To be fair, Knowles provides a higher intensity in defence and kick pressure chase than Batchelor. I know it was only against Greece but both Brown and Graham commented on his efforts in these areas highlighting one example of kick pressure at 74 mins with the game out of sight. I woudl argue his qualities are better than Batchelors in a high intensity tight game.

That's all good and well, and I understand where you're coming from Stu, but Knowles simply doesn't create enough at this level. The difference between him and Radley in this area has been stark.

I'm not saying instead of or in front of Radley, I'm saying instead of Batchelor as a bench option

thats where i've really enjoyed some of the commentary / post match analysis. In all the games i've watched, the former players have spoken about the little things that as fans we may not see week in week out. Just a subtle little shepherd of a player putting kick chase pressure on, getting back in the defensive line to put pressure on a kicker after 74 mins in a dead game etc. i think the majority of the commentary and post match has been excellent with Vossy, Jammer, Amor, Peacock, Brown, Henderson etc. I know Sky arent covering the world cup, but surely they can see with C4 coverage and the BBC coverage of the world cup, how amateur / poor some of their current team are

onto the little, things, they are the things that they reckon will win us the world cup (if we go onto win it)

Agreed. Vossy is brilliant. The way he engages with fans on Twitter is outstanding. He loves our comp and the UK in general and doesn't denigrate either like most Aussies do.

His food ratings and food videos throughout have been superb and very entertaining. I've lived in Wigan for 21 years and love living here. Indeed I only go back to St Helens for the games now so I get quite defensive if outsiders criticise Wigan as a town. Seeing Vossy talking about Galloways pies was brilliant and then to see him engage with their official account too was even better.

Sky could certainly learn a lot from BBC and C4 and hopefully we will see Vossy commentate on SL at some point as he has admitted that "it is an itch that he needs to scratch"

Yeah i think i am in favour of that. Im not a huge fan of Batchelor but his improvement this season has been huge there is no doubt about that but i do worry about his errors in a high intensity game. I think Knowles is more assured in that area and bring much more intensity into the collision. Knowles on the bench for me too.

Vossy is a breath of fresh air. Dave Woods is good though i think too as is Davies and Amor. I can't tolerate Noble too much, i think he talks too much nonsense and Kevin Brown is very articulate too. Graham has been very good also. Wilkin, i don't know why but he always seems to come across 10x better on the BBC than he dos on Sky.

I do have one big bug bear with all of them though (except Voss and Woods) and that is calling players by their nicknames, Mickey Mac, Tommy (Makinson) etc. We are trying to engage a wider audience outside of the usual RL speccies so a bit more professionalism is required in areas like this for me. The Sky commentary team are dreadful for things like this.

I'd play Sneyd, the way Moses is kicking we need someone who can match him, not sure I'd want to bet England's World Cup on Makinson's boot, Welsby to centre with either Watkins or Farnworth in the other spot

Watkins and Farnworth are both better centres than Welsby. He’s a waste at centre but I do agree about Sneyd’s kicking being vital.

The brave decision would be to put Welsby at 1 and Sneyd and Williams in the halves but I can’t see Wane doing that. He’ll want Tomkins experience.

That wouldn’t be brave it would be crazy. You need your best players on the field when it comes to the crunch and Tomkins is in that category, Sneyd isn’t.

Knowles is in a different league to Batchelor.

Well said. Perhaps we could encourage Rabbits out of retirement, another great commentator.

Do you think he's a better 2nd row than Batchelor, Stu? Radley is an 80 minute player so I can't see the benefit of having a spare 13 on the bench (Radley's elbow injury notwithstanding) and we're more than well stocked at prop.

I don’t no. However in a high intensity tight game I’d rather have Knowles than Batchelor. If Ackers isn’t in the 17 then McIliroum can be spelled, Radley to 9 and Knowles to 13. That’s two good defenders in the middle, hitting hard and leading from the front.

I'm not keen on that one. McIllorum can easily do the 80, there should be no reason to play players out of position in a world cup unless there is an injury in the match.