Nail on the head there. Facts dont lie.

Yes, couldn't agree more. Jiffy (was it?) kept banging on about how Connor was doing it all wrong cos he was pointing his shoulder in the wrong direction, or some such, but it looked like he did OK in attack and defence to me. And as for Gildart, well, he didn't see that much of the ball, but again did little wrong, and when he got his half-chance in attack, boy, did he take it!

i wonder how this will pan out with regard to selection for Anfield? Is Widdop out for the series? I wonder who'll play in the backs next week.

Yeah Widdop not in the squad. The only change I’d make is Joe Greenwood in for Lockers with Thompson starting and Greenwood on the bench. We can’t start messing about with the combinations now and I think the spine went reasonably well. Josh Hodgson continues to look like he wants to impress English crowds a little too much but he improved as the game went on.

Shoot the OP for having an opinion, eh.

Yeah I thought Thompson went pretty well and deserves another shot.

I doubt its anything to do with the club he plays for..

More to do with the fact he is being paid a retainer by the RFL and his performances on the International stage have been bobbins..

The no 9 from Canberra is pretty awful in an England shirt as well..

What about if he’s been saying it about Lomax for years, as I have?
Not because he’s a Saints player but because we’re disappintes that a British ‘talent’ hasn’t realised his promise.
The lad offers very little but we can’t say it because he plays for our national team?

Thought he was very good. Rapid for a big (ish) player. Great attitude. Really rate him

The difference being I didn’t choose to use the Grand Final as an opportunity to voice my opinions on Wane.

England had just turned over a very very good Kiwi side, maybe the best they have sent over in the last 20 years and the first reaction of many fans is not to laud the victory and talk it up, but to start slating English players and performances.

I know no other sport including football where the fans consistently do this.

+ 1

I thought as a group we played well, and hope that the classy individual players we have can show a bit in the rest of the tournament. I find the Gildart and Connor centre partnership exciting, but they need to swap sides. Is it making allowances for Gildart's defence and wanting Connor to stop Manu - seems that this is going to limit their effectiveness going forward (great try on Saturday apart)

Forgive me but!

Are you having a Laugh???

Gildarts defence is Very Good and as previously posted he's handled every challenge that's ever been thrown at him from Kallum Watkins to Bryson Goodwin, Michael Shenton and Jack Bird in the WCC.

Gildart switched to Right centre mid way through the season having as far as I am aware no previous 1st team experience almost seamlessly.
He did this to cover Sarge who was much more comfortable Left side whilst it made no difference to Gildart.

How could you use the Grand Final to attack Wane, we won!?!

The big difference here is that we still have to win another and i dont think Lomax offers any attacking threat and it is my opinion that he is over rated as a player - i would hate to have him at Wigan.

The Kiwis under performed massively and will be much better next week and we too need to be much better and IMO we would be better to drop Lomax or at least move him to 7 and switch Tomkins back to full back where he is used to hitting the line and bring both Bateman and Gildart into play. The combinations are already there on the right so why not use them?

Isn’t that the point!!

Celebrate the win, which England did on Saturday, rather than jump on forums to have a pop at the team.

It’s not really just a comment about you it’s a large portion of @fans” and it frustrates the hell out of me!

All the forums are littered with criticism of certain players. It’s a joke.

I am and always be an internationalist. I’d much rather see England win the next World Cup than see Wigan win another trophy for the next 10 years.

The only way we will grow the game is by having a successful international side and competition.

Football fans have far bigger rivalries than we do in rugby between clubs yet they come together to back England.

A large section of RL fans are too busy having a go at individuals within the team than embracing a very good win, I’ve even seen people calling for Bennett to resign. It’s madness and the small time mentality that will always hold the sport back.

Like I said it’s not necessarily a pop at you but more the attitude of a large section of fans within the game.