The only difference between the 17 that played GB and the 17 in the final was Thurston (Hornby), Hodges (Lyon) and Ryan (Kaufusi).

You got beat. Get over it. You won the 3N, so I don't know why you're still so bitter over this defeat.

I'll hold you to that!

Forget about Jack Reed. Wests Tigers' Chris Heighington added to England train-on squad.

Good. Another good player, the more we have to choose from the more chance we've got. England/GBs problem over the years has always been depth. We seem to have 15 or 16 good players and on paper our team looks competitive, then after a full season the Internationals come round and with 5 or 6 injuries we look god awful and you've got Farrell/Scully/Brown at 6 and Sinfield at 9 and players don't know whether they're coming or going. Now we seem to have 4 or 5 decent players in each position.

we don't need chris Heighington..we have enough backrowers and if Heighington was good enough he'd be playing origin

Cannot believe anyone has not mentioned Cudjoe for a wing spot. Has really come on defensively the last year, very good at taking the high ball and quick. Depending on his injury i would put him in the mix with Hall and Briscoe.

As much as a like Charnley his defence needs another season.

Cudjoe should be in the squad but would be behind Hall, Briscoe and Charnley when talking about wingers.

"Overnight, England announced they had their man, following weeks of calls between Reed and English coach Steve McNamara. Kath Reed said the past few weeks had been a whirlwind for her and husband Joe, and they were surprised by the decision after seeing Jack grow up with dreams of wearing the green and gold. "I haven't got a clue what changed his mind," she said. "He said he'd been thinking about it and if the opportunity arose he wanted to play for England." www.couriermail.com.au/questnews ... 6138714219

"Overnight, England announced they had their man, following weeks of calls between Reed and English coach Steve McNamara. Kath Reed said the past few weeks had been a whirlwind for her and husband Joe, and they were surprised by the decision after seeing Jack grow up with dreams of wearing the green and gold. "I haven't got a clue what changed his mind," she said. "He said he'd been thinking about it and if the opportunity arose he wanted to play for England." www.couriermail.com.au/questnews ... 6138714219

Tom Briscoe, Kris Welham and Kirk Yeaman added to England train-on squad alongside Reed and Heighington.
Arundel, Broughton, Cox, Donaldson, Gale, Houghton, Ratchford, M Smith, Taylor, Watts, Westerman added to England Knights squad.

You could already pick a pretty decent English backline from that list

I would suggest that a back line of Briscoe, Yeaman, Reed and Broughton is at least as good as the one that contested the last world cup semi final... Gardner, Gleeson, Senior, Calderwood

I'd say it's better.

I think that the wingers are far better - if Reed is as good as everyone says (I haven't seen much NRL this year) then I would agree

That was my thinking that while I think it's too early to properly judge Reed, in their pomp Gleeson and Senior were better than Yeaman but Calderwood and Gardner tip it in favour of the class of 2011.

In saying that neither Gleeson or Senior did that well against Australia.
Gleeson has the grand total of 1 try against Australia.
What did Senior get? around 3 against Australia.
Hardly weapons in the position you expect to be scoring most of your points.

It's also probably worth checking how they did against a top quality international team like New Zealand

What did they get? I cant be d looking.
NZ have been the Kings of winning the big games against Australia their record is something like 2 wins in 16 games
the fact that has been a WC win and a 4 Nations is great.
The fact they can not beat Australia consistently and are often flogged by Australia raises some questions.
Gleeson has always been over rated at Test level.
Senior has lived on a reputation of being a Bully in SL that the Aussies do not regard or respect so other than one game he has been ineffective.

In the last 18 encounters between the two, Australia have won 13, New Zealand 4 and there has been one draw

Australia have won all 7 of the Anzac/test matches, four group games in the tri/quad nations, a world cup group game and a Tri Nations final

New Zealand have won one Tri Nations group match, two Tri/Quad Nations Finals and a World Cup final

I guess the conclusion is that Australia are a good team but bottle the big games

wunderkind jack reed has done absolutely bog all this morning.....telling though that most of manly's tries came down his side of the field...not to mention him gifting manly a try via a wayward dummy half pass.....then a passenger for the rest of the game..


some of you need your heads reading if you think he's better than what we already have or better than keeping briscoe & yeaman together

You've obviously just watched a different game to me! The problem down that wing was not Jack Reed but his winger Dale Copley. He had an awful first half; headbutting the ball out of Jack Reed's hands when he was over the line and about to score, and then dropping the ball 10 meters from his own line a minute later to give away a try!
Copley's game was redeemed slightly near the end when he scored in the corner from a beautiful catch and pass from errrrr... Jack Reed.

Can you show me anything that Kirk Yeaman has done this year that is better than this?

[urlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy__9UWH0Ro[/url

This was against the NRL Minor Premiers. To say that he shouldn't be in contention for the centre spot is ridiculous.

That [iis[/i a bad half.

Quote ="Shoe Shine Johnny"Can you show me anything that Kirk Yeaman has done this year that is better than this? [urlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy__9UWH0Ro[/url This was against the NRL Minor Premiers. To say that he shouldn't be in contention for the centre spot is ridiculous.'" that try owes itself to bad ridiculously bad defending,from the minor premiers no less, that awesome play,as i've stated before that melbourne winger actually runs away from reed as he nears the tryline and one of kirk yeamans...at least here he actually hands people off www.youtube.com/watch?v=twXRrRZT ... age#t=271s

Quote ="Shoe Shine Johnny"Can you show me anything that Kirk Yeaman has done this year that is better than this? [urlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy__9UWH0Ro[/url This was against the NRL Minor Premiers. To say that he shouldn't be in contention for the centre spot is ridiculous.'" that try owes itself to bad ridiculously bad defending,from the minor premiers no less, that awesome play,as i've stated before that melbourne winger actually runs away from reed as he nears the tryline and one of kirk yeamans...at least here he actually hands people off www.youtube.com/watch?v=twXRrRZT ... age#t=271s

Quote ="roughyedspud"that try owes itself to bad ridiculously bad defending,from the minor premiers no less, that awesome Centre play,as i've stated before that melbourne winger actually runs away from reed as he nears the tryline and one of kirk yeamans...at least here he actually hands people off www.youtube.com/watch?v=twXRrRZT ... age#t=271s'" Yeah those two clips, and defences, were quite comparable. You are making yourself look a little foolish here. Reed is declared for England he is amongst the top 4-5 centres available for selection. He will train with the squad and maybe get a game against the French. You don't agree with the selection - that is fine. But to infer he isn't in the top 4-5 English qualified centres on current form is laughable.

Quote ="roughyedspud"that try owes itself to bad ridiculously bad defending,from the minor premiers no less, that awesome Centre play,as i've stated before that melbourne winger actually runs away from reed as he nears the tryline and one of kirk yeamans...at least here he actually hands people off www.youtube.com/watch?v=twXRrRZT ... age#t=271s'" Yeah those two clips, and defences, were quite comparable. You are making yourself look a little foolish here. Reed is declared for England he is amongst the top 4-5 centres available for selection. He will train with the squad and maybe get a game against the French. You don't agree with the selection - that is fine. But to infer he isn't in the top 4-5 English qualified centres on current form is laughable.

oh right....so yeamans try is a "freakish solo effort" too then? if the defences are comparable? it most be freakish...no?


and no....saying he's worthy of selection just cos he plays in the NRL is laughable


i really do want him picked against france...then you'll all see ordinary he is....and without gus gould blowing him just cos he made a simple pass

Who is saying that? Not me. I have watched all the NRL games on Premier Sports and Reed has been very strong. Have you been watching the NRL this year?

Along with Yeaman, Atkins, Bridge and Tomkins he is in the top 5 centres we have available. He should be in the squad on form along with those others. There is nothing else too it. If he gets found out in the French game fine - his place should be under threat. We are talking about a National side who has had Leroy Cudjoe and Tony Clubb in the centres within the last 12 months!