so the dust has just about settled following the ferocious final and once again we have come up short against australia, only just mind, but still its another defeat. so as we move forward to the next round of internationals we have presumably a 2 year gap until the sides lock horns again. here's a few questions about the squad (I'll leave the coach discussion to the other thread).

1. who do we say 'thanks very much for your efforts' to and pack them off into the sunset?

2. who is worth a promotion to the squad (there will be a 'get together' squad early season i would have thought)

3. do we go for wholesale changes fairly soon in order to build for the nest WC, or stick with the players who did a decent job in this tournament?

4. who surprised you in this tournament - either good or bad?

5. how do you see the england team lining up for the kiwi test series (and the mid season game for that matter)?

6. AOB?

I'd like to see a fit and in form tomkins back in the fold. I think brown should be replaced, someone who can take the line on as a foil for Gail.

Should revert back to Great Britain so we can get that Welsh guy from St Helens into the squad/team, along with any other hot prospects from Wales and Scotland (and maybe Ireland). Stick with GB for all competitions so that we maximise our chances at the next world cup. No splitting up.

We don't need to revert. The Aussies and Kiwis don't play as "Pacific Islands" or "Australasia", just because players from Tonga, Samoa and Fiji play for them occasionally.

If any of the Celtic squad showed sufficient form and also wanted to play for England, I'd have no problem with them changing shirt for the next world cup. TBH though, I didn't see anyone in red, green or blue who would have displaced a white shirt in this tournament. Regan Grace is a good club winger, with the pace we haven't seen at Saints since Sullivan's day. But McGilvary, Hall and several other SL wingers are ahead of him at present. Likewise Morgan Knowles is a solid squad filler at Saints, and looked good for Wales in an atrocious team. But there's no way he'd be in my top ten backrowers in the SL competition.

For me, the main surprises of the tournament were McGilvary, who I always liked, but didn't think he had those incredible performances at international level in him. And Gale, who I thought would seize his chance, but was disappointing throughout.

Bennett out first off and Betts.
Watts, Houghton, Sneyd to be given a run pending form from us, Watts should've been there anyway.
Surprised how poor Gale was, not surprised Burgess jnr, Heighington, Hodgson and Brown were poor

Centre position needs sorting and quickly, this was killing us time and again as does a decent 6, that aint Widdop btw.

We need to decide on the coach.
We need to sort that centre issue out.
We need to sort our 1, 6 and 7.
We need to sort our game management and our execution.
We need to find a replacement for Lockers.
We need to play more internationals and less club rugby.

A) James Graham & Sean O'Loughlin (more because I don't think they'll be around at the next WC, so get people in to get them upto standard). Tom Burgess, Chris Heighton, Kevin Brown,.

B) If your talking about next year's tests then Shaul, Gildart, McShane.
long term, Walker, Bentley, Turgot,Fash

C) keep most of the players for next year. If they don't perform then start changing

D)
McGilvery, Widdop when he went to FB, Whitehead good.
Gale, Hodgson bad.

E) Hard to say as it depends who the coach is. If Bennett then I don't think it will be much different.

regarding the FB position i suppose some of that is governed by what happens to hardaker. i agree with the previous poster about tomkins. big season ahead for him

Tomkins is the only player we have with some kind of 'X Factor' with the ball. He could also play on the left whilst Widdopp plays right. We definitely need a left centre who is actually a centre. Longer term we have to hope we conjure a halfback from somewhere who actually knows how to control a game and is a menace in attack.

As for the coach I really despair if people can't see the improvement in defence this tournament. We struggled in attack because we simply don't have quality playmakers, with too much responsibility on Widdopp. The only thing I'd criticise Bennett for is not picking Percival for the final, but he did what people bagged McNamara for not doing previously, in sticking with players and giving combinations a chance to develop.

We are not lacking a left centre.
One with 19 try assists (more than most half backs) and 6 tries wasn’t selected in the squad.
One with 16 tries and 13 try assists watched from the sidelines.
Meanwhile, a player who hasn’t even played at centre for his club (even though they had an injury crisis in that position) was selected in that position.
The issue isn’t the lack of a left centre. The issue is a crap selection decision.

A-I think it's time for Lockers to call it quits. He's been sensational for England and GB over the years but his body needs off seasons if he carrying on at club level. It will surely be the end of the line for Heighington as well (who was very good in the final to be fair) and I think Kev Brown has plugged a gap in this comp but I don't see him in the side long term.

B-I'm glad non Wigan fans are calling for Tomkins to come back in. I really hope he plays six for us next year and he can nail that spot for England with Widdop staying at fullback. After that Gildart was brilliant last year and is the country's best hope for a left centre. He has sensational footwork. The other three players I'd seriously look at if there were a game next week would be Stevie Ward (to replace Lockers), Liam Watts and Marc Sneyd. A bit further back I can't wait to see Jack Walker, Danny Walker and Tom Davies progress. They all looked superb in their first years.

C-Sweeping changes aren't needed. I've said at the top there are three players who will or should probably be moved on. We need to replace them and do nothing more then a bit of tinkering.

D-Widdop and Watkins had flattered to deceive for England so far but they were both brilliant. Obviously McGillvary was amazing as well but that didn't surprise me quite as much. I don't want to talk about poor players. They all gave it everything.

E-Similar to this tournament with us replacing Lockers, Brown and Heighington.

Can't argue with that. And it's not a one off, we've shoehorned players in for years and can't think of an example where it's been justified on the pitch, and that's not slating Bateman, he tried hard he's just not a centre.

Yes, Bateman has just done as he has been asked. However, he’s not even the best left centre at Wigan (Gildart).

Before the tournament I was hoping he wasn't going to pick Tomkins at FB and move Hardaker to centre. But once the latter was ruled out he really should've picked Tomkins in his squad. Lomax ended the season injured and carried that on through the tournament.

O'Loughlin has been a very good player for England but at 35 it's time to hang up his international boots.

Interesting one is Roby, one of the older ones at 32 he probably won't make the next WC but if he carries on his form next year do you still pick him or go for younger options? I suppose that depends how well other guys push for that spot, Daryl Clark for one has gone backwards but better things are tipped for Wire this year.

Do you think Shenton, or even Percival would have won the game for us?
One thing about Bateman and Hall as a centre partnership is that they were rock solid defensively.
Not too sure things would have been the same had Bennett gone with either of the other two.