Indeed, if it's experimental and a chance to blood the youngsters why not Craig Hall or even Kris Welham?

Good to see Ross Divorty in the Welsh line up!! agree that O'loughlin in centre is a bit puzzling

We all know what Morley can do, why not leave him out of this one, move Burgess to prop, O'loughlin to 13 and Bridge to centre?

Yess, and he has shentonicon_biggrin.gif

Ridiculous. Its not like we need to play people out of position for a one-off game. Its the start of a new 'era' for this team, against poor opposition, and we still have people all over the shop. crazy

I don't see what the problem is. He has pace, can pass, has a good rugby brain, and is a solid defender.. i don't see the problem here.

good luck to Briscoe...........hope he seizes his chance.

I agree. There is no chance O'Loughlin will play centre in the 4 Nations so why in this game when you have available centres not getting a game?

What is the point in playing that wooly haired tool at centre?

I actually rate the wooly haired tool highly as a loose forward but I agree about why play him centre!

Smith is giving all the players who play for the lesser teams a run out. Note the lack of St Helens and Leeds players. Some of those haven't played in a month, Mr Morley is a prime example.

I wouldn't read anything into his selection tbh. It's no more than a training run.

had a very good season at loose fo Wigan, the sad thing is against such a poor oppo he'll look very good at centre and no doubt will be 'pushing' for a centre spot in the 4 nations where he'll come up very short. Leavehim at 13...

As mentionned I am sure this is only seen as a run out to give some players match time but playing players out of position when there is absolutely no need to is a bugbear of mine.

Maybe its a tactic that T Smith is thinking of to stop the giant aussie centres?

A shotgun would be more practical if Inglis is in the mood.

O'Laughlin with a shotgun? Maybe thats the sacrifice we're willing to make.

Briscoe is also on stand by for the squad too.

He won't need a shot gun. His swinging right arm around Inglis' jaw will be sufficient.

Maybe thats how we can beat em. Concentrate on beating France and NZ, then when we play Oz send out the second string side to maim a few Aussies, we might get a few sent off, but it won't matter, then when we play the final we will have our full strength side and they will have their second string side.

Actually, since their 8th string side would still win it would be a waste of time.

Do you think he will get that close in the first place?

If anyone can it would be O'Loughlin, one of our best defensive players and if it neutralises their biggest threat it might not be a bad idea.

As knocker says above, he has to get near Inglis first to lay a finger on him.

If we had two grat attaking centres I would say it's a bad move to drop one of them but it's an area we were are struggling and it might just be a gamble worth taking, either with O'Loughlin or Ellis.

I would rather see Shenton given the chance to play against what is an awesome looking Aussie backline. Chances are he may struggle but if he is to develop into a world class centre he is going to have to prove it against the best.

There is that argument, nothing wrong with Smith having a look in this game though.