There are some SERIOUSLY rose tinted spectacles being worn on this thread.

Absolutely

And a heck of a lot of players being scored on the club they play for rather than any rational opinion.

One point on a player omitted but Robbo must be wondering what he's done to upset MacNamara - got a chance to play for England on the back of a lot of injuries and took it with both hands, covering himself in glory against international opposition each time he's pulled the England shirt on and he gets left out.

Mind, I firmly believe that in England we do have the people to beat Austrailia now, just they arent being necessarily picked, and if the are picked, they are played out of position.

Quite simply, we can pick half a dozen wingers and centres that CAN do it against the Aussies, we have a fullback that is truly capable of changing a game if given chance

We have genuine compeition for halfback places

We are falling over ourselves for top class hookers and as ever the only question of our pack is who the hell do you leave out.

Smalltown parochial club-biased short-sightedness on the VT - surely not!
After careful consideration I have rated the squad on a totally impartial and disinterested basis.

Ablett 5
Bailey 5
Bridge 1
Briscoe 1
Brough 1
Burrow 5
Carvell 1
Charnley 1
Chase 1
Crabtree 1
Cudjoe 1
Hall 5
Hardaker 5
Henderson 1
Hock 1
Jones-Bishop 5
Jones-Buchanan 5
Lomax 1
McGuire 5
McIlorum 1
Morley 1
Mossop 1
O'Loughlin 1
Peacock 5
Roby 5
Sinfield 5
Tomkins 1
Watkins 5
Welham 1
Westwood 1
Wilkin 1
Yeaman 1.

Plus
Graham 1
Burgess 1
Ellis 1-5
Reed 1
Widdop 1

I'd rate them as...

Ablett - 2/3
Bailey - 2
Bridge - 2/3
Briscoe - 3/4
Brough - 3/4
Burrow - 4
Carvell - 2
Charnley - 3/4
Chase - 3
Crabtree - 3/4
Cudjoe - 2/3
Hall - 5
Hardaker - 2 (but will improve quickly)
Henderson - 3
Hock - 4/5
Jones-Bishop - 2/3
Jones-Buchanan - 3/4
Lomax - 3
McGuire - 3
McIlorum - 2/3
Morley - 4/5
Mossop - 3 (perhaps 4 by the end of the season)
O'Loughlin - 4/5
Peacock - 5
Roby - 5
Sinfield - 4
Tomkins - 5
Watkins - 3/4
Welham - 2
Westwood - 4
Wilkin - 3
Yeaman - 2

Plus
Graham - 5
Burgess - 5
Ellis - 5
Reed - 4
Widdop - 4

Ablett - 4
Bailey - 2
Bridge - 2
Briscoe - 3
Brough - 4/5
Burrow - 5
Carvell - 4
Charnley - 4
Chase - 3
Crabtree - 4
Cudjoe - 4
Hall - 5
Hardaker - 3
Henderson - 3
Hock - 3
Jones-Bishop - 3
Jones-Buchanan - 3
Lomax - 3
McGuire - 3
McIlorum - 2/3
Morley - 4/5
Mossop - 3
O'Loughlin - 3
Peacock - 4
Roby - 3 (the game is changing and he is of the old scooting hooker school)
Sinfield - 4
Tomkins - 5
Watkins - 4
Welham - 2
Westwood - 4
Wilkin - 3
Yeaman - 2

Plus
Graham - 5
Burgess - 5
Ellis - 5
Reed - 4
Widdop - 4

Roby 3 and Cudjoe 4?

Roby is world class all day long. Works his socks off, still makes massive yards and tackles and never misses any whilst controlling the ruck.

I should have quantified it...Roby is a high class player, but he needs to move to 13. The days of the scooting dummy half are over, and thats 90% of his game. Sure he is an outstanding athelete, but an international 9? No

A view shared by only you and no other living person in the world. Total nonsense.

Definite troll

He actually has more of a point now, Roby would make a world class 13 and does play there often during a game anyhow.

The game is changing, Micky Mac has certainly changed his game to suit this year, but Roby is still excelling in the old role...

to be honest roby's passing off the floor could do with some work i have seen more than one ball go to ground but no player is perfect and he is a class player.

i see what you did there!!! you gave all the good players a lower mark and all the not so good ones a higher mark kind of like reverse psychology very clever!!

IMO Roby's limitations have been exposed at test level. There's no doubt he works his backside off for 80 minutes week in week out however, I think he lacks the guile to unlock a defense that the likes of Cam Smith (the most obviouse example) posses. His passing is quick but not all that accurate, and tends to be at or behind the receiver instead of infront. Having said that he's still England's best hooker (by some margin at this point). I'd rate him 4/5.