1 more than Sam Burgess. What's your point. Brough was by far our half back this year. That should be what the coach is looking for wen choosing an England squad.

Widdop would not have been the same player he is now if he was at Wakefield or Castleford that he has become at the Storm so that is a useless point.

Who have England beaten to make the semi final?
Its a three Horse race.
Lost against Italy in a Warm up.
Played against the Australians that had not had a warm up with several players having not played for over a month and used England as a warm up.
Beat France, Ireland and Fiji in patches of good play and patches of play that was no better than the opposition made up of second stringers and park players.

New Zealand are the first real game they are having that counts for something against a team that will be going hard with class players across their team.

That and someone who actually was available to be selected, in case you missed it Brough chose Scotland 6 months befor the WC.

Quote: christopher "Widdop has 10 caps for his country, if you could point me to any time in those games he has looked like the world beater you claim.'" What opportunity has he been given? www.rugbyleagueproject.org/match ... 0tLS0tLS0=

Quote: christopher "Widdop has 10 caps for his country, if you could point me to any time in those games he has looked like the world beater you claim.'" What opportunity has he been given? www.rugbyleagueproject.org/match ... 0tLS0tLS0=

Why would he do that though if he though he may get a chance with England.

He knew he was not getting a chance and probably asked the question or was told so moved to his second choice.

My point on Widdop is as useful as yours regarding Sinfield being picked in the Storm side. i.e not very useful!

Who has NZ beaten to get to the Semi final? they were troubled by a Saomoan side who got hammered by Fiji a Fijian side which England hammered. What does this mean, very little.

England are going to be NZ's first test of this WC at least England have had a hard test against the best team in the world and only fell short by one try.

You sound like you idolise anything Antipodean.

His second choice? he's already played for Scotland before, and your key word is 'probably', which basically means you haven't a clue what went on.

Quite relevant actually, gained by providing a season of consistent and outstanding contribution on a football field throughout the season.

Golden Boot is subjective (look at the Aussie Wailing when Sinfield got it) and I would say the Golden Boot in this year's awarding of it was more akin to Ryan Giggs getting player of the year when he wasn't the best player that year (13 Premier League games for POTY?). It was a reward for consistent club form over a number of years, not for an outstanding season where he was better than everyone else.

I would say the Golden Boot is of far less relevance to Super League season by season. I can't imagine Sinfield has ever been close to Man of Steel throughout his career. Doesn't make him a bad player, just not a stand out which is what Brough must have been this year. On form but not selected.

My point is that Brough was awful in the play-offs, has been pretty much uniformly awful in every play-off series, and has never been the best half-back on the pitch in a final or play-off match. Brough clearly, at 30, hasn’t proved he has the mentality for the big game. That to me doesn’t demand the shirt from someone like Kevin Sinfield.

That losing Thurston is not an issue on the pitch as someone like Smith can walk into the half back role and play without loss to shape of the team, which is what you stated would not be the case. Okay, Paul Gallen probably wouldn't be able to do that but Smith was a bad example of you to use.

Lol,

Ryan Bailey

No argument.

I stated nothing of the sort, Smokey stated you can't control the game from the hooking position, and you seem to be in agreement with him.

Ryan baileys job is not to guide the team around the park, your point makes no sense

So the Golden Boot is subjective but the MOS isnt?

Did you think the Man of Steel was awarded by some kind of objective None Destructive Test grading?