Cameron Smith (capt), Darius Boyd, Shannon Boyd, Boyd Cordner, Cooper Cronk, Josh Dugan, Blake Ferguson, Jake Friend, Tyson Frizell, Matt Gillett, Valentine Holmes, Greg Inglis, David Klemmer, James Maloney, Josh Mansour, Trent Merrin, Michael Morgan, Matt Moylan, Justin O’Neill, Josh Papalii, Matt Scott, Sam Thaiday, Johnathan Thurston, Aaron Woods.

Surprised no Tedesco or Leilua. What will their team likely be from that?

See below

It will be very hard to pick the top 17 out of that squad.

My guess for the serious games (NZ and England):

[iDarius Boyd/Matthew Moylan

Joshua Mansour, Gregory Inglis, Joshua Dugan, Blake Ferguson,

Johnathan Thurston
Cooper Cronk

Trent Merrin
Boyd Cordner, Matthew Gillett
Aaron Woods, Cameron Smith, Matthew Scott[/i

[uInterchange[/u: [iJake Friend, Shannon Boyd, David Klemmer, Samuel Thaiday[/i

It will require all the muscle of the Burgess brothers, and the guile of Joshua Hodgson and James Graham, for England to have a chance of defeating that Australian team. But given the obvious weakness of the England halves, I fear that such muscle and guile in the forwards will not suffice.

could the names on that team be any more australian.....

same for the Kiwis. Us and the Kiwis have the fire power up front but the Aussies have the flair and the spine that will probably be too much for both. Should be an interesting set of games though, i have certainly seen stronger looking OZ teams over the years and the big names are in the twighlight now, so i think if everything does go right we could get close.

Not the best looking team, not a vintage touring squad, but still too good for England team.

I'd argue that if anything it's the Kiwis who have the flair: Shaun Johnson v Cooper Cronk? The Aussies aren't generally big on 'flair', hence you don't see a Ben Barba or James Tedesco in their side.

Of course it all depends on how many of these 'NRL stars' actually come over.

Yeah, wrong choice of word, i meant more creativity and ability to make use of superior backs which Australia will have with Cronk and Thurston.

On paper the squad looks good - but when you take into account recent form and injuries, I'd say it's one of the weakest teams they've sent in years. When you look at the starting 13 named above I see some clear weakness based on current form/fitness;

Boyd - was very good this year, but not as good as Tedesco - still miles better than what we have though
Mansour - Outstanding and will rip us apart around the ruck. Can suffer from the dropsies though
Inglis - Been out of form for 2 seasons and is suffering from a degenerative knee condition that is limiting his ability to train and play at his highest level -, did nothing for most of this year
Dugan - Perpetually injured and hasn't had a spell of good form in a long time, has the odd good running game, but can't pass. Is a better fullback than centre.
Ferguson - Was pretty awful all year.... Can't for the life of me see why he's been picked
Thurston/Cronk - Champions and could beat us on their own
Matt Scott - Playing absolutely busted at back end of the year and had minimal impact. Has a number of chronic injuries.
Smith - See Thurston and Cronk
Woods - Massively overrated in my eyes. Big plodder, but has a cult following - nothing to write home about
Cordner and Gillett - Both very impressive and a miles ahead of our 2nd rowers.
Merrin - Has the odd good game where his offloads work, but when the going gets tough, he goes missing. Can turn plenty of ball over and not the best defender

Then looking at the other pack men, Boyd, Klemmer and Thaiday are all very good and will cause damage. If I were the Aussies, I'd most definitely have Holmes in ahead of Ferguson - he is freakish. They've also left Fifita and Radradra at home due to 'disciplinary issues' (or political correctness gone mad, depending on your view) , arguably the best prop and winger in the world - those two players alone would have made a huge difference to their strength.

The best England pack we can put out can definitely do a job on that Aussie pack, we've got great options at 9 (though still not Smiths level) and if players like Watkins and Hall are at their best, we can match their outside backs.

Our issue is that our halves and fullback options are clearly a million miles behind, and would more than likely struggle to make a 4th choice Aussie team.

Plus, whilst we can muster a strong 17, if we're cruelled by injury to a couple of key players, our back up options don't look great.

You were doing so well until this sentence.

It is guaranteed that prior to every international tournament involving England and Australia, that old chestnut [i"Our forwards are better than/can do a job on... their forwards"[/i bollox is trotted out ad nauseam.

I cannot think of a single occasion where our forwards have bettered theirs.

Otherwise, we wouldn't have gone 10 friggin' years without beating them fer chrissakes!



On the topic of Watkins and Hall... neither deserve to be selected based upon the crap they've served up between them for Leeds in 2016.

And just to place things into perspective... Australia have left behind more players from this tour than we can shake a competitive stick at...

Fullbacks: Tedesco, Barba, Hayne, Trbojevic, Hopoate
Wingers: Oates, Gagai, Radradra, Tupou, Mitchell, Feldt
Centres: Jennings, Morris, Chambers, J. Bird, Peachey, Morris, Walker, Roberts
Halfbacks: Milford, J. Reynolds, Moses, Hunt, Cherry-Evans, A. Reynolds
Props: Fifita, Myles, Tamou, McGuire
Second Rowers: Guerra, Lewis, Hoffman, Graham, Cooper
Loose Forwards: G. Bird, Gallen

Ah, the "ill post the full names for affect" thread continues. Transparent little game.

It's all about opinions i suppose.

the dugan/ferguson side looks like something we could exploit

I'm going for a Aus v NZ final.

I know your thread titles are for massive effect and ego but is this fearsome squad more or less fearsome than the earlier fearsome squad?

I agree, both very dangerous with the ball but due to both playing a fair bit of fullback, they are a bit shakey when it comes to decision making. However, if we don't pick a ball playing fullback, then Dugan/Ferguson unnecessarily shooting in will pay off.

Australia team would look so much stronger with Radradra on a wing, Fifita in the forwards and Leilua in the centres.