Just want to put it out there:

Anyone who is picking their tickets up from the DW ticket office, get down early and pick them up. I'd advise not to come near kick off because it will be rammed and i mean rammed. If you're coming near kick off we're assuming there will be a very very large queue.

On the evidence of that match Sam Burgess is twice the prop forward that is James Graham.

totally different players but you would take burgess everyday over graham all though i wouldn't say no to james graham even tho he is unfit at the moment.

He's still a whiny b1tch

Sinfield was excellent today along with Burgess and Hill .

Guys like Hill and Ferres have been exceptional which is a real bonus. They both look real international quality and have complimented the likes of Sam Burgess and James Graham exceptionally well.

no he wasnt

Why not? Aussie press have him as the 2nd best english performance on saturday

Billy Slater was this morning 'released without charge' following an incident in a Manchester nightclub. Stating the obvious but he must have been arrested for something. I just don't get it, why would players go to nightclubs in the middle of a World Cup? By all means have a night off and relax but it seems they're taking unnecessary risks. Obviously we don't know the full story but it'll be interesting to see how it's dealt with by the Aussies.

He has been released without charge and has no case to answer, either from the police or Australia.

He tried to split up a fight and then got a slap and acted in self-defence.

A job lot of tickets in various categories have just appeared for the Final on the eTicketing for anyone still looking.

And?.....The English press say hes world class also.

No coincidence that Sinfield's best performances in big games over the last couple of years have both been when he was knocked out early.

I can just imagine the doctor whispering in his ear when he's coming round - "you're not Kevin Sinfield, you're the world's best player".

released without charge and advised by police that he could press charges for assault against his asailants.

unless he was legless , i cant see the aussie management doing anything. The players had been given time off to go and unwind

was it 2am in the morning? You would have thought he'd adjusted to UK time by now....

So I suppose all of the posters complaining about the UNPROFESSIONALISM of Hock and Hardaker will no doubt have to agree that Slater is also UNPROFESSIONAL and therefore should be sent home. I mean what was he doing out at that time...and fighting?

I wonder how many other rugby players are similarly UNPROFESSIONAL?

And I wonder if Australia will purge themselves of such UNPROFESSIONALISM?

...or maybe they won't.

Maybe they'll just concentrate on getting their best team out on the park and winning the tournament.

Hardaker and Hock broke the rules. Slater didn't. Simple.

Rubbish...how do you know Slater didn't break any rules?

You just don't get it do you?

Of the 3 names you mentioned which 2 x definately broke their own managements rules?
Not once but multiple times.

And you don't get it. You don't know what Australia's rules are do you? You'll never know whether Slater broke them.

What you will know is that Slater will line up in the World Cup final on Nov 30th probably against NZ, partly because England didn't pick their best team (and partly because NZ are probably better anyway - all of which makes it the number one priority for Engalnd to pick their best players)

Come on mate. There's no reason to believe he did, whereas there is with Hardaker and Hock. The burden if proof lies squarely on your shoulders if you want to infer Slater broke the rules

I'll ask again
"Of the 3 names you mentioned which 2 x definately broke their own managements rules?
Not once but multiple times."

As for your other point YES they are better than us, all the more reason for us to maximise our chances by acting as proffessionally as possible to the rules put in place by OUR management.

I couldn't give a flying monkeys about what Oz do, if they had a rule that says they can go out and get blid drunk every night that's up to them.
How will us copying that IMPROVE OUR CHANCES?

I don't. I don't particularly care about rules. I care about England having their best players available to beat Aussie. We dropped Graham and Hock against Aussie because they broke the rules.

It seems to me that if Slater didn't break the rules - then Aussie have amore relaxed set of rules - would that be reasonable?

Maybe the Aussie management know and understand more about managing a set of twentysomethings through a five week tournamant - and create their rules accordingly.

Given the fact the Australian RL official statement said this:

Because the Aussies have released a statement saying they were free from official duties after returning from Ireland. There's not always a conspiracy you know.