When i posted thisthread i had my doubts about Tony Smith forums.rlfans.com/viewtopic.php?t=430528 Now with this it has confirmed them www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... gland.html Is Bridge really going to be an England half back ahead of Pryce, Myler, Tompkins, Rachford, Burrows etc. Is Harrison going to be ahead of Wilkin Burgess, JJb etc. then why are they in the train on squad for England now . What has it done to attempts to get a meaningful international competition now Ireland have lost two key players. Between the RFL and Smith they are messing up International RL. Aditionally what does it say to club players come to Warrington and i will get you in the international squad. The sooner Smith **** off the better for England internationally he is incompetent, nepotistic and possibly a fifth columnist for the ARL and RU. What a waste of space Particularly when you look at the players left out. Dale Ferguson should have walked in ahead of Harrison. What a joke

When i posted thisthread i had my doubts about Tony Smith forums.rlfans.com/viewtopic.php?t=430528 Now with this it has confirmed them www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... gland.html Is Bridge really going to be an England half back ahead of Pryce, Myler, Tompkins, Rachford, Burrows etc. Is Harrison going to be ahead of Wilkin Burgess, JJb etc. then why are they in the train on squad for England now . What has it done to attempts to get a meaningful international competition now Ireland have lost two key players. Between the RFL and Smith they are messing up International RL. Aditionally what does it say to club players come to Warrington and i will get you in the international squad. The sooner Smith **** off the better for England internationally he is incompetent, nepotistic and possibly a fifth columnist for the ARL and RU. What a waste of space Particularly when you look at the players left out. Dale Ferguson should have walked in ahead of Harrison. What a joke

I think Smith sees the train-on squad different to you. Rather than only pick players who would get in ahead of the current starting line up and have a train-on squad of 7 players, Smith is picking a mixture of the best players from teams already elminated plus promising young players like Ben Harrison, Tom Briscoe, and Stefan Ratchford who will almost certainly not play this year but have played for England at junior level and are showing the promise to do so for the senior side in the future. Smith clearly feels that they and therefore the England team, will benefit from them training with the elite players.

He will obviously get stick for daring to pick players who play for Warrington, but both players have had good seasons. Bridge offers strength and flexibility across the backline (his best position is centre and he only plays half-back now if Warrington have injuries), and Harrison is a good player who at 21 years old is established in the Warrington team and has a very good chance of becoming a full England international in time.
Neither player will play in the current series in my opinion.

More freaking swaping and changing. Once you play for one country you should not be allowed to change to a better side.

This to me is the key thing. A player signing for Warrington can be guaranteed international honours which gives them a massively unfair advantage in the transfer market.

The RFL should have been delighted to get rid of Smith when they had the chance to when he went to Wire.

The problem lies not with Smith but with the decision to split Great Britain into the home nations which still ranks as the worst decision we've made in our sport for quite a while. I have no problem with what Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland bring to the World Cup, however I was against dismantling Great Britain and playing the Australians and Kiwis as an England team because it undermines the availability of players for Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

People may not like the grandparent or citizenship rulings, however it is in place in pretty much every sport in the world except for maybe football which has incredible volumes of high quality players to counter those rulings.

We all know that Bridge is as likely to get into the England team as he is to win Man Of Steel but you can't blame Smith for wanting to gather the best resources available to him. If the four nations comp had Great Britain as our entrant then we wouldn't even be having this discussion which means that it is the original decision to enter England and not Great Britain whic is at fault.

Similar to Venables putting Spurs players in the England side in the 90s.

A club coach who can't put aside club loyalties should not be a national coach

correct. which is another reason why Smith shouldnt be national coach.

So who should be national coach then?

Someone who doesn't already have loyalties to a club !!

Phil Gould

Some one who can do it full time would be a start.

I actually made a bit of a comment saying in the future Bridge could be an England centre.
Bridge is probably a bit small but jesus christ if Ryan atkins is being touted for the position then Bridge should be a cert. In fact, I fail to see the real reason Smith has signed atkins