I have already posted this on the VT, but am interested in what my fellow Wigan fan thinks as we obviously know more than any other group of fans



Before the 4 nations, there was much disagreement about a lot of players that McNamara took down under. Now that the comp is over as far as England are concerned and many people have been proven correct by the poor performances by certain members of the squad.
Would it not be a good idea to have the players picked by a team of selectors, much in the same way that some other International teams are picked?
I am not for a second thinking that the idiots at the RFL should be involved in any decision making process, more a team of well respected ex pros, managers etc. People from all corners of English RL that would stop any club bias.
Not a massive team, maybe 6-10 very well respected members of the Professional RL community. Of which there are plenty knocking around.
It would help sort the chaff from the wood IMO and would leave the current International coach with a squad made up of the very best and in-form players from which to pick a team.
Squad selection is obviously a massive part of producing a winning team and I think it could be a good idea.

If anyone English could/would have gone...

Tomkins
Goulding/Atkins Gleeson Senior Hall
Pryce Eastmond
Morley Sinfield Peacock
Burgess Ellis
Lockers
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Graham Roby J Tomkins Fielden
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McGuire, Shenton Westwood Smith Crabtree Widdup etc

Untill we go out there and smash them apart everyone will cry over selection

Lets face it taking kev brown over as a 6 we was never going to do anything the biggest disapointment for me in this years 4 nations is widdop

Normally with a decent coach in charge i'd find the idea of a team of selectors silly but with Macca in charge we may well need it!

He had few options for this trip to be fair to him but his slections over there have been poor and to make so many changes for the Aussie game was a panic measure.

It's sad but we have to have an Australian in charge if we're to even get close to challenging because their aren't any English coaches around of a good enough quality at the moment.

I agree, taking Brown was not filling me with much confidence pre tournament . The Widdop situation is a bit different, he's been average at best, but he's a reserve player, hardly played at top level never mind proven, so what did we all expect? Just because he's a reserve player with big raps in the NRL does not mean he's first choice for an international side, or should I say he shouldn't be, for anyone who knows about the game! It's a big ask in your thirst few top grade games to play international level against NZ. That points back to the biggest disappointment for me "the coach" again hardly proven is he? Just to point how blatantly obvious it is. Who would most have had in the England set up pre four nations, a young reserve grade Widdop or Macbanana as coach?

I think picking on Brown is a tad unfair - if McGuire had been fit I suspect he would have been first choice - Brown as an option which hasn't worked but who else was there? Widdop I am not sure about but again looking at FB who else was available, and that foor me is the roor of all the issues - a lack of decent backs in SL who are English.

The team of selectors idea is one I am not in favour of - too many opinions and you end up with compromise selections or even worse players missing out due to disagreements between selectors - better having the coach make the selections. Now the choice of coach.........


thats another discussion!

Myler is better than brown we could have has myler and robinson at halfs with sam at fb

Another selection is gleeson and drop atkins the guy is cack he's **** it ever game

Well i'll hold my hands up i thought he was a very good player (widdop) i suppose we got blinded by the fact we played france and not any real opposition

Putting big mac in the coaching roll wasn't going to be anything other than dumb look what the guy did to bradford not being funny but they didn't have a rubbish squad did they mabye he lost the dressing room or his skills wasn't good enough i do know one thing the guy is clueless

Widdop is an excellent, player!

He will be in the England set up for a long long time to come, the notion that he plays 1 poor game and he becomes a poor player is laughable!

Widdop needs a settled position which he will get next year in the halves probably at the Storm and will go on to be in my opinion one of the leading lights in the British game.

Were he playing to the standard he is not in SL he would be a top quality first team regular.

He was poor against both kiwi teams i'm not saying he's totally **** but he wasn't good

The main problem with him is he's not going to get game time unless slater gets injured or he moves clubs it's all good saying oh he plays in aus but the fact remains he doesn't really does he?

If he wants to get better and be one of the best he should move to a club where he will play week in week out

He will play in the halves next year for the Storm.

Possibly, but Myler was struggling to get into the Warrington team at the end of the season- and better than Brown - close call for me, both are well behind Tomkins,Eastmond and McGuire. Losing both McGuire and Eastmond upset a few plans I think.

Is Gleeson even available I thought he had retired from international rugby (coud be wrong though) but I agree about Atkins - not a player I rate highly (looks good when Warrington are on top but prone to mistakes).

Atkins is going same way as senior when the team he's playing in gets on top he wants to know but if the other team gets a roll on he goes hiding

I agree eastmond with sam looked good against the aussies over here and we need to get that together but the lad is to injury prone (or imo saints are bringing him back too soon)

It depends on the coaches' strategy though surely. What if the selectors pick a light, mobile pack when he wanted a big pack of houses?

I dont think selectors are the answer this wasn't a case of McNamara picking the wrong team it was a case of the right team not being available. We have many injuries and we mustn't forget that theres a 9 in 10 chance the Aussies and Kiwis would beat us anyway even at full strength so with a side suffering through lack of fit first choice players i think they did ok.

The issue was not the coach in any way it was the way the players were making a lot of mistakes they just dont make in SL games.

Selections aren't really the main problem, not by a long way. Obviously there have been some selection errors for this tour, Cudjoe over Gleeson sticks out for me. The major and most alarming problem is the strength in depth. Eastmond, Bridge, McGuire, Peacock, Morley, Shenton get injured and there isnt a player in the same class to replace them. With no injuries we can put together a 17 that would more than likely have been more competitive. The Aussies, however, have probably got a pool of players large enough to put together 4 or 5 international standard squads, we have barely got enough for one.

Hoepfully Gareth Widdop will get a full season playing 6 for Storm next year because the guy does look class, I think a Widdop/Eastmond halfback partnership with Sam at FB would be very exciting.

The issue of mistakes is another one. As much as players talk down nerves and being over awed by playing against Australia and New Zealand it clearly is still a big issue as the players made far more basic errors that they rarely do at SL level. This is venturing in to the area of sports psychology, I dont know if one is employed by England and is on the tour with them but its definitely something that needs looking more closely at in the future.

We just need the RFL to promote the game better, with the help of Sky and the BBC, and get more kids playing this game, then get the training and coaching standards up to the same level as the southern hemisphere and we'll be reet! Easier said than done though im afraid!

This wouldn't work IMHO.

It won't make us any better or any worse, simply because it'll still be the same players, maybe with the occasional spanner thrown in the works.
However, I think the RFL need to look at the coaching set-up for England, ie. the backroom staff structure.

Your singling out Widdop, I think he has had a fairly solid tour, 1 dropped bomb and he's crap is he? And what exactley has Tomkins done this tournament? Very ordinary IMO, he as had a few mistakes in is game also and he's not the only one, the team overall have been very poor, they play without structure and play off the cuff football. I think Widdop will be around for a while, I don't know what you expected from him when no one else aimed up IMO. I would say Robinson was our best back though.