I've seen bits and bobs and he's looked in outstanding form. Arguably one of the form players in the NRL to date. I was never a fan of him before this season but he seems to be raising a few eyebrows this year.

LMS has been excellent for Saints this year too, and again should be included in this game to see if he can step up a level, instead of Carvell - who has proven in the past he isnt capable of stepping up.

Fair comment then, must have come on a bit then.

If we were to stop picking the players that have proven in the past they werent up to it, we would have a team of debutants every time we stepped out. From last year for example, there would only be Roby left!!
Carvell over LMS, Atkins over Welham/Yeaman etc etc There is not really much between any of them. Pretty much like for like, certainly cant see any improvement in putting in the players that havent been picked.
I do like Welham, and think he is/will make a decent Super League centre, i just think at the mo he will get ragged around like a doll in attack and will come unstuck in defense against the best players in the world.

SO is the bigger worry for me. Brown had to be in there somewhere. Along with Briers and Chase in parts, he has pretty much been the form player in that position this year, but once again we insist on playing someone out of position. Is Waite back in charge???????

I guess the difference is there are some players we think will fail and some we know will fail

Welham may not be able to step up international football but we know that Atkins can't as was shown last year when he was the worst of a bad bunch in Australia and New Zealand

I would have liked to see a few chances taken in this squad with players only 1 lad outside of the top 5 - Do we really need to see Peacock playing at this stage I would have binned him off as captain anyway.

I have zero confidence in Mcnamara and it looks like he hasn`t got any either to try a couple of new faces only brough uncapped.

I would have gone for Yeaman and Shenton in the centres. Wigan fans suggesting J. Tomkins, may be an option in the near future but hasnt played enough there yet for me, we'll see.

Very reassuring this thread. I was worried, after hearing a few negative comments, that there was little interest in the England v Exiles game. But six pages in a morning along with a few other threads on the match have made me a lot more positive.

He isn't English, from New Zealand.

I think he was just comparing Brown to other stand offs in SL

Comparing the two squads I can see this really backfiring on the RFL. To be humiliated against Australia and NZ at full international level is one thing, but to to get tonked by a team of exiles in your own backyard.....

Ahhh yeah I see now. It's interesting he mentioned Briers actually, according to form he should definitely be in the squad.

There are still a good 10 or 12 injury pullouts to come for the Exiles. They'll end up calling players in from the Championship by next weekend.

when have we been humiliated by NZ?? they have'nt beaten us at home since 2005.....for the world & 4nations champs its humiliating on their part...not ours

There will always be selections fans don't agree with. However some of the rubbish selected is alarming. Is it me or does our forward pack look very similar to the one that got embarrssed in 08. JJB & Wilkin have proved they aren't good enough for test matches and they haven't shown any kind of form to warrant selection.

The omission of Yeaman is a disgrace, he is top try scorer and more importantly probably a better defender than any of the ones selected??

Peacock shouldn't be anywhere near the squad, he's been woeful in the games since his injury. Hall over Mcgilveray? Myler over Lomax? I think mcnamara has paid to much attention to this Elite Training squad, the rest might as well not bother. This is the first time i generally feel we could lose the Origin match. This is the squad i would go for through the slim pickings.

1. S Tomkins
2. Briscoe
3. Bridge
4. Shenton
5. Hall
6. Myler (Who is a scrum half)
7. Brough
8. Graham
9. Roby
10. Morley
11. O'Loughlin
12. Westwood
13. Sinfield

14. peacock (Obviously looks like he's going to get picked)
15. Carvell
16. J Tomkins
17. Robinson

Be interested to see how they would do against a team that hasn't made it;

1. Paul Wellens
2. Jermaine Mcgilveray
3. Kris Welham
4. Kirk Yeaman
5. Jodie Broughton
6. Kevin Brown
7. Jonny Lomax
8. Darrell Griffin
9. Shaunt Lunt
10. Andy Lynch
11. Dale Ferguson
12. Lee Gilmour
13. Ben Harrison

14. Danny Houghton
15. Louis McCarthy-Scarsbrook
16. Paul Wood
17. Liam Farrell

Think that second team could certainly give the first choice a run for their money.