At last, some sense. And then, even if you're still 50/50 over whether he's good enough, stick him on against Wales so at least he's ours and the Aussies can't have him.

I've seen him quite a few time this year and really rate him. One thing people havn't said is how dangerous he is inside the opponents 10m. An area where England normally struggle, he scores tries using his strength from close-range regularly.

He is playing for Brisbane Broncos, not QLD or Australia.
Why shouldn't he? he is from one of the Bronco's feeder Clubs and has been in Australia for 21 of his 23 years.
Its not as if the Bronco's went and looked for an Englishman because there were no Aussies around.
He is a decent player but I doubt he will ever make the Qld squad let alone the Oz Test team so if he wants to play for England so be it.
I also agree it sends out the wrong message to the players in England when a virtual Aussie with 20 first grade games to his name at 23 years of age is regarded better than his SL equivalent.

Same as Widdop last year (with about 4 first grade games under his belt) what does it say about the perception of the difference in standard of each competition from the English selectors.

Yep, we were wrong to make sure Widdop was English. I mean, his forms been awful this year.

Are you mad?

So if he does turn out to pick england, we have
Widdop, Ellis, Burgess, Burgess, Reed & Flanaghan playing regular NRL
Next year we also will have Graham there with Flanaghan returning.
We also have had the lad from Widnes playing in the Broncos reserves and, i guess we should mention, Michael Worrincy.
A lot of people say "the more English Players in the NRL, the better for England's international chances." How many more do we want over there, half a dozen, 20? Or will we then start to worry about our player drain?

I think with the amount of money in the NRL we're going to see more rather than less going over there. I suppose this exposes our best players to a higher level of competition, and if we do get a superstar i'd rather them go to Australia than Union.
At the same time, it reduces the quality of SL

I did not mention his form this year, I said last year after a couple of games he was picked much to the annoyance of many on this Forum at the time, funny how opinions change when he does turns out ok.
Was he ever going to be something other than English?

Reed has proven himself in the NRL this season and has looked very good whenever I have seen him. If he is available for England, he would be the first centre on my team sheet without a doubt. As said earlier in the thread, the only criteria should be if somebody is good enough and in form which Reed definately is.

To be fair though, if it means the amount of money you can make by playing league can start to compete with England RU dosh, it will probably be better for the sport. As you say, we're much better off with our stars playing in the NRL than defecting to Union.

This article sums it up. www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/b ... 6137503655

This article sums it up. www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/b ... 6137503655

What has the competition a player competes in got to do with whether he gets selected as long as it is of a comparable standard or better. I don't care how long a player has spent "proving" himself, if he's rubbish, he's rubbish and shouldn't be playing for the national side. Reed is a better player, in a better league than any of the other centre options available to the England selectors.

We need to get the rose tinted glasses off in some cases. The SL competition is a second rate product, it lacks competitive teams, has too many non even games, too many second rate/past it overseas players. The general standard of British player is declining. If you need evidence look at the current England team being beaten by a team of SL overseas players containing ONE current international and having a 37 year old playing in it and an average age of 30. We are falling further and further behind the southern hemisphere in RL terms and will continue to while the RFL pursues its current policies.

Reed for England, with him and Widdop we would at least have 2 quality backs.

For me it's simple. If he will play 100% committed for England and he is in the top 2 centres then pick him. After all he is English

Imagine if things are getting heated on the pitch -
"Rack off yer blaady convicts!"

Monkey,
"Maybe" 30 or 40 years ago.
That is like saying all English people are a cross between Benny Hill or Alf Garnett.

To be fair, on this board, probably half?