Good squad given form and availability in my opinion. Good to get Widdop integrated with the squad early doors and prevent the Aussies from doing a Civoneceiva on him!
For me the only obvious change I'd make is include Ben Harrison who has been outstanding recently and is comfortably a better player than Nick Scruton in terms of being more skillful, bigger hitter with a better offload and a higher workload, but some Bradford bias is expected and understandable and it could have been much worse.

England’s 19-man squad (current club and community club in brackets):

Chris Bridge (Warrington Wolves, Waterhead)
Tom Briscoe (Hull FC, Featherstone Lions)
Sam Burgess (South Sydney, Dewsbury Moor)
Kyle Eastmond (St Helens, Oldham St Annes)
Gareth Ellis (Wests Tigers, Castleford Lock Lane)
James Graham (St Helens, Blackbrook)
Ryan Hall (Leeds Rhinos, Oulton Raiders)
Sean O’Loughlin (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Pats)
Danny McGuire (Leeds Rhinos, East Leeds)
Adrian Morley (Warrington Wolves, Eccles)
Jamie Peacock (Leeds Rhinos, Stanningley)
James Roby (St Helens, Blackbrook)
Nick Scruton (Bradford Bulls, Churwell)
Michael Shenton (Castleford Tigers, Upton)
Kevin Sinfield (Leeds Rhinos, Waterhead)
Joel Tomkins (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Pats)
Sam Tomkins (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Pats)
Ben Westwood (Warrington Wolves, Normanton Knights)
Gareth Widdop (Melbourne Storm, King Cross)

I'm guessing the team will be something like:

Widdop

Briscoe
Shenton
Bridge
Hall

S. Tomkins
Eastmond (If not McGuire)

Graham
Sinfield
Peacock
J. Tomkins
Ellis
O'Loughlin

Roby
Scruton
Morley
Burgess

Miss out:
Westwood
McGuire/Eastmond

Can't agree with that. Scruton has been in fantastic form the past 12 months. He deserves his spot above the likes of Crabtree, Lynch, Harrison or anyone else IMO.

Chance of Burgess flying back from Aus to sit on the bench are slim to none I'd have thought. Good competition in the Prop and Second Row positions.

westwood and eastmond to miss out

Bradford Bias - One player!
Nothing like Tony Smiths Warrington bias

Sounds about the best squad we could go for TBH, Widdop came as a suprise though.

What on earth makes you think a player like Widdles would be good enough to even be remotely considered for the Green n Golds?

From that squad, I would go with...

Widdop

Briscoe
Shenton
Bridge
Hall

S. Tomkins
Eastmond

Graham
Sinfield
Morley
Ellis
Burgess
O'Loughlin

Roby
Westwood
Peacock
J. Tomkins

I would let Tomkins and Eastmond carry on the partnership that started to develop well last year - Sinfield can always move into a playmaker role when Roby comes on

I like the look of this squad, the back three in the scrum are excellent, the props are solid and the halves are young and exciting

In Hall and Briscoe we have two strong wingers who can finish and Widdop is full of potential

Shenton and Bridge finished in the centres in the 4 Nations and went OK so they deserve the chance to carry on... with so few England games it is important to develop some continuity and this team is looking reasonably settled

Fair enough, he's clearly been playing well and is highly rated and I haven't got a problem with someone new like him being given a go. For what it's worth I thought Harrison outplayed him at the weekend (and thought Scruton played well by the way)- not least when he smashed him in the biggest hit of the game. However I'm not too worried about Ben as he's very young and I'm convinced he will get there eventually if he carries on playing like he is at the moment.

To be fair to Smith, interesting to see the next England coach has selected Chris Bridge, Adrian Morley and Ben Westwood as well, and that I'd imagine many people would think Harrison would have been close to selection (he didn't make the full squad last year only some training reserves) and Myler a possibility if fit. Both would likely be in with a strong shout of making a larger 24 man squad if fit

I know the obvious call to make was that the squad was biased towards Warrington by simply analysing the numbers from each team, but looking at the individuals concerned I can't see too many specific complaints about certain individuals being picked?

Eastmond probably wont play.

Any idea how Danny McGuire has made it in there again, after his dismal performances for England over countless years.

Not a bad squad for a friendly, but would have like to have seen a couple of the more experienced forwards rested and couple more new faces in. Can't complain good to see J Tompkins and Scrutton given a a go.

Widdop

Briscoe
Shenton
Bridge
Hall

S. Tomkins
Eastmond

Burgess
Sinfield
Morley
Ellis
J.Tomkins
O'Loughlin

Roby
Graham
Peacock
Scruton

Thats a massive pack with big subs. Its a shame our backs are poor.

If Shenton and Bridge are the best centres we have then I would pick someone out of position to play there
Someone like Ellis/Ablett who is a regular at second row but has played centre in the past

Scruton is currently way ahead of Harrison in terms of metres made and tackle busts. He also makes fewer errors and misses far fewer tackles. All according to www.superleague.co.uk/statistics_player.php Harrison is an excellent prospect and wouldn't have been out of place in the squad but Scruton's form so far in 2010 has been clearly better so he deserves a place in the squad. Bias my ar5e.

Scruton is currently way ahead of Harrison in terms of metres made and tackle busts. He also makes fewer errors and misses far fewer tackles. All according to www.superleague.co.uk/statistics_player.php Harrison is an excellent prospect and wouldn't have been out of place in the squad but Scruton's form so far in 2010 has been clearly better so he deserves a place in the squad. Bias my ar5e.

Centre is where we're weakest but I wouldn't resort to picking second rowers there as they're even slower than Shenton and Bridge.

Ellis is a cert for the England back row so should stay there. Ablett's ok I'd rather not have him in the centres against the Aussies and Kiwis!

Burgess has played all this season in the back row and lately plating between 60 and 80 mins, I'd leave him there.

Quote ="Bullseye"Scruton is currently way ahead of Harrison in terms of metres made and tackle busts. He also makes fewer errors and misses far fewer tackles. All according to www.superleague.co.uk/statistics_player.php Harrison is an excellent prospect and wouldn't have been out of place in the squad but Scruton's form so far in 2010 has been clearly better so he deserves a place in the squad. Bias my ar5e.'" Yes but do the same comparison with Scruton and Crabtree and see who comes out on top

Quote ="Bullseye"Scruton is currently way ahead of Harrison in terms of metres made and tackle busts. He also makes fewer errors and misses far fewer tackles. All according to www.superleague.co.uk/statistics_player.php Harrison is an excellent prospect and wouldn't have been out of place in the squad but Scruton's form so far in 2010 has been clearly better so he deserves a place in the squad. Bias my ar5e.'" Yes but do the same comparison with Scruton and Crabtree and see who comes out on top

Pretty similar



Scruton makes more metres per carry and they have the same number of tackle busts.

Crabtree misses fewer tackles but makes fewer clean breaks.

Both worth taking down under IMO.

=#8000FFShenton is one of the fastest players in the league so a second rower will obviously be slower



Decent squad, with the injuries France have it could be a massacre.

Chuft with that squad! Hope there's some tickets left tomorrow when I try and book ours (again)

I personally would have had Ryan Atkins playing alongside Michael Shenton.

Although does Shenton deserve his spot - his form IMO has been patchy so far this year.

I would very much like to see Leon Pryce as 1 centre come the 4 nations at the end of the year.

Think Leon's burnt his bridges with the England set up.