You're right there. That never came up.

I never actually compared the value of the players to the team and Brough is probably a more useful player in the squad than Ablett, but you can't be over rated if no-one is constantly saying how brilliant you are, and last time I looked no-one was putting him next in line to be god.

I totally agree. I have a huge amount of respect for any player who recognises their limitations but strives to be the hardest working.

All too often we indulge in misplaced bashing of players who aren't blessed with abundant talent but are trying genuinely hard (Paul Sykes?). I'd rather reserve my fire for incredibly talented but utterly feckless guys, such as Lee Briers.

If I have one criticism of Steve Mc on Saturday it's that he still had George Burgess on at the end of the game. At that stage he needed Ablett more than a prop. Mobile defender rather than strong ball carrier. George, who Bulls fans will remember, tires very quickly and he was always going to give a penalty away. Ablett could have taken the ball up as effectively at that stage and he would certainly have been more mobile. But it's only a small criticism.

Hindsight, eh?

In 2008 we scraped past PNG thanks to a crap refereeing decision, got utterly murdered by Australia and collapsed to get murdered by the kiwis in the second half. Performance wise we're much better this time. I don't see how home advantage makes than much difference.



Bevvy gate was the players fault IMO. They knew the rules but were unprofessional enough not to follow them. He could've handled the press stuff better I agree but at the end of the day it's up to players to control themselves. They're always moaning about not having opportunities to play on the big stage and get marketed properly yet a bunch of them thought going on the ale was more important on the eve of the world cup. Duh!



I agree with this. Hindsight? Maybe a bit but why would you go into the biggest test in years and only play 16 of your 17? It puts you at a clear disadvantage. Fatigue played a part in the end and we had fresh legs on the bench.

Whilst McNamara's got better performances out of the national side than the bloke before him he's got work to do before I have total confidence in him. I'd be minded to let him keep the job for now provided there's no significantly better candidates.

That was easily the best England/GB performance in over 20 years. McN must take some credit for that. You could argue that players wouldn't have gone out on the lash if McDermott or Wane had been coach, we will never know. But he handled those situations perfectly well IMO.
I can't get my head a round not bringing on the fourth sub though. I know Mac used to like having the guest kids spot on the bench next to him who he would never use, but we are talking about, supposedly, one of the best players in the country fresh & unused, which defies logic. I know some coaches do it but it always strikes me as trying to look like a smart arss.

Whoever is on charge is going to struggle if we don't play the ANZAC teams on a regular basis. I think a lot of the improvement this WC was due to more NRL players being drafted into the England team as they are more used to the intensity and speed of these games.

On a similar basis the 2nd level countries would also benefit from more international games - for experience and finance. Hopefully the powers that be will sort out a serious international timetable

Sadler's idea of a test series versus NZ while the origin is on isn't a bad idea.

Where would the series be played? It wouldn't be ideal for English players to be flying out to NZ between Super League rounds. It would handicap teams with England international players. Actually, we could benefit from this.

Dubai or South Africa would work.

Logistically it's a good idea but not sure it would generate the crowds or media interest.

That squad contained Mark Calderwood, Lee Smith, Ade Gardner and Paul Wellens.

This was by far a better squad. Home advantage plays a huge part. New Zealand winning the last two tournaments in the Southern Hemisphere but failing to even make the final in the four nations here proves this.

England got to a stage even I could have got us to. Both the games against OZ and NZ won winnable, but we've come up shirt.
Mcnamra has made many mistakes. Chase, Briugh, Widdop, only playing 16 men in the most brutal game I've ever seen. One of them only playing 10 mins.

He's won once against OZ/NZ in seven attempts. Throw in defeats against exiles and Italy, I can't understand why they think he's a good coach basing it on one performance and comparing it to our worst tournament since time began

Well we certainly need more competitive international matches but if there was an easy solution to that then we'd already be doing it. I'm not a huge fan of seeing our best English players all heading over to Oz either. I want to see the majority of them week in week out playing over here.

We need to get serious about developing France & Wales. Make it compulsory to have at least one French or welsh player in yor squad