Lockyer - don't need to say anything about this chap
Hegarty - played all 3 origin games for QLD that year
Wing - played all 3 origin games for QLD that year
Bailey - was on the bench for all 3 origin games and played 1st test and scored...could do much more
Minichiello - played all 3 origin games for NSW and was golden boot winner 18months later
Gower - finished with 18 australia caps...hardly crap that is it
Kimmorley - crap players don't get 22caps for australia


so........who was actually missing? andrew john injured iirc...gordan tallis has just retired....looking at the pack the aussies put out in 2003...Webcke,buderus,civoniciva,mason,waterhouse,ricketson,fitzgibbon,robbie kearns,michael crocker etc....thats better than what the aussies are gonna put out next weekend lol


like i said the 2003 australia team was nowhere near as bad as its portrayed

Negative suits me just fine.

Wing has never played for Queensland.
Maybe the Australian League was not so good in 2003?

sorry my bad..its NSW not QLD....the fact still remains he played in all 3 origin games in 2003


or maybe yourwrong

In answer to the question in the thread title. YES and I hope they do. We need a strong England in RL.

Yes, it was average squad – but not because of the reasons that the Australians insist , that it was a second or third string team (that premise has been discredited time and again on these boards), but because, and please sit down for this as it is a surprise, some of the Australian players are just average – even those that play in that super human spectacle that is called State of Origin

The 2011 English team would beat the 2003 Kangaroos 3-0 in a series

Do you have a time machine or a Crystal Ball?
Australia are better than England for many reasons.
I could list them but I am sure you already know or have seen this before.
Back in the day when GB were still considered a "force" they hand picked Club teams to play on tours in Australia in between Test Matches, Parramatta beat them.
Australia played virtually all the main English Club teams on their tours.

the 2003 series was a bloody good one, Australia were very lucky to win it as all games came down to the last 3 mins.

Bring this back, awsome stuff.

Quote ="roughyedspud"sorry my bad..its NSW not QLD....the fact still remains he played in all 3 origin games in 2003 or maybe yourwrong'" Wrong about what spud? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Wing You have been proved wrong on your FACTS more than most on this Forum in recent times. I did not dispute how many SOO games he had played, getting the team right is a good start in my opinion.

Quote ="roughyedspud"sorry my bad..its NSW not QLD....the fact still remains he played in all 3 origin games in 2003 or maybe yourwrong'" Wrong about what spud? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Wing You have been proved wrong on your FACTS more than most on this Forum in recent times. I did not dispute how many SOO games he had played, getting the team right is a good start in my opinion.

i meant maybe your wrong about the australian league being not so good in 2003


typing QLD instead of NSW is hardly a hanging offence

it is in QLD

oldham have beaten australia 3 or 4 times ......so whats your point

If the Australian National team made up of players from the SOO are not so good what is your point?
I said the game in Oz may not have been going well, I never said the Australian team was picked from Park players.

Was that in Queen Victoria's time?
I can only relate to the times where I have been around, lets say the last 30 years.

yeah but we're often told aussie park players would beat england........so make ya mind up


and oldham last beat australia in 1956/57 i think...i have a book somewhere but cba dragging it out....oldham came closer than anyone,GB included, to beating the 1986 aussies for what its worth....

That is true against the Emus, its a shame that only you and a few of the teams family turned up to watch the game.
5,678 was the crowd.
School teams get more than that in the finals in Oz

I always look forward to reading your posts, you do make me laugh

Seeing as though you were asking about my time machine – I guess you have one too seeing as though you have posted this recently?



Glass houses and all that

Chase could,nt pull enough strings if he ran a puppet show, goes missing too often. Man of steel...

Not at all.
You posted "The 2011 English team would beat the 2003 Kangaroos 3-0 in a series"

My point was could you transfer a team back to 2003 or bring one to 2011, you must have missed the point, comparing teams from different eras is something that hardly ever works or is based on any facts or reality.

My point that English League will be in trouble in 10 or 20 years time has nothing to do with time machines.
Its an opinion based on the trends that are happening now.
Crowds are an issue.
Expansion of the game is an issue (London, Wales etc) How is the game in France?
Player drain to Union or the NRL, not has beens but the cream of the crop.
Finances are an issue in some cases, a salary cap that the rich want higher and half the teams don't spend cause they are skint.
If TV downgraded their deal the game would be pretty well broke.
Its not a Crystal Ball its an educated opinion.

Just my opinion like

2003 to 2011 – 8 years is an era now is it? The English team is better now than the one that lost each test narrowly in 2003 – it is not illogical to suggest they would have beaten the 2003 Kangaroos

As for your other points



Why, they are trending in the right direction and next year with new stadia in St Helens and Salford, there is a strong possibility they will be the best ever in Super League history



Not in any way whatsoever, the game has expanded exponentially in the last 15 years across the UK



What has that got to you with the UK, you do realise they are separate countries don’t you? (Sorry if I’m being patronising but better to check)



Name one top quality English player to revert to Union in the last 5 years (and don’t say Ashton because he was far from a top player and very much unproven)



This is commercial realism – what’s your point?



It’s certainly an opinion but I wouldn’t call it educated

Forget my previous post – take a look at the SL Grand Final... a great game in front of a great crowd contested by great players, many of whom are British and many of whom are young

If you think this sport is on its way down in my country you are mad

Indeed. I wouldn't worry about English rugby league in the future, I would worry about future life in Australia. On the subject of time machines, I've seen Mad Max, it looks like Aus will go seriously tits up in the future, more so than English rugby league

Blow for England as Shenton must be odds on to miss the 4 Nations now.

another kiwi gone... www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/576 ... ring-team/ we're told these days that NZ now have amazing depth............yeah thats why they are only bringing 22 players in the tour party

another kiwi gone... www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/576 ... ring-team/ we're told these days that NZ now have amazing depth............yeah thats why they are only bringing 22 players in the tour party