I would have gone for Percival. I haven't been impressed with Bateman's online defence and we're not going to beat the best by being 'solid' but by playing with some flair and taking any chances we get.

With Hodgson, the one thing he would do against NZ/Aus is draw the attention of defenders in a way that Roby won't, because they are aware of how good he can be. Whether England can utilise that properly is another issue.

RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP 2017GAME ON GROUP Qtr : England v Papua New Guinea - Sun - 05:00:00 GENERAL CHAT ABOUT THE GAME, BUILD UP, THE ACTION AS IT HAPPENS AND AFTERMATH BELOW.

Yeah got to agree there. If Bennett thinks Percival isn't up to it, I'm surprised Currie hasn't been gven the same chance Bateman has in at least one of the games this WC. Like you say his skill set and pace are better suited to than Bateman's. Maybe they've given him a go in training and Bateman's looked better, that's the only thing I can think of. But saying that, it would be hard to judge his quality in that position off training runs especially with just a 24 man squad.

Tbh though with alll this sticking 2nd rowers into , simply because they appear to want some size there. For me it makes it more the head scratcher why Shenton wasn't picked. The blokes 6ft3' and 95kg's, sound defensively & can actually pass the ball to his wing.

Yeah Gildart is definitely one for the future for England and it was a proper shame what happened to him this year, with that bad injury, because after his good start to the season, I was looking forward to see if he'd continue to improve. I mean the lads only 21 so there's time to add some bulk to his frame.
Saying that I'm not one that thinks size is the be all and end all, particularly in the Threequarters. As long as you have a good RL brain, know your position inside and out, have a good tackling technique and have some pace, size is just an added bonus to those skills imo.

In fairness to Gildart he came back very well from his injury and was probably our only bright spot in what was otherwise a really poor second half to the year.

I agree with you on the size issue. We seem to be getting obsessed with having huge outside backs but if players have other skills that make them difficult to handle, it isn't the be all and end all. I've not seen an English centre with footwork as good as Gildarts since Martin Gleeson.

Really? Watkins on his day has some of the best footwork ive seen from any player. Id have a whole host of english centres above him for there footwork, that are even playing now; Watkins, Percival, Shenton, Cudjoe... Ive probably been more impressed with Jake Connor at Hull who i think has been great this year.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Gildart come back 6-7kg heavier next season given his decision not to play with Italy in the World Cup.

There would be a certain irony if that gain came from eating a lot of pasta.

Liam Sutcliffe could be a future England centre.

if leroy cudjoe can get himself back to form he could link up with mcgillvary at centre and get their great understanding/partnership going.

cudjoe has had an op end of last season on a knee which has hindered him and cost him his england place this time.

cant believe we are still chopping and changing half backs at this stage of the comp!!! not what you want to be doing really.

pleased walmsley has got a spot now on the bench.

we should be winning this game anyway .. england by 16+ points!

A whole host? I can only think you've not seen enough of him. His footwork is outstanding and better then any named above IMO (Watkins is another I thought of but he's as much power as footwork). That's not to say I think he's currently a better player then those named (apart from Connor, he's without doubt a better centre then Connor) but he's certainly developing very nicely indeed.

Bateman is very good in defence when playing second row, but as a centre his decision making is embarrassing and thankfully if we play Tonga he wont be opposite Jennings who would rip him to shreds.

I really dont understand why Shenton was not taken, he won't beat his opposite man too often but has good defence and knows when to pass

To be fair both Gale and Widdop are still playing, with Brown coming into the side. It’s not like England play 5 mid season games.

I've seen a lot of comment that PNG is a poor side because the PNG Hunters lost to Penrith reserve grade.

Just looking at the named PNG side, there are 3 current Hunters players in the starting side and 2 more on the bench.
Many of the starting side like Mead, Segyaro, Aiton, McDonald, Baptiste etc are very seasoned old pros who are very credible and respected players.

England should win well, but it should be remembered that a weaker PNG selection than this beat a near full strength Fiji in Sydney just 3 or 4 months ago, and they have just spent a month in camp developing a plan for this game.