Haha sounds about right! I did read that his dad shed a tear when he told him he was going to represent England. I'm just trying to stay positive to be honest, as a Bradford fan I've got enough to worry about without factoring in England's selection policy

lol

Whitehead is probably the best second rower in the NRL at the moment and youd pick some scrawny lad who consistently gets mullered everytime he plays against the aussies?

Regards

King James

'Everytime he plays against the Aussies'

You make it sound like he's played against them numerous times. Whitehead played against them last year at the Olympic Stadium and he was poor so we can all twist arguments the way we want to. They're both good players but as ever the NRL smoke blowers will big people up as being super human because they're in that comp whilst forgetting where they came from.

Farrell has been excellent in three club games against Aussie teams in the last three years, being used in the right way and playing to his strengths. He's also been consistently one of if not the best second rower in this league for the past 3 or 4 seasons. If Whitehead/Hodgson and co are capable of tearing up the NRL then there's every chance Farrell could.

All the best

NK

I don't disagree entirely. I would argue that if Farrell came to the NRL he'd need to bulk up a lot though.

Whitehead has got better since the start of last season. He's used effectively as an inside centre by the Raiders, which works very well for them. For England we'd probably need him to play closer to the middle and make some of the workhorse runs he doesn't need to for the Raiders.

You can't ignore the pure physicality issue when looking at SL players. For Australia, Cordner is likely to be their smallest forward. He's probably 10 kg heavier than Farrell and doesn't mind the tough stuff at all. There's simply no place for second rowers who just want to run out wide and not mix it with the biggest oponents.

It's sort of been turned in to a debate of Farrell vs Whitehead and that wasn't my intention at all. I rate both players and my point is that I just feel superleague deserves a little more respect.

There seems to be this mindset now of 'x player is playing well in the Superleague' but then 'y player is playing well in the NRL' so therefore the NRL player will always be the one who's selected and I think that's wrong.

As for wide runners not mixing it with big forwards, I've yet to see Farrell shy away from anything in that regard. I'd go back to his immense fitness levels and the intensity he can play at full the full 80 minutes as an advantage he's got over a lot of his bigger opponents in superleague. If he can transfer that advantage to elite level matches against Australia's best forwards is clearly another matter but we're not going to find out if he capable by playing him in short bursts and expecting an impact game (as seems to have been the case for him so far against Oz and NZ).

On the plus side I'm glad he's available for Wigan.

Leeson Ah Mau (St George Illawarra)
John Asiata (North Queensland)
Fa'amanu Brown (Cronulla)
Herman Ese’ese (Brisbane)
Sam Kasiano (Canterbury-Bankstown)
Tim Lafai (St George Illawarra)
Joey Leilua (Canberra)
Isaac Liu (Sydney Roosters)
Josh McGuire (Brisbane)
Peter Mata’utia (Newcastle)
Sione Mata’utia (Newcastle)
Suaia Matagi (Parramatta)
Anthony Milford (Brisbane)
David Nofoaluma (Wests Tigers)
Kaysa Pritchard (Parramatta)
Sauaso Sue (Wests Tigers)
Antonio Winterstein (North Queensland

Something like:

1 - Nofoaluma
2 - Winterstein
3 - Lafai
4 - Leilua
5 - P Mat'autia
6 - Milford
7 - Asiata
8 - Ese'ese
9 - Pritchard
10 - Liu
11 S Mata'autia
12 - Sue
13 - McGuire

14 - Ah Mau
15 - Kasiano
16 - Matagi
17 - Brown

It's very strong. A very good test for England. How many England players would make that 13?

England have the edge in the front row but across the field they'll be very competitive. I think Samoa may win - with the short turnaround for England from flying over this week - to be honest.

It looks a strong team and that's just what we need. I'd love to think in the future we could get some regular tests with Samoa, Tonga, Fiji etc going which would benefit both parties and the game in general.

Kevin Brown comes in to replace the injured George Williams.

Wow

Just got a British Lions RU tour merchandise leaflet with an online order.

And they have jerseys, polos, shorts, hoodies, bags , caps , pens you name it.

Yet the RFL can't muster up even selling the current jersey for the upcoming rep game. It really is shameful.

Well that highlights the problems we've got at halfback.

Doesn't it. If he's the best replacement we have then we are in trouble

Surely Sneyd would be a better choice?

He's not even been the best half at Warrington. Bennett has probably picked himon the back of his performance against Brisbane

Samoa (and indeed Tonga) always seem to be light in the halves as well. Asiatia is a second-rower, not a half, although I admit he did very well when pressed into emergency service in the halves the other week in a game I watched.

Brown is yesterday's man, and I can't believe Sneyd hasn't been given a shot. Has Bennett been listening to Garry Schofield?

With the change in eligibility rules that allows players to play for '2nd tier' Nations if not selected by Aus/NZ/England, and the respective strength of the NRL and Super League competitions, there's a real possibility England could really struggle to maintain their top 3 status.
The Samoa, Tonga and Fiji teams will each have around 8 to 10 players who are genuine contenders for Aus/NZ honours - including a number who've represented Aus/NZ previously.
It's going to make for probably our most competitive World Cup ever - really looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

Really looking forward to watching the group B games with NZ, Samoa, Tonga and Scotland.

If your watching Canberra and you think Whitehead is the form back rower in the comp you must be closing your eyes when Josh Papalii is on screen.

Asiata is an exciting talent. Don't forget they have Ben Roberts from Cas to call upon too.

It looks like Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and PNG have decided it's too expensive to fly Super League players over, which is a shame they don't have the funds for that. Ashton Sims, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Junior Moors, Paul Aiton among a few others will be added to their line ups for the World Cup.

Which hopefully bodes well for a competitive tournament, some good players mentioned!

Thankfully for Castleford, who would probably have lost Moors, Sene-Lafeo and Roberts (although he is injured again anyway) in addition to the three already playing for England.

sika manu was due to go but picked up a 2 game ban instead

The RLIF should be paying for the expenses of these players.