Let's be honest, the whole 'Kevin Sinfield wonder-man' thing - as promoted so tediously for years by the likes of Eddie and Stevo - has become a major headache for England RL.

Whether or not Sinfield has the odd good game for England (though I've yet to see one), it now means the coach must constantly chop and change and play people out of position in order to avoid the embarrassment of having to drop his rashly-appointed captain.

It's an amazing mess that McNamara has got himself into on this.

Out of interest who is the knights coach?

Keiron Purtill I think.

I don't get the whole Sinfield bashing thing. He has been and still is a very good player. You make one very good point about the captaincy. I wouldn't select Sinfield against Australia as i think Widdop is a better 6 but making him captain makes him very hard to leave out. I would have stolen a Madge idea and selected a leadership group say, Sinfield, O'Loughlin, Graham, Tomkins and Westwood. Then choose the on field captain on the day.

That's my point.

As an individual player he's got class, and he seems a very decent bloke. But I don't think his end-of-season form was good, and I don't think, on the whole, he is as good in any particular position as other candidates currently in the squad. On top of that, he seems to get moved around a lot, which is no good to him or the team - and I can only assume this happens because McNamara has to save face by shoehorning him in somewhere, which is exactly the wrong way to go about constructing a representative side.

A leadership group might work, though what if they didn't get on? It wasn't that long ago when England's hopes of achieving glory were allegedly dashed because the Saints and Leeds players wouldn't talk to each other.

altho that rumour was put to bed in Terry Newton's auto-biog.

however, the point re the problems of Kev Sinfield are well made. poor decision by the coach to select a player who has always struggled to justify his England place as skipper.
with form/injury so much a factor in RL, we should only be naming the skipper as late as possible. perhaps the idea of a leadership team for the wider train-on squad with a 'leader of the pack' announced at the same time as the final squad.

New Zealand v Cook Islands WC warm up game is on Premier Sports at 2:45.

USA v Canada being shown NOW.

It was about a 20th time repeat from the other week.

We are getting several threads on this - so here's one thread for all continual world cup discussion as the tournament progresses.

Really looking forward to the tournament kicking off now. What games are people going to? Would hope the QF at Wigan is well attended.

So far I've got tickets to

NZ v Samoa
Fiji v Ireland
England v Ireland
QF at Warrington
QF at Wigan
Final

Hoping to also go to Tonga v Cook Islands at Leyth, England v Fiji at Hull, the Wrexham QF and Wembley.

I'm attending Warrington (NZ v Samoa), Rochdale (Fiji v Ireland), St Helens (Australia v Fiji), Leigh (Tonga v Cook Islands) & Salford (Scotland v USA).

Have been called unpatriotic on Twitter for stating I've no interest in attending an England match. A la Zimbabwe!

i know and thats not what i said

i said i thought he was a left winger? my memory tells me hes opposed josh in the past, and played outside Senior...which makes him a left winger? I was tuned in when i posted and wondered if i'd imagined it :

I couldn't believe it when Sinfield was named as skipper and I still can't now. He's had an amazing superleague career but he's never produced the goods at international level and he shouldn't be a guaranteed selection. That is what you need in a skipper, a player that you know is a great leader but also one that you know will be in the side. I suppose that's the sad part, he will be in the side regardless of how he plays.

I'd have had him in earlier in the season as well but his form hasn't been good enough. I'd have selected Widdop and Matty Smith at 6 and 7 with Sam Burgess as captain and Lockers vice captain (with the job of skippering us in mid season games).

The bottom line is we've taken the guy who ran Bradford into the ground and put him in charge of the national team. That's a recipe for disaster & I still don't understand how he convinced the RFL to give him the job...