Quote: FlexWheeler "I wouldn't have hock on at all. Too prone to brain farts. England literally can't afford any stupid offloads or penalties gifting the aussies position. People saying they need to ''give it a go'' that's the wrong way to play it IMO. If england try and open up in attack australia will smother it and shut it down. They'll pick out the runners and be up their s forcing errors. As soon as we start giving australia easy field position we are on a hiding to nothing. England need to go in with the mentality that australia aren't going to get any sets in our red zone throughout the entire game. Of course australia can score long range, no problem. But as soon as they get near our line it's like a sieve. That means we need to [irelentlessly[/iget up the field, put in decent kicks, chase well and give no penalties away. The least we can do is try and take it the distance. You stay within less than 6 points and you never know how the ball might bounce or if one of aussies [ihuman beings[/i (they aren't super human) cracks and comes up with an error.
A player like Hock is going to f*ck that up. He'll pull an offload out of nowhere taking us 30 metres further up the field. His next contributios will be to piggy back them up the field with a dumb penalty, which they most likely score from. Unfortunatly the good and bad don't cancel each other out because of how clinical australia are. Hocks good and bad combine to f*ck us over.'"
I don't have a lot of experience of watching Hock or any England player for that matter since the GBR sides of the 80-90's era.
I've started watching the ESL again to take a Look at Sam Tomkins who's coming here of course next year.
The reason I picked out this post is It's exactly the plan NZ use to defeat Australia and will live and die by this world cup. Safe Footballers who stick to the game plan , a simple plan at that.
I would add :
The teams that went through to the NRL finals series ( with the exception of Melbourne who are a special case / structured like what I have seen of Wigan Games ) were powered by Monster Forward Packs with Mobile Big impact forwards off the Bench.
Crabtree not being in the squad makes no sense to me at all ( my expectation was England would reply in kind because they have the Big Humans who can ).
For Non NRL fans, a case for the Inclusion of the Burgess Twins cannot be overstated. George would be welcomed with open arms into the Kangaroo and Kiwi Line ups , Tom wouldn't be far behind selection.
Not wanting to get into an NRL is superior nonsense argument , my point being George has been better than anything we have here for impact , and I'm quietly confident the Kiwis Pack may prove better than Australia ( very close the tournament will tell ) our backs obviously are not , never have been , and probably won't be come the next world cup.
They would be where I would start in the forwards Crabtree and the Burgi. Sams done exceptionally well of course ,
Aussie are the most clinical of the teams and frankly neither England nor NZ have the personnel to be as clinical , fast , and dynamic, efficient , ruthless ....pick an adjective.
They're a parasitic organism that creates pressure by doing everything in Rugby league 101 well then feeding off your mistakes ( Origin is a game of Chess ).
Technically they have no weakness's. Sides rely on bounce of the ball and Luck to win games against them.
Their only weakness is their own greatness , they go into contests 'knowing' they will win , and if you can be within six points of them by half time in a low scoring contest ( twelve points or less ), they don't have a lot of mental experience of dealing with that anomaly from any team that is not Australian. It really throws them off especially if England Lift in the last twenty of each half , because the Kangaroo's .....believe it or not.......have a deep seated fear of choking.
When NZ beat them Aussie looked seriously upset when the Kiwis Lifted to make it a contest late in the first half. when the same momentum shift happened in the secound half of the world cup final Aussie started to panic.
That leaves playing a simple Game plan off the go forward , dominating possession and territory , letting your impact forwards bring that lift in momentum in the secound spell of both halves your best weapon.
For all the reasons that Make Australia brilliant , you can't try to employ tricky / complex / or ad lib tactics and hope for the bounce of the ball to go your way. I don't Like the look of Rangi chase , a mercurial styled half isn't called for ( well at least the fancy stuff shouldn't be his first option ) someone who can shift the ball well is the go ( the kiwis had Benji Marshall , tellingly.... it wasn't his footwork that got the Kiwi's to victory it was simple well delivered passes at pace.....Sam Tomkins looks as good on the move with the pass selection ).
Excuse the rant I really would like to see England do well
