Here's a thought.

Doesn't a certain Brett Delaney now have the three year residence qualification to play for England? Could explain his exclusion from the Exiles squad.

Just saying.

It can only be a few years before that happens.

Stevie Ward seems to agree (on Twittter, obviously)

I'd be surprised though, and a bit disappointed. I don't like this whole 3 year residence qualification malarkey personally. Born or developed (as a youth) in this country should be the only eligibility for the national team IMO.

Oh old Leaguefreak pops his head up again

He's been outstanding so far this domestic season. But he's far from a "shoe in" for the England World Cup back row because he has to get past conventional thinking (aka Mcnamara thinking) that our best international back row is Westwood, Ellis, O'Loughlin (sub Hock).

However if you're right and he's a "shoe in" then you don't need to worry about Wilkin or Tickle being involved as that's one more place sewn up.

Don't take this as too much of a compliment, but I'd rather read your missives than those of Leaguefreak.

I think if you picked the team now he'd be hard to overlook. If he keeps up this form through the season and is fit in the Autumn, I can't see him being left out, even with the traditional GB/England penchant for the status quo.

I was tempted to put JP as our best forward last year.
But if I am not mistaken didn`t most people think JP was dead and burried for a large part of the season only to come back to life at the business end?
I think we might have to agree to disagree about Delaney as we see it very differently.
As far as the Exiles game goes.
I am still firmly of the opinion this game should be between the probables against the possibles as a sort of trial game.
Morley and Carvell are not the answer to our proping option.Sam and George Burgess along with Graham and Hill will do nicely.

the RFL real ned to pull their fingers out and fix the international/representative game, as it'd one of the main sticks Union has to beat us with. A couple of ideas.

1. A Proper 5 Nations tournament

One of the reasons eligible players don't pick smaller nations is because they reckon they'll get sod all chance to play regularly at the highest level. That could be fixed by instituting an annual five nations tournament between England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales & France. To be played in the middle of the summer when there's no RU on.

2. Fix international eligibility

Don't allow the constant swapping between sides that's been encouraged since the abolition of GB, and actively search out players for the smaller nations. Ireland of Platt, Blanch, Gleeson, Bridge, Richards, Grix, Grix, Amor, McIlorum, Prescott, McCarthy, Harrison & O'Loughlin will be good enough to give England a game. Pressure the aussies to the same, which would massively strengthen Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, PNG & the Cook Islands.

3. Bring back GB

A 3-test tour, either down under or up here every 2 years on alternate years with the world cup. All players for representative sides eligible to play. Yes, this would mean Pat Richards being a GB player. I'm fine with that.

4. Give games a stage that suggests they deserve to be watched

I'm sorry, but when we play games on an industrial estate outside Manchester we do nothing but suggest it's small and . At the very least play at the bigger grounds (KC, DW, Headingley). But far better, a permanent home for international games at Wembley/appropriate national stadium. As the 6N shows, match weekends become holidays for away supporters. When we're playing in Warrington on a Friday night, nobody will come.

5. Replace the exiles with a Yorkshire v Lancashire v Cumbria tournament

No-one cares about the exiles. A 'heartlands' series would be a representative chance for the best players not in England/GB, and for Cumbrian rugby to get some coverage which it desperately needs.

I don't want to seem like I'm singling you out this afternoon, but some of this is a bit odd.

I'm not sure it can be solely in the RFL's gift to fix the international game. Surely the other components in a "proper" 5 Nations would need to have their own governing bodies and federations.

It's a bit much to suggest that fans of Ireland, Scotland and Wales would use the trip to London as a holiday. What few there are will barely turn up to home games. How many people will actually watch Ireland v Scotland? How many free ticketed Welsh fans will pay to travel to away fixtures against the smaller nations when they can't get a decent turn out in Wrexham? We've tried parachuting an "eligible" team into these places for World Cups and the like before. It didn't work in terms of creating sustainable growth and didn't really create any interest outside celtic ex-pat populations in Australia.

We can't credibly (or financially) use Wembley as a home for international games until somebody can be fairly confident of a crowd there. Having failed to fill smaller venues in the heartlands in the autumn last year, you'd have to be a total nutcase to book England v Wales into Wembley. I'd love to see test matches back at Wembley at some point but there are some systemic problems to fix first.

Don't worry, you aren't

Yes, that's true. But as the largest of the present governing bodies it would seem the RFL's brief to lead that. I don't suggest that this will lead to an overnight solution, but it's definitely a necessary part of that solution. For the moment I'd suggest that with the right publicity, in the right place (i.e. South Wales) then a welsh national fixture could attract a decent crowd. The problem with Wrexham is it's bloody miles from where most Welsh people live. Venues for international fixtures need to stop being chosen for the convenience of the people already watching the game, and start being picked to attract new fans.

Re: Wembley, again totally accept that. There should however be at least one game in every 5N played there-we can afford that. Elsewhere let's play at Wigan or in Leeds but not at Leigh or Salford- sheds in the middle of nowhere that sell our game short.

As for a team of eligible aussies, I do think doing that in its entirety would be a bad thing. I also think that having some players like that would be a good thing in terms of making those sides more competitive. It's great we've a number of welsh players coming through/signing from RU (something we should try and do more with) but getting the Masons, the Carvells, the Brierses and the likes of David Stagg playing for Wales will help raise their profile and stop blowout scorelines in matches that devalue the game.

ATEOTD the aim for growth in Wales should be at least two, if not three franchises. But there needs to be concentration & a team everyone can support first, before specific club allegiances are made. A Welsh national team playing big RL fixture against England, somewhere that can easily be watched, and not getting hammered can only be good for the uptake of our game.

Don't blame SL because we have been unable to beat the Aussies for 40 years - 25 of which occured before SL came into being.

You cannot have a credible international game with only 4 competitive teams - this has not changed in a hundred years - hardly a SL issue.

International tours - are you serious, RU don't have tours like they did in the past, has this effected the demand for the international RU - no another red herring!!

The Challenge Cup was in decline well before SL - when one team wins it for 8 years straight it hardly encourages interest, it could be argued that since SL the CC has become more interesting?

Aggghhhhh, the good old death of Rugby League, unfortunately its imminent death has been greatly exaggerated many times!!

Bit like the Postal Services..........

I wonder how much the the bookies would offer for a Scotland v Cook Islands WC final?

A complete farce of a "competition".

As for 'the Exiles'........does anybody really care?

If RL cannot afford/justify GB versus NZ or Oz tours here or over there then it really should stop pretending anything else is credible.
Selection to a national team should be the ultimate honour.....getting selected to play for some of the teams in the WC depends on little more than having the basic ability to qualify.