rlSome comments by a couple of Graham's team mates on his captaincy.rl

nz.sports.yahoo.com/nrl/news/art ... hall-kiwis? Kiwis by plenty?

nz.sports.yahoo.com/nrl/news/art ... hall-kiwis? Kiwis by plenty?

There was a Rugby League World Cup in 2008?! Nah! surely not!

I think you may find that your assumptions both prove incorrect. I may argue that winning or losing margins are as much a function of the strength of the opposition as they are the strength of the England/GB team(s)

Aotearoa, silver ferns and long white clouds are just the precursor to the more major embarrasment to come.

I've made no such assumptions.

It was you who made assumptions before the Four Nations tournament has even got underway when you opined the following"but this is McNamara - worst ever coach of an England/GB touring RL side...carnage"[/i

I merely responded to the ted nature of your assumptions with evidence of the embarrassing carnage when Tony Smith was coach of an England touring RL side which included 7 Leeds Rhinos players.

Given the evidence thus far and the results of the RLWC08, Tony Smith is currently the worst ever coach of an England or GB touring RL side... not McNamara... not yet, anyway.

According to Chris Irvine on Twitter, Hall is injured.

I think you'll find that the word 'assume' makes a guest appearance in your first sentence and returns in the passive voice in your second - you've even given it the honour of kicking off your second sentence for you. I make that two separate 'assumptions'

Keep taking the idiot pills they are really working for you

Ad hominem response and capitulation noted.

I merely responded to the ted nature of your assumptions with evidence of the embarrassing carnage when Tony Smith was coach of an England touring RL side which included 7 Leeds Rhinos players.

Given the evidence thus far and the results of the RLWC08, Tony Smith is currently the worst ever coach of an England or GB touring RL side... not McNamara... not yet, anyway.

Arguing with a Latin scholar who'd a thunk it. Opinion (mine re this squad and their lamentable coach) and assumptions (yours re how I will or wont respond to England's losing margin and the state of my memory re the 2008 world cup) are not the same thing... calling me a t now that really hurts, capitulation duly noted and promptly forgotten

...but Tony Smith took us to a Four Nations final and won a series against NZ.

Surely it would be the height of 'tery' to judge a touring side on one result. Considering we also only lost be 10 points to the world champions in the semi-finals, and 12 points in the group stages, it is a little disingenuous to focus on a 48 point loss ignoring all other performances.

And also, as you have introduced on one piece of evidence to justify your comment, and going by that, arent you just plain wrong that Tony Smith is the worst ever coach of an England or GB touring RL side?

Smith stuffed up on the player management side last time we toured - the Leeds-Sts nonsense was completely unnecessary and could have been easily prevented.

Having said that, Smith faced some enormous problems relating to the basic poor quality of the side he had available. He had to do extra training sessions to try to teach the team how to defend second man plays, as they were completely clueless about it. Compare to comments from Gus Gould about coaching Origin - there's no need to 'coach' them per se - just practicing moves and combinations and work out what the opposition may try. The reason is that all the players who reach that level can do the basics very well. It speaks volumes that the England coach is having to teach skills that are second nature to NRL players in the middle of a tournament.

Hall out, Goulding in, Tomkins fit. Details here: news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 113092.stm

Hall out, Goulding in, Tomkins fit. Details here: news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 113092.stm

So when did England/ GB last go in to a game against Australia or New Zealand without a single Leeds player?

Dunno, but at least it won't be our fault if we lose.