Did you see the big number 12 on Ablett's back too? Where was he playing?

Squad numbers mean jack these days.

Also McGuire is a very good organiser. 1st impressions last though and by the majority of people he will always be seen as a player whos only atribute is that he can back up. He's not 21 any more you know. He has got better year on year and is a very good all round player with a very good kicking game. Last year McGuire carried Leeds. This year he was injured until May but for the last 2 or 3 months since he has got back to full fitness he has been at the heart of everything good Leeds do... at 7.

It is also a bit of a braindead move from Crapbanana to include Bailey after what happened to Sam Tomkins against the exiles. Does he really think the Saints fans are going to cheer Bailey on?

cant see the fuss over jack reed either to be honest, just cos hes playing in nrl dont mean we should pick him, cant see what robinson has done wrong best player at last years 4 nations, best player in exiles game, then dropped makes no sense to me, yet players who underperformed in the above keep there places.

As for mcgiure above brough no brainer, we havent got a kicking game without brough that was the problem down under last year and it will be the same this time around, we cant play the aussies and kiwis in our half if we do which we will without a kicking game , we will get hammered again, which means that sinfield will play for certain cos hes the only other player with a half decent kicking game.

Widdop has a kicking game, he does not display it much at the Storm because he has several senior tactical kickers around him and he defers to them.
He has the game if needed.

Quote: Saddened! "The thing with Bailey is that he's not good enough to make the 17 unless someone pulls out injured. There are Graham, Peacock, Morley and Carvell clearly ahead of him in the squad. So he doesn't play unless one of those is rested anyway. Factor in the fact that he's a complete muppet and will cause problems in the camp it just comes across as a bizarre selection. I take it the likes of Lynch, Scrutton, LMS and Mossop are all injured?'" Mossop is in the Knights squad. englandrl.co.uk/englandrl.php?id=705

Quote: Saddened! "The thing with Bailey is that he's not good enough to make the 17 unless someone pulls out injured. There are Graham, Peacock, Morley and Carvell clearly ahead of him in the squad. So he doesn't play unless one of those is rested anyway. Factor in the fact that he's a complete muppet and will cause problems in the camp it just comes across as a bizarre selection. I take it the likes of Lynch, Scrutton, LMS and Mossop are all injured?'" Mossop is in the Knights squad. englandrl.co.uk/englandrl.php?id=705

Widdop and Chase both have decent kicking games. For me the biggest problem England have had over the last 4 years is a lack of go forward. Despite being fed this myth that we have a better pack than the Aussies we have rairly been able to get the better of them in the forwards this lack of field position has resulted in us having to kick the ball from our own 30m and no matter how good of a kicking game a player has its almost impossible to put in decent kick when your kicking the ball to a full back as good as Slater.

I completely agree that the field position has been a major problem for our national team against a disciplined Australian and New Zealand team

For me it is a combination of three things

1. Kick return being slow and ineffective and then the first outside back runs from out of their own 20

2. Go forward and momentum with the forwards

3. Decent long kicking game to pin the opposition back

I think that the first will be better this year than previous years with Tomkins, Briscoe and Hall being far better at bringing back kick ball on tackles 1 and 2 that the likes of Wellens, Calderwood and Gardner in the past

The forwards are capable of gaining momentum but I agree we do have a tendency to overhype – the key for me is to have at least two good props on the bench, we have suffered in the past with starting the game well and then losing momentum when our big men leave the pitch

I do worry about the kicking game – Brough is the best option we could have chosen, I just hope Chase, Tomkins and Widdop can step up here

Sinfield's long-kicking game is as good as Brough's. Chase's short-kicking game is as good as Brough's. They're also both better all-round players than Brough. Claiming Brough should be there just for his kicking is a bogus argument.

What I want to see from England this year is a few more ideas. I can rememebr times last year, especially in game one vs the Kiwis when England looked seriously like they couldn;t come up with ideas and even times where they broke the line and looked around cluelessely wondering what to do.

Hopefully setting a good halfs combination can combat that but as said above the idea that England has the best pack is a complete myth. They will be well tested this year, no Burgess, no OL, an aging Peacock and Morley.

It's hard to know what will happen with the 4N, no point in us complaining too much about selection until we've seen what they can do. Don't forget the Aussies and Kiwis are light a few players too so anything could happen. Hopefully the rest of the England squad remains healthy.

Have they met up as a squad yet?

I know Jamie Foster tweeted something about meeting up in Loughbrough and seeing what was going to happen. I think he's expecting Bailey to beat him up behind the bike sheds.

Agree with 1.

2. & 3. Are interrelated, we do have the better pack but they run off and are controlled by inadequate halfbacks which negates the dynamic advantages of our forwards.

The Ausies and to a lesser extent the Kiwis have almost exactly the opposite situation meaning their packs, whilst marginally less effective than Englands, are marshalled (excuse the pun) by excellent halfbacks and therefore are able to operate at a level which is greater than the sum of their parts.

Factor the poor kick returns and awful kicking game which results in our pack fighting to make hard yards inside our 30m, while conversely the opposition are enjoying a midfield/attacking position.

Now consider the energy battle which we lose because we're defending inside our half while Aus & NZ are under less stress defending further up the field.

All of the above is then exploited by both down under teams in the later stages of each half via their superior halfbacks ability to provide opportunities for their vastly superior three-quarter line.

Playing a Sinfield/McGuire/Chase combination at halfback will not resolve the above issues, IMO Brough would go a long way to providing an answer.

Give Chase and Widdopp a chance. McNamara may play Sinfield as a steadying hand, goalkicker and long-range kicker, but inherently we need our halfbacks to run the show.

As for our forwards, the problem is that what they do reasonably well is utterly basic - i.e. take the ball in and tackle when players run straight at them. What people vastly underestimate is the quality of work done off the ball by the Aussie forwards - dummy runs and helping make extra men in attack, and being very hardworking and mobile in defence (particularly on the inside) as required.

We tend to blame our backs when Australia score out wide or for looking 'clueless' in attack but some of the problem needs to be laid at the feet of our forwards as well. I remember Peacock blasting our backs after a loss in Australia, yet every time we tried to spread the ball our backs were lined up facing not just their opposite numbers but a couple of forwards as well. Not clueless but rather 'no chance'.

Are we going to have an Australian referee this time?

We were deservedly beaten last year but some of the refereeing was shockingly biased.