Hey smart ass!

Check your facts before spouting your rubbish!

He's the best scrum half in the SL bar none!

He should have been in the team where his presence would have aleviated the need to shoehorn Kevin Sinfield into the side.

Chill out pal.

I'd prob agree he maybe the best proven super league scrumhalf that England have.

England football probably is twice as good, but there's not much to go on, maybe Fifa rankings.

I thought it was worth noting that from my research both football and RL had around 60 k adult male registered players in Aus. Seems that footie is massively played by the chilidren.

What's that saying about statistics? Lies, damn lies and statistics.



Soccer has a massive junior base because mothers don't want their kids to play contact sports at a young age. Once kids get to high school they play contact sports like RL.

The stats also ignore Touch Football, which is the second biggest participation sport in the nation. RL is a tough game, many people who love RL tend to play Touch Footy socially because there's a much lower chance of injury.

Union has been dominated by a tiny country like NZ for a century.

With Australia's RL pedigree it's not really surprising that our RL rejects are competitive on the Union world stage...

think the category term "Football" needs to be more refined as "Footie" is Aus normally refers to Aussie Rules Football

Only 172,000 play RL in Australia?no way the real figure is above 400,000.

Where do you guys get your info from...
Footy can refer to any football code in Aus.

Ask someone what they thought of the footy last night and you could be talking about four or more different games.

England is competitive with Aus, they just lack the self belief. With the franchising of the ESL it should produce a more stable and :. a more competitive league. The top players just need more competitive games. Having something like SOO would be a massive bonus but all they need is a season full of games that could go either way.

Besides, India has well over a billion people to Australia's 20M and arguably love cricket more than the Aussies (they don't have any other sports that come close to the coverage cricket gets in India). Yet Oz still has the wood over India. If it was purely about popularity/population then no-one would ever beat the Indian cricket sides.

said the same on the way out last night. tomkins is going to be a good player but not yet. he was anonymous last night

First up, does anyone have links to any stats for the game? I'm pretty desperate to go over them.

England's major flaw was the almost robotic refusal to spread it wide. A few times the forwards earnt space for the backs and it was wasted. I was worried during those moments but that was unfounded as nothing happened. Our backs are amazing players, but pretty much for their attack, not defence. Why so shy?

For Australia, I thought Gallen was epic. If i'm not mistaken, he went the full 80 and both his attack and defense was immense. AND, no penalties or errors (again, it's for things like this that I really want to review game stats, because I could be wrong)! Apart from his debut year in Origin, i've been mostly disappointed with his performances in rep games, but he did us proud today. Best forward, easy. Respect.

Luke Lewis also stood out, mostly for his defence. Great technique and great scramble to pop out of nowhere for more than one try-saving tackle. His run-on selection was rubbished by many, but he proved them wrong.

Lockyer. Despite a knock-on and a hilarious mid-field bomb that went backwards, he was excellent. He's not done yet as a player, even if he does hang up the boots for Test footy now. I personally thought he was better than Thurston. It would've been great to see him score a try, earning him a hat-trick of breaking long-standing Kangaroo records. For that reason alone, he has to play the ANZAC Test next year, even if he doesn't play in the Four Nations again. He's not really one to glory hunt, but i'm one of many, many fans who want him to do it. He deserves it.

Hayne's involvement was much better. About time, Jarryd, but you were by no means outstanding.

Slater, Slater, Slater. 8 tries against England in the last 3 games. Great stat. Fact is, he doesn't do this against the Kiwis. I don't know what to think of him as our fullback. Some may think i'm mad, but I still don't think he should be there against the men in black. They know how to silence him and prove it quite consistently.

Farewell Hindmarsh. Great service to the Green and Gold, and Sky Blue, and this tournament has not tarnished that legacy one bit. One of my favourite players to play the game. I'll be delighted to see him win a Premiership, so long as it's not at the expense of the Raiders.

While I was watching the game and following commentary on here, and while reading post-match comments, I felt like arguing over certain refereeing moments. Now, i'm just gonna leave it. We won handsomely, no need for debate.

Well done, Kangaroos, we're back on track.

Having been to the game i'd have to say:

1.Our forwards were more than a match for theirs.
2.At half back, Eastmond had his moments and looked dangerous on occasion but all of our plays seemed to fall apart when Tomkins had ball in hand.
3.I think we lacked the impact of a "real" hooker. Why doesn't Diskin get picked? For me he is the best we have!
4.Of the backs I thought Shenton went ok until the injury, as did Fox, Bridge gave away to many penalties in the first half and I dont think has the pace of an international centre.
5.Shaun Briscoe is a kind of "what you see it what you get kind of player". You will always get a solid and workmanlike performance from him at any level he plays. Is that enough at international level? IMO he is the best option we have at the moment.

No he isn't.

That's not really hard to work out. Our centres were Shenton for the first 50 (who is a defensive centre, not an offensive one), Bridge ('nuff said) and then Ellis (a second-row).

Smith's game plan was the best he could do - there's no point passing it to our threequarters anywhere outside the Aussie 20 metres, as they have neither the pace nor the skill to make anything of the ball. So Smith's whole plan was to use the best tools he had - the pack. The reason why they were so knackered by the end is that not only did they do the usual forward defensive work, but they had to carry practically the entire offense as well.

By far the most significant weakness in the English game now is that there isn't a single international class Englishman who could wear numbers 1-5, playing anywhere in the SL.

Indeed. The English forwards were totally knackered by 60 minutes and I reckon the Aussies knew they would be. All they needed to do was bide their time and strike when we'd run out of juice.

I teach PE in a Leeds school and from KS2 upwards the children compete in inter and intra competitions all the time. There are also then festivals where the main thing is the taking part.

Quote ="CGD"First up, does anyone have links to any stats for the game? I'm pretty desperate to go over them. For Australia, I thought Gallen was epic. If i'm not mistaken, he went the full 80 and both his attack and defense was immense. AND, no penalties or errors (again, it's for things like this that I really want to review game stats, because I could be wrong)! Apart from his debut year in Origin, i've been mostly disappointed with his performances in rep games, but he did us proud today. Best forward, easy. Respect.'" Gallen made 1 error and conceded 2 pens. he did play 80. 30 tackles and missed 2. live.nrlstats.com/matches/nrl/match2768.html

Quote ="CGD"First up, does anyone have links to any stats for the game? I'm pretty desperate to go over them. For Australia, I thought Gallen was epic. If i'm not mistaken, he went the full 80 and both his attack and defense was immense. AND, no penalties or errors (again, it's for things like this that I really want to review game stats, because I could be wrong)! Apart from his debut year in Origin, i've been mostly disappointed with his performances in rep games, but he did us proud today. Best forward, easy. Respect.'" Gallen made 1 error and conceded 2 pens. he did play 80. 30 tackles and missed 2. live.nrlstats.com/matches/nrl/match2768.html

Tim Sheens got it right for me when he said that the real difference is that Australia has State of Origin, where the top players learn to deal with high pressure situations. What I think got to us in the end was not so much physical as mental fatigue.

I think this is backwards; SOO is high quality, high pressure rugby because the best Aussie players are top notch and there's lots of competition from the strength in depth.

Same reason the NRL is a better competition.

I think SoO is a red herring. It's just 3 matches. The Kiwis don't have it and still won the WC. Talking about SoO is just Sheen patronising us by finding excuses for us. The real difference in intensity is the NRL versus SL, where NRL teams play at a level of skill every week which is only matched in this country by games between Saints and Leeds. That's what teaches mental resolve, not three games in mid-season.

But as mentioned above, I don't think the issue is necessarily even that. The real issue is much simpler : we don't have any centres, wingers or fullbacks who would get a start with any NRL sides. Look at those stats against the Aussies. Bridge and Shenton made 40 tackles between them. Hodges and Inglis made 10. That's because the Aussies attack with their centres, while the English can't attack with theirs.

To put it another way, the English back five made a total of 4 tackle breaks between them. The Aussie back five made 22. Their centres are tremendous athletes with natural steps, fends, timing and speed. Ours are, well, not.

Mine do too mate. There is loads of competition in school sport. But my point is the element of winning and success being a major focus couldnt be further from the truth. Its all about participation. And in school sport I have to agree with that.

We have an obesity problem and if school sport isnt inclusive then we are in even more trouble

Quote ="Roy Haggerty"That's not really hard to work out. Our centres were Shenton for the first 50 (who is a defensive centre, not an offensive one), Bridge ('nuff said) and then Ellis (a second-row). Smith's game plan was the best he could do - there's no point passing it to our threequarters anywhere outside the Aussie 20 metres, as they have neither the pace nor the skill to make anything of the ball. So Smith's whole plan was to use the best tools he had - the pack. The reason why they were so knackered by the end is that not only did they do the usual forward defensive work, but they had to carry practically the entire offense as well.'" Then I disagree with Smith's tactics, the gameplan was too rigid. Quote ="Rooster Booster"Gallen made 1 error and conceded 2 pens. he did play 80. 30 tackles and missed 2. live.nrlstats.com/matches/nrl/match2768.html'" Hmm, fair enough. I guess it wouldn't quite be Paul Gallen without it, it's almost endearing after a performance like that. That said, I didn't quite guess he ran a massive 202m. Super Grub! It seems I also overlooked Burgess' workload. 32 tackles when I would've guessed more like 20. What a player. LOL @ Wilkin's stats. There's a big blank in attack, surely not? I think there may be alterations to those stats actually, as apparently all starting players played 80 mins and all bench players 0 minutes.

Quote ="Roy Haggerty"That's not really hard to work out. Our centres were Shenton for the first 50 (who is a defensive centre, not an offensive one), Bridge ('nuff said) and then Ellis (a second-row). Smith's game plan was the best he could do - there's no point passing it to our threequarters anywhere outside the Aussie 20 metres, as they have neither the pace nor the skill to make anything of the ball. So Smith's whole plan was to use the best tools he had - the pack. The reason why they were so knackered by the end is that not only did they do the usual forward defensive work, but they had to carry practically the entire offense as well.'" Then I disagree with Smith's tactics, the gameplan was too rigid. Quote ="Rooster Booster"Gallen made 1 error and conceded 2 pens. he did play 80. 30 tackles and missed 2. live.nrlstats.com/matches/nrl/match2768.html'" Hmm, fair enough. I guess it wouldn't quite be Paul Gallen without it, it's almost endearing after a performance like that. That said, I didn't quite guess he ran a massive 202m. Super Grub! It seems I also overlooked Burgess' workload. 32 tackles when I would've guessed more like 20. What a player. LOL @ Wilkin's stats. There's a big blank in attack, surely not? I think there may be alterations to those stats actually, as apparently all starting players played 80 mins and all bench players 0 minutes.

Great to look over those stats.

If you didnt know the score you might suspect England just edged it.

Two things stand out for me. Australia made slightly more errors, but thats the theory that if you promote the ball more you will make more errors. When Bradford won the SL in 1997 they there or thereabout made more errors than anyone else, but passed it more than anyone else too.

Also, 3 penalties conceded by Chris Bridge. They were in the first half, but lots of coaches refer to "draining the tank." I wonder?

Its such a small thing but at that level, it appears to be major