but were anonymous when given International call ups?

Iestyn Harris

gonna stick my neck out Sam Tomkins

Cunningham, for a player with such a high and big reptuation in Super League, one of the greats. Never shown it at International level.

Gareth Ellis

Fa'asavalu

Fa'asavaWHO

most of them.

Has to be a wind up.

Danny McGuire for me.

not at all
(imo of course) I've not been impressed by him in a GB/England jersey, despite his reputation at club level on both sides of the world

Agreed.

Certainly in the past 10 - 15 years.

easier to list the British players who have performed with note in the international arena...

Sculthorpe
Peacock
Carney
Morley
Fielden
Gleeson
Burgess

Sad but true. Sally makes a list of the only players who have really stood out at international level.

Long
Senior
Radlinski
and maybe a few others have done pretty well.

Unfortunatly most of the players who play well in this league are unable to step up and play at the top level.

At least most of the current crop have time to prove themselves. As somebody said appart from a couple of games Sam Tomkins has never really set a game on fire like he does in super league, he was awesome against the French and decent second half against aus in 2009 but other than that he hasn't been that great.

Lets hope the exiles game bridges the gap from super league to test level.

Am I the only one who thought Radlinski never 'did it' at international level.
A case inpoint, would be the tri nations at the back end of the '99 season, where (imo) he stunk the place out. IIRC he was at some kind of fault for every try in one match.

Long was another one (again imo) where his good games were the exception, rather than the rule.

Don't get me wrong, these were class acts at SL level

That 1999 Tri Nations was a shocker for us, because GB had a pretty strong team in terms of names. I think the tour schedule and coaching/preparation under Andy Goodway (who had been sacked by Wigan for being garbage there) ruined us. Not saying we would have won it, but you would have thought we could have been competitive with the Aussies, we had Radlinski at fullback, wingers were Robinson and Sullivan, centres were Connolly and Senior, had Iestyn Harris at his peak at stand-off, with Sean Long pre-injury when he was still fast, we had a back row of Morley, Farrell and Scully with Cunningham at hooker. But we were blown off the park by the Aussies and Kiwis and struggled to beat Burleigh Bears.

Ta for the memories, Sal.
That's a pretty strong line-up, for anyone's money (well maybe not Sullivan being THAT great, but decent all the same).

We were POOH that tour, almost embarrasing.

We haven't really COMPETED at international level, since the Aussies toured in 94.

How many 'think tanks' have the RFL had since then, as to our international failures

Some of the muppets who've been picked ahead of Briers over the years
Horne
Thorman
I'm sure there are others

Thought Atkins had a great year for us last season but was poor when he got a run out at the end of the year

I think we have competed in some years. Its a bit like Warrington v St Helens over the years, we have always lost but some times we have been panned off the park and sometimes we have been edged out in a tight game.

I thought in the David Waite and Brian Noble eras we competed. 2001 was like '90 and '94, great win in the first Test but lost the series 2-1. 2003 was probably the closest we were, we lost the series 3-0 but were in every game only to get edged out by Lockyer or Kimmorley at the end. Then the Brian Noble era 2004-2006 had some good wins over the Aussies and Kiwis although overall they were still better than us. We seem to have regressed since Noble's time.

Leon Pryce

Don't forget the times where David Waite would play Farrell or Scully in the halfs just to have any extra tackler in the side...That plan died on its Ar$e...

Not sure if it was about having an extra tackler, that was just something that fans on forums said. It was Scully who played stand-off, Farrell played 2nd row under David Waite with Forshaw at loose. IMO the real reason Scully played there was he was a better stand-off than any of the other options. Briers back then was pretty inconsistent so I can see why there were doubts. Some of the 'peoples choice' picks look embarrasing with hindsight, I remember when everybody was saying we should have picked Orr, Horne or Thorman at stand off instead of Scully....really? Scully was GB's best performer (from stand-off) in David Waite's era, and he won back to back Man of Steel awards at Saints. I can't really see how we would have been stronger with Orr, Horne or Thorman. Briers would have brought a good kicking game but back then even as a stand-off Scully was ahead of Briers.

Talking of the "peoples choice" I remember when people were banging their heads against the wall at Forshaw's continued selection saying it was time to give Danny Tickle a chance....another Waite decision to be proved right, Tickle has never hit the standards Forshaw did, ever.

didn't sculthorpe win man of steel playing from stand off.

he was pretty bloody good i tell thee

On paper that's a bloody good side

Yes he won it twice playing stand-off for Saints in the 2001 and 2002 seasons.

Ironically I think if Scully had been a bad tackler he would have been better accepted by GB fans as a stand-off. He was far and away GB's most consistent player in those times, in fact I would say since the days of Hanley, Schofield and Davies, Scully has been the best British player in the international field. He was right up there with the Aussies. But a lot of fans used to blame GB's defeats on Scully being stand-off rather than Briers, Orr, Thorman or Horne, all of whom Scully was streets ahead of (bearing in mind this was the inconsistent Briers not the complete version of his later years). When there were arguments on fans forums the usual argument was "yes Scully looks OK at stand-off in Super League but he's not a stand-off at international level"....completely ignoring the fact that he was performing well there.