The team has already been named and is as follows:

Shaun Briscoe
Peter Fox
Chris Bridge
Michael Shenton
Ryan Hall
Sam Tomkins
Kyle Eastmond
Adrian Morley
James Roby
James Graham
Jamie Peacock
Gareth Ellis
Kevin Sinfield

Bench:
Sam Burgess
Eorl Crabtree
Ben Westwood
Jon Wilkin

Im glad that McGurie has been dropped, nice to see eastmond getting his chance at 7 and also happy Jon Wilkin has been brought back in.

Say a lot about wilkin but he has better hands for distribution than sinfield from 13. Lets be honest sinfield is in the squad for his kicking as there is no one better but like I stated previously with sinfield at 13 you lose some attacking options because he can only pass one way.

Wilkin also has a good eye for attacking runs and breaking the line.

Do you think if these guys really hit their potential Rugby League can keep them. Personaly I doubt it.

Maybe that was because the link in the halfs was poor for a big portion of the match.

I would not count Roby out yet and how can you put sinfield in at 9 when he can only pass one way?

Well one of them is tied down to a 5 year contract at one of the richest clubs in the game, the other i'm not so sure but if he is going to be representing his country at his chosen sport that should be reason enough for him to stay in the sport. All depends how much poison offiah whispers in his ear.

This is the part of Wilkin's play that few fans of any club appreciate, that and he defends like a demon. He also has a kicking game, when he is in the mood/on form/allowed to kick (whichever is applicable) and that might be helpful if we get injuries or if a player needs rest time.

I'm unsure about Fox and Bridge myself as I haven't seen enough of them to judge although Fox's form may have slipped, according to what I've read elsewhere on here. Hopefully he will go in with belief and that may help him keep a cool head and cover his post well.

Roby is dodgy at present so far as his passing is concerned but he is another one who defends like a demon and he also has some scooting pace which may help get around the Kiwi big men.

I really like Wilkin,he's got good hands & i actually think he's been v good when he's played in the halfs on emergency occasions. His only problem is that he's light for a forward & is definately a dry weather,hard ground player. In wet conditions he doesn't make many yards.

Its going to be interesting to see how Tomkins & Eastmond gel together, they're both exciting players but v inexperienced. Sinfield is gonna have to step up. It is refreshing to have a coach who is strong enough to drop big name players. In the past, England/British coaches have been guilty of refusing to drop players who were still getting by on past reputations.
What do people think of Bridge at centre? Is he capable of breaking the line & creating chances for his winger against the Kiwis?

It's not stopped Cunningham playing at dummy half - since his elbow injury his distribution, particularly the flat pass over any sort of distance, has been much less accurate than it was.

Besides, if Sinfield can pass in one direction it puts him one direction ahead of Roby/Higham.

Only if we change our tactics and get the ball out wide.

I hope you watched and learnt last night. Sinfield ran the show with good distribution in both directions. His passing skills put other players regularly into space eg first try and his long pass from the base of the scrum set up Foxes excellent second try (great pass from Eastmond and good running line from Bridge and good finish from Fox) Sinfield made clean breaks, kicked goals and for field position and was top tackler with 30+ In addition he undertook the role of captain on the field and was continually motivating the other players. Whereas Wilkin did........? Remind me just what he did please.

He worked fecking hard for the 15 minutes he was on.

The whole team worked their butts off last night. Without any one of them working hard and trying their best we would not have won. Sinfield made mistakes, as did some others, and played well, as did plenty of others. Sinfield wouldn't have had a ball to pass to Eastmond had our forwards not done their job so superbly.

Go take your childish club rivalry back to the Leeds board. This here board is for [iinternational[/i rugby league.

I suspect there's an element of getting back at the Sinfield haters, of whom there are (or have been) many. I've doubted his ability at this level. Still do as an out-and-out loose/forward/stand off. But with two tryos at halfback it worked quite well.