Let's face it, we pretty much did everything wrong on Saturday and Samoa still only just squeaked past us. A repeat of anything like our PNG performance or the first game against Samoa and I think we win the game with a bit to spare.

The frustrating thing is we know we're good enough to be in that final, we just didn't execute. Would we have beaten the Aussies? Tough call, but I honestly think we'd have got closer than Samoa will (cue Samoans now beating them and me looking rather foolish ).

So there are some big questions to answer for 2025.

Pack - Can we keep big Tom fit and firing for another 3 years and will Walmsley still be going strong by then to add a bit of size to replace the likes of Hill.
Who of the next generation can fill the void left by Whitehead?

What will be the spine options? Tomkins will be long gone, no Lomax, Sneyd, MM (unless Wane still around in which case who knows! ).

Backs - No Hall, Watkins, Makinson (you'd think).

What names are we throwing into the hat? Dodd, Murphy, Gannon.....

Maybe a back 5 of Welsby, Young, Farnworth, Newman, Murphy looks fairly likely based on players I can think of? Anyone else obvious I'm missing?

Looking forward to see how Tyler Dupree develops at Salford. Got size, pace & good hands and think he's got massive potential.

My only gripe with selection was Watkins at centre. This is international rugby league. You cant have a centre whos slower than my dead nan there who also takes 2 weeks to turn around.. He was woefully found out against Samoa. If Percival was playing, we win that game no danger

I almost agree with you there LeBron. KW was one of the form 2nd rows in SL and deserved a squad place in that position. The unfortunate injuries to Percival and Newman meant he was moved into his old position and TBF to him he did an admirable job until the semi. Looks like he was carrying an injury as well so I think he can be cut some slack (although he made a horlicks of the bombed try). And as your mate Konrad found out last season, Tim Lafai is a fair old handful.

The choices at 1,7 & 9 were far more contentious for me and where Wane dropped a major b0ll0ck.

Watkins was concussed very recently and I wonder if that influenced his performance in the semi. He certainly didn't look the same player as in previous games in the tournament.

I think we can all agree that a lot of players made mistakes and taken together that caused the defeat. If any one of those don't happen we win the game. It was a bit of a perfect storm.

I don't have a problem with any of the selections apart from maybe MM at hooker. As has been said already he doesn't really offer any threat from dummy half. I understand the point about his defence maybe being important to take the sting out of the bigger packs but this didn't really work in the semi. Ackers to me looks ok behind a pack that's winning the ruck but not sure about if it's on the back foot. We've gone from having lots of top class options at hooker to virtually none and that's a concern given how fundamental that position is nowadays.

Hopefully the emergency of Dodd, Murphy, Newman, Pryce, Pearce Paul etc will plug some gaps as they mature

Pearce Paul? Newcastle are going to have to work wonders on him. I've never seen him do anything to suggest he'll live up to the potential we're told he has.

Must be because he is a wigan player you think that,you boring person.

As he's a London product, I should be 100% in support of KPP.

Sadly, I'm inclined to agree with Saddened! He has a lot of potential. So do London as a club. But, in both cases, I'm not sure that potential will ever be realised.

(In the case of London, the club: almost definitely not.)

I don’t know. I could be wrong but didn’t he have a pretty disjointed season through injuries and having to fill in at centre? Times I saw him play he was a bit of a handful. Put him in an NRL environment and I think he will kick on

That s true and he has played centre sometimes where most fans think his best position is second row.

Agree with that, we had quite a few players in key positions that are at the end of their careers and could pull out the occasional good performance but not capable of being consistent all through the rounds. By the time we got to that semi final the likes of Tomkins, Watkins, Hill, Cooper and McLlorum had gone off the boil, the latter never reachd boiling point in that regard.

As for the emergence of the younger players it does look promising with a question mark on Pearce Paul we don't really know what his best position is going to be and Wane shouldn't have used him as a "work in progress" inexperienced utility player during the World Cup Competition.

Bring Nobby Noble back.

To be fair pack players don’t normally hit their prime until late 20’s early 30’s. Lees, Oledski, Batchelor, Knowles etc all have that to come. Pearce-Paul will develop too over there. Ryan Sutton may be in contention if he carries on playing well over there. Luke Thompson will be around. S

Young and Farnworth (if they stay fit will be starters again). Newman was unlucky not to feature due to injury. Simm may develop well over in Aus too. Handley might sustain his form? Dodd will have 3 years more experience at the top. Welsby (should he continue his great form should be the FB unless someone else emerges). Pryce (depending on how his stint in Aus goes) will be in contention. Lots to look forward too.

With Pryce, I agree, it depends if he gets 1st team games in the NRL.

If he doesn`t play regular first team rugby in Australia, going over there could stunt his development.