I suspect given the smallish pool of decent Eng players you would hope he has picked 80% of the future-good or bad.

Dont you wear high waisters like your brothers on the farms in Aus

I think this 'smallish pool' of decent England players you speak of must be incredibly shallow if a bloke that cant get a game at the Melbourne Storm is a first choice starter

No more shallow than the Australian Rugby League pool seeing as though you have turned to a 31 year Rugby Union reject to play on the wing

The main difference is that one is a good player with years of experience both at club level in the NRL and at international level too.

The other one is a bloke called Widdles who struggles to get a game at the Storm yet is nailed on to start for England because he is still better than his rival countrymen.

I'd like to see a team something like

1. Tomkins
2. Cudjoe
3. Briscoe
4. Widdop
5. Goulding
6. O'Loughlin
7. Robinson
8. Fielden
9. Lunt
10. Graham
11. Ellis
12. Westwood
13. Burgess

14. Roby
15. Harrison
16. Griffin
17. Crabtree

Why would you play Widdles at 4?

Neat side step

Tell me – what does Lote Tuqiri ‘s selection on the wing for Australia say about the playing pool of this so called bottomless pit of Rugby League playing talent in Australia... do you think it was his contract being terminated by the ARU or his outstanding performances for Leicester in the English RU premier league that got him selected?

The fact he had a decent season for the Tigpies and Tim Sheens is his club coach as well as the Australia international coach.

We've got to get Sam Tomkins in at fullback for me and give him a free reign to roam around the field like he's been doing for Wigan in the 2nd half of this season. I'd also like to see us get Joel in at centre because he is too good to be sitting on the bench for the vast majority of games and he'd cause any defence problems out there with his size, power and pace.

I'd line us up-

S Tomkins
Briscoe
Widdop
J Tomkins
Hall(if fit)
Brown
Robinson
Graham
Roby
Fielden
Ellis
Westwood(deserves to start imo)
O'Loughlin

subs
Crabtree(has to come back in)
Burgess(impact from the bench)
Harrison
Lunt

I like the look of that bench a whole heap more then yesterdays and it would give us some impact when we needed it. The backs as ever will be the worry but then the Aussie 2-5 doesn't look quite as strong as it normally does so hopefully we can limit the damage.

He looked a threat at imo, alot more than Atkins. He looks like the type of player that can do something brilliant then mess up 2 mins later but im bored of the same boring that are `safe'.

Lote Tuqiri left Rugby League in 2003 and joined the ARU – after having his contract terminated in 2009, he joined the Leicester Tigers in the English Premiership and then he returned to Rugby League with Wests, seven years after he left and at 31 years of age

Now, he is playing on the wing for Australia in the 4 Nations

I will restate my question – what does this tell you about the depth of the playing pool in Australia?

Every time he had to fill in at centre for Wigan he has been poor and all over the place defensively. He is never a centre in SL never mind internationally.

We have to play somebody at centre at the end of the day and with both Atkins and Shenton looking like they're missing guys like Widdop, Joel Tomkins, Briscoe etc will all be looked at as options to fill in.

I'd choose the first 2 as I believe both would cause plenty of problems attacking the Australian line.

Just for you Barry McKenzie will restate his answer.

Lote Tuquiri got in the side because [size he had a decent season for the Tigpies and Tim Sheens is his club coach as well as the Australia international coach.[/size

I even made the font just that little bit bigger in case you missed it first time round.

We all know the superb quality and depth of RL in Australia.... whatever the competition. As it has been for as long as I care to remember.



Yet if the coach wants Tuquiri... the coach gets Tuquiri.