Just watched the highlights before and seen paul cullens england team for france.
Morley on the bench and Westwood not even in the starting 17

Whats the point in picking morley and westwood if they aint going to play. I no its only what cullen thinks but what if it is the team for saturday.

Its not. Morley and Westwood are on the bench and Bridge starts

Turn the volume down when cull speaks,
turn it up again when Barrie Mac speaks,
BANG;GET THAT INTO YA,class..

I actually find Cullen quite interesting to listen to. Sure he was probably too tactical and in depth for your average rugby league player, but watching his insights into why tries were scored or defences worked is often fascinating.

Paul Cullen tactical genius

This isn`t to do with Paul Cullen directly.

I`m suoprised that Ben Westwood has been picked to start from the bench by Steve McNamara, he`s not an impact player. If your going to pick Westwood in your 17 then he has to start, he`s an 80 minute bump and grind player that does a decent stint in defence as well.

It would be pointless to do that against the aussies or a full strength kiwi side, i just don`t see the point in playing him from the bench in any game to be honest as he just isn`t an impact player.

It would have been better to start with Westwood in this game and bring on Burgess from the bench, the idea is your subs will give you some impact.

I too think that Cullen is interesting to listen to on boots n all, he seems to know a lot about the game and offers an insight to the depth that rugby league coaches go into.
It does highlight again though, how lacking in experience he is at man management, with the depth of knowledge he has of the game along with the results smith is getting out of largely the same squad.

Morley's on the bench , Bridge starts

Scruton and Westwood to miss out

Thats just Cullens opinion i guess

Quote: howley-wire "Morley's on the bench , Bridge starts Scruton and Westwood to miss out'" Not according to the sky website, its got Westwood down as starting from the bench. Thats why i made the point above that its pointless starting Westwood from the bench as he`s not an impact player. www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 29,00.html

Quote: howley-wire "Morley's on the bench , Bridge starts Scruton and Westwood to miss out'" Not according to the sky website, its got Westwood down as starting from the bench. Thats why i made the point above that its pointless starting Westwood from the bench as he`s not an impact player. www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 29,00.html

If I heard "... chimes into the line ...." once I heard it about ............ 7 times.

He's a top lad on the telly pointing out what's happening but he never was able to dream things up on the pitch like the better coaches out there.

If only PC had accepted the importance of a strong defensive unit and coached the players in that way. Instead he seemed to follow the belief that "attack is the best form of defence". We used to let in 25pts per game under PC and Widnes are doing the same now.

It's really odd when considering when he played he was superb defensively.

What we need to remember is that you or I could pick holes in any defensive line if we watch it a hundred times then write a comment on it. Cullen was too robotic with Warrington in his sets and and that is why he is at Widnes now and we have the Lord Tony Smith.
In Smith We Trust

possibly a reaction to being 'a defensive player' certainly i was concerned about this when he was appointed that you didn't associate paul cullen and attack and was fearful that we wouldn't be much cop going forward.

Maybe this is why he's like he is, over compensating and wanting to be the most attacking-ist possible.

His knowledge of the games structures etc is very good to be fair. But when he was with us, as some have eluded to, perhaps his efforts to balance his former playing style of Defense with an attacking approach may have backfired. On the couple of occasions Ive watched Widnes on a Thursday, especially against Barrow last week, some of their traits are eerily similar to ourselves when Cullen was in charge. For example, that Ned Catic try from the second half restart. That was Cullen all over!