Very, very good point. There are others too. From the days of Atcheson, Calderwood, Sinfield, Farrell and Scully at 6, Richard Horne on the wing, Gareth Raynor and Paul Sykes all playing for England, this teams way better. The age of the team is so young too.

Catalancs-I'll be honest, the only reason I havn't mentioned BJB or Watkins is I havn't seen enough of Leeds this year for some reason, only seen them play a few times.

Reed should be the first picked. Spud is just on his usual inferiority complex NRL bashing.

The fact that we are arguing about whether BJB is a better winger than Hall, Charnley, McGillvary or Briscoe is a good thing.... because every single one of them is a hell of a lot better than having Mark Calderwood or Richard Horne on the wing

Same with the centres... should be go with the likes of Bridge, Shenton, Yeaman, Watkins, Atkins etc or bring Reed in. Again, I don’t know the answer to that but they are all better than some of the recent English centres (Sykes, Smith etc)

This in itself tells me the situation is better... the last 5 or 6 years it has been Senior and Gleeson when fit ‘cause we didn’t have anybody else

Don't you think that this would be a good opportunity to introduce the Lancashire V Yorkshire? People will slate me for mentioning it because it didn't work years ago. For me some players want to prove themselves against players they are competing with to get a place in the England team. It would also bring some passion back into the game. No one ever thought the SOO would work but they stuck by it and look at it now, it's massive. It may never reach the dizzy heights of the SOO but it give players a chance to play rep rugby at a level above SL.

I like the idea of the exiles but now the NRL have more money to spend on players, so the quality of overseas player coming over will drop and then we could end up with a one sided game. It's only what I would predict would happen in the next few years.

It feels a little forced - "C'mon guys, this'll be just like state of origin!"

I've always been an advocate that France should have fixtures aginst Lancs and Yorks, rather than them play each other. It would be a chance for France to compete better at this stage of their redevelopment and could be used by the english lads as a trial for a full shirt.

I'd go to the HJ to see it.

Forget the SOO and just do it our own way.

Serious question - have you played rugby? When represented my county it was always a passionate game because you wanted to beat your opponents because they were from Yorkshire, Cumbria etc etc. Club games didn't have this intensity.

lol you don't think Brisbane has the pick of talent of the Q'land cup? Brisbane ar ethe Man Utd of RL, they don;t play players untalented players just to fill gaps! I wasn't that impressed early season but he has performed really well latter part of the season and unlike English centres he won't run around like a headless chuck leaving big holes when the run around play comes his way!

ps Uate didn't play in the NRL till last year at the age of 23, I guess you don't rate him as a winger either?

Uate's first grade debut 2008 aged 20. HTH. The rest of your argument is solid though. Brisbane are no fools. Matt King (former bin man) would be a better analogy - NRL debut 2003 (aged 23), NSW and Australia within 2 seasons.

I played Rugby union and had a good run at it at a half decent level but didn't play county. County (or area) pride as well as club rivallry was always there throughout.

However, having witnessed the "roses" games that were run around 2002, i didn't particulary see it.

Should Lancs and Yorks have fixtires against france, I'm sure it wouldn't be long before the arguments about which county was better would come up which would build a demand for the a roses match.

I thought Raynor played well on the wing for GB personally.

I used to love playing county rugby. It just made the game more important that club games.

The war of the roses was a joke in 2002 but that only because it only featured championship players and no super league players.

When Hull played Cas 2 weeks ago a number of Hull fans near me were complaining about how Yeaman and Briscoe don't play well together and would do better split up. I'm not saying I agree, just that some fans who watch 'em most regularly don't think they're necessarily the dream pairing you seem to think...

There's very few Hull fans I know that would agree with that. Myself included.

Totally OT this Willzay, but why is there 2 Higgins in your Wakey 2012 squad.

Francis Cummins, Paul Sykes, Karl Pratt?

aawww whats the matter sweetheart?? just cos i don't watch the NRL with my old chap in my hand ripping one out over every pass,tackle or try.......when i watch the NRL and see plenty..and i mean plenty...of flaws that people like you don't see cos you think every aussie is a superman that can run,jump,tackle better than anyone and can't be beat.....


i'm glad reed has opted for england,it's strenghtend our squad, but no way should he be first choice pick just because he plays in the NRL...

i really want him picked for the france warm up game...then you'll all see just how ordinary he actually is...but nodoubt all the NRL bumboys will blame it on playing with "poor england players"

I don't think every Aussie is superman, in fact I don't think nationality has anything to do with it. Reed and Widdop are testament to the irrelevance of nationality. The NRL is just better, that's all. It's far superior to the SL and their set-up produces much better players on the whole. Has nothing to do with being Australian. You're the one who seems to have some England vs Australia chip on your shoulder, mate.

And I don't have to wait for a game against France to see Reed, I've watched every Broncos game this year.

I've seen a fair few Brisbane games this year and I really rate him. Sorry spud, we normally agree but i'll have to go against you this time mucker.

I voted yes as he's English and our centres are crap.

Reed had Gasnier in his pocket all game tonight. Defensively he is head and shoulders over any SL centre.

Good to hear Reed is continuing to play well

Just to check though, is that the same Gasnier that Kirk Yeaman smashed out the game on his test debut in 2006 (when Gasnier was rated the best centre in the game and not two weeks away from retirement)?

we'll see

i guarantee theres gonna be "what a waste of time" or "he's no better that what we already have" topics/posts after everyone gets a proper look at him in a england shirt....and i promise i won't start any of them

Did he?
In that dead rubber where Australia were already in the final regardless of this games result?
Great Britain won 1 from 4 games.
Yeaman has kicked on since then after smashing (in your words) the best Centre in the World out of the game he has how many Test Caps now?

That win by England that all of the Pommies hang on to as a golden moment was the most nothing game in the last 20 years.
Australia were already in the final they rested some key players and were playing for nothing unless the heirachy said give the pommies a go it will be good for the International game.
The final between Australia and New Zealand was already locked in, it was a match that was a waste of time.

Gasnier is a shadow of what he once was.
Even at his peak he was a weapon on his day that could beat 4 players and change a game single handed but too often he was on cruise control and did not get involved enough.