Quote Durham Giant="Durham Giant"When i posted thisthread i had my doubts about Tony Smith viewtopic.php?t=430528 Now with this it has confirmed them www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... gland.html Is Bridge really going to be an England half back ahead of Pryce, Myler, Tompkins, Rachford, Burrows etc. Is Harrison going to be ahead of Wilkin Burgess, JJb etc. then why are they in the train on squad for England now . What has it done to attempts to get a meaningful international competition now Ireland have lost two key players. Between the RFL and Smith they are messing up International RL. Aditionally what does it say to club players come to Warrington and i will get you in the international squad. The sooner Smith **** off the better for England internationally he is incompetent, nepotistic and possibly a fifth columnist for the ARL and RU. What a waste of space Particularly when you look at the players left out. Dale Ferguson should have walked in ahead of Harrison. What a joke'" Totally agree. Wonder if Harrison and Bridge will have the same comments thrown at them,as Brough did when he defected from Scotland. FWIW it just shows the RFL dont give a flying **** about the international game. We are light years behind the Aussies and Kiwis and will continue to be so with this clown at the helm.

Quote Durham Giant="Durham Giant"When i posted thisthread i had my doubts about Tony Smith viewtopic.php?t=430528 Now with this it has confirmed them www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... gland.html Is Bridge really going to be an England half back ahead of Pryce, Myler, Tompkins, Rachford, Burrows etc. Is Harrison going to be ahead of Wilkin Burgess, JJb etc. then why are they in the train on squad for England now . What has it done to attempts to get a meaningful international competition now Ireland have lost two key players. Between the RFL and Smith they are messing up International RL. Aditionally what does it say to club players come to Warrington and i will get you in the international squad. The sooner Smith **** off the better for England internationally he is incompetent, nepotistic and possibly a fifth columnist for the ARL and RU. What a waste of space Particularly when you look at the players left out. Dale Ferguson should have walked in ahead of Harrison. What a joke'" Totally agree. Wonder if Harrison and Bridge will have the same comments thrown at them,as Brough did when he defected from Scotland. FWIW it just shows the RFL dont give a flying **** about the international game. We are light years behind the Aussies and Kiwis and will continue to be so with this clown at the helm.

Some one who can do it full time would be a start.

I actually made a bit of a comment saying in the future Bridge could be an England centre.
Bridge is probably a bit small but jesus christ if Ryan atkins is being touted for the position then Bridge should be a cert. In fact, I fail to see the real reason Smith has signed atkins

I really don't think this is the story some people would like to believe it is...

Since Smith took over, Warrington played 26 games between then and the challenge cup final inclusive and won 16 of them (of the losses it could be said that some might have been due to the challenge cup e.g. playing Wigan the week after the semi). In comparison the best team in the competition Leeds, played 22 games in the same period with no challenge cup to worry about for most of the season and won 15 of them.

I'm not saying we are as good as Leeds or anything like that, but people who point to the league table as a reason why no Warrington players should be in the squad aren't looking at the full picture. Warrington played well for large parts of the season, particularly in the big games (e.g. challenge cup semi against in form Wigan).

There are players in the Warrington team who had good seasons regardless of what some people would like to believe.

And for the other 46 weeks of the year what will they be doing to justify a full-time salary?

i think its fair to say that if TS wasn't the Warrington coach that Bridge and Harrison would hav ebeen laughed at by said gentleman if someone suggested adding them to an England squad.
Huddersfield and Hull KR have had great seasons but we only have 3 players picked - Scott Moore is a Saints player in reality - between us, i'm sure if its just a train-on squad it wouldn't have hurt to throw a couple of players from either club in there to give them the 'experience' of training with the 'elite' players. !

As I said on the other thread, a lot of the talent in the teams around us is foreign. Brough was unlucky to miss out, possibly ferguson from wakey but other than that..

Your suggestions being?

That is about as wobbly an argument as I have ever read. The league table represents the bigger picture regarding player performance and doesn't focus on one tema, unlike your argument. The fact that a team finishing in 10th can have more players than 9 other clubs combined, with at least 5 of them finishing above Warrington is dubious.

Look at Higham, for example. The lad has spent a massive part of the season out injured and gets picked, yet he justifies Bridges selection partly on the fact that Bridge didn't get injured.

I think if you look at several other sides and their performance in the same timeframe since Smith took over at Wire there would not be much between them, if anything, at all.

If Smith wasn't coach of Wire I personally don't believe that either Bridge or Harrison would have been selected. And maybe one or two more from Wire would have missed out.

Cudjoe,Mason from the Giants
Welham from KR off the top of my head although i'm sure people could add to that list

The league table represents how well a team has performed over the course of a season, not the relative form of its respective England eligible players

An international coach who picks players on the basis of where their team finished in the league table is in the wrong job.

Incidentally, which of the smattering of England qualified players at Huddersfield, Hull KR and Wakefield made such overwhelming cases for their inclusion but were omitted? Arguably the best players at each of these clubs this season have been Antipodean.

it was about 8 weeks which isn't massive, however just to put your mind at rest, higham's already been told theres about 2/3 other hookers ahead of him in the squad.