Of course we CAN beat them.

But I don't think we will. With our pack well on top our halves should have had a field day and been running riot with a strong kicking game too... they didn't.

Against Australia our pack is likely to be equal at best and without the pack on the front foot against a far far better defence than we've faced today I just don't see our halves troubling the Aussies much at all.

I hope I'm wrong, and if the stars align then who knows!

Who do we play in place of O'Loughlin and Hodgson if they dont recover in time?

Hodgson's easy - we put in Roby for 80 minutes, and we lose nothing tbh.

SOL is a much bigger loss. I guess that Currie starts in the second row, with S Burgess going to loose.

Who gets brought into the 17 is then a bigger issue. I can imagine he might bring in Lomax as cover for fullback and the halves, as I think Lomax is the only one of the squad who featured in his original thinking, and I don't detect huge flexibility from Bennett once he's made his mind up.

In terms of the forward replacement, I imagine it'll be Heighington. Bennett will default to NRL where possible.

SOL is a big loss, because we have nobody similar. But next week's game will be lost in the halves, not the forwards. Brown's done the job he was brought in to do, but isn't going to trouble the Aussies, and Gale continues to disappoint at this level. As others have pointed out, he's had plenty of opportunity in this tournament, playing behind a pack which has given him all the time and space in the world. But he's created little, and his kicking game has been very disappointing, considering what we've watched him do for Cas all season.

The real killer for me is that however underwhelming I find our halves, the fact is that I struggle to think of a better combination available to us. You could make a case for Sneyd, but I wouldn't feel much more confident if he was on the pitch than I do with Gale. Widdop is our best stand-off, but he's also our best fullback, and where he plays seems to me to be dictated by whether we think Lomax at fullback instead of Widdop loses us more than Brown at stand-off instead of Widdop, and I think Bennett probably made the right call on that.

We have a real dearth of English halfback talent in the SL. No up and coming equivalent of Sean Long, Bobby Goulding, Andy Gregory or even Danny Maguire in their pomp. We also have a big problem at centre, although I think Bennett has made a real misjudgement in favouring Bateman over Percival. Nevertheless, after Percival, it's hard to think of another international-class English centre.

These are real problem positions for us, and have been problem positions for some time. There's a good argument that we should make English halves and centres not count towards the salary cap until we have rectified this worrying shortage.

Would just play Roby for the 80. Just needs to have similar breaks to smith when the the team have possession.

Wouldn't mind seeing Williams get the utility roll as I think he is the most dangerous of the options.

Expect Burgess to 13 and currie to start. With mcmeekan on the bench.

What a shame that Hardaker seemingly can't be disciplined - our best FB of could have played centre. Would have been much stronger with him.

What a shame that Hardaker seemingly can't be disciplined - our best FB of could have played centre. Would have been much stronger with him.

First final in 22 years and it is story number 26 on the sky sports home page on the app.

Looking forward to next weekend. Scott Taylor on the bench for Hodgson next week for me if Hodgson isn't fit.

Could we put Graham at LF? We often see a third prop at 13 and we know he can play a bit!

We all know Heighington will be on the bench ahead of Taylor or McMeeken if O'Loughlin isn't fit.

Aye, his indiscretion probably cost Cas the title, and it could well have ruined England's chances of the World cup.

I'd like to think any young centre playing in SL next year will be busting a gut to force their way into the squad. If Percival can add some physicality to his game he's definitely the front runner, but hopefully the likes of Sutcliffe, Gildart and Connor can have a great season as well. Sutcliffe and Connor have the psychical attributes, they just need an extended run in that position.

Given what Gale has offered, Sneyd would have given us far more, Brown has being better than Gale though still not good enough to really dent the okkers. If Taylor doesn't get on the bench in front of Heighington if SOL is out it'd be a travesty, I just think fresher legs in Taylor over one of the other forwards would benefit us. Heighington is pants.
We simply do not have enough across the board to win IMHO, Bateman isn't good enough for what we need, I get that he has plenty of endeavour but in attack he's massively lacking and the Aussies know we'll be shifting it to JM.

Whitehead went well today but his first decent match, Hill better but again has being average throughout, S.Burgess yet again disappointing, Graham does what he does and is pick of the forwards but his 'step' is oh so predictable and doesn't achieve anything, Walmsley was good and Currie not involved enough/not on long enough.

Watts must be thinking what he has to do to get into the England squad because he offers more than at least 2 of the 17 picked today by a mile.

I would love us to do them in their backyard but I just can't see past a 10+ point win to them and I think that's being optimistic.

I think Graham's step has meant he's not BEEN dominated in the collision.

Will be interesting to see what the England team looks like in 12 months time. Regardless of next weeks result I don't think Bennett will be interested in carrying on past this WC so I expect a new coach. I'd guess O'Loughlin may end his international days after this as well given his age.

You're right. I'd line up with a Hull team. They'd win this tournament.

what a petty comment, yet we have 3 under performing warrington players and one who only played about 60 minutes from this season who managed to get picked!

gale hasn't been any good since he picked up his mom award either, heighington...


same players being picked year on year, square pegs round holes, nothing has changed over the years, more than likely we will get beat next week, yet i'll bet 90% off this squad will be the one that is named v the kiwis this time next year