O’Loughlin has been ruled out with an injury

...or wanting to argue the toss with everyone.

I agree he is a loss.

I follow Leeds, not that it would matter as i make a judgement using my own eyes.
Hes linked the line very well and provided the direction that a good half back pairing otherwise should.

I dont give a toss whos 'right' i just want to see england compete at the very least and hopefully get the result. England should now have a better chance as im putting my faith in your judgement.

I would love to see this inspire Sam Burgess to a performance akin to his heroic NRL Grand Final with Souths as thats the level that will be needed.

That's akin to the statements usually reserved for crap half backs being organisers who guide the team around the field. My view is that we are a weaker team with SOL not playing as they've brought likkle Jonny into the team & he is not of the required standard.

Disappointing for SOL to miss out, but we've at least now got the option of bringing on Lomax to FB and putting Widdop back in the halves if things aren't working out.

I'm not sure how bringing in Lomax actually improves us in any way. Unless Widdop, Brown or Gale is carrying an injury I'd be putting a forward on the bench. We need as much power up front as possible so we can get some momentum in the middle - if we don't do that we'll be kicking on our own 40m line again and never get to apply any pressure.

Gutted for Sean O'Loughlin. He's a great player and we really could have done with his services tomorrow. Such a shame for him to miss out.

Been a great servant to England and gutted for him to miss the last opportunity for him to play in a final. I expect he's played his last game to be honest.

What does this mean for England. Well Burgess goes to 13 and so we lose a decent pair of hands, a good attacking rugby brain and an excelent link player. Burgess will do the job that's required no doubt but I think we will lose structure and ability to get the ball moving faster and find gaps. Great opportunity for Currie too.

I personally would have brought in Williams over Lomax if you have to bring a non forward onto the bench but to me, our 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/9 should be playing 80 minutes anyway. Go big on the bench and pummel them. Scott Taylor would have got the nod over either. Reckon he'd run his blood to water too and cause them problems.

According to Betts it was O'Loughlin who ruled himself out knowing he wasn't right. Fair play to the guy to make such a tough decision, many others may have tried to risk it and let the side down.

Big loss - O'Loughlin has been our most creative player in midfield. Where is the creativity going to come from now? Think we will need to play a completely different way now to have any chance.

Can Lomax play at Hooker?

Lomax is a good utility player and can play anywhere in the backs or 9 really.

They will use him I think to rest Roby for a period and hope that he can make a difference. I am certain that losing O'Loughlin is a big loss but ultimately at this level we need to make sure we can survive even by losing 1 or 2 players.

Anyone know what the ticket sales are like?

Someone posted it is sold out.

33k I heard.

I see us having no chance, I thought we wouldn't even make the final. But one more day of hoping...

"I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand"

He rates Grix as the number 1 full back in SL. That shows the depth of Vastmans "knowledge"

Regards

King James

like others have said, a big blow losing our captain

task even harder now

still we can dream for now!

Needs to be more talk about the word cup final on here with only 12 hours til kick off. Im under no illusions and anticipate a feeling of being underwhelmed come full time but cant help but really look forward to the game. Heroic performances and big lung busting minutes needed from Sam Burgess and Graham, a drastically improved kicking game from Gale, everyone to put in the performance of their lives driven by opportunity and pride, and a whole load of good fortune on top of that!

How are the ticket sales going?

For the sake of English RL and RL in general, I really hope this game is close.

At last we come to it, the great battle of our time.

A few hours yet lad.

Right I'm up, can't believe I actually slept, granted I was waking up every hour! England shirt on, England scarf round my neck, hope in my heart. Lets do it England!!!