Anyway, having seen so many of our forwards head for the NRL, I'm far from sure I want an exodus of our backs too, in the hope that it *might* slightly improve the England side.

We've already just lost arguably the best three-quarter in SL to the NRL; do we really want to see more go?

Whose that then?

Joe Burgess?? Really? ?

You dropped these mate..

You think he had a good series against NZ then?

Watkins hasn't played well in an England shirt either in the recent NZ Test series or before it!

He's been no better than Ryan Atkins was but has had far more opportunities as opposed to being written off by the coach like Atkins has been.

I'm not suggesting that Atkins is better than Watkins or that he's international class but Watkins needs to start justifying his status outside of a Leeds Rhinos game.

He scored a fine try in the WC semi i recall so its harsh to say he's done nothing in an England shirt and lets not forget that ripping it up against NZ and OZ, the two finest sides in the world, is not easy.Its also unfair to criticise any of the backs really in this past series, the service was awful throughout.I agree he needs to start showing more in the next few years but he remains the best centre we have by a distance imo.

Oh, and im sure Atkins was cast aside due to snubbing an England call in years gone by, but surely you can't be serious that he has been a contender anyway these last couple of years? even Wire fans were questioning his place in their side last year!

If Percival carries on improving he will surely be pushing for a centre spot. Also I always liked cudjoe. Not sure why he wasn't used.
Watkins has amazing natural ability. Like everyone would love to see him at his best for England.
Shenton also at his best would do a bad job.

i rate Percival and he will get his chance for sure in years to come. I would have played Shenton or Cudjoe instead of Bateman.Not that i don't rate Bateman, i'd certainly include him in the squad as a forward, but he is make shift centre and i don't think we should be going down that road at international level anymore.

Ferres is now on the transfer list but xan anyone sneak him under their salay caps?

Be surprised if Leeds couldn't, bearing in mind what's been shifted off their cap in the close season. Likewise Salford - if they were anywhere close to the cap with that squad something's gone wrong somewhere.

We've had our cap reduced this season due to the new rules.

However, I'm sure there would be room under our reduced cap even now.

Screw the cap,its held our sport back for to long,perfect example of a player being available and the rules stop him from staying in our sport

If he leaves RL it won't be the fault of the cap but Ferres himself.

If I were Hudds I'd be less interested in the fee than getting a decent swap arranged.