Better, bigger, fit....oh, sorry!

Look, I think Eastmond could be a handy player, but playing him at fullback against Australia would be tragic for the kid.

He is small and not a regular fullback. Australia would be bombing him all night and with the likes of Morris, Hodges, Iglis, Slater and the like jumping over him.....don't do it to the kid!

I want him getting the ball in his hands a bit more. I'd probably bring him off the bench and go with two dummy halves in a similar way that South Sydney have done in the past with Wing and Luke.

He needs to cement ONE position though for the sake of his career. Wish he'd get to Australia....


After watching the French game.....there are so many problems, it doesnt really matter who you select.



And Smith, my god....

The coaches job is to prepare his team for a game. He is terrible at that.

Im suprised people are still putting Shenton in their line ups, he looked out of depth against France last night, let alone against the Aussies and Kiwis.

S.Briscoe
Smith
Shenton
Eastmond
Hall
McGuire
Myler
Graham
Roby
Peacock
Ellis
Burgess
Sinfield

Tomkins
Morley
Crabtree
Westwood

Its not just his preperation though. He overlooks the centre who has been head and shoulders above everyone else in Keith Senior, because hes looking to the future, but then includes Lee Smith!!!

The guy is a fcking idiot

Who else could do a better job - Karl Harrison - that well known handyman who really did make difference at Salford!!!!

It is not about the coach it is about lack of quality players - our back line is a joke - their are teams in the NRL with better backlines than ours

sinfield's only possible benefit to the side is his kicking. his kicking last night was gash. if he plays again smith is somehow a bigger tool than i thought.

moore didn't offer enough to start over roby and if roby can do 80 then he has to go. some of his passing from acting half was head high.

we need 3 big lads on the bench thats for sure its our strongest area.

no idea what to do about fullback, briscoe's honest enough but seemingly doesn't give enough going forward at this level.

shenton and smith did they make a break or slip a pass all night?

the half backs were relatively anonymous, tomkins should start but wont

Smith
briscoe
shenton
ellis
hall
tompkins
eastmond
graham
roby
Morley
peacock
burgess
sinfield

Westwood
crabtree
carvell
mcguire

You are right, more than half of them.

Are you kidding, not as an impact replacement, Crabtree is one of the best impact subs in SL. And for starters i class Westwood as a 2nd rower and Crabtree as a prop, and we need 2 big props coming off the bench against the Aussies and Kiwis. To have Roby, Graham, Eastmond and Crabtree coming off the bench would provide great impact.

England CANNOT put a team out that will beat the Aussies!!!

As the current systems in Europe are unlikely to change then the situation will continue.

Crabtree will be found out by Oz and the Kiwis.
Australia would be licking their lips in anticipation if he gets on the field.
He will be more of a liability than an asset trust me.

hes a liability at super league level. but people have been so obsessed with him playing for england since he broke through, just because hes tall

Briscoe
Fox
Ellis
Smith
Hall
Tomkins
Eastmond
Morley
Roby
Graham
Peacock
Burgess
Sinfield

Westwood
McGuire
Carvell
Wilkin? Is he in the squad?

The problem that England have is that we dont have enough quality players that are international class, the years when we had Schofield, Lydon, Robinson, Offiah, Newlove etc in our backlines and then you look at last nights backline, to be honest none of them could touch any of the aforementioned, and the likes of Shenton, T Briscoe and Smith are they international class? They certainly dont send shivers down Aussie spines, unlike the Aussie backline that looks on paper to be really frightening and there missing Folau.

Shenton looked out of his depth last night.

As for Sinfield, the guy is a waste of space at International level, we just carry him for his kicking.

As for McGuire, he shouldnt be included based on last nights performance, he is a support player at best, ok his kicking game isnt bad, but he isnt International class and never will be. It's a joke that Burrow isnt in the squad, yet McGuire is.

The lack of depth in England is a real worry.
Not only the backs
Peacock and Morley are past their best, Roby is getting worse where is the depth pushing through?

How biased are you?



Eastmond is untested at fullback and you want him to take on Australia?

No tomkins, anywhere? Not even on the bench? Are you mad?

Roby playing 80 mins? WESTWOOD????

I'm glad you're not picking the team.

1. Smith
2. Briscoe
3. Eastmond
4. Shenton
5. Hall
6. Tomkins
7. Myler
8. Morley
9. Moore
10. Graham
11. Peacock
12. Burgess
13. Sinfield

14. Roby
15. Ellis
16. Carvell
17. Crabtree

Not so much biased as opposed to knowing bugger all about the game. Eastmond might give some attacking support from full back, but its more likely that against the Aussies and Kiwi's we are likely to need a strong defensive full back and to my mind that is Briscoe. If Briscoe is unavailable through injury, then I would look at Smith.

Eastmond will be a liability at full back for the two games coming up.

Agree, my previous post has Smith at fb.

I though we needed to get Eastman into the team somewhere though so put him right centre. He has an x factor that i think could just win us a game. Thats why ive replaced Mcguire with Tomkins too. Very young backline but i thought we were using this tournament for that reason.

Smith
Fox
Ellis
Westwood
Hall
Tomkins
Eastmond
Morley
Roby
Peacock
Burgess
Wilkin
Sinfield

Graham
Carvell
Crabtree
Shenton

Bit of contoversy in the centres but both Westwood and Ellis started out in the centres and both are very strong defensively. I would only use these two there against the aussies. Got Shenton on the bench if Westwood needs to revert back to the pack as out of the two I believe Ellis would make the conversion back to his old position a little easier. Gone for a big bench and picked Sinfield because basically there isnt anyone else and he cam kick goals. Don't think Myler is up to it and bothe Eastmond and Tomkins are fearless, have a lot of creativity and both can defend. Doubt Smith will go with anything like this line up but we need to mix it up a bit. We're weak as p155 in the three quarters, Senior showed us this year when he ripped Atkins and Shenton to pieces when he came up against them in Super League.

Biased for who? I've dropped a Saints player for a Warrington player.

I've only not included Tomkins because I think it's unfair to pick two junior half backs against Australia.

Eastmond at fullback is a big call, but I've gone for the fact that Shaun Briscoe is just totally anonymous. If he plays they'll run through him as if he's not there and he won't touch the ball either in attack.

for me its damage limitation against aus and the only side I could see doing that would be as follows;

1. Briscoe
2. Fox
3. Ellis
4. Smith
5. Hall
6. Sinfield
7. Tomkins
8. Graham
9. Roby
10. Morley
11. Peacock
12. Burgess
13. Wilkin
-----------------------
14. Eastmond
15. Carvell
16. Crabtree
17. Myler

FB: Sean Briscoe
LW: Ryan Hall
LC: Michael Shenton
RC: Lee Smith
RW: Tom Briscoe
SO: Danny McGuire
SH: Richie Myler
P: Adrian Morley
HK: James Roby
P: Jamie Peacock
SR: Gareth Ellis
SR: Ben Westwood
LF: Kevin Sinfield

SUB: Kyle Eastmond
SUB: James Graham
SUB: Sam Burgess
SUB: Eorl Crabtree/Gareth Carvell

Briscoe has to play FB, what he lacks in attack he makes up fo by being in teh right spot to pick up kicks and as a last line of defence (which we will need big time!).

Eastmond looked good but hard to say what his best position is.

On that performace were fricked whoever we pick!