in my spare time i have put an alternate (some are in the current squad) team together and thought they could push saturdays side. It also shows we have a little depth. its not a bad 2nd side on paper (but alot of players havnt performed on 09) What do you think ?


1 S Briscoe; 1 Wellens
2 T Briscoe, 2 Gardner / bridge / fox
3 Smith, 3 senior
4 Shenton, 4 M Gleeson
5 Hall; 5 Pryce / raynor
6 McGuire, 6 Brough / myler
7 Tomkins; 7 burrow / long ( i know hes retired)
8 Morley, 8 carvel
9 Roby, 9 diskin / higham / moore
10 Graham, 10 jamie j b
11 Ellis, 11 tickle
12 Peacock (capt), 12 gilmore / langly
13 Sinfield. 13 purdham / o loughlin / wilkin


14 Burgess,
15 Crabtree,
16 Eastmond
17 Westwood.

Personally I would have gone with this

Briscoe
Fox
Gleeson
Shenton
Hall
Tomkins
Burrow
Graham
Roby
Peacock (capt)
Ellis
Gilmour
Burgess

Bench

Higham
Eastmond
Crabtree
Morley

England have a very weak strength in depth squad. I can honestly say I cant see England competing in the Four Nations or World Cups until this changes. Hopefully now that clubs are more intent on bringing through English talent this will change for 2013 when we next enter the World Cup. Forget about planning for the next World Cup and aiming to peak for then the hardwork starts now! I really dont think Tony Smith is the right man for the job at all. Anyother coach worth his salt would have fixed up that right hand flank when the Australians were running riot down it last Saturday.

said this during the game, ellis should have gone straight to right centre after the debacle of the second try IMO.....it was obvious what they would do after that one and 3 more tries resulted.....Had Smith pulled his namesake off at this point putting burgess on and shifting it around as above we could have actually made a game of it second half.

That said I dont think aus would have eased off as they did if they didnt have such a buffer so in reality its pretty academic.

Personally I think Smith should be sacked for a number of reasons.

1. Englands performance in last years World Cup was embrassing. PNG nearly beat us and Australia destroyed us. So called disaray in the camp between Leeds and Saints players which any strong coach would have dealt with. No question.

2. Smith said we are building for the future. Then he goes and picks Lee Smith who is feckin off to Rugby Union at the end of this series.

3. As we have allready discussed Australia were running riot down the right hand flank and he failed to change things before it was too late. A amateur coach would have done better.

4. His squad selections are completley wrong imo. I have nothing against young Tom Briscoe and Im sure he will go on and have an excellent and successful career but come on he's hardly played for Hull this year and is playing for England vs Australia! Danny McGuire is not an International Stand Off he is an excellent club player but doesnt have the ability to step up to the plate at International Level. Gareth Carvell has had a great season at Warrington and seems to be surplus to requirements so it begs the question why was he picked in the first place when Smith has no intention of playing him. To have Kevin Sinfield at first reciever against the Aussies was plain stupid, Sinfield is an excellent Loose Forward/Captain for Leeds but cant hack it at International Level at all.

All in all Tony Smith isnt up to bringing England up to speed with the Australians and Kiwis as he is tactically inept at this level and also his squad selections and then his team selections are just laughable at times. If we manage to beat New Zealand which is a very big IF we will only get pasted by Australia again in the final. At the end of this series if we dont win it which im 100% convinced we wont what exactly will he have achieved??? In a couple of words balls all we beat a very poor New Zealand side in 2007 3-0 and apart from that we are as far away from Australia as we have ever been and New Zealand have improved 10 fold in that time. Smith has to be sacked as his poistion is untenable.

Paul Wellens is the one you will probably think is the goal posts at some point. He moves about as fast as one! You'll see him in the background of Leeds tries, out of position, off the pace and out of his depth, even at this level.

Wellens has never had pace but his positional sense is quite frankly the best in the country. I would take Wellens over anyother Full Back in Super League without doubt. If Wellens had pace he would have been the best in the World.

Why do people persist in putting Danny Brough in England sides?

He can't play for England!

he can...unfortunately

Quote: roughyedspud "he can...unfortunately'" www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/ ... 679199.ece "Danny Brough, the Scotland World Cup captain, has been told by the RFL that he must wait until 2010 in order to represent England."

Quote: roughyedspud "he can...unfortunately'" www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/ ... 679199.ece "Danny Brough, the Scotland World Cup captain, has been told by the RFL that he must wait until 2010 in order to represent England."

To my knowledge that rule is now outdated, the presiding rule is that players with dual nationality can switch codes immediately after a World Cup competition without having to serve a two-year probationary period.

Jarryd Hayne represented Fiji during the last World Cup yet is playing on the wing for Australia this year. He is allowed to do so because of the above rule change, under the old rules he would not be allowed to play and neither would Brough.

1. Eastmond
2. Clubb
3. Atkins
4. Shenton
5. Hall
6. Tomkins
7. Brough
8. Graham
9. Diskin
10. Peacock
11. Ellis
12. Burgess
13. O'Loughlin

14. Roby
15. Crabtree
16. Carvell/Westwood
17. Morley

two words..

JARRYD HAYNE

if he can sway from fiji to australia then (sadly) brough can swap from scotland to england...just like ben harrison and chris bridge have from ireland to england since the world cup..


crap i know...but i don't make the rules...wish i did though..

Isn't the rule that you can only change your nomination once in any two year period?

IIRC Hayne hadn't represented Australia before the World Cup, so could nominate for Fiji. He then subsequently made the one change he is entitled to make in a two year period and nominated for Australia.

Had Brough already nominated for England then changed to Scotland for the WC, meaning he can't change again until two years have elapsed?

even in that scenario Danny Brough had been playing for Scotland for over two years prior to the World Cup,

Don't also forget Michael Jennings is in the Kangaroos squad and he played for Tonga in last years World Cup also.