Well there's that and the fact we don't have a half back of sufficent quality.

I'm biased, but I think Lomax would have had more success at 7 than chase.
I'm not saying he's of the desired quality, yet, but maybe in the future... .... ...

I think a Widdop and Lomax halfback partnership has real potential, plus 2 young players who could be around for a long time. No doubt McBanana will stick with Sinfield and Chase though!

Tomkins
Burgess
Ellis
Read
Widdop

Note 4 out of 5 play in the NRL. Read in to that what you will.

tomkins
ellis
hall
graham
burgess

please, no more talk of chase or sinfield, both are great club players but, neither of them are world class

Hall
Roby
Burgess
Ellis
Graham.

As good a prospect Tomkins is, he was rather found out against the Aussies.

Hall just sneaks it above another forward.

I disagree that we have a 17 who are very competitive with Australia. Our 'best' 17 minus probably only Sam Burgess got smashed in the 4N final. Apart from Burgess all the other players who could have been used would at best have been marginally better than those picked.

Our halfbacks are way behind the Aussies, but its also the way they play the game across the field. As well as being great players, Lockyer/Thurston get so much time and space and look light years ahead because of the way the rest of the team plays around them.

I tend to agree, but I don't think its a problem of talent.

Someone once posted on here that if you do 100 things 1% better than you opponent, you'll win the game and, for me, that's the main difference between us and the aussies. They're just that little bit better than us at every little thing. That's why, even if the scores are close, it always looks as though we're hanging on and they're mearly biding their time.

What you are saying differenciates great players from good players.
All SL plyers can pass a ball and tackle, but this is given a much sterner test when the opposition improves.
The players have less time to think and this is when they are found out.
Again, better players are not twice as quick or twice as good at tackling, its all about fractions.
The RFL need to reduce the number of imports and this will increase the quality of our kids, by giving them game time
and hopefully mean that the imports are more carefully chosen and not brought in because they have an Aussie accent.
There have been so many poor players over the years, however, the good ones are well worth having as the youngsters will
learn from them as well as giving good value to the paying public.
One area that is really difficult to change, is the number of overseas plyers that become British when they have been here for
a couple of seasons,which further reduces the pool of homegrown talent.
Only when these issues are deat with can we begin to assemble a quality team and defeat the Green & Golds.

Out of curiosity, were would you put Sam in your rankings? But then again, youve just shown yourself as clueless again

My List

1. Sam Tomkins
2. James Roby
3. James Graham
4. Sam Burgess
5. Sean O'Loughlin

Can not see how you rate Roby at International level , everytime overlap on the left did he turn the ball back to the right .
Things like that make all the difference to a team.
If you think I am wrong suggest you watch games again .

Wasn't that Wilkin who kept coming inside instead of giving Yeaman the ball ? I don't think Wilkin gave him a single decent pass in the 3 games

We will never ever catch the Aussies up because quite simply rugby league is a much bigger game in Australia than it is in England so there is a much bigger pool of players to choose from and the domestic competition is of a higher standard - result, the best players available are of a higher technical quality than the best players available to England.

Not dissimilar to comparing the English Premierleague with Scotland.

Agreed