Your first line isAfter the dreadful squad that McNamara named today should he be sacked?[/i'

So what are you saying then because I seem to have confused the point where you HAVEN'T said that you want to sack him because of this?

You said sacking him was ridiculous and quoted a post of Saddened's typical anti Wigan bile which rabbits on about 2 Wigan players which I made no mention of. If I ignore the qoute your post makes more sense, however I fail to see why you would include the quote if you werent refering to that. My reply to you made it fairly obvious what I was on about, as well as my opening post which I am fairly certain you didnt read and are just backtracking, so I dont know why you are obtuse.

Rude

I quoted Saddened's post because I thought it was quite funny...that's why I posted it after what I had said! No need to be so obtuse now Famous

Patrick
Lynch
Mcarthy-Scarsbrook

and even Hill before them !!

I agree. Mcarthy-Scarsbrook has impressed me when I have seen him this year, particularly in the games against Wigan when he has played in beaten packs but has always kept going, good speed and mobility too which is what we need. I would also have Prescott in there but he has had a few injuries this year.

Famous is furthering the reputation he's garnered on the Wire forum with this effort.

I still have a long way to go before I get close to your reputation on the Wigan forum though

If this question was asked after two terrible performances against the exiles, then I might entertain it, but you want to sack a coach based on his squad selection?!? Without even waiting until they have played first?

He's dog turd, utterly clueless.

Form in SL is part of the jigsaw, but frankly isn't enough to help McNamara or anyone else pick a side that is capable of taking on Australia. In that respect England are so weak that McNamara will always have to pick some players who are capable of big-game performances even if they're not in the best of form (e.g. Roby to pick a name). Mal Meninga does the same for Queensland with some players, and Ricky Stuart even more so for NSW.

From what I've seen - and not dissing the lad who I hope does become genuine class - Goulding is an OK centre who is rightly making hay in a very dominant team. Charnley OTOH I think has overtaken Briscoe. That's the sort of judgement call the England coach has to be able to make - identify which players in the best side are really contributing to their strength, and which are more or less going along for the ride.

The main selection question mark for me, looking forward to next year (and hoping to hell the likes of Tomkins and Burgess are fit) is halfback. An in-form and confident Brough with Widdopp would be my pick, but McNamara seems to have decided that Sinfield will be the 6 - presumably for his kicking and general sense of control, which so many of our supposed 'playmakers' almost entirely lack. Whilst I can see McNamara's logic, I'd prefer he took a risk and went with halfbacks who ate least might have the capability to unlock a defence.

Happily I'm not the coach, because English RL supporters tend to far too easily hammer the coach for selections (generally not picking somebody from their team) and not taking into account the huge gulf in class they are desperately trying to cross by selecting the majority of their players from SL to play against generally far superior opposition.

The Exiles games are really 'exhibition' games, against a contrived opposition. Similarly, the International series at the end of the season is not going to offer the same challenge or prestige as beating the Aussies or Kiwis. We should therefore be using the international games this year to experiment with the England side, finding new and exciting combinations of players, and not using it as an excuse to stroke the egos of the same old faces, picked on name and reputation.

We had nothing to lose this year; fans wouldn't mind being beaten by the Exiles if they got to see a good young team developing a rapport with one another, and to be perfectly honest, given the quality of European opposition, we would struggle to lose the Autumn series. But no, McNamara didn't want to upset the old guard, and so our preparations for next year's World Cup consist of fielding players who will be well into their thirties by the time it rolls around.