so aint going to play in the world cup then?

Ferres is starting and Ablett is on the bench.

There is a full page article in todays Daily Express on Gareth Widdop speaking about the hip injury he received in June.
The article goes on to say that it seems certain England will start with Sinfield and Chase in the halves, Widdop made his feelings clear on the subject when he said : "I class myself as a starting halfback. I've played in the NRL for the past 4 years, been in the play-offs and won a Grand Final so I want to be starting". "But it's the coach's choice and I just have to get on with whatever he decides".

That is all well and good Gareth, but have you ever single handedly won a match for Castleford? That is the pinnacle.

Or more to the point, have you ever been named as the best player in the World ?.

Sadly, probably not, but we can hope !!

Yes as you say there’s always hope or, where there’s a WILL there’s a way, or a dead body!

I'd have Sinfield in the squad above Chase

Purely on the act that he's English

Well.....that and being a better all round player

McNamara walked out of the press conference today because journalists were questioning why Graham wasn't picked in the squad, how dare they question why one of our best players have been picked! The coaching set up is an absolute mess I despise the fact that he is in charge, we have such a good opportunity here with the World Cup in our own back yards and the best squad we have had in years yet I have absolutely no optimism because of the man in charge.

This is an headline in a tomorrow Sydney newspaper.

Scandalous England ready to implode ahead of World Cup Opener

Read more: [urlhttp://www.foxsports.com.au/league/scandalous-england-ready-to-implode-ahead-of-world-cup-opener/story-e6frf3ou-1226747103812#ixzz2ikpbuBbJ[/url

Found out today that Ben Westwood lost his mum on Monday. Whether he plays or not i guess will depend on his own personal frame of mind, some use such personal grief to have the game of their lives, others like to be with family. Thoughts with him and his family on such a sad loss. He will be a massive miss if he doesnt play but again such a loss puts the importance of things in perspective.

Once more McNamara has failed the litmus test of the top job, if as the boss you make a decision that you think is right (and I think he was) you must then be able to justify that decision to anyone. His walking out, because that’s what it was has just aggravated the situation and for me just demonstrates the lack of balls in himself that he would not accept in others.

Headline in Monday's Sydney paper:

"Aussies throw match to save World Cup"

Taken from the above
[uWigan's talented hooker Micael McIlorum was also controversially omitted and the Australians won't mind that either given Tim Sheens rates McIlorum highly[/u

I do not think there was ever any chance of McNamara going with Roby and MM in the team, if he did it would mean he would he would have to spell either Chase or Sinfield if he wanted to bring Burrows on.
I think his intention is for Roby to be spelled with Burrows going to halfback and Sinfield to Hooker, in the S/L there does not seem much difference in hooker and scrumhalf anyway.

Edit.
Egg on face. Change Burrows for Widdop.

A few words of caution to England fans who dont watch NRL:
The Burgess bros do lose the ball a lot: mainly because their game is based on dominating in the collision and they like to get up and play the ball asap. This encourages the "cheats" to leave a hand or knee in the tackle- even though the rules clearly state the tackler must back off and not interfer.
Also, Slater and Cronk have a trick where on the last tackle Cronk will release a bomb and Slater will not track the ball directly but runs straight to the fullback and "reads" the FB. When the FB leaps for the catch Slater also leaps and spins and somehow wins the ball, effectively he uses the FB's actions to win the ball - its genius. Expect these tricks happen.

Get Westwood off he is a friggin liability!!

After watching today Id personally make the following changes. Assuming Lockers is fit, him to 13 and S Burgess to second row along side Ferres who I was impressed with. Westwood out and Farrell taking his spot on the interchange. Mossop out, and Graham in. Mossop was by far the poorest performing prop of the Burgess boys and Hill. Sinfield will always make the squad and if Mcnamara chooses to play him at 7 then Widdop needs to start at 6. Not move a player who should is a loose forward, who has played 6 all season to scrum half and interchange him to 9. Bin Chase and have Mcilorum either to start or off the bench to spell the rook.

I thought Chase was very ineffectual today too. Mind, it's the worst Ozzie half back partnership I think I've seen in a long while thank God.

In a way I think its a blessing we didnt win today - theres no way we would beat them twice in one competition so its better to save it for a knock out stage eh



Our strongest team in my opinion would be as follows:

1. Tomkins
2. Charnley
3. Cudjoe
4. Watkins
5. Hall
6. Widdop
7. Sinfield
8. Graham
9. McIlorum
10. G.Burgess
11. S.Burgess
12. Ferres
13. O'Loughlin

14. Roby
15. Hill
16. Mossop
17. Westwood

Chase is massively over rated - did he even play today? The fact that hes crap and not english just adds insult to injury. McIlorum to start and rough the opposition up then bring on roby to do the damage to a tired defence. George and Sam Burgess are just unbelievable, so impressed with their performances, hopefully they can play like that every week in this competition. Our bench let us down today IMO but that one looks a lot stronger. I'd love to see that team play Australia in the final. Yet again though I just wish we had a decent coach.

Mossop and Westwood should not even make the bench.

Farrell + one in. Roby to start. Showed he was a class act today.

Bingo, apart from the fact it was Inglis who gathered the Cronk bomb.

I may be wrong but I thought that during the commentary someone said that O'Loughlin was out for the series.

If that is the case I would go the whole hog and in one of the next couple of matches and before the serious stuff starts I would do the following.
Hardaker to fullback, Widdop to standoff, Sam to scrumhalf and Sinfield to loose forward just to get some creativity in the team.
There will be no chance to experiment when New Zealand and the Aussies come later in the series.