This is the point.

More of the RFL's "level playing field" initiative.

Well I've voted for no Wigan players to play in the Exiles. The results so far produce this team

B. Hodgson
P. Richards
J. Monaghan
M. King
G. Carmont
R. Chase
T. Leuluai
D. Buderus
C. Fitzgibbon
W. Mason
M. O'Meley
C. Newton
L. O'Donnel



There's no choice on Leuluai, he's the only scrum half available.

Oh and there's a limit to how many choices from each to team a single voter can make but I can see no limit imposed on the final selection.

just voted myself but am wondering (never got round to checking myself as am on a quick dinner break) how many players for other SL teams have been selected for the game. does anyone have as many as (potentially) 7 players involved or with the possibility of involvement?

the rfl seriously are on to us

joking aside, i think its a great idea and i may be asking the missus if i can go to the game as its a day before my birthday - nice present!

i'm sure there was an option over leuluai - i just assumed he had 100% of the votes so far?

also, i think its basically 3 players per team per selection but overall if every picks a maximum of any 3 players from, for example, wigan, then overall they will become the majority anyway.

i.e. if i picked amos, richards and hoff and a hundred others did, then someone else picked tommy, richards & hoff etc etc they would become the majority overall

Compare our 6 or 7 players involved with Leeds, who are likely to only have 3 - Sinfield and Hall for England & Buderus for the Exiles.

Sammut was available on mine.

Jarrod Sammut.

We should pick certain non-Wigan players and vote for them en masse.

I've voted and didn't pick any Wigan players...

Hodgson
J Mon
King
Soliola
Meli
Chase
Sammut
Mason
Buderus
Leuluai (K)
Fa'alogo
Morrison
Faiumu

However, when I voted (bout 5 mins since) the most popular choices were:
B Hodge, Richards, J Mon, King, Carmont, Chase, Tommy, Buderus, Fitzgibbon, Mason, O'Meley, O'Donnell, Menzies.

You're speaking like this was never a problem for anyone before Wigan this year.

IIRC Leeds beat Cas with 7 players missing through international duty in 2008 and Saints had 6 of their 7 backing up to win 46-16 against Huddersfield the same weekend.

Players back up all the time after origin in Aus too.

I don't see the big deal really - if you have high profile international players, they're going to get called up for rep matches. If you don't want them to back up, don't make them (a la Leeds), if you do then play them (a la Saints).

Sure, but why not allow Wigan and Warrington (who are the only other team to probably have more than 4 players involved) to postpone their SL fixtures from that weekend? Why they plan international games and SL games on the same weekend is beyond me anyway!

If you have more than 4 out, I think you can postpone. Pretty sure that's been the rule previously.

Didn't Leeds postpone last season due to an international?
Remember something about it but not sure if they actually did??

Personally I'd rather have our better players in the higher quality, more intense matches, and have an excuse to bring in some younger players to see what they can do. If we postpone we just put a lot more pressure on ourselves closer to the time that actually matters.

It isn't like a single round in SL makes that much difference, we run a playoff system. Plus if another team is supposedly as good as us (in table position) it should be safe to guess they will be losing as many players as we are, hence put under the same pressure to show off their depth, and deserve their league position.

I'm all for this match.

That's not the case though! Leeds are likely to have just 3 players involved, while Wigan, Warrington and possibly Saints could have as many as 6 or 7 involved. That means 3 of the current top 6 at a distinct dis-advantage that weekend, compared to their nearest rivals. We are due to play Cas 2 days later, who are currently above us in the table, and are likely only to have 1 player involved.

I'd rather we postpone it, even if we have to play the re-arranged tie mid-week. At least that way, we can still pick our strongest side at the time. We could even play it in the week after a Challenge Cup tie - that way, we could give a few kids a change on the weekend, and play a first choice side mid week against Cas.

England are going to get smashed to bits imo