Greg Eden replaces Corey Oates against Penrith on Thursday. Big game for him. Wish him all the best.

If he drops the ball as much again Bennett most likely won't pick him again regardless of injuries.

I agree with you, but the wingers in the NRL have been very poor under the high ball. I know it is only round 3 but the likes of Koroibete, Vatuvei, Mansour, Rankin have all been suspect, the difference is they regularly run the ball out of the 20 and are an attacking threat, unlike Eden.

Bit of a mixed bag for the Poms this week.

Eden started very, very well. He caught 4-5 high bombs with ease, albeit limited pressure. He ran hard from his own half and eased the pressure from inside his own 20. In contrast, in the second half he dropped/misjudged 2-3 high balls and ran only once from inside is own half. His confidence looked shot after his dropped catches. In fairness to him, Kahu on the opposite wing didn't pull up any trees.

Canberra. If Hodgson doesn't start for England at hooker i would be very surprised. He is by far the most inform hooker in the NRL. He kicked another 40/20 and displayed his usual good ball skills from dummy half. The issue is that he plays 80 minutes due to the Canberra injuries. Newcastle were targeting him which led to him been gassed in the second half. He made 37 tackles.
Whitehead started at 6 but changed to SR in second half. In the first half he passed for 2 try assists, he gave away a few needless penalties, as the previous weeks. Like Hodgson, was targeted in defence, made 40 tackles.

Also, Whitehead is the joint 2nd most penalised player in the NRL after 3 rounds....

I agree about Hodgson. I haven't see this week's Raiders game yet, but he is nearly always one of their best players on the park. Up against the world's best, week in, week out, he looks, as you say, as good as any.

Slammin Sam has been taken to hospital with a neck injury.

It doesnt look good whatsoever. Thoughts are with the Burgess family.

Shocking news about Samuel Burgess. At least he has no needles and pins in his arms and legs. He will get the best treatment at Sydney's premier hospital. Here's hoping that he will make a full recovery.

Hes fine. All scans are clear.
Source: smh.com.au

Good news. Haven't seen the match but report says it was in collision with Mike Cooper.

Also, Widdop getting praised for his performance in the same game.

Gareth Widdop showed the Australians what an Englishman can do by putting ball to foot.

I watched the game live, Gareth Widdop was mediocre at best. He spends more time on his backside than on his feet, vastly over-rated.

I watched the game live too. I saw a different Gareth Widdop to you. I saw a man who was able to make kicks behind the opponents' try line with pin point accuracy, one of which led to a try by Jason Nightingale. Gareth Widdop was only on his backside following vicious late tackles after his kicks, undertaken by Australian bullies.

I think expectation levels of Widdop are very different to how we judge the halves in the Super League.

Widdop is a class act, with the ball in hand and when kicking. Considering Dragons were missing Marshall i thought Widdop handled the extra responsibility well. It was awful conditions for a game of Rugby League and his kicking won Dragons the game.

I agree with you completely.

The English boys are getting good coverage on the Sterlo and Matty Johns programmes.
Both are raving about Josh Hodgson.
They talk about Sam having better skills than he had before he went to RU
Graham they can't speak highly enough about
Widdop got some good comments for his game too.

They showed old footage of the English imports of the past like Schofield, Currier, Hanley and Myler at Balmain. Nice to here them talk England up.

what? A bog standard SL hooker ripping it up in the super dooper NRL. Give over

Glad to hear Widdop is back to some form because he was woeful for England against NZ last year.

Hodgson is the early leader for Dally M medal

Quote ="richardviking"Hodgson is the early leader for Dally M medal '" You should have spelled it out in more detail. Joshua Hodgson has 8 points from three games, including two games where he was Man of the Match. Joshua is 3 points ahead of second placed Gregory Inglis and Mitchell Moses. www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... no1yp.html

Quote ="richardviking"Hodgson is the early leader for Dally M medal '" You should have spelled it out in more detail. Joshua Hodgson has 8 points from three games, including two games where he was Man of the Match. Joshua is 3 points ahead of second placed Gregory Inglis and Mitchell Moses. www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... no1yp.html

Quote ="JEAN CAPDOUZE"You should have spelled it out in more detail. Joshua Hodgson has 8 points from three games, including two games where he was Man of the Match. Joshua is 3 points ahead of second placed Gregory Inglis and Mitchell Moses. www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... no1yp.html'" So, Richardviking was right then?

Quote ="JEAN CAPDOUZE"You should have spelled it out in more detail. Joshua Hodgson has 8 points from three games, including two games where he was Man of the Match. Joshua is 3 points ahead of second placed Gregory Inglis and Mitchell Moses. www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... no1yp.html'" So, Richardviking was right then?

richardviking was right, but not right enough was my point. Not enough detail in his post, which if had been there, as it was in mine, would have shown the enormity of Joshua Hodgson's achievement.

Gregory Eden did well for Brisbane without being sensational last night. Brisbane's other winger Lachlan Maranta (son of the cofounder of London Broncos, Barry Maranta), outshone Gregory Eden. Nevertheless Wayne Bennett would have been satisfied with Gregory. Channel 9 commentators Raymond Warren and one other described Gregory as "lively."

Josh Hodgson. Superb.

Without knocking Hodgsons performance i see nobody cares to mention his feeble attempt to stop Shillington bursting in for a try, which lead to the Titans gaining momentum to go on to win the game.Lets give credit and criticism when and where its due shall we however rough or smooth.