Again, before lauding Clark - he blew two tries.

Hodgson looked extremely poor today. I don't mind a hooker not creating constantly and posing a threat as long as they have good distribution and more importantly are solid and brutal in defence. Which he wasn't unfortunately.

Farrell had another good game. He won't often make a gap for himself although he does every so often with his quick feet. He needs someone to hit him when he runs his good lines, this is where Widdop has been lacking. He's not creating much.

Bit of naivety on his 2nd international appearance bit harsh if you ask me

True. But you don't need to blow that many before you're considered a liability. He has to realise this isn't SL. If he can't make that mental leap his international career will be short-lived.

At international level a back row should be able to offload, Farrel has no off load, he's not an international player for me, hopefully whitehead will step up

I much prefer Ferres, he's also knows how to get in to the oppositions faces in big games, he's developed in to an excellent backrower

Farrel didn't do him self any favours today. Being steam rollered inhis first tackle and having to resort to the chicken wing set the tone for the rest of his game. The disciplinary may help us out for the NZ game.
Whitehead in. Sorted.

Yep, he'll certainly be missing next week after "that" tackle.

No, he didn't.

On the first one, even if he'd passed, there was no guarantee that Widdop or Hall would have scored; the Aussies had defenders pouring across. (Given that we scored from the resulting penalty, can you blow a try that was scored anyway, ha ha)

The second occasion, Clark tried to offload whilst being tackled. Even if Widdop had gathered the ball, I would still expect him to be tackled by Cherry-Evans.

If you are going to criticize Clark's choices, on the first occasion, a pass would have created an opportunity, but it was a long way from being a certainty.

It wasn't a chicken wing. GI grabs a fist full of Farrell shirt and holds onto it with a straight arm trying to push Faz back. Farrell then turns him over while GI still keeps a straight arm hold on his shirt. If GI let's go of Faz there is no chicken wing.

He will get a ban because Moaning Timmy deems it so

Don't deny Mugchump his whinge with facts. Clarke was excellent today.

I don't think it was, Inglis had hold of his shirt and when forced back his arm had nowhere to go. Purely accidental deserved being on report just to check.
Farrel has played well for me. Tompkins and o loughlin are the week links in the pack at the moment and there are better options in the squad at moment.

O loughlin was ok today and he will be better for the run out.
Tomkins (Joel) should never have been in the England squad, maybe it was a 2 for 1 deal

He's slightly taller then Greg Bird but the Aussies don't worry about his size, I like Farrell he is very underrated, by some fans, he tackles very well & runs some very good lines.

The previous poster was correct, Clarke blew 2 certain tries.

Farrell isn't good enough at this level. A very useful SL player and one most sides would love to have for his workload, but he's not contributing anything, nor is Joel Tomkins.

I really like Farrell. He gets through a lot of work with no fuss. Maybe that's not what you need from an International forward but that's what we've got and he'd be a starting SR in this squad for me. Tomkins is a different kettle of fish altogether though. I really wouldn't have taken him to Australia. He's not ready.

Spot on.

Faz is the best second rower in the party IMO. Whitehead has had a great year but Faz has had 5 now since his debut and just churns out metres, tackles, trys and assists year in year out.

Those two should start next week with Joel dropping out. I'm hoping in time he can get back to his 2010 best when he was developing in to a sensational second row but it will take time. I can't understand why hes been taken.

Makes no difference. It was a chicken wing. Very dangerous and he'll miss the next game.

GI shouldn't grab the the defender's shirt and he wouldn't get 'hurt'.

Worrying signs that the Aussies are starting to feign injuries. The pen for the pressure on the neck was utterly embarrassing. That aus player should be ashamed.

I'm all over Wigan's grub tactics, but I don't think Farrell did much wrong. He was attempting to turn Inglis over to slow the play the ball. It was Inglis was forced the pressure on the joint by resisting it.

Not sure how you can cry "chicken wing" when Inglis is holding onto the front of Farrell's shirt? If he lets go, there's not a problem.

As for the supposed "crusher" tackle, that was pathetic. I understand the Aussies are filling their nappies about neck injuries post Alex McKinnon, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with O'Loughlin's challenge.

On the second row point, how are Whitehead and Tomkins out there ahead of Carl Ablett? Hugely under-rated player who has a good work-rate, good hands and deceptive footwork.

Got to admit I was surprised at Ablett's omission from the squad, and I for one have never underrated him. As you say, deceptive speed and feet and a superb work rate, also very powerful, aggressive in defence and a very dangerous runner, especially near the line.

Not seen enough of Whitehead to really offer an opinion, but I'd have no complaints if Joel was dropped and someone else given a chance based on the last 2 weeks.

I'd also have no complaints if Sam was dropped for Hardaker. There's a worrying air of nerves and uncertainty every time the bomb goes up and that is unacceptable. Hardaker is a safe specialist fullback, and his running game came on wonderfully last season, he was making yards for fun.

Farrell, Tomkins and Ferres made 214m from 24 runs between them. Greg Bird, Corey Parker and Boyd Cordner 402 from 46 runs - i.e. twice the workrate and yardage. By comparison our props all made over 100m each.

Our backrow is inferior to Australia's - as a group. Its not just the work on the ball, its the much higher quality work done off the ball by the likes of Bird which stands out.

Add in some poor defence and I'd get rid of as many as I can for next week, because others deserve a chance. I haven't included SOL in this because it was his first game back and his game does include more than just running.

Didn't need stats to show that! I pointed it out before the game. We have the worst pack we've had in years - masked by Graham and the fact that George Burgess tanks up it and makes yards. The Aussies exposed that pack weakness at the point Sheens saw us tire and brought on another scrum half. My only surprise was that Australia were so poor they did not control the ball first half. If they had they would, as I predicted, have won by 20+ with GI getting a hat-trick. As it was he came close - scored one, had one disallowed for obstruction and one saved by a great tackle from our 'Aussie'!