Denis Healey, George Galloway?

You've got to be joking.

Michael Foot has to be in there.

What a play maker John Smith would have been.

I remember the time that Anthony Bliar was the great hope for them - until he sold out and went to the dark side. Been an out and out ruggeroid since 1997.

We must always remember what Lord Acton said, on the lines:

Power tends to corrupt & absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Great men are almost always bad men.



So no surprise that AB with such a large majority went the way he did.

Terrible disappointment though to so many of us.

How would John Smith led the country?

So sad that we'll never know.

Tend to think JS would have done very well.



Interesting about corruption with 3 Labour MPs (and a Tory peer) being prosecuted.



Old adage always was that labour had money scandals and the already rich tories had sex scandals.

Not as interesting as the verdicts will be.

Is anyone aware of how likely Inglis and Slater are to play in the WCC after withdrawing from the All Stars game?

As far as I was aware they wont be coming over. Im sure 3 or 4 "stars" have dropped out but cant remember who off the top of my head. I thing White is one of them though.

Slater will definately play, not sure about Inglis. I hope we can replicate our 2009 GF kicking game, turn Slater around and smash him all night. Have another JJB kick chase as in 2008 and smash the clever little prick!

Will the All Stars match be on tv tomorrow or any online subscriptions?

Quote rugbyleague88="rugbyleague88"Will the All Stars match be on tv tomorrow or any online subscriptions?'" I've been told NRL.com are streaming it. Ko's 8.30 I think. I'll be watching it to see how Sam Burgess goes. Edit: www.nrl.com/newsviews/latestnews ... fault.aspx There you go. If you want to watch the game follow the link on there in the morning.

Quote rugbyleague88="rugbyleague88"Will the All Stars match be on tv tomorrow or any online subscriptions?'" I've been told NRL.com are streaming it. Ko's 8.30 I think. I'll be watching it to see how Sam Burgess goes. Edit: www.nrl.com/newsviews/latestnews ... fault.aspx There you go. If you want to watch the game follow the link on there in the morning.

TOURING PARTY: Adam Blair, Jesse Bromwich, Hep Cahill, Matt Duffie, Brett Finch, Ryan Hoffman, Ryan Hinchcliffe, Greg Inglis, Willie Isa, Sinbad Kali, Luke Kelly, Rory Kostjasyn, Jeff Lima, Todd Lowrie, Luke MacDougall, Dane Nielsen, Kevin Proctor, Anthony Quinn, Billy Slater, Cameron Smith, Ryan Tandy, Aiden Tolman, Gareth Widdop.



Glad Gareth Widdops been included in the squad, looking to be another english born player in the NRL that takes off hopefully. U20's player of the year at Melbourne Storm last season FWIR, and won the U20 grand final for them with a man of the match performance.

Lima is he the guy that came over here to play for Warrington?

Didn't do too much as far as I recall.

Did Anthony Quinn play Zorba the Greek?

Glad Sinbad Kali is in there. What a great name.

No, That was Danny Lima. This Lima is Jeff. Much better.



Anyway thats a pretty weak ass squad. If we cant beat them then the Aussies will have a field day. Itll go something like this...



"Not only did we send over an U20's for a trial game but you pommies couldnt even beat them with your full strenth team after 4 full hitouts. The ESL is crap"

But Ryan Tandy used to play at Leigh and/or Whitehaven without doing anything of note that I recall.

Is that correct?

Its not that weak a squad assuming they all go. Melbourne's strength is based largely on their backline, with generally a lesser-known forwards (although they have two of the best in Hoffman and Smith). All they need those guys to do is give them close to parity with the opposition. If they do that and Inglis and Slater are on form then you have what might be called a 'slight problem'.



As for the idea of 'smashing' Billy Slater - well lots have tried. He's little but he's tough. The only kicks I'd be making anywhere near that little sod are very high ones with a LOT of forwards coming at him and somebody genuinely trying to get the ball to give an excuse for roughing him up. You definitely do not want to be kicking long to him if you can possibly avoid it.



For the sake of the game I do hope both inglis and Slater play. I've been here for 10 years now, and they are the most exciting players in their resepctive positions I've seen in that time (albeit Slater tied with the young Lockyer at full back - the classiest I've ever seen). Even if they run amok, genuine fans will appreciate their class, and the chances are you won't get to see them live that often, as I doubt either will go to SL anywhere near their prime.



Can't be bothered to read back through this thread, but whoever it is trying to claim that Melbourne will be in any way as prepared as Leeds for this game wants his head examining. Leeds will have played four league games. Fact. Melbourne will have played one trial game against Harlequins. Doesn't matter what 'training' you do beforehand - there really is no substitute for actual game time. TBH if Melbourne do start their training much earlier than Leeds then that's an indictment on Leeds - our season starts weeks earlier so we darn well ought to have been training earlier as well.

Yes, rumour has it Whitehaven released him due to him being a bad apple.

Bit of a no win situation with that squad over.



I blummin hate the squads a lot of teams send over for this game

What? So who would have made such a difference?

Save it Gotcha. Saints fans' subtle attempt to devalue any trophy their team can't win.

Serious question - do you not think the inclusion of so many young players in the squad gives Melbourne the ready made excuse that Oz teams seem to enjoy so much?



If you knew me you would know that I always cheer on the British teams against any Oz side - I've attended several WCC games without Saints involved and have even stood on the terraces at Central Park doing such.

I know that. But who is missing that would make such a huge difference?

Tbh mate it looks like they've picked the best squad available whether that sets up the excuses if they lose or not is irrelevant imo.

Win or Lose we'll attract the usual bile of "NRL light yrs ahead etc or they only sent a weakened squad with no preperation etc"

If we win we'll be 3 times WCC winners and i for one will enjoy it.

The WCC is a nothing comp.



I reckon a few of the injured players arent injured either. Last week Inglis dropped out of the All Stars game due to an injury but was surfing a few days later. Must have been a bad injury ay. If thats how they treat a new concept that quite a few are getting behind how do you reckon they'll treat a game that no one outsidethe UK treats seriously?



I still cant believe Brittish fans get so exited about the game. The only reason I go is to see players I otherwise wont see until later on in the year. Melbourne wont bring over all thier stars because its too much of a risk before they start playing for whats more important... The Telstra Premiership.



And yes, they may say they are preparing properly for it but this is a group of players who have been back in training about 2 weeks and havent played any game time apart from a hit out against maybe the worst squad in the SL at the moment. Also the last team to send as many kids over as this was the Bulldogs in 05 and even then we nearly toppled the Rhinos. Im sorry but this game is a joke. 1 team sending a full team over out of 10 years doesnt make it any more of a comp.