Tomkins
Roby
Graham
Burgess
Hall

Tomkins
Burgess
Ellis
Roby
Graham


Graham will soon move up the list when the NRL makes him an even better player. Burgess and Ellis are above Roby and Graham simply for that reason, they have proved they can succeed in the best league in the world to become top players doing it week in week out. Tomkins is top because he is Sam Tomkins.

"Burgess and Ellis are above Roby and Graham simply for that reason"???

Graham made more impact that Ellis in the four nations in my opinion, and a choice between the two I would pick Graham.
Id say Graham is well and truly up there with the best already.
Be interesting to see how he gets on in the next couple of years.

Michael Worrincy and Luke Burgess should be on the list simply because they play in the NRL!!

Spot on, in any order.

Not in the top five list but if Luke Burgess continues his level of performance from last season he'll be in the England reckoning.

The fact we have no half back consistantly mentioned speaks volumes.

This though toss between roby & jammer

No one's mentioned O'Loughlin.

For me, like Westwood, he's a guy who can move his game up to international level with little disruption.
I do wonder whether having him and Sburgess in the squad would have helped when the likes of Thaiday and Gallen started getting on top of our pack in the Final.

I think we missed O'Loughlin massively in this tournament and having him and Burgess in over say, Heighington (who was very disappointing imo) and Wilkin (had a decent 4N but not in same class as Lockers or Burgess), we would have had a pack that was able to deal with Thaiday/Gallen etc a lot better.

It is difficult to mention him as one of England's best players though when he has played so little for them due to end of season ops. As long as he's fit he could be a massive player for us in next year's world cup though.

Felt a bt dissapointed with Ellis, he played well in all the latest matches, but I expected a world class performance from him especially as he,s had a good few seasons in the NRL. An injured Graham put in much better performances than Ellis. So for me in order
Graham
Tomkins
Roby
Hall
Reed

The problem is that we have about half a team (maybe more if everyone is fit) of real quality. We have a number of other players that can 'do a job', but against Australia that's not enough - especially at halfback.

We've probably got a 17 that is reasonably competitive with the Aussies, the two main problems are there arent enough top class players to cover injuries in key positions and the coach is way out of his depth.

The Aussies can lose Slater and bring in Boyd or Dugan or Hayne. They could lose Thurston and bring in Cronk or Cherry-Evans. We don't have this luxury. We lost O'Loughlin and had to pick a player with an English father who'd never been over here before. If Tomkins or Roby were injured there wouldn't anyone of anywhere near the same standard to step up.

Well there's that and the fact we don't have a half back of sufficent quality.

I'm biased, but I think Lomax would have had more success at 7 than chase.
I'm not saying he's of the desired quality, yet, but maybe in the future... .... ...

I think a Widdop and Lomax halfback partnership has real potential, plus 2 young players who could be around for a long time. No doubt McBanana will stick with Sinfield and Chase though!

Tomkins
Burgess
Ellis
Read
Widdop

Note 4 out of 5 play in the NRL. Read in to that what you will.

tomkins
ellis
hall
graham
burgess

please, no more talk of chase or sinfield, both are great club players but, neither of them are world class

Hall
Roby
Burgess
Ellis
Graham.

As good a prospect Tomkins is, he was rather found out against the Aussies.

Hall just sneaks it above another forward.

I disagree that we have a 17 who are very competitive with Australia. Our 'best' 17 minus probably only Sam Burgess got smashed in the 4N final. Apart from Burgess all the other players who could have been used would at best have been marginally better than those picked.

Our halfbacks are way behind the Aussies, but its also the way they play the game across the field. As well as being great players, Lockyer/Thurston get so much time and space and look light years ahead because of the way the rest of the team plays around them.

I tend to agree, but I don't think its a problem of talent.

Someone once posted on here that if you do 100 things 1% better than you opponent, you'll win the game and, for me, that's the main difference between us and the aussies. They're just that little bit better than us at every little thing. That's why, even if the scores are close, it always looks as though we're hanging on and they're mearly biding their time.

What you are saying differenciates great players from good players.
All SL plyers can pass a ball and tackle, but this is given a much sterner test when the opposition improves.
The players have less time to think and this is when they are found out.
Again, better players are not twice as quick or twice as good at tackling, its all about fractions.
The RFL need to reduce the number of imports and this will increase the quality of our kids, by giving them game time
and hopefully mean that the imports are more carefully chosen and not brought in because they have an Aussie accent.
There have been so many poor players over the years, however, the good ones are well worth having as the youngsters will
learn from them as well as giving good value to the paying public.
One area that is really difficult to change, is the number of overseas plyers that become British when they have been here for
a couple of seasons,which further reduces the pool of homegrown talent.
Only when these issues are deat with can we begin to assemble a quality team and defeat the Green & Golds.

Out of curiosity, were would you put Sam in your rankings? But then again, youve just shown yourself as clueless again



My List

1. Sam Tomkins
2. James Roby
3. James Graham
4. Sam Burgess
5. Sean O'Loughlin

6th.

Can not see how you rate Roby at International level , everytime overlap on the left did he turn the ball back to the right .
Things like that make all the difference to a team.
If you think I am wrong suggest you watch games again .

Wasn't that Wilkin who kept coming inside instead of giving Yeaman the ball ? I don't think Wilkin gave him a single decent pass in the 3 games