I would love it if England had the best team in the world, like I love it in cricket and in RU when we did ten years ago. But there's no point kidding yourselves and talking them up if they go on and get hammered.

Think how most fans on here reacted when Sinfield got the Golden Boot. That should have been great for the game but you didn't get the non-Leeds fans celebrating it, they were all quick to say it was not deserved, the Aussies are all better.

I expect on these rlfans forums what we will see is a fair bit of empty defiance before the tournament "we've got a great squad, we're gonna show those cocky Aussies whats what", then the tournament will end in an abrupt halt with a hiding at the hands of one of Aus or NZ.

Then the fun will start:

This is the sort of thing you will read on here:

- Steve McBanana (or whatever hilarious play on his name people can come up with) is to blame for us being rubbish, he is as clueless as that Aussie Smith was in the last world cup picking Paul Sykes etc.

- Adrian Morley, Jamie Peacock, too old, why are we persevering with them, we should have picked Louis McCarthy Scarsbrook etc then we would have won.

- Gareth Ellis, what has he ever done at international level? Nothing, overrated, get rid.

- Kevin Sinfield, why are we playing a loose forward at stand off, not up to it. If we had a proper standoff we'd have won.

- Bruce Didgereedoo who emerged this year in the NRL, but was discovered to have a father from Ramsbottom, why are we picking these Aussies who have no pride in the shirt, if we'd have had English players we would have won.

- Why do we just pick players from Warrington/Leeds/Saints/Wigan? If you just pick the same faces from 'big clubs' that have failed before you are always going to fail again. Why not pick the Salford/Wakey/Widnes players? They couldn't have done any worse?

- There are too many overseas players in the game, send them all back and they will be replaced by superstars in the clubs Academies that just can't get a game and end up leaving and playing football instead.

- The media has got a conspiracy against RL, when England RU won the Grand Slam earlier in the year they did a full commemorative supplement in the Times, why couldn't they have done one to commemorate us getting our backsides handed to us in the RL World Cup?

- The game is dying, the RFL is a joke, Tomkins is going to go to Saracens, there's some dual registration thing that no one understands, nobody saw the pictures on the Stobart lorries


But hey don't have nightmares people maybe I'm just a cynic and maybe none of that will happen...

Well perhaps England will be spared a thrashing by Australia. I see N Korea have just successfully tested another nuclear bomb.

I think we will be competitive in the WC. In fact, for the first time in recent memory I am looking forward to an international series and have purchased multiple tickets aleady, 8 months in advance. I can't wait. We have a strong pack, decent (I know, not spectacular) centres and halves, and we have a full back and wingers of NRL standard. If Myler can continue his progress, and Sinfield carries his SL form into the series we will be ok. Widdop will be very near a jumper if playing regular, and is great competition for the other halves.

it's a bit early doors but i would go with,

tomkins
briscoe widdop atkins hall
myler brough
graham roby burgess
westwood ellis
sinfield

crabtree hill mcguire o'loughlin

1.Tomkins
2.Charnley or Briscoe
3.Reed
4.Atkins
5.Hall
6.Widdop
7.Myler
8.Graham
9.Sinfield
10.Hill
11.Hock
12.Westwood
13.O'Loughlin

14.Roby
15.Burgess
16.Ellis
17.Crabtree or JJB

Depends what you mean by we will be OK. If you mean we will get to the semis or final, and beat anyone apart from NZ and Australia I agree with you we will be OK, we are 3rd in the world and there is nobody like France, PNG that is close to threatening our 3rd spot.

If you mean we will beat the Kangaroos then no. The pack is more or less similar level to theirs, but the gulf in the halves and the outside backs is huge. Even our best two players (Tomkins and Roby) would not be first choice in the Kangaroos because they would be behind Billy Slater and Cameron Smith.

This is the same situation it has been for years. I don't see any evidence that England has upgraded its quality to close the gap. If we did then I'd be more hopeful. Sinfield is a great leader and a very good player but so was Farrell and Scully. I agree with you about having players of NRL standard, Hall, Briscoe would get NRL clubs easily but they wouldn't be close to the Kangaroos squad. Same with Jack Reed that plays there. They would just be decent but not top NRL players, like Carney was or Gleeson or Senior would have been, we haven't improved on that kind of player and some of our other centres being mentioned are not up to it.

Then just look at the halfbacks, the gulf there is a million miles. The only British halfback thats at their level is Briers, he would have won caps for the Kangaroos but he won't play for England.

The best we can hope for is something similar to the 2011 Four Nations or 2004 Tri Nations. Get a good win over NZ in there, and then make the final. The final will show us up as we are well behind them. NZ I think are better than us but they have a flakiness to them that the Aussies don't have, sometimes they don't turn up well prepared for international tournaments, other times they are red hot.

The types of players we will be using will be similar to those we had in 2011 and there was a big gap between us and the Aussies in that final, the Aussies were missing players too. We have struggled against the Exiles sometimes too which shows about where we are - good enough to compete against a random assortment of good NRL standard players but not good enough to beat the cream of the NRL.

That's not a slight on the England players though its just they will get creamed by the best, just like its not a slight on Man United to admit they would get ripped up by Barca.

Tomkins
Charnley
Reed
Watkins
Hall
Widdop
Lomax
Burgess
Roby
Graham
Ellis
Westwood
O'Loughlin

Crabtree
Hock
Mossop
Sinfield

England/GB have always been capable of beating Australia in one-off games, so if we get our first choice 17 versus theirs, then of course we have a chance.

The two big variables are team selection and injuries.

If we persist in playing Sinfield @ stand-off alongside Chase we're playing into Australia's hands. Likewise Ablett - shouldn't be anywhere near the squad, and Hock would be a useful squad player but the big teams will wind him up like a clock.

In terms of injuries if any one of Tomkins, Burgess, Graham or Westwood get sidelined or aren't fully fit we are really really gonna struggle ............ Australia can just call on their 2nd or 3rd choice with no major drama.

I am amazed that so many people have omitted Widdop. This could perhaps be due to not following the NRL though I guess.

England have always been capable of beating Australia in one-off games when they aren't decisive, that's true.

In major finals or deciding Tests in a three Test series though, the Aussies always win. Because the Aussies have been so dominant for so long they have a tendency to coast in non-decisive games some times which gives the opposition a chance but when it comes to a must win game they are on the ball. You need to have someone like Benji Marshall in the team to unlock them in a big game. Given what happened last time I think there will be no prisoners in this World Cup final, whether it be us or NZ against them, there will be payback for 2008 and a big scoreline. When they want to be ruthless they will just pummel the opposition.

McIllorum should be avoided...He works hard but has no real skills IMO plus he's niggly and the Aussie and Kiwis will target him..
Roby and Danny Houghton both better options...

Of course whilst it would be great for England to win, it doesn't mean we can't enjoy the comp if they don't. One of my all time favourite games of RL is still Tonga v NZ from 1995 at Wilderspool. This time we have Samoa v NZ at the HJ which should be a great occasion plus a qtr final. Overall there are 14 nations playing in 28 games at 21 venues in 4 countries. Its going to be a fascinating event.

Hookers should be Roby and Daryl Clarke