Interesting... Widdop in afetr 2 games... he is a good young player and will be interesting to see how he goes... personally would have liked to see him get the good habits of NRL cemented before an english coach gets his hands on him!!

The suprise for me is that Mark Flannagan has been totally ignored despite being a real bolter in the NRL.

About the best squad he could have picked, great forwards, be interesting to see how Widdop goes, doubt he would have been picked if we had a decent English FB in SL.

Not sure about Shenton, but is there anyone else out there, a few years ago players like Hall and Goulding where talked about as the next top centres but they havent developed realised their potential yet.

The only other option would have been to play Pryce out to position at centre.

I think defensivley shenton has been exellent in his international appearances.

apart from getting boomed off ben hannett in the final

I wouldnt fancy trying to bring down big ben either

www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... tmond.html Eastmond out of the England game.

www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... tmond.html Eastmond out of the England game.

a real shame, maguire to 7, although I'd prefer myler to be brought in.

Would Myler be back by then? If so i'd put him in. If not Maguire gets the nod.

The difference is that Widdop plays at fullback where his competition is Briscoe, Mathers, Murphy, Smith and Halley, whereas Flanaghan is a backrower and has competition from Ellis, Burgess, Westwood, Tompkins, O'Loughlin and Sinfield. At the moment Flanaghan isn't as good as those backrowers despite playing in the NRL whereas even after two NRL games it is hard to argue that Widdop is streets behind any of the English fullbacks mentioned.

It's a big "reserved" sticker on Widdop to make sure he doesn't get any silly ideas about being Australian.

and going missing at marker that gave a crucial try to Australia

From what I've seen of him he can finish tries and has plenty of pace. It's the last sentence that worries me, because we need backs that can defend. He's still young as you say and he will learn. Let's hope he has a strong second half of the season and can put his hand up for Young player of the year.

but the reality is,if he wanted to,he can still play for australia if he wants....a la' jarrod hayne with NSW,australia,FIJI,NSW and australia...again

I can't really argue with the squad to be honest. It looks pretty solid. Im not a fan of O’Loughlin but he is in good form so he deserves his chance.

Mcguire is the only one im not sure about. I still think pryce has a few more tricks up his sleeve. I feel sorry for Briscoe. He was solid in the quad nations but it will be good to see if Widdop lives up to the hype. I wouldn't have minded seeing Steve Snitch in there. He has carried the 2nd row at Cas at times this season before Tuson signed and while the rest have been injured and Jones has been playing hooker etc.

Mcguire is the form halfback in the competition, he constantly shines for Leeds in the big games and particularly in grand finals, he was also right up there in the world cup semi final
despite the gnashing of teeth and excitement that he didnt beat the australians on his own at the JJB last year he should be starting for england and if he didnt play for Leeds a lot more people would see that

Steve Snitch

I understand wanting to have a look at Widdop but all this talk of being better than other British fulback is garbage. He has not done anything special in his two games, a good prospect but if he was not playing in the NRL he would have got nowhere near the squad.

I was more concerned about him trying to beat England on his own that day.

He hasn't looked a mug recently, which is one up on Briscoe/Tansey/Wellens/Mathers . . . .

Thats exactly why I would go with Atkins over Bridge.

Atkins has size and pace and IMO is 1 for the future. Bridge however well he's playing will never cut it at International Level.

Bridge is twice the player Atkins will EVER be.
Atkins is a pretty decent athlete who would make a decent winger, im happy with him in the Warrington team but as a centre he's not fit to lace Bridge's boots.
If we're going exclusively for size we might as well put Karl Pryce there.. exactly.

He's played two games that's all. Briscoe has been out of sorts this season but the other three have been pretty consistent.

He's a strong tackler, you don't often see him get pushed off a tackle, but he does sometimes have a tendancy to leave his winger unmarked. That said this is often because he has been left exposed, and in recent weeks he seems to have improved in this area. He has also looked alot more assured under kicks in recent weeks.

Besides, the only way he sort out his faults is by playing in the big games. And despite his faults he is a very dangerous attacking player with bags of speed and strength. Some of the tries he has scored for Hull have been genuine world class efforts. He also seems to win more penalties than any other player I've seen because he is so hard to pull down and put on his back.

He was born in England.

I sincerely doubt whether he would ever be good enough to wear the Green and Gold even if he had been born in Australia.

Did St Helens need to select England's star playmaker the week before a test match, against a [ipart-time team[/i? With all due respect to Barrow, did Saints [ireally[/i need him to ensure victory? Its the latest example of a lack of attention to elite player welfare. While England will beat France, the lack of centralised player management, will unfortunately be, yet again, the real and ignored reason why England will lose the 4N (barring a miracle).