OK, coolio

news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sp ... 1ka6p.html

news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sp ... 1ka6p.html

Name him regardless.

No harm.

[i'...has enjoyed a stellar rookie season for the Broncos.
His form has seen he earmarked for a spot in the Queensland's emerging State of Origin squad next year.'[/i

So that's the Australian Associated Press and myself who have an over-hyped opinion of the lad.

I voted yes on the poll. I also think he's had a good season with the Broncos.

If he's English, why not?

I think 'the odd game I see live' is the key phrase in this post. I see quite a bit of NRL and he is without a doubt a cut above any of the other centres we have available to us. He is a very talented player and is dangerous from both kicks and with ball in hand. He can match up to the Aussies in a position we have always struggled and bring a solidarity and spark to our back line.

If he's available get his name on the team sheet.

Exactly , why wouldn't pick a talented player? A few more like him and a decent coach and we might actually be competitive

I've actually liked the look of if when I watched the Broncos this season. Only thing I can't stand tho is that he need to pull his socks up!!lol Think it looks scruffy

On that basis I don't think he should be selected. We can't have an RL player who looks scruffy.

Strange you say realistically then mention Murphy.

Rather have J. Tomkins, Cudjoe and Lawrence, a lot better.

lol I'll let him off because I rate him

They just know how to build up a player then when he picks Australia, they will dump him on a heap.

I think it would almost send the wrong message to the squad if Reed is selected ahead of someone like Yeaman who has proved his worth in Super League over a period of time. I'm sure nobody would argue that the NRL isn't the stronger competition but selecting players purely because they are doing a decent job in the NRL would suggest to the squad that all of their opposites are better players as they play in a stronger league. This is far from the truth I'd suggest all of the England team would be at the very least solid and in most case good NRL players, if Reed is being selected because his form is better than his SL counterparts then fair enough but I'm not sure thats the case.

the reason he's got his chance is exactly because the aussies are struggling in that position too!

If he's good enough, that's the only criterior. If you're not sure how a NRL rookie would stack up against and experienced SL centre like Yeaman, get them both on the squad and see how they look on the training paddock.

At last, some sense. And then, even if you're still 50/50 over whether he's good enough, stick him on against Wales so at least he's ours and the Aussies can't have him.

I've seen him quite a few time this year and really rate him. One thing people havn't said is how dangerous he is inside the opponents 10m. An area where England normally struggle, he scores tries using his strength from close-range regularly.

He is playing for Brisbane Broncos, not QLD or Australia.
Why shouldn't he? he is from one of the Bronco's feeder Clubs and has been in Australia for 21 of his 23 years.
Its not as if the Bronco's went and looked for an Englishman because there were no Aussies around.
He is a decent player but I doubt he will ever make the Qld squad let alone the Oz Test team so if he wants to play for England so be it.
I also agree it sends out the wrong message to the players in England when a virtual Aussie with 20 first grade games to his name at 23 years of age is regarded better than his SL equivalent.

Same as Widdop last year (with about 4 first grade games under his belt) what does it say about the perception of the difference in standard of each competition from the English selectors.

Yep, we were wrong to make sure Widdop was English. I mean, his forms been awful this year.

Are you mad?

So if he does turn out to pick england, we have
Widdop, Ellis, Burgess, Burgess, Reed & Flanaghan playing regular NRL
Next year we also will have Graham there with Flanaghan returning.
We also have had the lad from Widnes playing in the Broncos reserves and, i guess we should mention, Michael Worrincy.
A lot of people say "the more English Players in the NRL, the better for England's international chances." How many more do we want over there, half a dozen, 20? Or will we then start to worry about our player drain?

I think with the amount of money in the NRL we're going to see more rather than less going over there. I suppose this exposes our best players to a higher level of competition, and if we do get a superstar i'd rather them go to Australia than Union.
At the same time, it reduces the quality of SL

Really - so the likes of Chris Lawrence, Matt Cooper, Michael Jennings, Sean Kenny Dowell etc are all ordinary!!

I did not mention his form this year, I said last year after a couple of games he was picked much to the annoyance of many on this Forum at the time, funny how opinions change when he does turns out ok.
Was he ever going to be something other than English?

Reed has proven himself in the NRL this season and has looked very good whenever I have seen him. If he is available for England, he would be the first centre on my team sheet without a doubt. As said earlier in the thread, the only criteria should be if somebody is good enough and in form which Reed definately is.

To be fair though, if it means the amount of money you can make by playing league can start to compete with England RU dosh, it will probably be better for the sport. As you say, we're much better off with our stars playing in the NRL than defecting to Union.