When doesn't he limp at the end of a game?!?

How's saying that you're being clearly defensive 'getting uppity'? Your statement was very defensive. Fact. End of.

Both those players could well be carrying knocks, they could be seriously injured - I don't know. I don't really care other than I'd like to see the strongest possible Exiles turnout and if you're an England fan so should you.

What I suspect - and I get the impression from your defensive posture that you do too - is that if they are knocks then those same knocks wouldn't keep them out of an important Wigan game. And of course I'm biased, what a ridiculous thing to point out, but me being biased doesn't make me any more likely to be wrong than you and your clear bias does you.

Or is that all a bit uppity for your liking?

I don't quite know what to make of this.

I am chuffed that two of our key players can have a much needed rest.... but I want the Exiles concept to grow and become a 3 match series selling out the best stadiums in super league. Can that happen when the players and coaches treat the series in this way?

If they are honest injuries then obviously there isn't a problem, if they are not real injuries then I love Shaun Wane's 'win at all costs' mentality, but I am disappointed by his attitude to this series. The only way it will be succesful is if all of the players and coaches buy into it like they did with Origin in Aus. If this was in Aus, they would be having painkilling injections to play in origin.

We would all like to see the best Exiles team play the BEST ENGLISH TEAM, BUT THAT WONT HAPPEN AS WE HAVE AN IDIOT PICKING THE ENGLISH TEAM. players have not been picked on form so what bearing the selection could have had on preparation for the world cup has been lost.

It was a wild guess based upon Ben Westwood's own tweet confirming he wasn't playing for England due to under-going an hernia operation, is that ok?

(Although if you want to check back a couple of weeks I did post on this very board that Westwood wouldn't be playing for England in this match, it was a couple of days before I posted about Finch returning to the NRL - but what do I know about anything hey?)

Sounds like he's putting club before country to me. Some folk would frown upon that on this thread.

I mean Westwood played against Leeds knowing he needed the op and may well have done the same against Hull KR the week before. Why not put it off another week and play for England. Or have the op done when first discovered and return fit and ready to play for England. It's only a two week recovery period, and it can't be that serious if he's been playing with it.

It's a good job this England game/free week has come along as he'll only miss one Wire match now.

Obviously Westwood's operation is timed to match the Exiles break for the benefit of Warrington. He got the injury in the first game of the season.

I was responding to the person who suggested that I couldn't know whether Westwood was having an operation.

Some injuries that require rest could be more serious than those requiring "Minor" Operations?

Could Westwood not have had the op around the time Wire played Keighley? Did he play in that game?

Wire pays his wages so I suppose it's only fair but if Wigan have pulled Carmont and Finch out of this fixture to 'rest' them there's no real difference(well apart from one tweet).

Surely Warrington could have timed the operation better than just waiting for the Exiles match to come around, from an England POV that is. Bumbling McNamarra wants as close to a full side out as possible, he must be ed that Westwood could have had this injury seen to at any point since March, yet Wire have specifically waited months until the Exiles weekend before acting. Depriving England one of few consistent performers at international level. That's quite a disrespect of the England team and setup by Warrington.

Good job it's only a poxy mock international.

I am sure there is still time for Sam and Josh to get a slight knock before Saturday,then they could also be rested

I cant say this news is any surprise. At the end of the day the Exiles match is a nothing game for the Exiles players and means nothing to them. It is a bit of a get together for them and a catch up with a few old mates but anyone thinks they take it seriously is kidding themselves. They are not representing their country like the England players are and as last year showed the intensitiy of the games are poor and you can see that players werent giving 100%. The RFL can try and hype it up as much as they want, and they certainly will if England win, but it is a meaningless friendly. It is also a concept which is doomed to failure with the number and quality of imports declining year on year, even next years Exiles team will be a pale imitation of this year just looking at the Wigan players alone that wont be here.

I think that any player would be more inclined/ honoured to represent their country than a scratch team like the Exiles and therefore it would be a lot lighter of a decision to drop out for the likes of Finch and Carmont than any of the England lads.

But it's attitudes like yours that we need to change - State of Origin is meaningless if you choose to look at it that way. Only by hyping it up and making it an honour to be involved will we make it mean something - and we really need it to mean something because then you get the intensity of rep football and then you get a better England.

I'm fully behind it as a concept - we don't have the right level of rivalry across the pennines to have an origin series and some serious form of representative competition is vital to strengthening our game. I'm desperate for it to work and become a highly competitive three game series - Ethihad, Elland Road and Wembley would do me, and I foolishly assumed most other League fans felt the same way,

I think that's the reason they actually brought the concept in, they know about the increased salary cap and the fact the aussie lads are effectively giving up SOO and the Oz national team by coming here, they are trying to bring something in to attract them.
Now granted it's nothing major but it's something.

Dont be daft, this is the attitude of the Exiles players and I have been told as much by a couple of them. If you really think they could care less about it and are prepared to give 100%, play through the pain barrier etc for something that means absolutely nothing them then you are kidding yourself. State of Origin means something and they are representing something, not just a made up entity which means nothing. Just watch last years game and tell me that 1-17 on the Exiles were giving 100%.

Yes, but you go back 25 years and SoO was just a made up entity wasn't it? We have to make it mean something to all involved, and that's partly down to the RFL, partly to the players and partly down to us fans. If we can sell out the stadiums, and move to bigger stadia then the players will start to care a bit more. I don't care who you are, if we can make an Exiles game sell out the Etihad then any overseas player worth their salt would want to play in that game, and want to win it.

You seem almost like you'd be happy to see it fail, and I just don't understand that attitude.

NSW and Queensland are not made-up entities they actually mean something to Australians. The Exiles is a completely made up entity that doesn't represent anything, therefore people don't get excited by it, including the players.

You make an awful lot of assumptions. I would love the concept to be a success as you envisage but I am also a realist, whose opinion as partly been formed by the Exiles players that I have spoken to. Players will not put their careers and future at risk and/or jeapodise their season for a game that means nothing to them. This has already been shown by the withdrawls this season and the lack of effort last.

Also how are New South Wales and Queensland made up entities? Have you ever met a Queenslander and asked him what he thinks of NSW (Nothing to do with RL or State of Origin)? The State of Origin is much more like an international or say Wales v England at RU then the Exiles game. What does an Exile represent? Do you realy think they care less less about being one? There is simply no comparison no matter how much you would like it to be.

Lets look at the Exile team going forward. Lima, Carmont, Leuluai, Finch wont be available for the Exiles next year as they wont be here. They almost certainly wont be replaced by a similar calibre of import and in some cases no import at all. Other imports from other clubs are going back home and even this year the Exiles team have less quality players to choose from than last year with King, Buderus etc going home. With the new NRL TV deal and the exchange rate please tell me how the Exiles team and concept could possibly get stronger, it cannot it can only get weaker as good quality imports will no longer come here and with tightening quota rules the number of imports declines. It will be lucky last another 3 years imo.

the only way we will get top imports from NRL in the next few years is to pay them more than they can get in the NRL, that means paying at least twice the amount a UK based player would be on. This means we would have less cap left to pay home grown players which could then drive them away from the sport. We need to get more money into the game to be able to compete on a level playing field.

Just add a third game and

West England
East England
Exiles

WE v EX
EX v EE
WE v EE

The games then have something for the foreign guys and the WE & EE teams are used to assess which players should play for England in the main comp. You'll get more out the fans i would think too.
Winner is either the one that wins both their games or the highest agg score

You make some excellent points in that last paragraph. IMO the RFL took too long to implement an oversees "All Stars" game/series as the mid season international(s) for GB/England. It was often talked about but we kept persevering with games agaisnt France or Wales. The Exiles concept has now been introduced just as we are about to restrict the amount of oversees players a club can have. If we'd have introduced this a few years ago and had players like Barrett, Gidley, Lyon, Jones etc playing then it could easily have gathered momentum and turned in to a decent series.

As it is, as much as I want as many good English players in SL as possible, with the current quota rules plus the NRL salary cap increase, we are going to end up playing a team of journeymen, players at the end of their careers or who are simply not good enough for the NRL. On paper it was a decent idea but I fear it may end up just sort of petering out like the Lanc v York games did.

I don't know where this lack of effort by the Exiles theory in last year's match comes from. I went to the match and didn't notice any slackers, indeed they were going strong at the end and won it at the death.

Just to clarify, I merely said it sounded like you would be happy to see it fail, I'm happy to accept you want it to succeed, and I wasn't saying that Queensland and New South Wales were made up entities, and I think that was fairly clear. I was saying that prior to 1980 there was no such thing as State of Origin - that had to start somewhere and needed support in order to grow to what it has become. Yes, QLD and NSW had a ready made rivalry which made it easier, but my understanding is that not everybody thought the concept was worthwhile or would work, over time they were proven wrong.

Have you ever asked an Australian or Kiwi what they think of England? They're generally not big fans, so we do have a rivalry that we can build on, and if all else fails money talks. Chuck some cash from the RFL coffers at the Exiles representatives, five grand a man, ten if they win - you'd certainly see some effort put in then.

I haven't spoken to any of the Exile players so can't comment on what they might think of the idea, but one thing's pretty clear - if they're over here that means they're not playing SoO and they're not playing for Australia or New Zealand, so the Exiles game offers their only chance of Rep footy - we can make that mean something. I think it can work, but only if everyone pulls in the same direction.

But thats is the problem. It isn't serious preparation. It's another of Nigel Woods idiotic ideas.



I dream of us winning a series or the world cup v the Aussies as well but you won't get support for warm up games that take 9 players from one team. There was a limit of three last year and I am guessing were that limit still in place it would be hard to raise a team.

It's going to get even harder next season when Finch, Tommy and Lima are back home. I don't see anyone signing similar quality and as teams find it harder to attract overseas players as the NRL pulls away from us financially this concept will be dead and buried before many more games.



Well we aren't so that is a bit irrelevant.