1 WC loss means nothing.They will get back on track sooner or later.

The Kangaroos have no reason to be anything other than incredibly proud of their recent record stretching back say 30 years or so.

The Kiwis deserved to be World Champions in 2008. They timed their run beautifully in the tournament. Assistant coach was probably partly responsible for that. A team of his has a similar look for the weekend.

Don't temp me.

this is to the pommie posters :

i can tell you that quite a few of the aussie posters on this thread want anyone other than the roos to win the quad nations because its good for RL.

i personally went craxy when nz won the 08 WC - i was there wearing a Kiwi jersey

and i was cheering on england beating the roos back in the tri nations in 06

so stop making fools of yourselves thinking you are baiting us.

shut it convict...

Classic Dally. Treason, but classic.

I just admire how many games he attends.

Think he claimed to have been to about 800 matches in Australia since last year.

Quite a feat for a bloke who lives in Bradford

Wish I could have his frequent flyer points.....

even better i was wearing a NZ warriors jersey whilst sitting in the manly supporters bay in their semi a few years back

As I understand it, come Monday there may be a few others announced as not being able to be picked for reasons along the same lines as Thurston.

Oh yes

Rugby League is a tough sport... especially when you play in the NRL.

I'm amazed there arent more people pulling out of the 4 nations through injury.


A lot of this will be down to the advice given by the clubs though.

At the end of the day these players are the clubs assets. They are the players that make the public come through the gates to watch them. They are the players that help clubs win things.


And althought the 4 nations is worth playing for... it's not a world cup is it.


Thankfully Australia have a lot of quality players that could do a great job for the Kangaroos and dont have to rely on the same squad to win games.


Barry McKenzie still predicts the final 4 nations table to read

1. Australia

2 New Zealand

3. PNG

4. England.


Anything else will be deemed as a big upset in my book.

I've been around too long and see nothing in the current crop of players that tells me otherwise.

Forwards are stronger in the new line up backs not as strong - but they beat us by 30+ points both times so hardly close contests. As soon as the Aussies put the foot down we had no answer

Also Smith was coach last time McNamara this - big difference

I expect an embarrassment

England can match Austriala in the forwards, its in the backs they get dominated. The Austriala team is considerably weaker than last year especially in the backs, although they are still justifiably favourites. I think they will lose at least one hopefully two games in the tournament

Barry McKenzie, what are your thoughts on this? www.nrl.com/news/news/newsarticl ... fault.aspx

Barry McKenzie, what are your thoughts on this? www.nrl.com/news/news/newsarticl ... fault.aspx

Quote ="Toulouse for super L"Barry McKenzie, what are your thoughts on this? www.nrl.com/news/news/newsarticl ... fault.aspx'" My thoughts are 'Wests player told he is the best player in Wests by a lot of other Wests players'

Quote ="Toulouse for super L"Barry McKenzie, what are your thoughts on this? www.nrl.com/news/news/newsarticl ... fault.aspx'" My thoughts are 'Wests player told he is the best player in Wests by a lot of other Wests players'

Why do people STILL think that the Poms can match Australia in the forwards?

It simply is not the case!!!!


I think it's one of these urban myths that someone started for a laugh at a match and it's just spiralled and now some people actually believe it!

Because the English pack contains the likes of Graham, Burgess and Ellis who are all better than their Australian counterparts. Only at hooker do you have a clear superiority in the pack, and even that's only because the King retired from International RL a few years back.

A joint Eng/Aus side would contain 3 or 4 English forwards but no backs, hence the idea that we can match you up front.

Have a look who we will have in our forwards in the 4 Nations this year. Sure Shillington and Scott are adequate replacements for Price the backrow is a major concern. Sure Gallen and Thaiday will be there but if they pick Ben Creagh watch the Kiwi and English forward pack fall over themselves laughing (maybe that's how we plan to win) A stat that is very interesting Qld and Australia for that matter have a poor record when either Civo and Price are out.

I still rate a fit NZ pack as the best in the world. I bet there was a sigh of relief when SBW defected. There are some great young Kiwi forwards coming through as well so they look to have talent a plenty for years to come. They just need to find a decent scrum half and keep Marshall fit and NZ could dominate Int RL trophies for a few more years yet.

They are starting to get options in the halves that's the scary part about it. I believe we are at the start of a transition period of power in international rugby league

I can't think of any English hooker/player you might be referring to. Can you clear this up for me please?


Really? If anything, I would've said our backrow is our strength. I agree, f*ck Creagh off (not gonna happen if the Dragons win tomorrow, not likely even if they lose unfortunately) and slot in Lewis and Myles and I am very confident with our backrow. Who we select at prop will be interesting. I think Shillo and Civo are certainties, no one else is. Scott, TLL, anyone else? Weyman will pull out for surgery I believe.

EDIT: Oh yeah, so long as Marshall and Luke take to the field with the Kiwis, they're a good chance this tournament.

Ryan Hall maybe could sneak into a joint team

Cunnigham is who they are referring to and I have said wish he would come down his form warrant's it.

Weyman has pulled out, King also has.

In regards to the Kiwis, planning to go down and place a bet on them and rob the bookies (legally of course

)

ellis and burgess are amongst the best forwards in the game of RL

theyve come over to the nrl and not just survived, but done very well

ellis has made a massive difference to the tigers forward pack, as was seen in their games this year

burgess if he was playing in one of the top 4 sides wouldve found life a lot easier but nonetheless played very well for souths in an inconsistant side and one wrecked by injuries