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.

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 "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 "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.