could say Watts was doing exactly that, in fact as good as if not better than Graham was last season and didn't even get a sniff for the England squad.
Picking Hall and McGilvary is a poor choice IMO, neither have exactly done a huge amount to impress this season particularly the latter, and even if you might say they won't let us down how can you find out if someone else might be a better option if you don't blood them in games like this which are precisely the type of game to do it



Bennett is too conservative/too afraid to lose, I'm sure he does some good things but he isn't the right person for the job just as McNamara wasn't either, he squandered a prime Burgess/Hall et al in 2013 and Bennett didn't pick the strongest squad/team available to him last year either.
Whilst it might have seemed impressive that we gave the okkers a 'scare' and only just lost by one score, I was dissapointed, bitterly so, Brown whilst he did a couple of good things simply wasn't good enough, Hill was sub par and on what he did Watts should have been well in front as should have Taylor. We also saw Bennett completely ignore the big issue everyone was talking about and that was Bateman at centre, he couldn't have got that more wrong if he tried and failed to acknowledge his error that had a significant negative effect on our attack that side of the field. Would I have still included Bateman in the 17, absolutely, I think he's as honest as the day is long and plays well above his weight.
Also Hodgson was the absolute personification of mediocre, contrast that to Roby who was superb. whilst I realise it was a tough choice, leaving Houghton out was shameful, the fact he will tackle everything in sight means it aids the fatigue factor on the forwards massively, Houghton and Roby at the WC would have brought us more reward IMHO but again bennett is too scared to do anything different and yet again this is shown in this nothing selection with players who simply don't even merit being in a 24 man squad.

Things won't change until we have a coach that can not only look after the small things that we all know can add up (marginal gains and all that) but also see past the narrow tunnel of if we keep it close we might sneak it style of play that Bennett employs

These same conversations have been taking place since I started watching rugby league. International games are a massive way forward for rugby league but supporters find it hard to get behind the team because of their own team loyalties.

People complain that Bennett doesn't try anything new but he's put three debutants in his team. Picking Conner is quite a step forward. He's hardly the robot player type that Aussie teams tend to have.
Hall and McGillivray deserve there place for me. It's not like either are playing badly for their clubs, it's just that their clubs have not quite performed at their best. They showed they can play at the top level so should keep their place. You can't judge solely on club form. Some people can score tries for fun in SL and not have a hope at International level.

Richardson is the most obvious player to be included. I think I'd have included him in the squad as he is a talent but if Bennett thinks he isn't ready then so be it. It has been a quick rise for him and he would be targeted by New Zealand if he played.

All in all I'm pretty happy with the team given those that can't play through injury.
I'm looking forward to it.

Scott Taylor now in the squad to replace the injured George Burgess

I thought there was something in place that prevented them from doing that?

To be fair to Ryan Hall, he’s the top metre maker in the whole of Super League.

And while Chris Hill maybe didn’t deserve a squad place after an average season last year for Wire. He was good in the WC IMO.

But I do agree. I don’t like Bennett as England coach. I just don’t think he’s invested enough in the job to be deserving enough or detailed enough in the job.

I too think that Hodgson is just an okay player. I think the way he takes a step out of dummy half then passes really slows the run of the props down, he reduces the impact of their run. I think Clark has been magnificent this season for Wire, our best player IMO. Roby was good for England and has been top for Saints

the atlantic ocean?

I'm not sure how anyone can say that Chris Hill is not worth his place. He's been outstanding for the Wire this season. He's 2nd in metres made by a forward and he's made over 100 more tackles than the leading forward (Luke Thompson).

Try telling George Burgess that.

It amazes me when posters say that Ryan Hall is finished and that he should be nowhere near an England shirt
Before picking the winger to replace him

IMO He's probably been England's most consistent player for god knows how long and still delivers against Australia and NZ irrespective of how many tries he has scored for the Rhinos

Ryan Hall's selection is probably the first name on the squad sheet other than George Williams

In an ideal world the England team would be picked almost entirely on form, the problem with that in my opinion is that Super League in general doesn't provide adequate preparation for playing against NZ and Aus, or indeed any international team full of NRL 1st graders.

Take Richardson for example, he is playing in a very good St Helens side with genuine world class players who are frequently dominating their opponents in a poor league (compared with the NRL and SL of the past). He is playing very well but that doesn't mean he is going to go and do the same in an England shirt.

Two case studies which spring to mind are Hardaker in the 2015 series against NZ and Gale in the WC last year. In 2015 Hardaker was Man of Steel and was superb in the Super League. During that series he was almost entirely ineffectual in attack, of course the half backs and the rest of the team bear some responsibility for that but I remember thinking at the time that Dean Whare and Jordan Kahu just handled him easily and shut him down when England were attacking. He was coming up against two more defensively adept centres than he was used to when playing in Super League, and he didn't have an answer to that.

Similarly with Gale last year, he was easily the best half in Super League throughout the season, but playing in an England team who didn't and couldn't play the same way Castleford play, combined with facing much better defenders than he was used to in Super League, he wasn't effective.

I think Richardson, Gale and Hardaker all had the potential to be quality international players, but it's a tough ask when the things that work for you week in week out in the domestic game don't work at international level.

I've no problem with them leaving Richardson out this time, there is a danger of damaging a young player's confidence throwing him in now. If he continues as he has started and plays well when it really matters in the play offs, then he deserves a chance for the series in Autumn. FWIW I don't think Williams is anywhere near an international player but I suppose there aren't many other options

Don’t understand why he’s picked three wingers and two fullbacks in the 17? Could play Ratchford at centre I guess, but can’t see that working out that well.

I think the line-up is going to be:

Ratchford
Jermaine
Connor
Percival
Hall
Lomax
Widdop
Burgess, S
Roby
Graham
Whitehead
Bateman
O'Loughlin

Taylor
Hill
Burgess, T
Makinson

Sam Burgess to move to 13 at some point to spell SOL

Might be a sticking point, yes!