In his main line break through he was not clueless. It was just that seeing the looming figure of Greg Inglis coming across in cover he may have panicked in throwing a bad pass to Minichiello. He will rectify that. Now that he is playing outside quality halves (Pearce and Maloney) which he did not have at Penrith, he will start to carve up opposing teams.

It won't stop him picking Chase.

If Chase had actually played for New Zealand, that might be a valid comparison.

Can't believe nobody has mentioned Jamie Lyon, I know he doesn't play internationally but he is the other best centre in the world (with Inglis been the other). We have nobody anywhere near the level of these two, not even close.

Neither do Austrailia to be fair.

He has played for New Zealand Maoris, New Zealand A's and the Exiles in a match against England.

Point taken, not a great comparison but still hardly perfect England material.

That is absolute rubbish, Reed hasn't done a thing in 18 months and looks so average it's not funny. You are way too obsessed with anything/everything NRL.

Agree. We're missing quality of those two.

Centres and halves are where we lack at the moment. People keep raving about Watkins but at the moment I just don't see it. He can't defend. And I don't see enough of Jack Reed to be able to comment on him, but he's hardly set the NRL alight from what I've heard.

McNamara doesn't seem to be able to get a good combination going in the halves despite some very good options. Dropping Brough from the squad is criminal and I'm glad he was in the crowd to watch him demolish Leeds!

Regarding Senior & Gleeson, I don't think they ever had the quality wingers outside them during their time, certainly no Hall, Briscoe or Charnley. Perhaps only Carney and he suffered from injuries a bit.

Imagine a prime of their careers threequarters of.....

Briscoe/Charnley
Gleeson
Senior
Hall

Looks pretty good.

True but you could name about 30 sets of 4 Aussies that you'd rather have. As I say, for me we've always been at our comparitive weakest in the centres. I've no idea what it is about that position that seems to mean we don't produce many. In twenty years I can only think of a handful of genuine international class.

We've got a few good young centres coming through but the only one who promises to be genuinely world class and capable of mixing it and hurting the Aussies is Callum Watkins IMO.

Thats what we heard prior to the WCC last year however Watkins never looked phased by the opposition & was easily the best centre on the pitch!

So thats another reason to drop him then! Id rather have Tomkins in the halves than Chase.

I did not realise that Manly supply the Centre pairing for the Kangaroo squad?
One is a Kiwi and one has retired from Tests some years ago.

I'm sorry, but you said:



I didn't realise you were only talking about when they were run at by the Current Australian Centres.

So what you're saying then is that our centre's are perfectly happy when anyone other than the current Australian pair run at them! That's not too bad then, you obviously hold our centres in higher regard than I first thought!

He had a few shockers last season and is poor defensively. A very average player, much like Widdop, who no one would be suggesting for England if he didnt play in the NRL.

Have you actually watched him in the last 12 months? He was the best centre in the NRL last season!!

The best centre I have ever seen was Gene Miles.

Very funny.

Morris, as Harrigan says, was the best performing centre in the NRL last year. He had a great Origin series, opposite none other than Inglis.

Hodges has had varying International success, I admit, but I think the point of this thread is comparison and he has still definitely performed better than any currently eligible English centre.

Jennings was very good in Origin last year also and not for the first time. And like with Hodges, I am yet to see an English centre that is his match.

Inglis, yep, he goes alright.

I really do like what little I've seen of Watkins, but I wait to see him against the Kangaroos. He is good, but we'll see how good.

Crikey im happy with Atkins and Watkins.

They might not be as well rounded as Inglis, Morris, Jennings et al but theyll have a go. Theyre big, pacey lads who dont mind a tackle and a run at someone opposite them. Id have no problem watching Atkins v Morris.

I agree our gigantic problem is the halves. We get kicked to death by the Aussies and then come back at them by giving Slater the ball on the full 20 metres out pretty much everytime. The ability to hit the ground with the ball from a kick seems to be absolutely bewildering to any England kicker. And it gets even more upsetting when they start taking it in turns to see who the 'best' is.

dont worry, we have the worlds best player at 6, playing so well he is keeping the best tactical kicker in the English game out of even the 40 man squad

probably going to get laughed down, but i think goulding would be much less of a gamble than atkins or cudjoe. so solid defensively with great hands, admittedly lacking athletically but a great rugby brain.

Goulding would be a great option, solid defence & great hands, doesn't seem to get the credit he deserves from a lot of people though. Heard he did a great job of keeping Atkins quiet at the DW

Cudjoe has outclassed ever centre he has lined up against this season

His game has genuinely improved leaps and bounds thanks to his time with England last season

Cudjoe has been immense in defence so far this year, anyone suggesting he isn't one of our best is judging simply by club.