Gleeson won't be picked for England again, he's burnt his bridges, speaking of Bridges, Chris Bridge will be starting centre in next years four nations.

The future of England Rugby League is the consistent RFL demise of the international scene and there belief that a franchis system cures all ills.

Australia probably have over 80 players to choose from, where England have at best struggle to raise 17 international standard players. Almost 40% of Superleague players are "overseas" players.
For 2011 I thought the RFL model was to restrict teams to 5 players next season yet it looks as though the average is going to be between 6 to 8 overseas players.

We,ve got 2 more years to sort it out but we seem to be saying this every 2 years, every 2 years,every 2 years,every 2 years - talk about Groundhog Day

Give it time- The team is young and we have more coming through

I agree. Although his form totally deserved a place in the team I can understand why he wasnt chosen.



It isnt exactly a big improvement, if any, though is it.

Briscoe made 3 runs the entire game ffs and was at fault for tries. 3 runs for a wingers is shocking.

Goulding did nothing wrong bar 1 knock on when the ball was actually stripped and wasnt at fault for any tries. Goulding won 2 penalties with clever dummy half runs, one of which led to a try, made more than twice as many runs as Briscoe and more than twice as many metres whilst also making more tackles. Indeed Goulding made more metres than any other back. This is despite being injured for most of the second half. goulding was also much better than Briscoe last week. It certainly isnt me that needs to take the blinkers off.

The last bit is the icing on the cake, in our hour of need there's ryan bailey, all our prayers are answered genius !!

Yes it is, Bridge was possibly THE form player in SL in the month before he got injured.

Mind you, we still don't have anything to trouble the opposition in the backs. The problems start with the junior teams every Sunday up and down the M62 corridor.

Anything is a improvement based on our centres performances in the last 2 games.

Plus, Bridge is far more composed than any of the current centres, he's got great hands, knows how and when to get a pass away to his wingman ( ask Chris Hicks ) plus he can beat a man with his footwork.

So yeah its a big improvement on what we had out there today.

as it at stands at the moment.

CLUELESS!!!!

We can't even get the basics right at international level and as for "thinking"

I don't think we're 'clueless' as it stands at the moment.

The side is very young, with a host of both experienced (Peacock/Morley/Bridge/McGuire/Pryce etc..) and decent young talent (Eastmond/Shenton/etc..) missing from the team.

We started well and held on at the end. The Aussies had a purple patch spurred on by the try that shouldn't have been given. We also had two tries that could have been taken, given a bit more luck.

I think we keep on an even course. Hopefully the youngsters will improve and the experienced players will be available for next year. A few more players will come through. Bradford, my team, have a decent crop of young players. Particularly Donaldson and Whitehead could be pushing for the international squad if they have a good season. Other posts have mentioned other young players coming through.

When you think that, just from Bradford, Lynch, Scruton, Langley, Sykes and Goodwin justifiably didn't make the cut, it shows that we are begining to get strength in depth at international level and competition for places. We put out a competitive international team without the above mentioned players.

I think Eastmond and Pryce were missed today. We could have done with another player that can make breaks. It would have taken some heat of Tomkins, who IMO was marked out of the game by the Aussies.

BTW, I always liked Robinson. I remember him tearing St Helens apart for Wigan when he was just coming in to the first team. I never understood why Wigan gave up on him so early.

Most of the England squad today weren’t superstars. However they were the best we had to offer considering the players that have retired from the international set up and the players we have injured.

So in a sense of things they were the superstars of English selection. Steve McNamara choose the best that was at his disposal and it didn’t work. Mind you it hasn’t worked for any coach for many years unless you call the 2007 series win over New Zealand a success.

What we need is a coach that can put together a game plan to beat the best in the world regardless of the players at his disposal. You only have to Look at how Michael Maguire has turned Wigan from the third best side in the country to the very best despite having pretty much the same personnel.

Tim Sheens can work on limit resources - why can’t Steve McNamara?

What we need is someone who can turn the third best side in the world into the first best side in the world with pretty much the same squad. If we can’t get that then its time to give some of the more ‘unglamorous’ players of super league a chance to shine for England. You only have to look at the top three sides and I bet you can pick a squad of ‘average’ players from them that’d qualify for England.

Its these average players that make up the team. Its superstars that are the icing on the cake. Too much icing with very little cake to support it, is England’s problem IMO.



Its been done and it hasn’t worked.

However I agree that its time for Morley to say bye bye to the England set up.

I'm more interested in where the 25-28 year old players are? Why are we having to throw so many young, under prepared kids into the backline?

i personally dont think its all doom and gloom for me most of the backline should be perserved with its been far better than the last 2 games down under against the aussies, yes the young lads made a few errors but with a few more games under the belt at this level we have every chance of doing well in the next world cup.