The England squad for the 2012 Autumn International Series:

(Professional club and community club shown)

Carl Ablett (Leeds Rhinos, Hunslet Parkside)
Ryan Atkins (Warrington Wolves, Stanningley)
Tom Briscoe (Hull FC, Featherstone Lions)
Sam Burgess (South Sydney Rabbitohs, Dewsbury Moor)
Rob Burrow (Leeds Rhinos, Featherstone Lions)
Josh Charnley (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)
Rangi Chase (Castleford Tigers, Dannevirke Tigers)
Leroy Cudjoe (Huddersfield Giants, Newsome Panthers)
Gareth Ellis (Hull FC, Castleford Lock Lane)
James Graham (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Blackbrook)
Ryan Hall (Leeds Rhinos, Oulton Raiders)
Zak Hardaker (Leeds Rhinos, Featherstone Lions)
Chris Hill (Warrington Wolves, New Springs Lions)
Gareth Hock (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Judes)
Jamie Jones-Buchanan (Leeds Rhinos, Stanningley)
Michael McIlorum (Wigan Warriors, Queens)
Adrian Morley (Warrington Wolves, Eccles)
Lee Mossop (Wigan Warriors, Hensingham)
Richard Myler (Warrington Wolves, Halton West Bank)
Sean O’Loughlin (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)
Kevin Sinfield (Leeds Rhinos, Waterhead)
Sam Tomkins (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)
Kallum Watkins (Leeds Rhinos, Latchford Albion)
Ben Westwood (Warrington Wolves, Normanton)

my 17 would be :
tomkins
hall
hardaker or watkins
atkins
briscoe
sinfield (because theres no widdop)
myler
graham (if he doesnt get banned) (which is unlikely)
McIlorum
hill
hock
westwood
burgess

burrow
morley
mossip
ellis

So what about Chris Heighington and Jack Reed?

Tomkins
Briscoe
Hardaker
Atkins
Hall
Sinfield
Myler
Hill
Burrow
Graham
Ellis
Westwood
O'loughlin

Hock
Morley
Mossop
Burgess

If Burrow needs a break, which he won't, then I would rather he go off for Hock, stick O'loughlin at 9, and Hock go to Loose.

Ablett, Chase, JJB, Cudjoe, don't deserve a game.
I refuse to believe McIlorum is England quality.
Josh Charnley can't tackle for s h y i t.
Unlucky on Watkins but I believe Hardaker is slightly better at present.

Hill must be in with a VERY good shout of getting a game.

Tomkins
Hall
Watkins
Atkins
Briscoe
Chase
Myler
Burgess
Burrow
Hill
Hock
Ellis
O'loughlin

Sinfield
Morley
Mossop
JJB

I think Graham will be suspended and Westwood will be ruled out to recover from his knee problem. Lets face it, these games are meaningless next month. I wouldn't pick McIllorum if he was the only English 9 left in the comp. Better off playing with 12 men.

I can't believe we only have Sinfield and Chase for no.6, given that Tomkins is destined for full back

Sinfield is a great kicker, he should be in the team but not at 6, and Chase was a massive liablity in defense during the Four Nations. Widdop would be my first choice but he's out for an op - I'm tempted to move Tomkins to 6 and put Hardaker at 1.

Zak Hardaker
Ryan Hall
Ryan Atkins
Kallum Watkins
Tom Briscoe
Sam Tomkins
Richard Myler
Sam Burgess
Michael McIlorum
Chris Hill
Ben Westwood
Gareth Hock
Kevin Sinfield

Rob Burrow
Adrian Morley
Lee Mossop
Gareth Ellis

That would be my squad, bit different from the usual. Unlucky on some, JJB and O'Loughlin are good players, and Graham is likely to miss out with a ban.

And Gareth Widdop ?

Widdop and Reed are both listed on the SL website as having operations during the off-season and so missing out - there's quite a long list of players having operations, actually.

thats a great shout

One of first on team sheet according to the journalist who wasn't Chris Irvine on backchat.

It's just occurred to me that McIlorum still has another game left on his ban, doesn't he? Is Burrow going to do 80 minutes at hooker in the first game? Dropping Roby makes even less sense now...

I've only seen Hill play a few times this year. If you'd told me 12 months ago he'd be in serious consideration for an international shirt this year I'd have laughed, but he's been seriously impressive whenever I've seen him play. Hope he gets picked - get him into the team well ahead of the World Cup. Morley and Peacock need replacing and players like him have got to be the future.

Obviously I hope he has a mare on Saturday....



Why isn't Roby playing, have I missed something?