Unbelievable scenes!

O'Loughlin! He is the perfect hook to hang any failure on though. But it beggers belief that he's been picked there. Changing both your half backs is classic England.

You would not see Australia taking such action mid series unless there was an injury or a dead rubber scenario. Such a sign of panic.

Wilkin is never a stand off in a million years, just doesnt work.

Disagree, misses way too many tackles.

Brown might not have done brilliantly, but he didnt do badly either, especially later on in the Kiwi game when he got stuck in more.

I suspect he has been dropped to avoid McBanana from picking 5 Huddersfield players.

And looking at Kev's stats, he had been doing pretty well as a defender in the middle of the park, but yeah, why change halfbacks now, especially to an untried partnership, with an out of position player from one that looked like it could do something...

Hope Lunt produces his best, on his day he can really get a team going, and close to the line he is Cunninhamesque in his ability to get over for a try.

Big, Big game for Cudjoe too.

Has Cudjoe player much in the centre's?

In is an absolute stinker of a decision to play O' Loughlin at stand off. The tactic of playing slow loose forwards at stand off has failed so many times, it makes looking like going over the top at the Somme look innovative. How many times does it take before we learn?

On the plus side, I am glad Widdop is rested as he looks out of his depth. Tomkins is a quality player whether he starts at 1, 6 or 7 so we should be ok at full back.

In terms of the pack Harrison is a very promising player. I think he may offer a bit of an x factor. Westwood deserves a start because I think he did well last week and always offers soemthing in both attack and defence. Lets hope he does'nt throw silly penalties away. Same also true of J. Tomkins. Crabtree was a must because there will be periods of the game when we are on the backfoot and some impetus of the bench is essential.

Be interesting to see how Cudjoe plays, but I'd rather have seen him on the wing. Think this is a real danger area for us and one the Aussies will exploit.

I think it would be a big, big upset to get anything out of the game. Focus should be on the style of rugby. We must not play one out drivel which will never, ever threaten elite sides. The emphasis should be on a more expansive game, with the forwards working as a unit as opposed to just driving it 'downtown.'

We didnt take Wilkin, as he is superleagues best flat track bully, and will be of no use in Austrailia.

Lockers would be in my team every week, but never as a stand off, he can get away with it against teams from superleague, and has done this year, but he is never a stand off.

Nice ready made excuse from clueless though! Why didnt he pick this team last week, as at least it would have give the halfs some flight time, plus anyone who has ever seen Brown play can see he isnt anywhere near test standard.

Ben Harrison is a good pick, like him and I like Westwood and Crabtree at this level.

lets just remember though....

we are away in australia...with our 3rd choice team....we are'nt expected to do anything...


everyone will do well to bare that in mind

Think I would have went with the Brown / Robinson combo at half-back but otherwise not too many complaints. Atkins is lucky that only Clubb is in reserve for him.

Cudjoe played the back end of the season in the centres, actually more like a interchangable role between him and Michael Lawrence (hopefully he will develop as well as Cudjoe has as it could be a brilliant wing/centre partnership)

He certainly isnt a stranger to the role.


Brown is a quality standoff, and the best available to the squad.

If England get within 20 points of the Aussies i'll be shocked.

Apart from Tomkins, personally I would have played Cudjoe/Widdop at FB and centre and Tomkins at 6. O Loughlin is a great player but not a stand off.

Let's face it, the gap is getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Even with Morely, Eastmond, etc. we would still finish 3rd (providing we put in a decent performance against PNG).

Why do people like you even watch RL?

Because its awesome!